The preponderance of stories of violence and вЂњlootingвЂќ attributed to the predominantly black New Orleans residents makes me question not just the journalistic integrity of our major news outlets, but the racial consciousness of a nation that would allow such falsity to be projected by the news media.Д«oth the persistence of the media to cover the вЂњlooting,вЂќ and the difference in the language used to describe the вЂњlootersвЂќ perpetuate a criminal image of the black survivors of Katrina.

As of last Tuesday, вЂњThe GuardianвЂќ newspaper reported that New Orleans police had been unable to confirm any such reports of violence in the Superdome.

Major news outlets also disseminated stories of widespread violence, including one of a child being raped, babies being killed and bodies piled on the floor of the New Orleans Superdome. In the same situation, what exactly would you do? The national hysteria and anxiety over the вЂњlootingвЂќ seems displaced and not cognizant of the desperate situation in which New Orleans residents found themselves: waiting for days for adequate food, water and shelter. During the hurricane, his grandmother pointed at his chest and said вЂњNow youвЂ™re the man of the house. Other news reports have taken the same myopic approach of identifying one act of survival, вЂњlooting,вЂќ and not providing ample context to justify that action.ДЄt a community meeting in Houston my mother, a nurse, who drove to the Houston Astrodome from New York to help, said that one young evacuee from New Orleans, 15, spoke of how he had to do what was necessary to provide what was needed for his family. HadnвЂ™t major news outlets broken the story of вЂњlootingвЂќ occurring more than a week ago? Yet the reporter, a white woman, continued to encourage viewers to log on to view more pictures of the вЂњlooting.вЂќД«y highlighting the act of вЂњlooting,вЂќ this news report isolated the act from the struggle to survive a situation in which many Katrina victims found themselves in the days following the hurricane. While the photos provided evidence of the survival tactics of the Katrina victims, I continued watching, perplexed, in an attempt to identify the truly newsworthy element. Apparently, New Orleans residents had cleaned the grocery of the food products and the pharmacy of much of the medicine during the hurricane. Last Friday, as I watched CNN, a reporter referred viewers to a blog entitled вЂњThe Daily Dish,вЂќ which had links to photos of the interior of a local Winn Dixie. The images of survivors of Hurricane Katrina, for the most part images of poor African Americans вЂњlootingвЂќ neighborhood supermarkets and grocery stores exemplify this nationвЂ™s fetish with stigmatizing, criminalizing and dehumanizing black people, even in the midst of a great tragedy. By Nzingha Tyehemba, Amherst College student

The looter new orleans