You rescue a bunch of your neighbors in a flood, go straight to prison (you're Muslim)

[EFerrari]

I'm sorry if this is a dupe. This man spent days after Katrina helping his neighbors. He was a neighborhood stalwart and he got to do "Katrina time" when he was wrongfully pulled out of his own home by the police and held for weeks on looting charges no one could ever even give a shred of evidence for. He was accused of being al qaida and Taliban. He was held incommunicado for nearly a month.

The irony is that this Syrian immigrant had hundreds of keys at his disposal to the homes of his neighbors and clients had he really wanted to loot anything. Instead, he was out there trying to pull people out of the water.

Zeitoun.



Democracy Now! report:

EXCLUSIVE...Zeitoun: How a Hero in New Orleans After Hurricane Katrina Was Arrested, Labeled a Terrorist and Imprisoned

Today, a personal story of a national tragedy. Five years ago, Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans. Abdulrahman Zeitoun, a Syrian-born New Orleans building contractor, stayed in the city while his wife and children left to Baton Rouge. He paddled the flooded streets in his canoe and helped rescue many of his stranded neighbors. Days later, armed police and National Guardsmen arrested him and accused him of being a terrorist. He was held for nearly a month, most of which he was not allowed to call his wife, Kathy. Today, in a rare broadcast interview, Abdulrahman and Kathy Zeitoun join us to tell their story, along with the man who chronicles it in the book Zeitoun, Dave Eggers.

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/8/27/exclusivezeitoun_how_a_hero_in_new

[The Magistrate]

1. Jesus Wept, Ma'am....

This is simply incredible, and yet not in the least surprising....

[EFerrari]

4. Indeed. I would give anything to have a neighbor like this gentleman. n/t

[liberalhistorian]

24. Jesus weeps, indeed, at this

inhumane treatment and horrible injustice. And especially weeps at the RW wingnuts coopting of his name and dragging it through the mud for their own nefarious political purposes.

[malaise]

2. Unfuggingbelievable

I have to get that book. Evil is everywhere.

[uppityperson]

3. k&r for people doing heroic deeds and getting shit on

[NOLALady]

5. OMG.

This is the first time I've heard of this story.

[EFerrari]

7. He said after his arrest, he was put with people not from his parish

so no one knew who he was. The worst thing is, I watch Tavis Smiley's show last night and there seems to be a lot of tension in the marriage now as a result of this trauma. Unbelievable.

[WCGreen]

6. And yet he still wants to stay...

Think about what that really says about our country...

[EFerrari]

9. How do you know he wants to stay?

He's a family man with a large family and a service business. He can't pack up that equity and leave with it.

[WCGreen]

12. He sure looked happy in that picture...

As did his family.

But then again, I wonder why you would think he would want to go.

It's the idea of the United States that keeps people coming and staying.

Ideas trump the reality on the ground so many times for so many people...

[EFerrari]

30. Of course, I don't know how he feels.

But, from the interviews, he seems to want to turn the page and to care for the business he built himself and for his family.

His family in Syria is full of successful professionals. They're teachers and professors and doctors and lawyers.

[Beartracks]

8. America does not seem to be the country...

... that I imagine immigrants think it is be when they decide to come here for a better life. Not saying that a better life cannot be had here, but that the idea of a pluralistic society where people are free to be who they want to be, citizenship has its advantages, and work is rewarded with security for you and your family.... that must be a rude awakening when you're hauled off to jail for being the "wrong" ethnicity.

--------------------------------

[unblock]

13. the sad thing is, they come seeking a better life, not the best life.

and in many cases, they find america is indeed a better life. that's not to say we should be proud, because after a few generations of getting better and better, we've been moving away from that for the last 30 years or so. shrub did us a huge favor by making it more obvious to more people.

but for international perspective, remember that there are many countries where conditions are worse -- far worse -- than what we have here in america.

the people who are most sickened by what america is descending into are the people who actually learned their civics and social values properly, from a time when such things were regarded as important. republicans and the msm decided at some point they were quaint, then obsolete, and finally traitorous.

[Beartracks]

25. That's a chilling thought.

And, ironically, the proper teaching of civics and social values makes me think of Main Street America.... a place that such Republicans and MSM demagogues claim to value, cherish, and protect.

:eyes: :puke:

-----------------------

[EFerrari]

27. We didn't used to watch while our neighbors were hauled away

by a militarized police force and in violation of our most basic civil rights. In the interview, Eggers uses the term "Katrina time" -- because apparently many people were incarcerated in similar ways, into a collapsed system. There were two other men with Zeitoun and they both did many more months than he did because they had no resources for a lawyer.

[Violet_Crumble]

10. I'm speechless after reading that n/t

[struggle4progress]

11. Remember this sort of crap was a result of the coup in 2000: the people

who pulled that off are still around, they're still beating the drums of fear and hatred, and we're very likely to see some more of this in the future

Forewarned is forearmed

[Swamp Rat]

14. k&r

[Solly Mack]

15. k/r

[lostnfound]

16. His wife and kids had no idea where he was or if he was even alive

for weeks. He asked one guard after another to just call his wife to tell her he was alive. So cruel our nation has become. On edit: So cruel 'the system', that is, not the people.

[Mariana]

20. Every one of those guards was one of "the people".

And apparently, every last one of them was satisfied to behave like the Gestapo, ensuring that this prisoner vanished completely into the Night and Fog.

If there weren't lots and lots of cruel people, it would be impossible to have a cruel "system".

[SammyWinstonJack]

29. +1

[amborin]

17. kr

[Fire1]

18. ".......sweet land of liberty." n/t

[rivercat]

19. I was just thinking about him today.

good book.

[EFerrari]

21. I had no idea that Eggers was involved with oral history.

I'd like to read this book.

[Agony]

22. Kick/Rec

[jonnyblitz]

23. I recommend the book, I read it a few months ago.

It was a pleasant surprise to see Amy interview them. :D Democracy Now is always required viewing for me.

[EFerrari]

26. Hey, jonnyblitz. Tavis Smiley had the pair on that same night.

http://www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/archive/201008/20100827.html

:hi:

[w4rma]

28. The mainstream news could be covering this. Why aren't they? (nt)

[EFerrari]

31. Thank you for the recs, guys.

It's comforting to know that people are paying attention. Thanks.

[ConsAreLiars]

32. Saw that on DN! (nowhere else). K+R. Asking why nowhere else is a good clue to follow. (nt)

[EFerrari]

35. Eggers book is out so Tavis Smiley had it:

http://www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/archive/201008/20100827.html

But you're right. These stories never make it.

[ConsAreLiars]

33. Saw that on DN! (nowhere else). K+R. Asking why nowhere else is a good clue to follow. (nt)

edit - too late for the R, but I tried.

[Douglas Carpenter]

34. kick for an incredible story