Gretna suburb of NO to reopen

[Erika]

You know, the elitist suburb, who closed off the bridge to evacuees from NO and shot guns over their heads and said "those people" wouldn't be allowed to evacuate from NO to their suburb?

I plan on doing my best to show their racism exactly as it is. I hope the Blacks find out the businesses they are in and do their best to boycott them in every way possible. The Gretna sheriff sounded like Lester Maddox.

[Mr_Spock]

1. What a bunch of bigots there

After seeing the interview with that Sheriff dude on Anderson Cooper, I'm now 100% convinced that there is a LOT of institutional racism in NO & Louisiana. HE was HORRIBLE!

[Solo_in_MD]

5. I missed the interview

but from what I have seen they did not allow anyone in regardless of race, gender, etc. It was stupid, uncalled for, callous, heartless and may well have cost lives, but I don't see racism. He should still get booted from office and if anyone he refused entrance to died in the maelstrom he should be prosecuted like the nursing home operators.

[Mr_Spock]

7. Well, I also read about the mixed family where they only wanted to

let the whites in the family across the bridge because even though they said they WERE ALL FROM GRETNA. The cops didn't believe the blacks in the family could be from Gretna though they finally let the entire mixed race family through after much cajoling. If you saw the interview, you would have a hard time discerning between the class prejudices and racial profiling and you know that they assumed that NO blacks on the wrong side of the bridge COULD POSSIBLY be from Gretna. It was pretty sad and the guy kept getting caught in lies. Even if there was no racism, there was classism and they sent the people back to possibly die and should be going to jail either way.

[unless]

2. You know, it wouldn't be hard to send them all...

welcome home postcards...

[Carolab]

3. Oh, but aren't they worried about the HEALTH RISKS???

I mean, shouldn't they be FORCED to stay away???

[Erika]

4. Police Chief Maddox can be reached at 504-366-4374

I'm sure many others also know that. You don't barricade a bridge, shoot guns, and prohibit entry to evacuues based on "you people" won't be allowed here.

[kbm8795]

6. I think the city of New Orleans first new law should be

prohibition of any Gretna resident from entering the city.

[Norquist Nemesis]

8. Gretna demographics

(2000 Census data from a quick google search)
http://gretna.areaconnect.com/statistics.htm
Race
One race 17118 98.25%
White 9813 56.32%
Black or African American 6191 35.53%
American Indian and Alaska Native 105 0.6%
Asian 543 3.12%
Asian indian 26 0.15%
Chinese 18 0.1%
Filipino 39 0.22%
Japanese 8 0.05%
Korean 4 0.02%
Vietnamese 429 2.46%
Other Asian 19 0.11%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 8 0.05%
Native Hawaiian 0 0%
Guamanian or Chamorro 4 0.02%
Samoan 3 0.02%
Other Pacific Islander 1 0.01%
Some other race 458 2.63%
Two or more races 305 1.75%

Hispanic or Latino and race
Total Population 17423 100.00%
Hispanic or Latino(of any race) 1105 6.34%
Mexican 258 1.48%
Puerto Rican 77 0.44%
Cuban 143 0.82%
Other Hispanic or Latino 627 3.6%
Not Hispanic or Latino 16318 93.66%
White alone 9282 53.27%