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Looting(?)

Lauren

Thoughts on “looting” by Dr. B. who grew up in Detroit with the history of the race riots:

The best story of the the Detroit uprising was the story of a friend’s mother. On the day the rioting started (before things got going) a young African American mother went to a fabric store to buy thread. She was made to wait while the sales clerk waited on white folks and told not to touch things (yes this was Detroit in 1967!). She left without buying anything. Almost 20 years later when this mother passed away the son that she gave birth to 2 years later found a box of untouched thread in the attic. It turns out that once the uprising started later that day the woman went back to the store and got thread. Thread that she never used, but thread that probably made her feel better. Thread that made her feel empowered in a world of racism and oppression. So, can I understand why folks are stealing t.v.’s and other electronics even though they can’t use them now and may never be able to? Absofrigginlutely! You take what has been denied to you for so very long.

4 thoughts on Looting(?)

  1. So, can I understand why folks are stealing t.v.’s and other electronics even though they can’t use them now and may never be able to? Absofrigginlutely! You take what has been denied to you for so very long.

    “Understanding” why people are looting non-necessities is one thing; Dr. B.’s post seems to take it one step further into tacit approval (or, at the very least, a sentiment of “You pretend you’re not stealing and I’ll pretend not to look.”)

    Am I wrong on this? Taking a diamond necklace–something which no one could conceivably “need” after Katrina–from an empty store is either stealing or it isn’t. If it is stealing, then even if we can’t punish the perpetrators, we should at least regard it as the crime that it is.

    I’m as appalled by the fumbled governmental response to Katrina as anyone, but two wrongs still don’t make a right.

  2. Everything in NOLA right now is insured and will be covered under flood damage. A lot of things would have gone to waste or been damaged anyway.

    Still, a TV was a bit much. I certainly don’t begrudge people getting food and supplies they needed when the government wasn’t there to help them, though.

  3. turns out that once the uprising started later that day the woman went back to the store and got thread.

    I love this lady!

    Looting? It’s wrong, with the exception of food it should be punished. But I can appreciate the whys and wherefores. Doesn’t make it right, though.

  4. I never said that I approve of the taking of t.v’s and such, I specifically said I understand it. It makes no sense, it has no rhyme or reason but it is understandable. Unfortunatley, it’s the jumping to conclusions that closes down discussions about social uprisings.

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