Force-fed justice
25th April 2016 · 0 Comments
By Edmund W. Lewis
Editor
Does anybody think that it was a coincidence that last week’s hearing in federal court on the cops charged in the Danziger Bridge shooting took place just two days before the opening weekend of Jazz Fest and in the midst of a media feeding frenzy over the killing of former New Orleans Saints player Will Smith?
I don’t, but that’s just the conspiracy theorist and cynicist in me.
Almost 11 years ago, just days after Hurricane Katrina flooded 80 percent of New Orleans, NOPD officers gunned down unarmed Black people on the Danziger Bridge in eastern New Orleans. Two people — 17-year-old James Brissette and Ronald Madison, a 40-year-old mentally disabled man ‘were killed and four others were wounded in the brutal incident that made international headlines. One of the wounded victims was injured so badly that she lost an arm in the attack.
That didn’t seem to matter to the cops, who said they heard shots and were shot at by the victims. But no gun was found so the cops decided to get real creative in their gathering of evidence to support their version of the truth.
Tragically, it almost worked.
But somehow it fell apart thanks in large part to the victims’ families pleading with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Obama administration to investigate the incident. Once the DOJ made the decision to look into the incident and others, Community United for Change, a local grassroots organization, began organizing regular community forums to allow DOJ officials to meet with residents whose loved ones had also been victims of unconstitutional policing administered by the notorious NOPD.
Mind you, this was after then Orleans Parish District Attorney and former U.S. Attorney Eddie Jordan indicted seven NOPD officers in the incident Criminal Court Judge Raymond Bigelow threw the indictment out.
You may recall that when those officers, dubbed “Danziger 7,” turned themselves in to be booked, they were met by a horde of fellow officers and supporters who hugged and kissed them, cheered wildly for them and held signs that read “Heroes.”
That’s right, heroes.
The idea of these officers being given the royal treatment and hailed as heroes might be difficult to wrap your mind around unless you consider that in the grand scheme of things, law enforcement officers of all backgrounds and colors are the first line of defense protecting those who promote, support and benefit from white supremacy. Descended from antebellum “paddy rollers” who hunted and tracked down enslaved Africans who had the audacity to try to escape slavery, the history of policing is also intertwined with that of domestic terrorism groups like the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and the White Citizens Council.
In the minds of those who since childhood have been taught to distrust, despise, denigrate and disregard people of color, police officers are depicted as the only barrier that exists between “civilized” white folks and total chaos. That message is drummed into the minds of people everywhere by mainstream media, making sure that European Americans equate Blacks with evil, violence, danger and criminal behavior.
As a result, whites are grateful to the police for keeping them safe, even if that means treating all Black and Brown people like animals and gunning down unarmed people who pose no threat to them.
Back to the Danziger case.
After nearly three years of gathering with members of the community to hear about their experiences with the NOPD, DOJ officials decided to investigate several high-profile, post-Katrina cases involving officers including the Danziger Bridge shootings and the murder of Henry Glover, who was shot by an officer on the West Bank and was later found in a torched car on the Mississippi River levee. Someone took Glover’s skull from the charred car and has still not returned it to the family for proper burial.
Only one officer is currently behind bars in that case, the one who burned the car with Henry Glover’s remains inside it. The others, including David Warren, the officer who shot Glover, have been acquitted. The family of Henry Glover has been asking for the Orleans Parish D.A. to indict Warren for the murder after he was acquitted in federal court but the D.A. has shown he is in no hurry to take on the case,
Meanwhile, after turning over stones and shaking the bushes, federal prosecutors somehow managed to do the impossible: They convinced several officers to enter guilty pleas and cooperate with the Feds, paving the way for the tumultuous 2011 trial. Eventually, the five officers charged in the case were convicted and sent to prison with sentences ranging from 65 years to six years.
But just two years later, it was discovered that several key federal prosecutors had been posting comments online about several active DOJ cases including the Danziger Bridge shootings. That led to their convictions being overturned and them being granted a new trial by U.S. Judge Kurt Englehardt.
Is it any wonder that a number of grassroots organizations accused the prosecutors involved of doing whatever they could to sabotage the case against the NOPD officers and at the very least minimize their prison sentences?
Fast forward to last week, when the former cops entered plea deals to avoid another trial and got some pretty good deals from the federal court. Former Officer Robert Faulcon Jr. saw his sentence reduced from 65 years to 12. Robert Gisevius learned he would only have to spend 10 years behind bars instead of 40, as did Kenneth Bowen. Anthony Villavaso’s sentence was reduced from 38 years to seven and Arthur Kaufman’s sentence was reduced from six years to three.
All because the U.S. Attorney’s Office didn’t handle its business before and during the trial.
Feelings among many residents were understandably raw last week as they witnessed more evidence that suggests that very little has changed in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina. Cops can still do whatever they please to Black, Brown and poor people. The criminal justice system is still devoid of justice and transparency. The white business community still dictates what happens in the local, state and federal courts. And obviously the U.S. Department of Justice is still either powerless or simply not interested in protecting the constitutional and human rights of Black, Brown and poor people in New Orleans.
Adding insult to injury last week were the comments by some DOJ and City of New Orleans officials who attempted to dictate to residents how they should feel and react about the drastically reduced sentences. For any elected or appointed official to even attempt to tell anyone how to feel about such a monumental miscarriage of justice smacks of paternalism and is utterly ridiculous.
My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and families impacted by the Danziger Bridge shootings and all of the victims of unconstitutional policing in New Orleans and the brazenly corrupt criminal justice system.
It’s time to get serious about fighting oppression, injustice and unequal protection under the law in the City That Care Forgot. But first, let’s plan the city’s final second line — one that will mark the official death of justice and the birth of a new movement aimed at turning this city around by any means necessary. All power to the people.
This article originally published in the April 25, 2016 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
