At least 11 black people were shot by white gunmen in the days following Hurricane Katrina's destruction of New Orleans, and in the three years since those crimes, little has been done by law enforcement.
According to an 18-month investigation published in The Nation, a predominantly white neighborhood formed a militia after the levees broke to simply keep out people who "didn't belong."
But the investigation reveals a more sinister outcome: black men suffering brutal and unprovoked attacks from white men armed with shotguns, handguns and even assault rifles.
During the hurricane, the more affluent white residents of Algiers Point refused to help and even got in the way.
"Facing an influx of refugees, the residents of Algiers Point could have pulled together food, water and medical supplies for the flood victims," according to the article. "Instead, a group of white residents, convinced that crime would arrive with the human exodus, sought to seal off the area, blocking the roads in and out of the neighborhood by dragging lumber and downed trees into the streets.
Because the militia was seen to be protecting itself from black criminals who, it was assumed, would loot in the aftermath of the storm, police have generally not pursued criminal investigations.
"By and large, I think the white mentality is that these people are exempt--that even if they committed these crimes, they're really exempt from any kind of legal repercussion," said Lance Hill, who runs Tulane's Southern Institute for Education and Research.
"It's sad to say, but I think that if any of these cases went to trial, and none of them have, I can't see a white person being convicted of any kind of crime against an African-American during that period."
ColorOfChange.org, an organization devoted to strengthening the political voice of black America, created a petition demanding justice for the shootings in New Orleans.
The site claims Louisiana's law enforcement agencies have refused to investigate the crimes of "white vigilantes" who "tried to expel their black neighbors."
The following video is a companion piece to the written report in The Nation:
