Guns on ferries in N.O.

Members of the U.S. Coast Guard

A group of about a dozen students gathered for the 6th ward tour, and we met our first guide in Algiers, which is directly across the Mississippi River from downtown New Orleans.

On the ferry to the other side, two coast guard officers watched carefully. They were pretty friendly when talked to, but they clearly took their jobs seriously. One of them had a very large gun, and if I knew more about guns, I could tell you about it.

Once we met our guide, we waited for a ferry to take us back across the river. The same member of the U.S. Coast Guard, later re-joined by his partner, asked us for information about where we were going and what we were doing.

Our guide said nothing, and no one else did either. Why the silence? There is a committed group of activists in post-Katrina N.O. that are tackling primarily housing-related issues, and they have had all kinds of trouble with authorities looking to gain personal information. The bottom line: Don't talk to authorities unless necessary.

The situation at the dock might have been more intense had the officer demanded more information, but he ended up acknowledging that the tour, or whatever we represented in his eyes, was simply ensuring its "operational security". Keep in mind he had no idea what our purpose was.