NEWSLETTER OF THE

LOUISIANA COUNCIL BATON ROUGE COUNCIL

ON HUMAN RELATIONS ON HUMAN RELATIONS

Volume 44, Issue 2 April 2008 Volume 43, Issue 2

Paul Y. Burns, Interim Editor

LCHR Board Actions April 2008
The Board of Directors met on April 12 in Plaisance at the home of Board member Doris White and her husband Overton White. In attendance were Board members Corresponding Secretary Patricia Rickels, President Joe Dennis, Shirley Burris, Vice-President Thelma Deamer, Marjorie Green, Membership Secretary Richard Haymaker, Doris White, Treasurer John Mikell, Assistant Treasurer Paul Burns, Greg Richard, and Anthony Navarre. Mikell reported that our checking account balance on March 31, 2008 was $730.91, and our Liberty Bank money market certificate balance on April 2, 2008 was $1,885.47. LCHR is financially in good condition. Haymaker indicated that he planned to prepare a revised brochure for use in getting new members and informing members about LCHR. He emphasized that the new system of his making all the deposits to our checking account, in order better to keep track of our income, was working well. He asked that all members pay dues to him and he will deposit the money to the LCHR checking account. He said he had continued the policy of crediting members who paid dues between April 1 and June 30 with being paid up for the ensuing fiscal year, July 1 - June 30.

The status of the joint LCHR/BRCHR newsletter was discussed. Patricia Rickels resigned as Editor in early January, and Paul Burns took over as volunteer Interim Editor for the fourth quarter 2007 issue, issued in January 2008. His offer to continue as Interim Editor for the first quarter 2008 issue was accepted, and a Search Committee was appointed to recruit an Editor. Greg Richard, Lafayette, volunteered to chair this committee, and Patricia Rickels, Lafayette, volunteered to be a member. Haymaker commented that when members pay dues they often mention that they appreciate our newsletter.

Patricia Rickels presented a position paper on the Jena Six case, prepared by LCHR Board member Brad Pollock (unable to attend this Board meeting), assisted by Rickels and LCHR President Joe Dennis. Rickels said the original Pollock paper was very long, seven pages, and it was reduced to two pages for this presentation.

The paper was adopted by the Board with a slight change in its title to: An Example of Institutional Racism: the Jena Six Case. In summary, the paper points out “A racist double standard of justice is still a nationwide problem for the United States and reflects the deep-seated and unhealthy belief in White Supremacy that remains at the core of American culture . . . A particularly ugly flare up has recently occurred in the town of Jena, Louisiana.

“ . . . the case of the Jena Six is not about teen violence, adolescent pranks, or even racial prejudice and conflicts among high school students. Rather it is about a long-standing tradition of racism, unprofessional behavior, and irresponsibility of adults in positions of authority. . .when three White students hung nooses from the tree it was no innocent prank . . . Those nooses told the Black students to return to their traditional subordinate place . . .

“ . . . Black students organized a sit-in protest at the “Whites Only” tree. . . District Attorney Reed Walters threatened the Black students . . . ‘I can take away your lives with a stroke of my pen.’” . . .

“ . . . The next day, Black students and a young White man had an altercation at a convenience store on the outskirts of Jena. The White man pulled a shotgun on the Black students, who wrestled him to the ground and disarmed him. Again we see the racist double standard of justice–the White man was not charged with a crime, but the Black students were accused of stealing his gun.

“ . . . A few days later, Jason Barker, a good friend of the noose hangers, was taunting a group of Black students. . . Several of the Black students attacked Barker and beat him up. . . Barker was not seriously injured. . . Walters carried out his threat. . . He charged them [the black students] with attempted murder and saw to it that high bails were set, assuring that most of them would remain in jail for months. . .all but the youngest boy were charged as adults. Mychal Bell, who was sixteen at the time of the incident, was held in jail as an adult from December 2007 until September 2007. . . . Walters . . .reduced the charges against Bell from attempted murder to aggravated battery, . . .He argued that Bell’s tennis shoes were deadly weapons. The jury was all White–even the jury pool of 150 were all White. Bell was of course

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found guilty and would have been sentenced to twenty-two years in jail, had not a higher court ruled that he was a minor and could not be tried or sentenced as an adult.

“Jena High School has cut down the “Whites Only” tree. What they should have done instead is hire some Black teachers (There are only four in LaSalle Parish.); require all the School Board members, as well as the faculty and staff of Jena High to attend race relations workshops; and remove the Superintendent and the District Attorney from their positions. So far, nobody has been punished except the Black students. The U.S. Office of Civil Rights should investigate the Judge assigned to LaSalle Parish, who seems to be unaware or uncaring that old-fashioned segregation is alive and well in Jena.

“The LCHR calls on all citizens of Louisiana to have the courage to take a stand against racism and all forms of injustice. We all have the obligation of teaching the children of our communities, by our example, what democracy, freedom, and human rights really mean.”

LCHR now has 13 position papers. The 12 others cover Affirmative Action, the Death Penalty, Race Relations in America, Prison Reform, Poverty, Labor, Police-Community Relations, Women’s Rights, Discrimination on the basis of Ethnic/National Origin, Formation of Local Councils, Education, and Disenfranchisement of Felons. The idea of the position papers is that any member of LCHR may use these papers to make a public statement of LCHR’s policy on the particular issue which the policy statement covers. Also, the newsletter editor may use the statements as a guide to her or his editorial comments in the newsletter. The 12 may be accessed from the BRCHR website: http://brchr.org and then clicking on “Louisiana Council on Human Relations.”

There was a discussion of the dissemination of the new position paper on the Jena Six. Besides sending it to news media, it should be added to the LCHR website, of which James E. Cross is the Webmaster. The BRCHR’s Webmaster is Richard Haymaker; he uses the BRCHR website to advertise future human relations events and to make available recent issues of the newsletter.

Greg Richard asked if he could start an LCHR blog. The Board approved. “Blog” is an abridgment of the term “web log.” It is a website, usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse chronological order.

Paul Burns said he was still working on his project of finding out which of Louisiana’s Newcomers and/or Moms Clubs discriminate against blacks, which they can legally do but morally should not.

It was agreed to discuss the “War on Drugs” at the next Board meeting, as requested by Burns. His proposal was triggered by two recent op-ed pieces in The Advocate. Commentator Froma Harrop wrote that more than half a million Americans are in jail for nonviolent drug offenses. Since the War on Drugs started in 1970, 38 million people have been arrested for nonviolent drug offenses. The prison population of nonviolent drug offenders has increased about 2,500 %, because of “get-tough” mandatory minimum sentences for drug-related crimes. Columnist Clarence Page wrote that the war on drugs too often has become a war against poor people. Burns volunteered to prepare a rough draft of a position paper on this subject for review by our Board.

Rickels said she would ask Thetis Cusimano about having a guest speaker from the League of Women Voters on the subject of the physical condition of Lafayette’s public schools.

Plans were made for LCHR’s Annual Meeting. The place will be Baton Rouge, in conjunction with the Baton Rouge Chapter, which has not yet selected a location. The date will be Saturday, June 21 or 28. The program topic suggested was race relations, gender, and religion in politics. The Board agreed to present Oliver-Sigur Humanitarian awards at the annual meeting to Joseph Dennis and Patricia Rickels. LCHR Board members are elected at the Annual Meeting, and Rickels as Corresponding Secretary asked for nominations to be sent to her: name, street address, email address if known, and phone. Board members are elected for three-year terms and may be re-elected indefinitely. Her addresses are: street address 209 rue Chavaniac, Lafayette 70508; email drpat@louisiana.edu. Her phone nos. are: home 337-984-8838, office 337-482-1016. LCHR’s new Board selects its officers, who serve a term of one year and can be re-elected, at a meeting soon after the Annual Meeting, open to all members. Anthony Navarre, Lafayette, will host the Board meeting, on a date yet to be chosen.

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African-American Children Suffer Unfairly in U.S. Justice System

A recent report by the School of Law at the University of San Francisco pointed out that African-American children are ten times more likely than white children to be sentenced to life without parole. The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world (750 prisoners per l00,000 people) and leads in the number of juvenile offenders sentenced to die in prison; 99.9 % of all such cases world-wide are in the U.S.

Racist History of the Noose

Those of us who are sensitive to reports in the U.S on the recent display of a noose, for example in the Jena Six case, are disturbed. Nooses are a reminder of the era in the South when blacks accused of a crime might be lynched. The Chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission feels that the prevalence of noose incidents recently is a reminder of the persistence of racism in the 21^st century. Discrimination on the basis of race continues. In fiscal 2006, the latest year of record, the EEOC received 27,238 charges of race-based discrimination. Color discrimination charges over the past 15 years have quadrupled. The EEOC has responded by starting a program called “E-RACE” (Eradicating Racism and Colorism from Employment Initiative), in an attempt to make workplaces tolerant and inclusive.

Torture is Wrong

LCHR has issued a public statement opposing torture. More evidence has come to light that our government has recently used torture. Alex Gibney won the Academy Award for the best documentary feature for his film “Taxi to the Dark Side,” which depicts the final days of Dilawar, an Afghan man, who was arrested in 2001 by the U.S. military and brought to the prison at Bagram Air Base. Dilawar was beaten and tortured to death by low-level soldiers. He spent a night with his arms shackled overhead, subjected to sleep and water deprivation, receiving regular beatings. He was kicked in the legs, rendering them “pulpified.” Some of his fellow Afghans, who were later proven to be the attackers themselves, accused him of being a participant in a rocket attack on Americans. In his movie, Gibney shows a compelling indictment of the U.S torture policy, from President Bush and Vice-President Cheney through Donald Rumsfeld and the author of the “torture memo, “ University of California law Professor John Yoo.

“Taxi to the Dark Side” can be seen in movie theaters. But not on the Discovery Channel, which had bought the TV rights to the film. Gibney was told that they were not going to air the film because it was controversial (this channel is owned by a conservative media mogul). It is possible, however, that HBO will make it available to households subscribing to premium TV channels.

Hazardous Waste and Minority Dwellings

About 20 years ago, the late Dr. Raymond Floyd, a member of the Baton Rouge Council’s Board of Directors, called the Board’s attention to a new national study by the United Church of Christ. The study showed that hazardous waste in the U.S. was likely to be dumped in minority residence areas. In Baton Rouge, sure enough, Scotlandville and Alsen, where African-American homes were concentrated, received more than their fair share of pollution.

Fast forward to 2007! A new study by scientists at the Universities of Michigan and Montana, co-authored by Robert Bullard, Clark Atlanta University, and Beverly Wright, Dillard University, shows that 90 percent of the people who live near a commercial hazardous waste site in the Baton Rouge area are minorities. This is in spite of the protests in 1992, supported by the BRCHR, of the Southern Organizing Committee for Economic and Social Justice. The Council affirmed its support of environmental justice in 1997 by making a Humanitarian Award to Southern University Professor Florence Robinson, a well-known spokesperson for environmental justice.

Hurricane Katrina Helps Break Down Racial Barriers in Churches

Those of you who remember the 1960s remember the statement that 11 o’clock on Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in America. It is not quite true now. Although large urban non-denominational churches tend to be racially integrated, not so churches of mainstream denominations. A news story from New Orleans brings good news about white and black churches. A few historically black and white congregations either merged or worship jointly. Examples: Historically white First Grace United Methodist Church has a new racially diverse congregation by merging with predominantly black Grace United Methodist Church. Traditionally black Hopeview Baptist Church in St. Bernard

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merged a year ago with traditionally white Suburban Baptist Church in eastern New Orleans. Predominantly white St. Matthew United Church of Christ, in Carrollton, and Central Congregational United Church of Christ are in a “covenant community,” almost a merger. In the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans, St. Pius X Parish, a mostly white congregation on the Lakefront, has temporarily taken parishioners from two mostly black or mixed congregations in nearby Gentilly.

Residential Separation: by Income or by Race?

LCHR was founded in 1964, four years before the historic Kerner Report was made by President Johnson’s National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders. This report concluded: “Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white–separate and unequal.” Forty years later most blacks have come a long way from overcrowded low-income black neighborhoods. In cities middle-class blacks and middle-class whites zip past poor black neighborhoods with their car doors locked. Today’s racial separation tends to be a consequence of income. White flight to the suburbs in the 1950s and 1960s was followed by middle-class black flight to the suburbs. And poverty is not strictly a black problem; poor white people outnumber poor blacks and Hispanics combined, although the white poverty rate is less than that of blacks and Hispanics.

Muslim Women Should be Allowed Headscarves in Public

In Gretna, near New Orleans, in February a Muslim woman had her civil rights violated when a security guard at a suburban shopping mall forced her to leave when she refused to remove her religious headscarf.

A national Muslim civil liberties group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, brought the incident to the public. The woman, Muntaha Sarsour, was with her daughter-in-law, Sajehed Judeh, when an Oakwood Shopping Center security guard allegedly stopped Sarsour and told her to remove her headscarf. Judeh said he told her mother she could either take off her headscarf or leave the mall. The FBI is looking into the incident.

Cravins Sees Lack of Progress on Louisiana Juvenile Prison Reform

Sen. Donald Cravins, Jr. (Democrat) commented at a rally April 18 that he will propose legislation to close Jetson Center for Youth by June 30, 2009. He pointed out that Louisiana has been notorious for having the most brutal juvenile prison facilities in the U.S., but “. . . here we are five years later without much progress.” In 2002 LCHR awarded Cravins an Oliver-Sigur Humanitarian Award. Louisiana Supreme Court Justice Kitty Kimball criticized judges who hand down long sentences for minor crimes. An organization called Family and Friends of Louisiana’s Incarcerated Children attended a meeting of the Juvenile Justice Implementation Commission. At the rally afterwards, mothers of imprisoned teens chanted, “Close Jetson down!”

What Obama Could Have Said About His Pastor: Rev Jeremiah Wright, a True Patriot

This headline appeared on a recent story in the Chicago Tribune by Lawrence Korb and Ian Moss, respectively, Navy and Marines veterans. They outline the military service of the Rev. Wright, Obama’s former pastor and friend, whose fiery sermons about America’s race relations have caused Obama’s opponents to complain. These authors compare Wright’s patriotic record with the records of Vice President Dick Cheney, who received five deferments; and Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush who used student deferments to stay in college, then avoided going on active duty through family connections.

Wright left college in 1961 and voluntarily joined the Marines. After serving two years he volunteered again and became a Navy corpsman. He was valedictorian in corpsman school and became a cardiopulmonary technician. He was
assigned to Bethesda Naval Hospital and helped care for President Johnson after his 1966 surgery, receiving letters of commendation. A true patriot, he was on active duty for six years, giving to his country some his most productive years.

The Rev. Wright’s sermons in my opinion were nothing to apologize for. He had suffered racial discrimination from the white majority in the U.S., and he rightly complained about it. He and my late pastor Arch Tolbert would appreciate each other. Tolbert, a white southerner, was a WW II Marine combat veteran. He strongly opposed racial segregation and joined the Baton Rouge Council on Human Relations when it was one month old, a month before I joined. One Sunday in 1963 Arch used as his sermon Dr. Martin Luther King’s now-famous Letter from Birmingham Jail.

Speak Truth to Power

Speak Truth to Power is a play by Ariel Dorfman, based on his interviews with activists. During the period February 6-24, 2008 the play was performed at LSU’s Swine Palace. Ten actors presented portraits of 51 human rights activists around the world. Those whose names I recognized included the Dalai Lama (Tibet), Sr. Helen Prejean (U.S.), Archbishop Desmond Tutu (South Africa), Elie Wiesel (Romania/U.S.), and Marian Wright Edelman (U.S.). Listed on

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the program were guest performers from Baton Rouge: Rev. Randy Nichols, Rev. J. Philip Woodland, Fr. George Lundy, S.J., Rev. E. Andrew Goff, Rev. Michael Karunas, Rev. Betsy Irvine, Rev. Chris Andrews, and Sr. Helen Prejean. Baton Rouge Speakers of Truth listed were Victor Bussie, Maxine Crump, Rabbi Barry Weinstein, Dr. Holley Galland, Sylvia Roberts, Ayn Stehr, Joe Traigle, and Judge Trudy White. On the first page of the program was a question, “What have you done to change the world today?” and “The worst thing is apathy.” The mission of the performance is to inspire individuals concerned with human rights issues.

I was reminded of the many occasions when I spoke truth to power: 1933 At age 13, I lived in Tulsa, OK, which had Jim Crow laws; a sign on city buses about three-quarters of the way to the back read “Colored,” and although I am white I sat in the back when there was room; 1965 I protested racial segregation in Louisiana Presbyterian churches, I protested racial discrimination by Jack Sabin’s restaurant in Baton Rouge, along with others from the newly formed BRCHR I protested racial discrimination by the E.B.R. School System; 1966 I wrote a white judge asking him to free an innocent young Baton Rouge black man; 1968 I protested to the Louisiana Governor racial discrimination by the Highway Department, I used the threat of legal action to cause the whites-only Good Fellows (Christmas gifts for children) to merge with the African-American Good Samaritans; I asked the local United Givers to fund only those agencies which did not discriminate on the basis of race; I wrote to the IRS asking that donations to nonprofit organizations which practice racial segregation should not be classified as tax-deductible, I publicly asked white Baton Rougeans to vote for a black city council candidate; 1969 I complained to the E.B.R. Housing Authority about racial discrimination and poor maintenance, I asked the Baton Rouge police to desegregate its patrol cars and to have a reasonable firearms policy for police officers, I petitioned the U.S. Attorney General to send U.S. marshals to protect black burglary suspects from getting shot by the Baton Rouge Police, I protested racial discrimination by a large downtown Baton Rouge Baptist church, I complained about the racial imbalance in employment of professionals in the La. Dept. Of Public Welfare, I asked Louisiana’s Governor not to unduly burden low-income persons with his proposed new taxes; 1970 I protested racial discrimination in the offices of doctors and dentists in Baton Rouge; I protested racial discrimination by the La. Civil Service Director and by LSU; I protested racial discrimination by Baton Rouge’s Recreation & Parks Commission; 1971 I worked with other members of the BRCHR to cause the local Jury Commission to be racially integrated, I asked the following local agencies to desegregate Boy Scouts, Jr. Achievement, LSU Law Enforcement Institute, Jr. Deputies, Newcomers Breakfast, Fire Department, hospitals, Chamber of Commerce, and Little League; 1973 I helped distribute a position paper prepared by the BRCHR calling for open housing; I lobbied the La. Legislature for open housing; 1980 I asked the all-white city bus agency to stop harassment of women bus drivers; 1995 I asked the La. Governor to veto a bill permitting the carrying of concealed weapons. 1996-2008 I wrote many letters to the President and La.’s Congressional delegation, on behalf of minorities, women, prisoners, and low-income citizens. I participated in nearly every public peace and justice gathering in Baton Rouge, the latest being a 2008 protest vigil about the Iraq War at the La. State Capitol steps, sponsored by CodePink.

My model for speaking truth to power was the story in the Old Testament about the prophet Nathan. He boldly rebuked David for committing adultery with Bathsheba, wife of Uriah, and for causing Uriah’s death. Nathan, fortunately, was not harmed by David. Fortunately, I was not harmed by the powers-that-be, although I think my anti-segregation activities in the late 1950s were recorded in the local district attorney’s files, my phone was tapped in the 1960s for the district attorney, and my human relations and peacemaking activities were placed in FBI files.

Workshop on Institutional Racism Co-Sponsored by BRCHR

Johnny Brooks, assistant metro editor for The Advocate, has written a column in the March 2 edition inviting people to “Black and White and Gray All Over: A Community Workshop and Dialogue on Institutional Racism,” to be held April 24, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Southeastern Louisiana University’s Baton Rouge center, 4549 Essen Lane. At the end of his column he wrote “Please call or write us.” He listed his e-mail address: jbrooks@theadvocate.com. A YWCA brochure defines institutional racism as “The intentional or unintentional use of power to isolate, separate, and exploit others based on a belief in superior racial origin, identity, or supposed racial characteristics. Racism is more than just a personal attitude; it is the systematic or institutionalized form of that attitude.”

Baton Rouge Council Honors Galland and King

The BRCHR gathered at the University Presbyterian Church on April 10 for a catered supper and a presentation of the annual Powell-Reznikoff Humanitarian Awards to Dr. Holley Galland and the Rev. William King. Galland, Baton Rouge, is a physician involved in many humanitarian projects, and King, Baker, who founded Project R.I.D.E. helps many children develop self-confidence in through his program of horsemanship. The Rev. Randy K. Nichols, Executive Director, Capital Area Alliance for the Homeless, and recipient of this award in 2007, was the guest speaker, speaking about the homeless in Baton Rouge.

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Baton Rouge Council Holds Integration Celebration!

The Baton Rouge Council on Human Relations hosted a literary and awareness-raising event on Sunday, March 14, when it presented “Fostering Togetherness: Poetry and Prose Celebrating Ethnic, Racial and Cultural Integration” in Baton Rouge Gallery in City Park. After Council President Cynthia DeMarcus Manson welcomed the audience to this effort to promote understanding within our diverse community, each of the three presenters read riveting accounts related to integration.

Cindy Lou Levee, a Southern University professor, writer, and member of the Baton Rouge Council, read her poem “The Parade of Miraculous Champions, January 24, 2004” and her prize-winning essay, “Jewish Women and New Orleans Public School Integration [previously published under the title of “Transmitting the Links.”] Clarence Holmes, Jr., also a Southern University professor and writer, read his moving essay “Painful First Steps toward Realizing ‘The Dream’: Reflections on Integrating New Orleans Public Schools.” Maxine Crump, a broadcast journalist and communications specialist, gave a dramatic reading of a selection from James Baldwin’s essay “Stranger in the Village.” Bettie Redler of Baton Rouge, a new member of the Baton Rouge Council, contributed funding for this event, while jazz/blues guitarist Jonathan “Boogie” Long provided a musical prelude.

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If You Haven’t Already, Please Send Dues (Fiscal Year Begins ( 07/01/08)

Annual dues are:$15 individual, $20 family, $1 student and/or hardship. Non-BR area residents: make check to LCHR. BR area residents: make check to BRCHR. Send checks for LCHR and BRCHR to Richard Haymaker, 254 Nelson Dr., Baton Rouge, LA 70808. If you pay dues after April 1, 2008, they will be counted as dues for the fiscal year 2008-2009. We welcome those who agree with our principles, which are to strive for equal opportunity and good relations for all human beings, whatever their race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin.

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