[Leica] Anne Rice

[jls at runbox.com (Jeffery Smith)]

The reports on CNN and Fox that disturbed me the most were the scenes of
looting by black males in white shirts. It reminded me of the scenes of
civil unrest of the early 1960's, on the Huntley-Brinkley Report. And it is
difficult not to associate black males in white shirts as a threat and a
liability. But we need to realize that New Orleans in summer has tens of
thousands of black males in white shirts that, at a distance or in a grainy
video, all look very much the same. While I sat on my porch Monday, Tuesday,
and Wednesday, black males in white t-shirts asked if I was okay and if I
made out all right, and if I needed water. And it was a black male in a
white shirt who found the elderly Italian woman next door unconscious behind
her damaged fence, and he summoned help for her. And it was two black guys
in white shirts who helped us get her back into the house. While we were
struggling with her dead weight on the stairs, three black guys in white
shirts stopped their car in front of the house and asked if they could drive
her to Touro Infirmary. But none of those guys were videotaped doing these
things, and none of them were looking for recognition. And I'm sad that a
small percentage of criminals left the indelible impression on television
viewers that can only hurt race relations. I hope I see them again when I
can get back into the city.

Jeffery