Justice, Finally?
We ask the question with some guarded optimism. But we are certainly buoyed to hear that federal authorities are digging a deeper into NOPD activity in the days following Hurricane Katrina. At The Tribune, we were sorely disappointed when charges were refused against police in the Danzinger Bridge shooting and when nothing seemed to be even mentioned about possible police misconduct in the Algiers area. There were eye witnesses and evidence; and still no justice.
In addition to the Danzinger case, federal agents have been looking into other post-Katrina incidents involving allegations of vigilantism among white Algiers residents shooting Black residents and a case involving NOPD officers. In that case, federal prosecutors are trying to determining the role officers of the law (and the term is used loosely, here) played in a gunshot victim found dead in a burned out car behind a Westbank levee. The car belonged to William Tanner, the Good Samaritan who happened upon a shot, but breathing Henry Glover, according to published reports. Tanner put him in his vehicle and drove him to a spot where he knew officers where staged, he said; but instead of help, Tanner said officers beat him while another cop drove off in his car with Glover still inside. Neither the car nor Glover was seen again until the charred vehicle, with Glovers’ remains inside, was located behind the levee.
Yes, justice is long overdue.
We can only speculate why the attitude about these events have changed. But we see it as a simple scientific concept of that involves a variable. These new deeper, probing investigations into possible NOPD wrongdoing are being led by the Justice Department, not George Bush’s Justice Department, mind you, but President Obama’s Justice Department, led by Attorney General Eric Holder who has already promised to increase the department’s focus on civil rights violations, which he astutely notes waned under the Bush administration. A new president and a new attorney general who are committed to justice and parity—ahhhhhhhhhhhh; that was the sound of folks at The Tribune taking in a breath of fresh air. And it’s one reason why The Tribune has been put off by all of the recent hullabaloo about why President Obama hasn’t visited New Orleans yet. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter whether he ever makes a ceremonial visit to our city, because actions still speak louder than words and matter a whole lot more than a parade, motorcade or speech.
At any rate, the renewed focus, the urgent and righteous pursuit of justice is a welcome change. And we hope it is just the beginning. If NOPD is to ever become the police department this ct deserves, its rogue element must be dealt with and the people of this city, especially those of us who are all too often the target of police rage and misconduct, must know that justice is blind. That’s what we say. What cha say? Do you think this new federal probe into NOPD misconduct in those dark days following Katrina will yield justice for those involved?
