in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, the national guard was sent in before federal aid was. they were sent to deal primarily with “looters”, aka people being forced to live among corpses in floodwater, venturing out of their homes and risking death to find supplies and food.

they were given orders to shoot or kill “if necessary”, and were told to treat it as a war zone. this is what comes to mind when politicians condemn “looters”

dead bodies piling up, police and national guard kettling survivors, people hungry and without medication or water in the hottest month of the year, unable to even grab water from an abandoned and flood-filled convenience store. that’s what comes to mind when they discuss looting

this is, of course, a disavowal of the looting of land and labor which gave them the gun, the law, the property