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| Deborah Cotton attributed violence among young black men to lack of employment opportunities, a history of oppression and diverted resources. (Video) |
3 Gunmen Open Fire on Mother’s Day Procession
In a video last year, Deborah Cotton talked about violence among young black men in New Orleans. “It can be addressed, we are just not rising to the occasion,” she said. “That’s what’s heartbreaking.”
On Sunday, “The New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) estimated that as many as three gunmen opened fire on a Mother’s Day second line procession in the Seventh Ward this afternoon, injuring 19 people, according to the latest figures provided by the NOPD,” Kevin Allman wrote for Gambit, an alternative weekly.
Allman continued, “Among the injured was Gambit correspondent Deborah Cotton, who covers second line, Mardi Gras Indian and Social Aid & Pleasure Club culture for the paper under the name ‘BIg Red’ Cotton. Cotton was hit directly by gunfire and taken to intensive care for surgery. She is in guarded but stable condition tonight, according to doctors. This morning, Cotton had tweeted, ‘A very Happy Mother’s Day to all! See U at the 2nd line today w/ @TBC_BrassBand.'”
Jennifer Hale of WVUE-TV in New Orleans said Cotton “remains in critical condition.“
In a blog posting Monday, Brentin Mock described seeing Cotton in the hospital.
“Deb’s tongue seemed to push its way through her teeth as she lay, still asleep, as if she was trying to say something,” he wrote. “I tried to imagine what she attempted to say as bullets ripped through her back, perhaps running from the monster who opened fire on the Mother’s Day parade crowd.
“What kind of monster opens fire on a Mother’s Day parade crowd? What kind of animal? I hate myself for thinking to ask this in these exact terms, but it’s these exact terms in which I’m thinking.
“You already read the stories: Nineteen people shot; seven of them women, some of them perhaps mothers. Ten men shot. All of them have mothers. And then the kids. A 10-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl. I thought of my own 10-year-old son, Justice, who I’m hundreds of miles away from, and how I would feel if I found out from the news that he had been shot. . . .”
Hamilton Nolan, writing for Gawker, was also angry.
“The shooting of nineteen innocent people, including two children, at a Mother’s Day celebration in New Orleans yesterday was an act of violence only gaudy enough to hold the nation’s attention momentarily,” he wrote. “Shortly after the bodies were cleared, the FBI said they ‘have no indication the shooting was an act of terrorism. “It’s strictly an act of street violence in New Orleans.'” At that, we were free to let our attention drift. In America, all villainy is not created equal.
“A couple of disaffected young men in search of meaning drift into radical Islam and become violent. A couple of disaffected young men in search of meaning drift into street crime and become violent. A crowd of innocent people attending the Boston marathon are maimed by flying shrapnel from homemade bombs. A crowd of innocent people attending a Mother’s Day celebration in New Orleans are maimed by flying bullets. Two public events. Two terrible tragedies. One act of violence becomes a huge news story, transfixing the media’s attention for months and drawing outraged proclamations from politicians and pundits. Another act of violence is dismissed as the normal way of the world and quickly forgotten. . . .”
- Jarvis DeBerry, NOLA.com | The Times Picayune: Mother’s Day shooting in New Orleans can’t put an end to our dance
- Lauren McGaughy, NOLA.com | The Times Picayune: Mother’s Day shootings ruined a perfect Sunday, but can’t weaken love for this city
- WGNO-TV: New Orleans reporter is victim of Mother’s Day shooting
