PO Box 531  •  Durham,NC 27702  •  Telephone: (919) 419-8311  •  Fax: (919) 419-8315

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

A surprising murder story from the Big Easy?

Cross-posted from the Institute's new project covering the post-hurricane rebuilding of the South, Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch

Remember the relentless reports of violence and killing in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina? Thugs taking over the streets, deadly shoot-outs erupting in shelters, armed criminals seizing on the chaos to strike fear into the hearts of desperate city-dwellers?

Then this story silently rolling off the news wires may surprise you:
NEW ORLEANS -- The first murder in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina has been recorded with the killing of a woman and the beating of her neighbor inside his home.

Police did not release the woman's identity. The man was identified as Jon Newlin, 56, a well-known New Orleans poet. Friends told police they went to his residence Tuesday and found the victims. [...]

Tuesday's killing is the 205th for the city this year, compared with 225 by the same time last year, police said. The last recorded murders in New Orleans happened Aug. 27, two days before Hurricane Katrina emptied the city.
A tragic crime, to be sure. But shouldn't this get more coverage for debunking one of the most powerful media images of what was happening after Katrina?
posted by Chris Kromm at 7:05 AM | Email this post | Post a Comment
1 Comments:
Blogger Dacelo said...

There probably were some murders during the chaos of the week of Hurricane Katrina. Is this story being spun to cover up two things: the false stories of rampant crime; the actual murder victims whose cause of death was covered up, who may have been victims of law enforcement and private contractors? This Dailykos diary is quite disturbing (scroll down): http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/11/15/
111652/94

11/16/2005 7:42 PM  

Post a Comment

Return to Facing South's main page

Southern News Update

Sign up for Facing South, our free biweekly progressive update.

ENTER YOUR EMAIL HERE:

Who Are These Folks?

CHRIS KROMM blogs three days a week for Facing South. Chris is Executive Director of the Institute for Southern Studies and publisher of the Institute’s award-winning magazine, Southern Exposure.

SUE STURGIS blogs four days a week for Facing South. Sue is the Institute’s Editorial Director and a former reporter for The Independent Weekly and The Raleigh News & Observer.

DESIREE EVANS blogs four days a week for Facing South. Desiree is a Research Associate at the Institute and former policy analyst for TransAfrica.

The views expressed on Facing South are those of the authors and not necessarily represent the views of the Institute for Southern Studies. The editors reserve the right to reject comments that are abusive, offensive, misleading, or that promote commercial goods and services.

Previous Posts