Day 115: Pre- And Post-K Violence Against Women; Reducing Agents

Violence Against Women Before And After Katrina: It amazes me the crimes people, including NOPD, are willing to believe happened in the wake of Katrina. But, what angers me are the acts of violence faced with incredulity, namely rapes reported by the supposed victims themselves. And I say “supposed” because, unfortunately, there are liars who make it hard on the real victims.

NPR does a New Orleans “human” piece before 6:30AM almost everyday and manages to depress the hell out of me before the day has even begun – hey, at least it’s informative, better than Houston schock-jocks badmouthing New Orleanian evacuees and the price to pay before receiving the news of the day. Today, I woke up to Morning Edition investigating the veracity of the rape claims mentioned above (More Stories Emerge of Rapes in Post-Katrina Chaos). Through the course of the show, my brain performed its usual cautious fencesitting on such issues. However, this statement made by Judy Benitez, of the Louisiana Rape Crisis Group stood out to help beget a clearer view:

“The fact that something wasn’t reported to the police doesn’t mean it didn’t happen,” Benitez says. “We know about all the other things that happened, all the thefts, all the robberies. There was all kinds of crime taking place on a much higher level than usual. Why would we think there was less rape typical of any given week in the city? It doesn’t make any sense.”

Regardless of whether an individual woman was raped or not, logic dictates that the number of acts of violence against women could not have decreased while other types of crime were on the increase. Our horribly-understaffed and strained police force had shooters and looters to contend with, and could not thoroughly patrol flooded neighborhoods and what they thought were safe havens. Yet, rape is a serious human violation, too, and leaves an indelible mark on mother, sister, wife, daughter and friend. At times of crisis and lawlessness, women need additional protection.

“We’re not downsizing anything,” [commander of the sex crimes unit with the New Orleans Police Department, Lt. David] Benelli says. “I’m telling you the number of reported rapes we had.

“I admit that rapes are underreported … I know more sexual assaults took place. I’ve expressed many times that we’re willing to investigate any sexual assaults that happened in this city at any time. We can only deal with what we know.”

While the police can only act on and the justice system can only prosecute that which they have evidence against, there has to be a way that unreported rapes are statistically recorded in the system, especially for this period of time in New Orleans history. The fact that Lt. Benelli “knows more sexual assaults took place” should count for something in the final reporting and prevention plans for the future. Otherwise, we should simply add Misogynists Who Look The Other Way to the growing list of derisive labels applied to New Orleanians today.

According to the NPR story, a series of rapes allegedly occurred in my greater neighborhood, Irish Channel, in a housing complex for the aged. The proximity of the attacks strikes a nerve and reminds me of the fragility of our safety and presumed civilized existence. Don’t even get me started on how a lot of this could have been prevented had the military shown up immediately after the hurricane hit. There is no pardon for that botch in a gaffe in a failure.

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Reducing Agents: Why would I want to win a Katrina t-shirt?

“Enter to win the NOLA.com Katrina comemorative T-Shirt today!”

Arguably, this is an advertising move on the part of the T-P to attract readers and to keep them interested in the news. [What’s boring about it?]

There is also a certain feeling of kinship involved in this very American phenomenon – the wearer of a post-K New Orleans t-shirt shows ownership, participation and pride concerning the disaster and recovery efforts. Yet, if you know me, you know how I feel about causes reduced to t-shirts, rubber bracelets and slogans.

I give this one three-and-a-half out of five Bah Humbugs.