Wednesday, September 03, 2008
New Orleans solidarity
Late last Friday morning, I stood with a group of displaced New Orleans residents, Washington, DC community organizers, day laborer union members and other folks in solidarity with the survivors of Katrina outside what was termed the Failed Emergency Management Agency building at 5th and C St SW near L'Enfant Plaza.It was a grey day, and as Yvonne Byrd started speaking about Louisiana's incarcerated, the rain picked up in a little more earnestness - though luckily we were spared a downpour. The friendly activist next to me noticed my hunched note-taking and kindly shared his umbrella. Byrd began by reciting a Daniel Queen poem. From it I scribbled down: "where there is no justice, there should be no peace." A chilling reminder, especially contextualized in a city that has seen far too little justice.
She spoke about the rates of incarceration in Louisiana - the highest in the country, and disproportionately black. I later picked up an ACLU report on the Orleans Parish Prison, which completely confirmed her figures. It boggles the mind:
"With a pre-Katrina incarceration rate of 1480 prisoners per 100,000 residents, New Orleans had the highest incarceration rate of any large city in the United States - the incarceration rate was double that of the United States as a whole, a country with the highest national incarceration rate in the world."
As the local population decreased, the capacity of jail increased. OPP held waiting space for those prisoners meant for state and federal facilities (which were garnering the wrong kind of attention for their overcrowded conditions, while it would take the Katrina disaster to broadcast the human rights abuses occurring at OPP). Why take in all these extra prisoners? It probably didn't hurt that they were getting paid $25 per person per day.
The conditions were terrible, and the racial make-up chilling. Orleans Parish was only 67 percent black prior to Hurricane Katrina, but almost 90 percent of the OPP population was black. Byrd shared more about the juvenile justice system: while 16 percent of that population is African American, 58 percent of the juveniles diverted to adult prisons are African American.
And for what? How is it - why is it - that New Orleans leads the country in locking people up, especially folks of color? Does anyone else think it's crazy that you can get more than five years in prison for a having joint of marijuana there? Orleans Parish District Attorney Keva Landrum-Johnson, in her efforts to appear "tough on crime," has decided to charge marijuana users with felonies. While she's only held the office since last fall, the history of this kind of approach dates back decades. Well over half the felony convictions in her parish are drug cases.
The drug war is racist by design, and nowhere is that clearer than in New Orleans. Work to end the drug war, and listen and learn from communities struggling in New Orleans for justice. It's been three years since Katrina, and we still need to hold our elected officials - at every level - accountable to the demands of survivors and folks displaced. Check out these awesome organizations doing important work advocating for young folks and communities of color impacted by the drug war:
www.safestreetsnola.org
www.fflic.org
She spoke about the rates of incarceration in Louisiana - the highest in the country, and disproportionately black. I later picked up an ACLU report on the Orleans Parish Prison, which completely confirmed her figures. It boggles the mind:
"With a pre-Katrina incarceration rate of 1480 prisoners per 100,000 residents, New Orleans had the highest incarceration rate of any large city in the United States - the incarceration rate was double that of the United States as a whole, a country with the highest national incarceration rate in the world."
As the local population decreased, the capacity of jail increased. OPP held waiting space for those prisoners meant for state and federal facilities (which were garnering the wrong kind of attention for their overcrowded conditions, while it would take the Katrina disaster to broadcast the human rights abuses occurring at OPP). Why take in all these extra prisoners? It probably didn't hurt that they were getting paid $25 per person per day.
The conditions were terrible, and the racial make-up chilling. Orleans Parish was only 67 percent black prior to Hurricane Katrina, but almost 90 percent of the OPP population was black. Byrd shared more about the juvenile justice system: while 16 percent of that population is African American, 58 percent of the juveniles diverted to adult prisons are African American.
And for what? How is it - why is it - that New Orleans leads the country in locking people up, especially folks of color? Does anyone else think it's crazy that you can get more than five years in prison for a having joint of marijuana there? Orleans Parish District Attorney Keva Landrum-Johnson, in her efforts to appear "tough on crime," has decided to charge marijuana users with felonies. While she's only held the office since last fall, the history of this kind of approach dates back decades. Well over half the felony convictions in her parish are drug cases.
The drug war is racist by design, and nowhere is that clearer than in New Orleans. Work to end the drug war, and listen and learn from communities struggling in New Orleans for justice. It's been three years since Katrina, and we still need to hold our elected officials - at every level - accountable to the demands of survivors and folks displaced. Check out these awesome organizations doing important work advocating for young folks and communities of color impacted by the drug war:
www.fflic.org
Labels: incarceration, marijuana, new orleans, racism
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