NOLA Murder Rate Leads the Nation...Again (New Orleans, Slidell: crime rate, to live)

[Micktooth]

Despite drop in crime, New Orleans' murder rate continues to lead nation - NOLA.com

So once again New Orleans is on top of this terrible list. Do any of you have any serious opinions as to why? I do:
1. Blatant Racism... I have never lived anywhere else where this is so obvious and sickening.
2. Lack of Leadership...Says it all
3. Lack of Regional Togetherness...Us vs Them, Jefferson vs Orleans, when are people going to realize that the entire region is part of New Orleans?
4. Lazy Attitudes Unwilling to Change.."It's always been this way","That's what makes New Orleans unique",etc.
5. General Acceptance ie: "It Happens Everywhere"

Any thoughts?

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by Micktooth

Despite drop in crime, New Orleans' murder rate continues to lead nation - NOLA.com

So once again New Orleans is on top of this terrible list. Do any of you have any serious opinions as to why? I do:
1. Blatant Racism... I have never lived anywhere else where this is so obvious and sickening.
2. Lack of Leadership...Says it all
3. Lack of Regional Togetherness...Us vs Them, Jefferson vs Orleans, when are people going to realize that the entire region is part of New Orleans?
4. Lazy Attitudes Unwilling to Change.."It's always been this way","That's what makes New Orleans unique",etc.
5. General Acceptance ie: "It Happens Everywhere"

Any thoughts?

I personally don't know why, other than the fact that it is a poor city.

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

I'm not surprised as I have read that the gangs have begun moving back in. For a while after Katrina, the crime rate was very low due to the gang members being in Houston and Atlanta, etc. I remember reading that the Houston PD was blaming a spike in crime/murder on the N.O. gang members who were evacuated there.

I hope things change for the better with a new mayor when N.O. gets one.

[MoreCowbell]

Originally Posted by Micktooth

Despite drop in crime, New Orleans' murder rate continues to lead nation - NOLA.com

So once again New Orleans is on top of this terrible list. Do any of you have any serious opinions as to why? I do:
1. Blatant Racism... I have never lived anywhere else where this is so obvious and sickening.
2. Lack of Leadership...Says it all
3. Lack of Regional Togetherness...Us vs Them, Jefferson vs Orleans, when are people going to realize that the entire region is part of New Orleans?
4. Lazy Attitudes Unwilling to Change.."It's always been this way","That's what makes New Orleans unique",etc.
5. General Acceptance ie: "It Happens Everywhere"

Any thoughts?

Ok, hope you guys don't mind BUT I'm really curious about #1, the racism? Can you expand a little on it? And is it really worse than anywhere else (I live in GA)?

[Micktooth]

Originally Posted by MoreCowbell

Ok, hope you guys don't mind BUT I'm really curious about #1, the racism? Can you expand a little on it? And is it really worse than anywhere else (I live in GA)?

This is what I've noticed. I've lived in NY,MI,TX,LA,and CO. People will use the "N" word like it's nothing. And I don't mean just to their friends. African Americans are blamed for most of the city's problems and because of that, many "White" people feel like it's not their problem to fix. Just go to NOLA.COM and read some of the message boards. There is a lot of hate.

[Prytania]

NOLA.com comments are a joke and hardly representative of the city. That said there isn't much white people can do to help fundamentally broken poor black households in the city. There isn't anything I can say to a young black man as a young white woman he wants to hear.And I do accept it (crime), it's bad but most of it is not simply random like you might get in Detroit...most murders are drug related or the killer knew the victim. I've lived here forever and never been mugged nor have I ever heard gunfire..

[MetroBTR]

Originally Posted by Micktooth

Despite drop in crime, New Orleans' murder rate continues to lead nation - NOLA.com

So once again New Orleans is on top of this terrible list. Do any of you have any serious opinions as to why? I do:
1. Blatant Racism... I have never lived anywhere else where this is so obvious and sickening.
2. Lack of Leadership...Says it all
3. Lack of Regional Togetherness...Us vs Them, Jefferson vs Orleans, when are people going to realize that the entire region is part of New Orleans?
4. Lazy Attitudes Unwilling to Change.."It's always been this way","That's what makes New Orleans unique",etc.
5. General Acceptance ie: "It Happens Everywhere"

Any thoughts?

It's actually mostly because of the drug trade...

If it had anything to do with "us vs. them" The whole metro area would be feeling affects such as this, and that's not the case.

And as far as all the hate goes, I personally don't find racism to be any more noticable than anywhere else in the country. But I'd be willing to bet that if I (a white guy) still lived there I would be really pissed that it wasn't safe for me to go out at night because I could get mugged by somebody looking for drug money. And the fact is that most of these are poor black men. That isn't my opinion, that is a fact. Most people in the south do not hate because of color, they hate because of culture. That black secretary at the doctor's office...they don't hate her...but that "thug" with his pants hanging around his knees in the middle of the day when normal people are at work...

I can see how somebody might wholeheartedly dislike that type of person.

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

And in contrast, from WWLTV today:
"SLIDELL, La. – Slidell police have arrested a man who allegedly stabbed and killed another man after a heated argument. It is the first homicide in the city in almost three years." (my emphasis)

It's not just a perception that the north-of-the-lake suburbs are safer, it's a fact.

[Prytania]

That's because so few people want to live on the north of the lake.

Go that far outside most cities and you will find safer areas because fewer people live there, and the ones who do are paying for it which excludes many poor inner city people.

That said, if I personally couldn't live in New Orleans...I'd leave. (For Savannah, Charleston, Atlanta, Baltimore...something)

[meemy]

Originally Posted by Prytania

NOLA.com comments are a joke and hardly representative of the city. That said there isn't much white people can do to help fundamentally broken poor black households in the city. There isn't anything I can say to a young black man as a young white woman he wants to hear.And I do accept it (crime), it's bad but most of it is not simply random like you might get in Detroit...most murders are drug related or the killer knew the victim. I've lived here forever and never been mugged nor have I ever heard gunfire..

You must live way out in the Parish or somewhere far from the real Prytania if you've never heard gunshots!!!!!!!!

I'm a 5th generation New Orleanian (Carrollton) and I don't know a single White family from Orleans who hasn't suffered the loss of a relative or friends at the hands of black thugs.

Why do you think so many of us have fled? We are all refugees from the urban terrorists who regard us as nothing but prey.

Damn right it's racism...against us.
.