page 13.8

hormone idiocy
 gg
IDIOCY IN ACTION
Hallowed by the Uniform
an extreme case of what is repeated hundreds of times daily all over the country.

in 1975 mark essex went on a shooting spree. he first attacked a police station with a carbine in new orleans, striking two people. though the area was subsequently swarmed with police, a squad car investigating a nearby building alarm
had not been notified.
one officer was struck. a week later he killed a grocery store manager, then hijacked a car and headed for the downtown howard johnson’s hotel, where he climbed eighteen floors of an external staircase to gain admittance. he shot a couple and set fire to their room. one of two investigating hotel staff was shot, then one of another group. thereafter he fired at any white policeman or fireman that showed themselves. even though guests were obviously trapped by the spreading flames, the gathering police
fired at random at the upper floors.
eventually 600 police from louisiana, texas and mississippi, as well as the fbi, treasury and other federal agencies, totaling 26 federal, state and local agencies, became involved. essex ran through the upper floors shooting people and starting fires. only a minimal attempt was made to close the area and restrain gawkers
and tourists who gathered to view the shooting, and several people were killed.
at least one officer who was killed was
standing in the open just watching.
civilians with rifles began to arrive, some wearing a motley collection of uniforms. after killing the leader of a tactical squad that arrived on the upper floors, essex moved to the roof, hiding in the concrete cubicles that enclosed the various roof doorways. tear gas was fired onto the roof,
which of course dissipated quickly.
a small
unarmored helicopter
arrived but essex drove it off. an ex-vietnam marine reserve helicopter with five sharpshooters arrived, making a total of 48 passes
amid ground fire from police and civilians who could not even see the roof.
at one point the sharpshooters
fired on a group of police in a stairwell
with enough power to half demolish the cement. no one was hurt. a radio announcer made a false “request from police for aid” from civilians with high powered rifles and two groups of “morons, marginal types” had to be turned away. the marine reserve helicopter
fired a second time on a group of officers.
finally essex was hit after a wild charge into the open. according to one officer, “the bullets held him up… then he went down.”
everyone kept shooting.
the heavy fire shattered a water main,
sending a four foot wall of water down a stairwell, carrying police with it.
long into the night police continued to “hear” and return fire from an imagined second sniper, yelling taunts such as,
“power to the people, nigger!!”
and
“fuck you! fuck you! fuck you! fuck you! fuck you!”
at one point there was
official confirmation
of a second sniper, though in reality it was police fire grazing metal on the roof. the noise became so intense that no one was able to confirm or deny the official statement. a thompson machine
gun on full automatic and a big game rifle were steadily used
and the helicopter made a strafing run.
then police began to fire on each other.
one who put his helmet on a stick to indicate his presence
was immediately fired upon.
at 2 o’clock the next afternoon, when an assault team stormed the roof
city police fired on them.
finally, the assault team plus thirty additional officers
stood shoulder to shoulder in a semicircle around the boiler room
and opened fire, and the ricochets wounded nine, three seriously.
APPARENTLY AT NO TIME DID ANYONE CONSIDER SIMPLY EVACUATING THE AREA.
where he came from – killing with kindness.
mark essex just happed to be born with black skin, and was part of a black middle class that had been slowly growing in america since the civil war. to understand his actions it is necessary  to know that as a youth he never felt the crushing burden of either poverty or racism that is common to most blacks. by all accounts his home life was gentle and progressive, in a genteelly shabby suburb of a small kansas town. his father was a foreman, not a worker, in a small family owned business. he had been a cub scout and respected by all, described as a, “smiling and friendly boy who was always laughing and joking.” his childhood friends, and later his dates, were racially mixed. his first ambition was to be a minister.
then he joined the navy.
he “finished boot camp with an outstanding performance rating and was encouraged to take advanced training in a specialty.” at the navy dental school he was rated outstanding, and his head officer described him as, “an all american type, concerned about people, just the nicest person in the world.” after assignment he experienced intense constant harassment, not just from enlisted men, but petty officers and other officers - subject to racial epithets, refused admittance in certain areas without the permission of whites, subject to complaints about his stereo even when he himself could barely hear it, openly harassed on dates, his being the only car continually stopped at the gates of the base, even having his car stripped repeatedly. the disciplinary structure of the military was constantly used against him, but in serious cases there was always enough evidence that accusation were groundless. after one such, he and his black bunk mates were all separated and harassment intensified. he began using sedatives, but was still unable to sleep. nonetheless, he followed the advice of black friends and worked hard for promotion, in order to be placed where he could avoid the worst racists. his friends knew he was regarded as a “cocky nigger” because he was unused to responding to discrimination with the proper subservience. he attacked one individual after extended taunting, and went absent without leave for a month, returning to his parent’s home. on their council and his minister’s he returned to base. despite overwhelming evidence of provocation, his pay was docked, his grade reduced and he was restricted to base. he was later asked to sign a paper acknowledging, “unsuitability [for service] due to a character disorder the base’s commanding officer recommended discharge as .”“in the best interests of the navy [because of his] inability to accept responsibility.”

after mark’s death there was a flood of extensive statements from public officials at all levels across the country, including federal, EXPLICITLY denying that society in general had any responsibility for his actions.
from “hunting humans”
by dr. eliot leyton
that rarety, a work on mass and serial
killers by an apparently qualified sociologist.