<div>***FORWARD WIDELY***</div>
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<div>Dear Friend,</div>
<p>A new report in The Nation[1] documents what many have claimed for<br>years--for some Black New Orleanians the threat of being killed by<br>White vigilantes in Katrina's aftermath became a bigger threat than the<br>
storm itself.</p>
<p>After the storm, White vigilantes roamed Algiers Point shooting and,<br>according to their own accounts, killing Black men at will--with no threat<br>of a police response. For the last three years, the shootings and the<br>
police force's role in them have been an open secret to many New<br>Orleanians. To date, no one has been charged with a crime and law<br>enforcement officials have refused to investigate.</p>
<p>The report is helpful, but given Lousiana's horrible record on<br>protecting its Black citizens, justice will only come if we demand<br>it.</p>
<p>I've joined ColorOfChange in calling on Louisiana Governor Bobby<br>Jindal, Louisiana's Attorney General Buddy Caldwell, and the U.S.<br>Department of Justice--to conduct a full investigation of these<br>crimes and any police cover-up. Will you join me? It takes only a<br>
moment:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.colorofchange.org/nation/?id=1665-700297">http://www.colorofchange.org/nation/?id=1665-700297</a></p>
<p>In the two weeks after Hurricane Katrina made landfall, the media<br>created a climate of fear with trumped-up stories of Black lawlessness.<br>Meanwhile, an armed group of White vigilantes took over the Algiers Point<br>
neighborhood in New Orleans and mercilessly hunted down Black people.<br>"It was great!" said one vigilante. "It was like pheasant season in South<br>Dakota. If it moved, you shot it."</p>
<p>"The Nation's" article tells the story of Donnell Herrington, Marcel<br>Alexander, and Chris Collins--a group of friends who were attacked by<br>shotgun-wielding White men as they entered Algiers Point on September<br>
1, 2005. As they tried to escape, Herrington recalls, their attackers<br>shouted, "Get him! Get that nigger!" He managed to get away. Alexander<br>and Collins were told that they would be allowed to live on the condition<br>
that they told other Black folks not to come to Algiers Point. Herrington,<br>shot in the neck, barely survived.</p>
<p>And there's the story of Henry Glover, who didn't survive after being shot<br>by an unknown assailant.[2] Glover's brother flagged down a stranger for<br>help, and the two men brought Glover to a police station. But instead of<br>
receiving aid, they were beaten by officers while Henry Glover bled to<br>death in the back seat of the stranger's car. A police officer drove off<br>in the car soon afterward. Both Glover's body and the car were found burnt<br>
to cinders a week later. It took DNA analysis to identify the body.</p>
<p>These are only a few of the stories of Black folks who were accosted<br>in Algiers Point, and you can read more in The Nation. But unless you<br>speak out, we may never learn the full extent of the violence.<br>Journalists have encountered a wall of silence on the part of the<br>
authorities. The coroner had to be sued to turn over autopsy records.<br>When he finally complied, the records were incomplete, with files on<br>several suspicious deaths suddenly empty. The New Orleans police and<br>the District Attorney repeatedly refused to talk to journalists about<br>
Algiers Point. And according to "The Nation" journalist A.C. Thompson,<br>"the city has in nearly every case refused to investigate or prosecute<br>people for assaults and murders committed in the wake of the storm."</p>
<p>The Nation article is important, but it's just a start. For more than<br>three years now, these racist criminals have by their own admission<br>gotten away with murder while officials in New Orleans have<br>systematically evaded any kind of accountability. We have to demand it.</p>
<p>Please join us in calling on state and federal officials to<br>investigate these brutal attacks and the conduct of Orleans Parish law<br>enforcement agencies, and please ask your friends and family to do the<br>same.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.colorofchange.org/nation/?id=1665-700297">http://www.colorofchange.org/nation/?id=1665-700297</a></p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>-----</p>
<p>1. "Katrina's Hidden Race War," The Nation, 12-18-2008<br><a href="http://www.colorofchange.org/link/?id=1665-700297&cat=nation&link=1">http://www.colorofchange.org/link/?id=1665-700297&cat=nation&link=1</a></p>
<p>2. "Body of Evidence," The Nation, 12-18-2008<br><a href="http://www.colorofchange.org/link/?id=1665-700297&cat=nation&link=2">http://www.colorofchange.org/link/?id=1665-700297&cat=nation&link=2</a></p>