Racism and Criminal Justice in New Orleans
By Jordan Flaherty
August 29, 2007
Two years after the devastation of New Orleans highlighted racism and
inequality in the US, the disaster continues. New Orleans' health care
and education systems are still in crisis. Thousands of units of
public housing sit empty. Nearly half the city's population remains
displaced. A report released this week by the Institute for Southern
Studies reveals that, out of $116 billion in federal Katrina funds
allocated, less than 30% has gone towards long-term rebuilding—and
half of that 30% remains unspent.
The city's criminal justice system, already rated among the worst in
the nation by human rights organizations pre-Katrina, continues to be
in crisis. After the storm, thousands of prisoners were abandoned in
Orleans Parish Prison as the water was rising. In the days after
Katrina, mainstream media depicted the people of New Orleans as
looters and criminals, and a makeshift jail in a bus station was the
first city function to re-open, just days after the storm.
For Robert Goodman, an activist for criminal justice reform who was
born and raised in the schools and prisons of Louisiana, this
demonizing and criminalization of the survivors was no surprise. He
tells me that the primary crisis of New Orleans is a discriminatory
and corrupt criminal justice system, adding that, "every time a black
child is born in Louisiana, there's already a bed waiting for him at
Angola State Prison.".
On May 9, 2006, Robert Goodman's brother was killed in an encounter
with the New Orleans police. This was another death in a long list of
civilian deaths at police hands, a list that also includes three
deaths in Orleans Parish Prison this year. Advocates say these deaths
have not received proper investigation, and point to larger, systemic
problems.
A Broken System
For poor Black kids growing up in New Orleans, the education system
functions as a school to prison pipeline. In New Orleans, 95% of the
detained youth in 1999 were Black. In 2004, Louisiana spent $96,713 to
incarcerate each child in detention, and $4,724 to educate a child in
the public schools. "When I went to prison, I was illiterate,"
Goodman tells me. "I didn't even know anything about slavery, about
our history."
New Orleans' public defense system is in such poor shape that Orleans
Parish Criminal District Court Judge Arthur Hunter recently complained
that, "indigent defense in New Orleans is unbelievable,
unconstitutional, totally lacking the basic professional standards of
legal representation, and a mockery of what a criminal justice system
should be in a Western civilized nation."
Louisiana has the highest incarceration rate of any state in the US –
if Louisiana were a country, it would have the highest incarceration
rate in the world. Orleans Parish Prison, the city jail, was -
pre-Katrina - the eighth largest jail in the US. Advocates complain
that there is no forum for oversight over the jail or Marlin Gusman,
the criminal Sheriff who oversees it. "We've suffered under a policy
where the city builds a huge jail that is then required to be filled
with human beings, or else it's a waste of money," states civil rights
attorney Mary Howell.
Robert Goodman is fighting to change the system that took away his
brother, as part of a grassroots organization called Safe Streets
Strong Communities. Safe Streets is struggling not just to reform the
entire system, from policing and public defense to prison, but also to
reframe the debate around these issues.
Safe Streets began as a coalition of grassroots activists and
organizers from a number of organizations who came together
post-Katrina to respond to the immediate crisis. "Our first priority
was to help those individuals who had been in Orleans Parish Prison
prior to Katrina, many of whom were being held illegally for minor,
non-violent offenses," explains co-director Norris Henderson. "In the
early days, right after the storm, Safe Streets was basically
performing triage for a broken system."
In the transition from the crisis of Katrina to the long-term
catastrophe that the city is still in, Safe Streets focused their
energy on building their base, ensuring that people in communities
most affected were shaping the priorities and making the decisions of
the organization.
The organization has been a vital leader in the struggle for a just
recovery for New Orleans. Shortly after Safe Streets began pressuring
on the issue, the city's indigent defense board was completely
reconstituted and now includes people that actually care about poor
people receiving a fair trial. After they turned their focus to
issues around policing, the city approved and funded an office of the
independent monitor to oversee the police. In addition, the city
council has begun looking at downsizing Orleans Parish Prison, as well
as reducing the sheriff's budget, and tying it to reform and greater
accountability – also a part of Safe Street's strategy.
More importantly, they affected the debate around criminal justice in
the city. Within a few months after the storm, instead of talk of
more prisons, journalists and politicians were looking at the system,
and the roots of the problems. Evidence of widespread police
misconduct and people locked up for months without charges began to be
reported.
For those that have been victimized by law enforcement violence,
organizing and talking about what they have faced has already been
transformative. "I can't imagine where my family would be if it
weren't for Safe Streets," Goodman tells me. "We would have been
pushed to the side. This organizing inspired my mother to live another
day."
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Jordan Flaherty is an editor of Left Turn Magazine, a journal of
grassroots resistance. His previous articles from New Orleans are
online at http://www.leftturn.org. To contact Jordan, email:
neworleans@leftturn.org. On myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/secondlines .
A version of this story originally appeared in the July/August issue
of ColorLines Magazine. See a special online collection of
Katrina-related reporting at http://www.colorlines.com/.
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For more information on some of the organizations and resources
mentioned in this article:
Safe Streets Strong Communities: http://www.safestreetsnola.org/
Institute For Southern Studies Report:
http://www.southernstudies.org/facingsouth/
Other Resources for information and action:
People's Institute for Survival and Beyond - http://www.pisab.org
INCITE Women of Color Against Violence - http://www.incite-national.org
A Fighting Chance - http://www.a-fighting-chance.org
People's Organizing Committee: http://www.peoplesorganizing.org
Peoples Hurricane Relief Fund - http://www.peopleshurricane.org
Justice for New Orleans - http://www.justiceforneworleans.org
Common Ground - http://www.commongroundrelief.org
Black Commentator - http://www.blackcommentator.com
Letter From New Orleans Grassroots:
http://leftturn.mayfirst.org/?q=node/573
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