If this is a hoax, it has impressive depth...

Found at  http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/6/211436/8987


The Moore family is large and long established creole Catholic family in New Orleans, the Moores are musicians - Deacon John (Moore) is the most famous one of them - professors, nurses... Their houses are now submerged by flooding, and most of them have lost everything following Katrina's passage. Lisa Moore, editor (Redbone press), has collected the testimony of her 43 year-old cousin, Denise Moore, once an education counselor, now a refugee in Baton Rouge. Here is her tale of a dive into Hell.

Update [2005-9-6 23:39 by ch2]: Lisa Moore is indeed the editor of Redbone press. The url below is their webpage and they have a message board. Anyone interested in getting in touch with Lisa to suggest she share her story with the media ?
http://www.femmenoir.net/RedbonePress.htm

Also, a google search turned this up:

Denise Moore - (504) 864-0544 - 7015 Jeannette St, New Orleans, LA 70118
Lisa Moore - (504) 286-1869 - 5741 Cameron Blvd, New Orleans, LA 70122

CTH

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Charles T. Hart M.Ed.
Walker Teaching Resource Center
Senior Instructional Developer
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
615 McCallie Avenue, 401B Hunter Hall
Chattanooga, TN  37403
423-425-4002 (voice)423-425-4025 (fax)


> -----Original Message-----
> From: UTC Staff E-Mail List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
> Bill Johnson
> Sent: Thursday, September 15, 2005 2:23 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [UTCSTAFF] FW: The Real Story, Please Forward...
> 
> This sounds like a retelling of one of the stories from this week's episode
> of This American Life w/ Ira Glass...heard on our own WUTC at 8pm on Sunday.
> Though it could be a very similar story.
> 
> 
> On 9/15/05 2:04 PM, "Shalonna Williams" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> > THIS IS LONG, BUT VERY WORTH READING!
> >
> > I am not sure how true it is, but it is another perspective.  Perhaps
> > some food for thought.
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Lisa Moore
> > To:
> > Sent: Saturday, September 03, 2005 10:13 AM
> > Subject: a survivor's story: Katrina in New Orleans
> >
> >
> > i heard from my aunt last night that my cousin Denise
> > made it out of New Orleans; she's at her brother's in
> > Baton Rouge. from what she told me:
> >
> > her mother, a licensed practical nurse, was called in
> > to work on Sunday night at Memorial Hospital
> > (historically known as Baptist Hospital to those of us
> > from N.O.). Denise decided to stay with her mother,
> > her niece and grandniece (who is 2 years old); she
> > figured they'd be safe at the hospital. they went to
> > Baptist, and had to wait hours to be assigned a room
> > to sleep in; after they were finally assigned a room,
> > two white nurses suddenly arrived after the cut-off
> > time (time to be assigned a room), and Denise and her
> > family were booted out; their room was given up to the
> > new nurses. Denise was furious, and rather than stay
> > at Baptist, decided to walk home (several blocks away)
> > to ride out the storm at her mother's apartment. her
> > mother stayed at the hospital.
> >
> > she described it as the scariest time in her life. 3
> > of the rooms in the apartment (there are only 4) caved
> > in. ceilings caved in, walls caved in. she huddled
> > under a mattress in the hall. she thought she would
> > die from either the storm or a heart attack. after the
> > storm passed, she went back to Baptist to seek shelter
> > (this was Monday). it was also scary at Baptist; the electricity was
> > out, they were running on generators, there was no air conditioning.
> > Tuesday the levees broke, and water began rising. they moved patients
> > upstairs, saw boats pass by on what used to be streets. they were told
> > that they would be evacuated, that buses were coming. then they were
> > told they would have to walk to the nearest intersection, Napoleon and
> > S. Claiborne, to await the buses. they waded out in hip-deep water, only
> > to stand at the intersection, on the neutral ground (what y'all call the
> > median) for 3 1/2 hours. the buses came and took them to the Ernest
> > Morial Convention Center. (yes, the convention center you've all seen on
> > TV.)
> >
> > Denise said she thought she was in hell. they were
> > there for 2 days, with no water, no food. no shelter.
> > Denise, her mother (63 years old), her niece (21 years
> > old), and 2-year-old grandniece. when they arrived,
> > there were already thousands of people there. they
> > were told that buses were coming. police drove by,
> > windows rolled up, thumbs up signs. national guard
> > trucks rolled by, completely empty, soldiers with guns
> > cocked and aimed at them. nobody stopped to drop off
> > water. a helicopter dropped a load of water, but all
> > the bottles exploded on impact due to the height of
> > the helicopter.
> >
> > the first day (Wednesday) 4 people died next to her.
> > the second day (Thursday) 6 people died next to her.
> > Denise told me the people around her all thought they
> > had been sent there to die. again, nobody stopped. the
> > only buses that came were full; they dropped off more
> > and more people, but nobody was being picked up and
> > taken away. they found out that those being dropped
> > off had been rescued from rooftops and attics; they
> > got off the buses delirious from lack of water and
> > food. completely dehydrated. the crowd tried to keep
> > them all in one area; Denise said the new arrivals had
> > mostly lost their minds. they had gone crazy.
> >
> > inside the convention center, the place was one huge
> > bathroom. in order to shit, you had to stand in other
> > people's shit. the floors were black and slick with
> > shit. most people stayed outside because the smell was
> > so bad. but outside wasn't much better: between the
> > heat, the humidity, the lack of water, the old and
> > very young dying from dehydration... and there was no
> > place to lay down, not even room on the sidewalk. they
> > slept outside Wednesday night, under an overpass.
> >
> > Denise said yes, there were young men with guns there.
> > but they organized the crowd. they went to Canal
> > Street and "looted," and brought back food and water
> > for the old people and the babies, because nobody had
> > eaten in days. when the police rolled down windows and
> > yelled out "the buses are coming," the young men with
> > guns organized the crowd in order: old people in
> > front, women and children next, men in the back. just
> > so that when the buses came, there would be priorities
> > of who got out first.
> >
> > Denise said the fights she saw between the young men
> > with guns were fist fights. she saw them put their
> > guns down and fight rather than shoot up the crowd.
> > but she said that there were a handful of people shot
> > in the convention center; their bodies were left
> > inside, along with other dead babies and old people.
> >
> > Denise said the people thought there were being sent
> > there to die. lots of people being dropped off, nobody
> > being picked up. cops passing by, speeding off.
> > national guard rolling by with guns aimed at them. and
> > yes, a few men shot at the police, because at a
> > certain point all the people thought the cops were
> > coming to hurt them, to kill them all. she saw a young
> > man who had stolen a car speed past, cops in pursuit;
> > he crashed the car, got out and ran, and the cops shot
> > him in the back. in front of the whole crowd. she saw
> > many groups of people decide that they were going to
> > walk across the bridge to the west bank, and those
> > same groups would return, saying that they were met at
> > the top of the bridge by armed police ordering them to
> > turn around, that they weren't allowed to leave.
> >
> > so they all believed they were sent there to die.
> >
> > Denise's niece found a pay phone, and kept trying to
> > call her mother's boyfriend in Baton Rouge, and
> > finally got through and told him where they were. the boyfriend, and
> > Denise's brother, drove down from Baton Rouge and came and got them.
> > they had to bribe a few cops, and talk a few into letting them into the
> > city ("come on, man, my 2-year-old niece is at the Convention Center!"),
> > then they took back roads to get to them.
> >
> > after arriving at my other cousin's apartment in Baton
> > Rouge, they saw the images on TV, and couldn't believe
> > how the media was portraying the people of New
> > Orleans. she kept repeating to me on the phone last
> > night: make sure you tell everybody that they left us
> > there to die. nobody came. those young men with guns
> > were protecting us. if it wasn't for them, we wouldn't
> > have had the little water and food they had found.
> >
> > that's Denise Moore's story.
> >
> > Lisa C. Moore