THE OBENSON REPORT

A new report in The Nation documents what many have claimed for years - for some Black New Orleanians the threat of being killed by White vigilantes in Katrina’s aftermath became a bigger threat than the storm itself.

After the storm, White vigilantes roamed Algiers Point shooting and, according to their own accounts, killing Black men at will – with no threat of a police response. For the last three years, the shootings and the police force’s role in them have been an open secret to many New Orleanians. To date, no one has been charged with a crime and law enforcement officials have refused to investigate.

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Join us in calling on Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, Louisiana’s Attorney General Buddy Caldwell, and the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct a full investigation of these crimes and any police cover-up.

In the two weeks after Hurricane Katrina made landfall, the media created a climate of fear with trumped-up stories of Black lawlessness. Meanwhile, an armed group of White vigilantes took over the Algiers Point neighborhood in New Orleans and mercilessly hunted down Black people.

“It was great!” said one vigilante. “It was like pheasant season in South Dakota. If it moved, you shot it.”

The Nation’s article tells the story of Donnell Herrington, Marcel Alexander, and Chris Collins — a group of friends who were attacked by shotgun-wielding White men as they entered Algiers Point on September 1, 2005. As they tried to escape, Herrington recalls, their attackers shouted, “Get him! Get that nigger!” He managed to get away. Alexander and Collins were told that they would be allowed to live on the condition that they told other Black folks not to come to Algiers Point. Herrington, shot in the neck, barely survived.

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Then there’s the story of White militiamen who tried to drive their Black neighbors from their homes. Reggie Bell, who lived just two blocks down the street from the vigilantes’ ringleader, was told at gunpoint, “We don’t want you around here. You loot, we shoot.” Later, another group of armed White men confronted him at his home, asking, “Whatcha still doing around here? We don’t want you around here. You gotta go.”

These are only a few of the stories of Black folks who were accosted in Algiers Point, and you can read more in The Nation... Journalists have encountered a wall of silence on the part of the authorities. The coroner had to be sued to turn over autopsy records. When he finally complied, the records were incomplete, with files on several suspicious deaths suddenly empty. The New Orleans police and the District Attorney repeatedly refused to talk to journalists about Algiers Point. And according to journalist A.C. Thompson, “the city has in nearly every case refused to investigate or prosecute people for assaults and murders committed in the wake of the storm.”

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Please join us in calling on state and federal officials to investigate these brutal attacks and the conduct of Orleans Parish law enforcement agencies, and please ask your friends and family to do the same.

What a week it's been for New York's finest, huh? In both instances, the officers have been assigned to desk duty while each incident is being "investigated."

July 29th:

Sounds like a movie doesn't it? The Menthol Exemption (cue overly dramatic staccato score here)!

The story, as I understand it, goes... Congress wants to pass new legislation that bans so-called "flavored" cigarettes, since they supposedly mask the true harshness of inhaled nicotine smoke, making the habit easier to pick up by young'uns. However, big tobacco wants an exemption to this yet-to-be passed law that excludes menthol cigarettes from said list of flavored cigarettes, even though they clearly fall under that umbrella.

Why? Well, apparently, menthols make up some 28 percent of the annual $70 billion American cigarette market - or roughly $20 billion, which is a lot of money for these cigarette companies, and we all know how crucial maximizing profit is in this capitalist economy.

I'm still trying to make sense of the fact that Americans spend $70 billion on cigarettes every year! My goodness!

Anyway... continuing on... and I'm sure you can already see where I'm going with all this... the Congressional Black Caucus, a major recipient of funding from tobacco companies, exceeding $250,000 in some years, according to one report, split over the decision of whether to push for the inclusion of menthol cigarettes in the legislation, or support big tobacco in its efforts to exclude menthol cigarettes.

Why the internal conflict amongst black members of congress?

Well, as we all probably know, black folks love their menthols! In fact, according to several reports I read, an estimated 75 percent of black smokers choose mentholated brands - a fact that several public health officials have stated could possibly be responsible for the increase in nicotine addiction and cancer rates among black smokers, since there is evidence that some menthol brands, including Newport, contain the highest levels of nicotine of leading cigarettes! And despite all those rather unsettling facts, there are some members of the CBC who would rather not alienate cigarette companies by banning menthols, since this alienation might mean the reduction, or eventual end of financial funding from those same companies.

So, this seemingly no-brainer of an issue (as far as I'm concerned) has apparently polarized members of the CBC. I say "no-brainer," because it's quite obvious to me, and any ethically reasonable person, that mentholated cigarettes SHOULD BE included in the introduced legislation that will ban all flavored cigarettes. The fact that they are fighting over this is baffling!

Their two choices as I see them, are as follows:

1. Yes, menthols fall under the "flavored cigarettes" umbrella and should be abolished as the legislation intends, which would obviously piss off tobacco companies who certainly don't want to lose that 28% (or $20 billion) market, possibly meaning that the Caucus members bite the hands that feed them, even though doing so might actually save the lives of more than a few current and future black men, women, boy and girl smokers;

2. No, menthols should be excluded from the legislation, keeping tobacco companies happy, and ensuring that the $250,000+ annual contributions to the Caucus's bank account continues unabated, while nicotine addictions and cancer rates remain steady, and maybe even increase amongst black men, women, boys and girls.

Ok, so maybe my breakdown is simplifying matters a bit, but not by much!

This is the kind of shit that our democratically appointed reps are being paid to sort out? Come on!

SOURCE: NY TIMES; TRUTH OUT

The story goes... Jesse Jackson was caught off-camera by Fox News saying that he wants to "cut [Barack Obama's] nuts off" for supposedly "talking down to black people." Of course Fox News couldn't resist, and released the video for all the world to see, prompting Jesse to immediately apologize for his carelessness, stating, "For any harm or hurt that this hot-mic conversation may have caused, I apologize. My support for Sen. Obama's campaign is wide, deep and unequivocal."

Does any of it really matter? Or rather do Jesse or any of his comments matter to anyone anymore?