A bridge so near. . .

eye of god

Gretna is not the only community that views New Orleans with distrust. Authorities in St. Bernard Parish stacked cars to block the roads into their parish. But Gretna's decision has become the symbol of the ultimate act of a bad neighbor, gaining notoriety partly from of an account in the Socialist Worker newspaper.

Gretna officials have been deluged with angry e-mails accusing them of racism. On Thursday, New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin said Gretna officials "will have to live" with their decision.

"We made a decision to protect people," he said. "... They made a decision to protect property."

This isn't going to stop haunting me, so I may as well go ahead and say it. So you've suffered. You are afraid you are going to die. You are thirsty, dehydrated, deeply in danger. You gather your last strength, and walk, stumble, wheel yourself in your wheel chair the final miles to the only remaining exit close enough to you.

And you find police, shooting, at you. You shall not escape. You have been condemned by that line of blue, to die.

Will we ever know, really, if anyone from that group did?

Some days I wish I believed in Hell. . . . I know some really first rate candidates. . . .

Flush with the necessities, we offered food and water to passing families and individuals. Many decided to stay and join us. Our encampment grew to 80 or 90 people.

From a woman with a battery powered radio we learned that the media was talking about us. Up in full view on the freeway, every relief and news organizations saw us on their way into the City. Officials were being asked what they were going to do about all those families living up on the freeway? The officials responded they were going to take care of us. Some of us got a sinking feeling. "Taking care of us" had an ominous tone to it.

Unfortunately, our sinking feeling (along with the sinking City) was correct. Just as dusk set in, a Gretna Sheriff showed up, jumped out of his patrol vehicle, aimed his gun at our faces, screaming, "Get off the fucking freeway". A helicopter arrived and used the wind from its blades to blow away our flimsy structures. As we retreated, the sheriff loaded up his truck with our food and water.

So how is it that the heart doesn't go ahead and just break?