Ten years ago, Hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans. At that time, I was in the Marine Corps, having just returned home from my second deployment to Iraq.
The day the hurricane hit, my friend Vic and I were watching MSNBC in the barracks, when all of a sudden higher-ups started running down the hallway screaming, “Gear inspection! Get your shit ready marines! We’re going to Louisiana! It’s time for another deployment!”
My friend Vic looked at me and said, “This is going to be worse than Iraq. These guys (our fellow marines) are nuts.” Of course, I concurred, as we started to gather our flak jackets, kevlar helmets and various other essential items.
Without question, the prospect of another deployment (domestic this time) really pissed off my fellow marines. They were worn out from their time in Iraq. Many suffered from extreme PTSD, drug and alcohol addiction and physical fatigue. Actually, some of the marines were preparing for their third deployment.
Nonetheless, my fellow marines expressed their willingness to kill some “niggers,” an easy transition from killing “sand niggers,” no doubt.
Remember, that’s what the US military is all about – killing, racism, sexism – not leadership skills, life lessons, educational benefits or whatever else the system propagates. The racist indoctrination begins immediately. Black marines are referred to as “dark green” while white marines are referred to as “light green.” In boot camp, our drill instructors constantly referred to the Iraqis and Afghans as “sand niggers,” “camel jockeys,” and “rag-heads.”
Hell, most of the white guys I served with had never spent much time around black people or in black communities. They came from small towns and rural areas. The first time many of these guys saw a big city was in the Marine Corps. Most of the white marines would be more inclined to hang out with their Latino brothers, who were also quite racist towards the black marines in our unit.
Furthermore, the guys in my unit absolutely loathed civilians, so the prospect of having to use violence against US citizens never once bothered my fellow marines. They were fully indoctrinated and capable of murdering people. Indeed, killing Americans becomes much easier after spending months and months killing Iraqis overseas.
In order to kill, one must first dehumanize the other. Once the other has been fully dehumanized in the mind of a killer, the other becomes an empty subject, a subject who’s easy to torture, kill, rape, mutilate, etc.
Ultimately, the US Government didn’t send 1st Battalion, 7th Marines to New Orleans. And thank God, because the probability of a massacre, or various other crimes against humanity, was very high, almost unavoidable. Maybe one of the higher-ups knew better, and informed the top brass. Maybe the decision was arbitrarily made, like so many decisions in the military. Who knows?
This morning, I was watching Amy Goodman’s program, and her segment on New Orleans brought up some of these terrifying memories. The last interviewee on the program was Malik Rahim, “co-founder of the Common Ground Collective and one of the founders of the Louisiana chapter of the Black Panther Party.”
The segment begins in 2005, with Amy interviewing Rahim, who’s standing next to a decomposing corpse. The body, a stranger to Rahim, was lying in the weeds for nearly thirteen days.
Eventually, the Army rolls by the interview in their seven ton truck, weapons in hand. Amy asks the soldiers if they know about the body. One soldier answers “yes,” and informs Amy that the Army had already informed the police.
At the same time, a cop car cruises along. Amy stops the police and asks if they know about the body. The police answer, “You need to talk to our public information officer.”
The segment ends with Amy asking another soldier, Robert Gonzalez, “Do you know what they should do to get this body removed?” He answers, “I have no idea. I can’t tell you. I don’t know. There’s been several people over here looking at it.”
Amy asks him, “Who?” Gonzalez responds, “Army. I’ve seen police over here looking at it. Seen ambulances looking at it. That’s about it.”
Without doubt, Amy’s 2005 segment immediately reminded me of my time in Iraq. In fact, it reminded me of one of the most influential moments in my life, an instant, a split second – the first time I killed someone. His body, ripped to shreds by the .556 rounds from my AR-15 assault rifle, spent several weeks in a farm field, just meters from the drainage ditch where he took his last breaths. I remember driving along the main drag from our base to the town of Al Qaim, only to look off to the East and see the body still lying in the field. Eventually, someone took him away after a couple of weeks, not unlike the John Doe in New Orleans.
I remember thinking, “Was his wife and children still in town? Did they know he left that night to plant IEDs? Was his family dead? What happened to the three guys who got away that night? Did they know he got killed? Were they scared to come back to the scene?” All I know about the man is that he wore a white t-shirt and black Adidas workout pants.
Throughout my second deployment, I remember thinking, “What would it be like to be a child growing up in this environment?” In the same cynical mann in which people wonder where ISIS comes from, they wonder why impoverished urban areas are disproportionately violent.
During this morning’s DemocracyNow! interview, Malik Rahim reflected on the unknown body, poverty and violence in New Orleans:
Over the 10 years, you know, New Orleans is still a story of two cities. You know, if you’re white or if you’re part of that privileged black class or free people of color class, then, you know, I mean, it’s recovered. But if you’re poor and part of that African or Maroon class, then it’s like the hurricane just happened last year.
Right now we’re in the midst of some of the most violent times in the history of this city. And it’s only because of the fact that that 10-, that eight-year-old, that six-year-old child, that 12-year-old child, that was in the Convention Center and abandoned in that Superdome, now they are 22, 16, full of rage, because we did not deem—have any trauma counselors there with them through this.
We have unemployment is over 50 percent. And the ones who are blessed with a job, the disparity of wages is that they make three times less than their white counterpart. Public housing is no more. They displaced everyone. The only equal opportunity employer is the drug dealer. So now we’ve been in the midst of a drug war. And the tails of it is just in the last two days there has been maybe six shootings. So, again, you know, by the fact that our administrations—and I’m talking about on all levels—refused to address the real, pertinent issues of the aftermath of Katrina is the reason why we are in this way, in this dilemma now.
Ten years after the war in Iraq, the story is eerily similar, and even more devastating. Iraq is a tale of two countries: one Iraq is for the wealthy and privileged business elites and their government lackeys, while the other Iraq is lacking clean water, a clean environment, basic services and safety. If you’re part of the latter Iraq, it’s as if the war started this year.
The same ten and twelve year olds who grew up under the US occupation, are now driving US-made HUMVEEs through Syrian and Iraq cities, slaughtering people and plundering ancient historical sites. They too were abandoned, left to rot and die in post-Saddam’s Iraq. They are filled with rage, like their counterparts in New Orleans. The US didn’t give Iraqis medical treatment and jobs, it gave them weapons and MREs. Because there’s no real economy in Iraq, people have turned to the black market, including ISIS, who uses oil wealth to facilitate its madness.
In the end, there are consequences for our actions and inactions. When events like Hurricane Katrina, or the invasion of Iraq takes place, the eventual fallout is immeasurable.
As Naomi Klein mentioned in her book The Shock Doctrine, disasters are now used by capitalists and militarists as opportunities to push the neoliberal agenda: Iraq and New Orleans are but two examples. There are more. However, they are perfect examples of how the modern system functions, and what people should expect in the future if we don’t radically transform society.
Vincent Emanuele can be reached at [email protected]