Prominent New Orleans pro-education/anti-violence/anti-corruption blogger shot during Mother's Day massacre - FBI immediately dismisses this as mere '

[Emily]

NOLA: Mother's Day shooting at New Orleans parade draws fearful reaction from students

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/...eans-parade-shooting-20130513,0,4875928.story

By Matt Pearce

May 13, 2013, 4:56 p.m.

When at least one man stepped into a New Orleans parade crowd on Mother's Day and opened fire, 19 people were shot and injured ? and a city's conscience was also wounded.
[snip]
One of the seven women shot in the march was Deborah "Big Red" Cotton, a journalist who has covered second lines and has written about violence at second lines before, which she thought brought unfair criticism on the city's marches.
"What kind of monster opens fire on a Mother?s Day parade crowd? What kind of animal?" writer Brentin Mock blogged after visiting Cotton in the hospital; Cotton had been shot in the back and was sedated. "I hate myself for thinking to ask this in these exact terms, but it?s these exact terms in which I?m thinking."
Many commentators took note of FBI spokeswoman Mary Beth Romig's comment to the Associated Press on Sunday that the shooting did not appear to be terrorism, but ?strictly an act of street violence in New Orleans."
In a Sunday email with the Los Angeles Times, Romig didn't mention terrorism: "It is a matter for the local police department. We were aware of the incident but quickly assessed it was not a federal matter."...

Deborah Cotton was one of the most seriously injured. She talks in the video below posted a year ago about corruption in New Orleans, and how frequently public events are used as cover for targeted killings.


Deborah Cotton:Violence in New Orleans
ParkTriangle ParkTriangle?174 videos
<object width="560" height="315"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/NEBl5luhRWs?hl=en_US&version=3"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/NEBl5luhRWs?hl=en_US&version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>

 

[Emily]

Re: Prominent New Orleans pro-education/anti-violence/anti-corruption blogger shot during Mother's Day massacre - FBI immediately dismisses this as mere 'street violence'

http://theadvocate.com/news/6051039-123/mothers-day-shooting-victim-sends

Mother?s Day shooting victim sends message to City Hall
By Andrew Vanacore
New Orleans bureau

May 23, 2013

NEW ORLEANS ? Perhaps the most dramatic, or at least poignant, moment at Wednesday?s meeting of the New Orleans City Council committee came not by way of the high-ranking city officials there to assess progress on the mayor?s anti-violence campaign, or the council members who pelted them with questions.

Instead it was Deborah Cotton, the freelance journalist and chronicler of New Orleans? brass band tradition, who spoke to the council through a friend as she recuperates in an intensive care unit from the latest episode of the city?s head-shaking violence.

In a brief statement read by a friend, Linda Usdin, Cotton held back from condemning the young men who sprayed gunfire into the crowd during the Mother?s Day second line, or the city officials who have been grappling with why so many young men make similar decisions almost every day.

?I have known from the moment the shooting happened that I did not want these young men thrown to the wolves,? she said, ?and that we have been given yet another opportunity to demonstrate a different way of treating our humanity.?...