Mandating a culture of victimhood

The Violence Policy Center is now loudly proclaiming that the door-to-door seizures of legally owned firearms in New Orleans, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, was apparently somehow a good thing, in light of a recent article in the far left The Nation magazine, claiming that white, racist (and armed, of course) vigilantes waged a campaign of terror against innocent black victims of the storm. The article, "Katrina's Hidden Race War," describes some indisputably horrid behavior on the part of armed white people.

Herrington shouted at the other men to run and turned to face his attackers: three armed white males. Herrington says he hadn't even seen the men or their weapons before the shooting began. As Alexander and Collins fled, Herrington ran in the opposite direction, his hand pressed to the bleeding wound on his throat. Behind him, he says, the gunmen yelled, "Get him! Get that nigger!"

I'll admit to having some reservations about accepting at face value these "revelations," in a magazine that makes little secret of having an agenda, of events of which (as far as I know) there hadn't been a hint previously.

Still, I'll acknowledge that it's almost certain that there were white racists in the area at the time, that some were armed, and that it's far from inconceivable that some of them participated in atrocities, and used firearms to facilitate their evil.

What I cannot help but contemplate, though, is how unlikely it would have been for this evil, predatory behavior to have taken place had some version of the Deacons for Defense and Justice (whom I have discussed here, among other places) been present. Ironically, the article in The Nation quotes Professor Lance Hill, the author of what is probably the most important book about the Deacons, The Deacons for Defense: Armed Resistance and the Civil Rights Movement, although he was quoted only in reference to the racism that is undeniably part of the problem, with no mention of the possibility of armed black citizens defending themselves.

The title of the article refers to a "Race War"--certainly a terrible thing to contemplate--but not the most terrible thing. What the article actually describes, if it's true, is something more terrible still--a Race Massacre, in which at least eleven innocent and defenseless black people were murdered by armed, white, racist vigilantes, who have not faced punishment, and who probably never will (although again, I am not vouching for the veracity of the portrayal of events presented by the article--that is simply something I am not in a position to judge). If it had been a war, in the traditional sense, the black people would at least have had some capacity to fight back.

. . . But would be criminals if they did so under policies favored by President-elect Obama, who "believe[s] in keeping guns out of inner cities."

Disarmament of those who live in the inner city--a bigot's dream.