Last Chance For New Orleans

More about my city today. You may have seen news of this yesterday, but here is my view of it. New Orleans had a march of 5000 of it's citizens in protest of the rising murder and crime in the city in recent months. I call it our "Last Chance March", for it may be the last time the citizens here care enough to change the deteriorating city, the last opportunity for New Orleans to recover from Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. After this, if things don't change many of them will just leave the city and criminals to themselves. We have had a huge number of violent crimes here lately, fueled by a broken city and a broken system that is financially unable to help itself and is ignored by the Bush administration and my state's government as it tried to rebuild. We have too small of a police force, not enough jail spaces or courts, a tiny number of prosecutors to bring the accused criminals to court and an incompetent and corrupt city government.
Thus, criminals have swarmed to the city as they see crimes go unpunished here. Most of the killing is committed by black males 15-25 years of age, many with no education, no family in the city (teens who came back to New Orleans unsupervised while their family stayed in their evacuated cities), almost all with extensive criminal records here or in other cities before the hurricane in August of 2005. We also have a growing number of illegal immigrants from Mexico who have poured into the city with the intent to commit crimes. The state and local government are no allowed (by law) to apprehend and deport them and the federal government refuses to do so. (thanks Bush!)
The residents of New Orleans are already fleeing the city as they see it is dying and the Bush administration is indifferent to helping restore it. Now those hard core New Orleans who have returned to live here are afraid of the violence. They watch neighbors and friends assaulted at an all too great number. The other day a young wife was murdered in her home by an intruder, shot as she held her 2 year old son in her arms. Her husband, a local doctor who provides a free clinic for his neighbors, was shot several times and found at the entrance of the house, bleeding, in shock and holding his son. The day before, a local teacher and well known drummer in a New Orleans Brass band was shot to death in front of his family, without apparent reason. The huge drug trade here is said to have been the fuel for both those murders and most others in the city. The number of such murders is astounding now, several thousand times greater than average, and a daily event on the local news broadcasts, a gory kind of in home entertainment I call the "Who was killed today" news broadcast. So the people marched and met at city hall where the mayor, police chief, city council and other political leaders silently heard their complaints, pleas, cries and threats to take back the city themselves. No politician spoke in reply. They were asked by the protesters to listen and learn. It was a day for the people of New Orleans to vent, and they did.
Later the mayor held a news conference in which he claimed to be "moved" by the desperation of the people of New Orleans who unite in protest to what has happened to law and order here. He promised to heed their cry and do all he can to stop the killing and hold the criminals accountable. I have more than a few doubts things will change here. It's not enough for the victims to understand and care enough to stop the carnage, those who govern must understand and care as well. At this point few do.
Well...so much for my city. Onto other less daunting crimes... In Michigan a crime of the "lovers' quarrel and a case of mistaken identity" sort has landed a teenager behind bars after police say he repeatedly rammed a teenage girl's car, thinking it was his girlfriend. Haha yes, the teen had been drinking.
State police told The Saginaw News that the victim, a 17-year-old from Pinconning, called 911 early Sunday when the suspect smashed his car into the rear of hers. The 17-year-old suspect struck her car about 15 times and pushed it through stop signs at intersections. Dispatchers advised her to lead the suspect toward police units who were en route to intercept them. This she did. State police troopers and sheriff's deputies caught up with the suspect and pursued the Bay City teen at speeds of up to 90 miles per hour, police said. The teen told police he thought the driver was his girlfriend, who left a party after the couple quarreled. Haha You want to date that guy?
According to the arresting police, the rejected lothario said he only wanted to talk to her and get his goodnight kiss, so he went searching for her. He also told police he was talking to his girlfriend on his cell phone, telling her to stop her car. But the victim of his drunken rage said she was stopped when he started ramming her car from behind and didn't know what he was talking about. The arrested teen likely will face charges including assault with a vehicle, fleeing police and drunk driving.
Maybe that guy should move from Michigan to New Orleans, he might fit in well here now.