AP discriminates amongst black and white looters

[MIMIC]

http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news/?p=new+orleans+grocery&c=news_photos

Notice how the caption below the white citizens says: "Two residents wade through chest-deep water after finding bread and soda from a local grocery store in New Orleans, Louisiana.

All of the black residents are described as flat-out looters (and attempted lootters).

As a black male, I found this to be extremely offensive.

[Cooley Hurd]

1. See this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4515079

Fucking ridiculous, isn't it?

Welcome to DU. :hi:

[Maat]

2. As a white female ... I found it very offensive.

I also noticed that they kept running the same video over and over again.

[TechBear_Seattle]

3. Very sad, but the truth is...

As a black male, you should be used to this kind of bigotry by now. It's not like the AP or any other American news agency has ever not been routinely racist.

[tnlefty]

4. I'm neither black, nor male, and I find it appalling!

I'm so sick of this inference that people who are looting are just "bad people". I don't know what the hell I would do if I were in a catastrophic situation, but I do know that I have 3 kids, the food on the shelves in stores will not last forever and that the store owners will turn it in on an insurance claim and recover any losses.

I'm just getting fed up with this crap.

[DoctorMyEyes]

5. I'm having outrage overload!

You have every right to be offended. We should all be offended.

The other day when I was looking at the photos on Yahoo! news from the evacuation it seemed that all I saw were photos of white people driving, white people buying gas, and tens of thousands of black people standing in line waiting to get into the stadium.

I said to my husband - "You'll never see 30,000 white people stand in a fucking line like that for anything, poor or not. The streets would have been filled with motor coaches and the skies with helicopters.

It's the truth and it hurts.

[watrwefitinfor]

6. As a human being I find it extremely offensive.

I also found it offensive when PBS news tonight ran footage of several black people in a store hurriedly picking up food & a white guy standing there, obviously the manager or owner, waving his hand and telling them to take it all it was just going to spoil. All the while the reporter was talking about all the looting taking place. Disgusting and deliberate.

Wat

[GOPFighter]

7. Look again!

The photo of the two whites was taken and captioned by "(AFP/Getty Images/Chris Graythen)" not AP. The other pictures were taken and captioned by AP. Apples and oranges.

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. As a white woman,

I find this incredibly offensive.

I have also noticed the film of looters is almost always of black looters. I find it hard to believe that only black people were looting in New Orleans today :eyes:

Besides, what difference does it make now? Those looted stores will float away any day now. Looting will be the least of the store owners' problems.

[FloridaPat]

10. Same here and agree with you totally.

[smartvoter]

12. Based on the video shots of who was trying to get in to shelters, it

did look like mostly black people were left in the city.

This should be a big slap in the face to the country about inequality, but you can bet that there are dolts who will look at the pictures and say "Look, it's all black people" looting. As if there is anyone anywhere who would not go after food for his or her family in those conditions. If I was there, I would be doing it.

Why can't the newscaster point out that black people didn't have the resources to get out of town and many people are hitting the grocery stores to get food because there are no other options? There's a big difference between raiding stores for TVs and DVD players and getting bread and peanut butter for your kids.

And, as you said, the food is as good as spoiled anyway...

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. Think about this

The only video you CAN see is the video they shot. And if they only shot video of black looters, you wouldn't know there were any white ones.

[smartvoter]

15. I know that. I'm saying that I think that the majority of people who

were stuck were black, regardless of how they spin it, and that this itself speaks volumes.

On edit: I am certain that most people who didn't have money to leave were black -- my wife and I watched the lines to the shelters and she actually commented on how sad it was that of the hundreds of people we could see in line, not one was white, meaning that white people had enough money to get out of the city in a life-and-death scenario and blacks did not. To me, this is horrible.

[proud2BlibKansan]

18. It did look like a majority were black

But I have taught in 'the hood' for 25 years and I can assure you there are lots and lots of white and Hispanic people living in poverty all over this country.

[smartvoter]

9. The white photo is from another news source that is using

different language. They're not the same companies/authors/etc.

I see what you're saying and it does look bad the way it's laid out, and I do think there is plenty of racism, but this isn't a single source. It just turned out that the non-AP photo is white people and they used different language than the AP is using.

On Edit: For the record, I think the big race gap is evident in who got out of town and who is stuck in the city. I do know there is big problem in this area and this country has a long way to go to get things right.

[Fla Dem]

11. I am incensed at that caption. How much more blatant can they get. n/t

[Rhiannon12866]

14. Me, too. And I'm a white female.

These kind of desperate times bring out the worst in people, as well as the best...:-(

[bribri16]

16. E-mail them and tell them about it. n/t

[tyedyeto]

17. I didn't read it but I saw on CNN exactly what you are saying.

Blacks can't even try to find what may keep them alive unless they are labeled as looters, but whites can do whatever they want. (This post is from a very WASPish white person who thinks outside the box)

[hatrack]

19. Can't have any undue sympathy building up for those brown people!

After all, it was THEIR FAULT for not owning cars or having money for bus/train/plane tickets to get out of town when they SHOULD have. :eyes: :puke:

Oh, and of course, :sarcasm: