"This place is going to look like Little Somalia." Racist comment?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

Poll question: "This place is going to look like Little Somalia." Racist comment?

“This place is going to look like Little Somalia,” Brig. Gen. Gary Jones, commander of the Louisiana National Guard’s Joint Task Force told Army Times Friday as hundreds of armed troops under his charge prepared to launch a massive citywide security mission from a staging area outside the Louisiana Superdome. “We’re going to go out and take this city back. This will be a combat operation to get this city under control.”

Here's a pic of Brig. Gn'l Jones from another article:




Please explain your vote

[mattclearing]

1. How can anyone vote no?

I'm curious as to the rationale.

[stray cat]

2. Not racist perhaps but definitely scary -

[Karenina]

16. YES, racist.

It's a part of that "NIGGERS RUNNIN' WILD AND LOOSE IN THE STREETS" mentality. Code language with which a few of us are painfully familiar.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

18. As much as I don't want to live in a racist world and it hurts me

I really can't imagine how it cuts you and other black people to their core to read or hear shit like this and then have people deny it is so.

[Karenina]

23. Insult added to injury.

It's the "cover-up" that provokes RAGE. :grr:

[msongs]

3. he evidently cannot recall how somalia turned out...even the hollywood

version where the americans all acted like heroes.

Msongs
www.msongs.com/political-shirts.htm

[rocktivity]

4. No--it's not his fault that Somalians are black

I'm sure he was trying to compare NO's squalor to Somalia's rather than the race of its victims. Would you be happier if he'd said "little Baghdad"?

:headbang:
rocknation

[progmom]

5. Yeah. I'm getting angrier and angrier here.

x(

[jpgray]

6. Maybe

How can anyone tell from the isolated quote? He could have just been referring to an historical state of chaos and lawlessness where might made right, or he could be making a racial connection about some fanciful inherent ethnic proclivity to lawlessness. How can anyone tell from the quote? :shrug:

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

12. Warning: You might not like my response. Although I like you personally

I request when advanced search is on, you review your many posts on the subject of racism and sexism in the archives and explain to me how it is that when ANY statement is made about white males, you definitely seem to be offended then likewise, unless the racist or sexist comment is so blatant that it CAN'T be denied, you parse it.

I will be happy to provide examples when advanced search is back on, but I think you know you do this.

I don't think you do it because you are a racist or sexist. In fact, I KNOW you are not..but I think as intelligent as you are, it is second nature for you to WANT examples of racism or sexism to be something else.

Edited because I did have one example bookmarked although there are better examples that demonstrate my point:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1961998

[jpgray]

19. In this case there is no way to determine whether or not it is racist

A lot of the time I push back where I feel people are just going along with a hypothesis without having much (or any) evidence to support it. Sometimes I'm wrong. I just feel uncomfortable assuming something exists because it fits my view of what should be true, when there isn't any evidence to prove it, or when it isn't necessary to explain the behavior. That kind of unnecessary assumption is the crux of the whole "Intelligent Design" debate, for example. There's no need for a creator if you want to explain evolution, or the complexity of biological and ecological systems, but people who desperately want a creator's existence to be proven will point out how well it would fit the facts. But when it isn't needed to explain the facts, and no evidence is out there to prove it exists that isn't circumstantial, it's a bad assumption to make no matter how much "sense" it makes. Yes, racism could be the driving factor behind this quote, but it could also simply be a comparison between two chaotic, lawless situations. Again, how are people magically figuring out which it is? I can't.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

20. HOw did people magically figure out that when a black person does it

it's looting and when a white person does it, it's "finding food?"

Does Somalia invoke a positive image of black people in your psyche?
Why did he not say, it's gonna look like the rescue efforts of 9/11///we are going to get our citizens OUT!

[jpgray]

22. I'd never make these arguments if I thought they would silence discussion

On DU I can be sure that people will keep asking these questions about racism, sexism no matter what I have to say. But it's worth it I think to get some questioning going of our own assumptions. If this fellow had said something like "lawless impoverished black people shooting each other--just like Somalia" there would be no question what was going on. But as it stands that could or could not be the subtext. People that attribute this statement (or the admins actions toward NO in general) to racism aren't wrong, but I just don't feel there's enough evidence to determine that yet. So long as that's the case, I'll question it and offer up alternative explanations that make sense to me. I could be wrong, just like always, but I think it's important to get out there. The AP caption controversy displays more direct evidence of racism than this quote does, in my view.

[wtmusic]

24. Two steps removed

Step 2: “This place is going to look like Little Somalia.”

Did Jones intend a comparison by race between the two, or just a comparison of squalor and desperation? Assuming he did intend a racial comparison, why?

Step 1: "Gotta help those blacks in NO. If we don't there's gonna be a black riot going down".

Jones brings up race. Why? Should it matter what race they are? Did he mean it in a derogatory way?

Racism: "Gotta get NO under control. You leave them N*s to their own devices, they'll riot every time".

The comment in itself could be borne of racism, but that's you filling in the blanks. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

7. IMHO, I don't think anyone should have to explain why they vote "yes".

[jpgray]

11. Do you people have a telepathic link with this guy?

How can you be so sure of his intent based on one isolated quote?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

13. Intent schmintent..it was a freudian slip

[NWHarkness]

8. Of course it's racist

He could have said Sarajevo, he could have said Beirut; he chose to say Somalia. Even after 4 years of Bushism, words still have meanings.

[Kni7es]

10. Subtleties

This sorts of comments are often far more revealing than they appear. Remember the crap about "Killer AFRICANIZED Bees?" Yeah.

[wtmusic]

14. The species of bee came from Africa

Or is one not allowed to say 'Africa' without being accused of racism?

http://nationalatlas.gov/mld/afrbeep.html

[Fescue4u]

29. Bees are now racist?

I had no idea that the phrase " "Killer AFRICANIZED Bees?" was a racist plot.

I just thought they were killer bees from Africa.

Damn, it sure is tough to keep up on the secret racist codes nowadays.

[Fatima]

25. Why would it be ok

To use Beirut or Sarajevo?

[two gun sid]

9. Of course it's racist.

And Bushco loves him for it.

[wtmusic]

15. Lots of black people in Somalia, lots of black people in NO

What's racist about that?

[jonnyblitz]

17. that is a sad little boy in that picture...but..yeah, back to the topic

that comment sounds racist to me. Some people believe ,in order for something to be racist, somebody has to be yelling the N word or some other blatent activity. most racism is ambiguous and just below the surface (yet often obvious to us...) :shrug:

[gauguin57]

21. I have, myself, commented that the CC looked like Sudan/Niger (poverty!)

I've said to my friends over the past couple of days that the scenes of the Convention Center are starting to look like pictures out of the Sudan or Niger.

And I quickly qualified that it's NOT because of the color of the people's skins, but because the people have nothing to eat or drink, they're sitting in filth, they're baking in the heat, they're battling flies and stench, and they feel abandoned by their country and civilization in general.

I compare photos to scenes of African poverty because of the POVERTY, not because of race.

I don't know what's in that general's heart -- but I'd compare this DEBACLE to ANY scene of the abandoned poor and starving, anywhere in the world.

[nini]

26. It pisses me off the victims are not beng referred to as AMERICANS

Being referred to Refugees in their own country?? NOW a reference to another African nation? :eyes:

This looks like "America" folks this is what we have become. This looks like an American Failure.

[yurbud]

27. depends on behavior that follows

[Fescue4u]

28. Isnt Somalia a country?

Unless the definition of Somalia now means black people, I don't think so.

I guess he is supposed to only compare New Orleans to white countrys?

He could have said "This place is going to look like Cincinnati", but I don't think it would have the same impact.

[mogster]

30. Yes it's racist and the context confirms it

He has identified his 'enemy' to be those that have 'taken' the city - a sign that he has a clear picture in his mind of that enemy. The 'Little Somalia'-comment shows who it is - black people. That comment in itself also is degrading.

All in all I suggest he'd be mentally examined, stripped of his rank and put in jail.

If he's been in charge in Iraq, there's no wonder things are going bad over there.

[petronius]

31. My guess is 'No'

Mogadishu seems to be the closest parallel in recent memory to what this guy is expecting to find in N.O.: a large population made desperate and hungry by a natural disaster, with a small local element preying on the victims. (Whether this accurately describes N.O. I don't know, but it seems to be what the Guard/police are describing.) The racial correlation seems incidental...

Personally, I'm more disturbed by his choice of the phrase "combat operation".