Breakdown FM: White Vigilantees Killed 200 Blacks During Katrina

During the International Hurricane Katrina and Rita Tribunal we heard all sorts of testimony about white vigilantes ‘hunting’ down Black folks. This was in addition to the widespread police brutality. In some instances New Orleans police were seen riding with and working with white vigilantes who claimed they were protecting their neighborhoods.

Former Black Panther Malik Rahim of the organization Common Ground was witness to white vigilantes who were roaming his neighborhood in Algiers which is located on the West Bank of New Orleans. This was one of the few places in the city that did not experience flooding. It was the only neighborhood in all of New Orleans that still had safe drinking water.

According to Malik, Black people who discovered the what good shape Algiers was in came over seeking refuge. Sadly they found themselves being chased off or gunned down by mobs of angry whites who patrolled the neighborhood. Black people including Malik who were from Algiers found themselves being threatened by their former neighbors.

During his searing testimony Malik offered up a documentary he and his comrades from Common Ground put together. In the documentary we get to see and hear angry white people bragging about how they were shooting and killing Blacks while they were barbecueing. It seems so outlandish to the point of dis-belief until. They went out at night on what they called ‘pheasant Hunts’. Malik estimates that over 200 Blacks lost their lives to white vigilantes.

During his testimony Malik talked about military occupation and how soldiers who came straight from Iraq were brought over to patrol New Orleans. Algiers was ground zero for many of these troops. Malik talks in great detail about Black neighborhoods being under-seiged and Black people being terrorized as bullet ridden Black male bodies were turning up everyday.