Stand By for a National Dialogue

(The following is my opinion, Zack Parsons of SomethingAwful has a different view that is also worth reading.)

I think particularly in the deep south, but all around the country as well, there is a desire to not discuss the less-attractive racial aspects of our society. At least since the LA riots, race has not been on the national political agenda. This kind of talk doomed Bill Bradley's 2000 presidential campaign. It's the conversation no one wants to have.

Anyway, we're going to have it now. Back in 1906 you could have a slaughter in Chinatown and pretend it didn't happen. This time it's going down on television. It's the fastest, most brutal White Flight in history. And, as Parsons notes, David Duke is already hammering away.

It will get worse before it gets better. So far the NO police and National Guard have just been "securing" (holing up) in the downtown area, protecting strategic points like Saks 5th Avenue with its valuable inventory of insured high-end merchandise. But eventually, there is going to be an organized push to engage, disarm, and neutralize the roving bands of young black men whose potshots at helicopters and subcontractors have pushed their neighborhoods to the bottom of the "to-do" list. This is not going to be pretty, either in its execution or aftermath:


"Sheriff Jack Stephens authorized his haggard deputies to shoot to kill looters or anyone else who poses a threat.

"Small gangs of heavily armed career criminals are roaming the parish's isolated eastern half and looting buildings, Stephens said.

" 'These are the same a------- who have been testing us for 20 years,' Stephens told his SWAT team at a security briefing. 'Today is the day they are going to listen to us or we're gonna take 'em out.' "