Solidarity Noise Demo at Orleans Parish Prison (OPP), New Orleans, LA, USA.

A group of about two dozen protesters marched to the fences of OPP at Broad & Tulane November 9th banging pots and pans and shouting chants. The prisoners could be seen inside the prison from stories above waving their arms and pieces of clothing. The event was described as a noise making act to let the prisoners know there are others outside that stand in solidarity with them.


read more...

Danziger Officers Found Guilty - Statements of Madison Family :

Statement of Lance Madison:

I am thankful to have some closure after six long years of struggling for justice. I am most grateful to my family, and especially my brother Romell. Without the support and hard work of my family, I might still be in prison on false charges, and the truth about what happened on the Danziger bridge might never have been known. We will never be completely healed because we will never have Ronald back.We hope that our efforts will help bring some justice not only to our family but to all the other families who have suffered, as well as our entire community.

read more...

Opening arguments begin today in what observers have called the most important trial New Orleans has seen in a generation. It is a shocking case of police brutality that has already redefined this city’s relationship to its police department, and radically rewritten the official narrative of what happened in the chaotic days after Hurricane Katrina. Five police officers are facing charges of shooting unarmed African-Americans in cold blood, killing two and wounding four, and then conspiring to hide evidence. Five officers who participated in the conspiracy have already pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against their fellow officers.

This week Amnesty International launched a global campaign calling for US authorities to end the solitary confinement of Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox, of the Angola 3. Amnesty is calling for people around the world to contact Governor Jindal.

read more...

Civil rights activist Catrina Wallace, who received national attention for her role in organizing protests around the Jena Six case, was convicted today of three counts of distribution of a controlled substance. Wallace, who is 30, became an activist after her brother, Robert Bailey, was arrested and charged with attempted murder for a school fight. Bailey and five others later became known as the Jena Six. Their case eventually brought 50,000 people on a march through the town of Jena, and as a result of the public pressure the six young men were eventually freed. The six young men are all now in college or - in the case of the youngest - on their way.

The case was prosecuted by Lasalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters, who also prosecuted the Jena Six case, and famously told a room full of students, "I can make your lives disappear with a stroke of my pen."


read more...