Lee Circle, New Orleans; the statue of Robert E. Lee will soon be removed ( Aneese

In New Orleans, some black nationalist crazies invaded a vacant house for rent, claimed it as part of their self-described “Washitah Nation” … and the police won’t do anything about it. Excerpt:

Fredrick Hines, whose name is on the tax rolls for the property and whom neighbors say is the true owner, called police after he found out a group of young people had moved into his investment property and changed the locks. Hines said he showed police the deed, which has his name on it, but they wouldn’t remove the people living in the house. The squatters also showed the officers some papers claiming ownership, Hines said, though he isn’t sure what kind of papers they could have had. They wouldn’t give him a copy. Police said that, because both parties had papers, there was nothing they could do. If Hines wanted the squatters removed, he said, police told him he would have to file eviction papers, a process that would take more than a week and cost him several hundred dollars. Hines said that he has filed the eviction papers and is now waiting for the time limit for the squatters to contest the ruling to run out, which should be some time this week. “It’s frustrating,” Hines said, especially because this does not appear to be the first time the group has done this. “The police told me this is like the third house they’ve broken into,” he said.

So the New Orleans cops know this bunch are nothing but common thieves, but they’re forcing this homeowner to go to court and spend several hundred dollars to evict people who stole his house from him. More from the story:

Hines appeared to be taking the NOPD’s stance in stride, saying he couldn’t afford to alienate the authorities, whom he may have to rely on to deal with the squatters, but some of his neighbors are furious. “It’s absolutely ridiculous,” said Tom Houghton, who lives across the street from Hines property and owns rentals in the neighborhood. “You’re telling me you can just walk into someone’s house and claim it’s yours, and the police don’t do anything?”

Read the whole thing. I dunno, I think these homeowners are being unfair to the local authorities. The City of New Orleans government may simply be too busy taking down Confederate monuments to have time to worry about black nationalist thugs stealing people’s houses.

But seriously, you want public symbolism? Oh, you’ve got lots of public symbolism on display here.

UPDATE: I expect this fact will matter to some liberals feeling all fuzzy about these black nationalist outlaws: the landlord they are abusing is also black.

UPDATE.2:The house is liberated, and the Washitah Nation is captive. More:

The four individuals were charged with criminal trespassing after police served a search warrant on the two-story shotgun single. They were taken into custody without incident, though a neighbor said that two of them appeared to be trying to flee through a side door after police announced their presence. Two of the individuals arrested refused to give their names, police said. The other two were identified as Devin Garner, 24, and Danamaria Thornton, 18.

More:

The owner, a California man named Fredrick Hines, said he hoped the group were prosecuted to the “full extent of the law possible.” A supervisor in a mechanic shop, Hines said he was forced to take a week off of work to deal with the issue. He also had to file formal eviction papers. “No one should have to go through this,” he said. Neighbors say the squatters broke into the house and changed the locks two weeks ago and shouted at a real estate agent who was attempting to get inside. The neighbors reported the squatters to police, but officers said there was no visible forced entry and there was little they could do without the owner’s presence. Hines flew in last week and met with police Friday. Although he showed them his deed and other legal documents, the officers said the squatters had also shown papers claiming ownership. It was a civil matter, police said.

That poor man. Had to fly here from California and take a week off of work to deal with this crap. Sounds like the cops were happy to dump this into the system, and not worry about it, until the local media got wind of it. When I suggested that to a New Orleans friend, he responded:

And thus have you discovered how N.O. government works: ignore a hundred problems until one of them gains traction in the media. Then fix that one.

I bet if that house had been occupied by four Confederate monuments, Mayor Mitch Landrieu would have had them evicted at once.

UPDATE.3: The Washitaw Nation are supremely, delightfully, utterly insane. Take a look at their Emperial (sic) Royal Council. I am especially impressed by this cat:



Royal Interim Minister of the Interior

Crown Prince Emperor El Bey Bigbay Bagby Badger

Now that’s a man with proper theology and geometry. Check out this Tribute to the Empress of the Washitaw Nation. It is a thing of crackpot beauty:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_38_x3x6Ck?rel=0]

UPDATE.4: I have to say on reflection that I wish I had not been so insouciant about the possibility of the deaths of these four turds in a putative conflict with the police. It was wrong, and I apologize for it.