Safe Streets/Strong Communities builds police accountability

For my full-time legal work, I interned at an organization called Safe Streets/Strong Communities . This organization was founded after Hurricane Katrina in the wake of several highly publicized shootings and beatings of unarmed civilians by police officers. New Orleans has a notoriously violent police force– and like everything else in the city, the history is twined together with a history of racism. A local academic traced the history of law enforcement in New Orleans back to slave catchers during the pre-Civil War era. Most of the incidents of shootings and beatings of unarmed civilians by police officers in New Orleans involved African American victims, including the CNN-covered case of the retired African American schoolteacher who was beaten bloody by New Orleans Police while CNN taped the whole incident.

Most people in New Orleans agree that prior to Katrina, violence was a problem in New Orleans. The murder rate in New Orleans post-Katrina has also been very high, with the vast majority of the murders and violence being committed against African Americans. However, people’s opinions are mixed about the cause of that violence and the way to end that violence.

Safe Streets/Strong Communities was co-founded by Soros Senior Fellow and former prisoner Norris Henderson, and it operates on the philosophy that safety does not originate out of increased numbers of police patrolling poor neighborhoods, but instead from low-income communities of color collaborating together to address community violence and raise the city’s level of response and accountability. Safe Streets places great emphasis on the engagement and representation of people in low-income communities of color, since these communities are profoundly underrepresented in the electoral political process. The organization is connected to nationwide fights for racial and economic justice through the national Right to the City campaign , and is simultaneously deeply rooted in New Orleans low-income communities.

The work I did with Safe Streets included:
• Going to a city counsel meeting with an intergenerational group of Safe Streets members – from little girls to grandmas in wheelchairs – all of whom were wearing orange Safe Streets T-shirts and ready to testify about the need for accountability in the city. We had a hard-won victory when council members came out in favor of the Safe Streets-endorsed move to create a position that would independently monitor the actions of the city and the police department. This independent monitor would be funded by city taxes so that he/she would be beholden to no special interest or funding source.
• Working to provide free expungement services to over 200 people who came to a criminal records expungement fair sponsored by Safe Streets and other local organizations. In New Orleans, anyone who has been arrested and booked – even if they were later acquitted or were never prosecuted to begin with – has their picture in the New Orleans crime database, and employers routinely check that database before hiring workers. People who are trying to lead law-abiding lives are frequently excluded from jobs they apply for, even if their names appear in that database because of arrests that never led to convictions. Safe Streets works in collaboration with local lawyers and community members to expunge people’s records and open up people’s access to employment.
• Driving a 16-passenger van to the small town of Jena, Louisiana with a group of lawyers and youth activists to observe part of the trial of one of the young men arrested and charged as an adult following a racially charged fistfight in which only African American young people were charged with offenses . We got to speak to the brother of one of the accused youths, who told us about the white part of town and the black part of town and how he had enlisted in the military to escape the pervasive racism. The white side of town, incidentally, included the only local public school, the courthouse, the township’s official buildings and most of the businesses.
• The vast majority of my work consisted of campaign and policy research. Safe Streets engages in community organizing. Since any community problem can be tackled from multiple angles, one of the most important jobs of legal volunteers is to identify the playing field – who has power, who is making funding decisions, and where change can be created to better people’s lives. I was at the organization during an exciting time, when the organization was working with the vibrant group of community members who defined the work of the organization to develop a major campaign around police accountability. They needed more information about the funding going into and accountability requirements placed on the task forces and private security forces that were pervasive in the area post-Katrina.
After Katrina, a large agglomeration of federal, state and local law and immigration enforcement entities began to collaborate together through task forces. These task forces frequently were amorphous entities – seemingly answering to no one boss and often providing only the most amorphous information to the public – supposedly the ones being protected – about their activities. Were these groups accountable to local authorities? State authorities? Federal authorities? If someone was beaten by a law enforcement agent working in one of these task forces, who would that person go to for redress? And who was monitoring these groups to ensure that they were engaged in effective work that served the needs of the communities they were acting within?
Likewise, immediately after Katrina, many property owners hired private security firms to protect their possessions. These private security firms were likewise question marks for community members. What laws did these people – some of whom were mercenaries and ex-military – follow, and who did they answer to? Were they bound to respect people’s rights as state actors because their responsibilities so paralleled those normally assumed by the state? On a more personal level, where could a mother go if her young, straight-A student son was grabbed on the street while socializing with friends, frisked and beaten by such a security agent?
I was able to research the multiple task forces and security that existed in the region - from drug-specific task forces charged with surveilling the larger state to anti-gang task forces focused on the Asian community (which people from the Asian community found puzzling, since as far as these lifetime residents knew, there was no Asian gang activity in New Orleans).
This information was difficult to track down, and I wished I had more time so I could have started to file FOIA request with state and federal agencies. There were so many pieces of the puzzle, and so many places where basic information – even a phone number or a central contact for a very openly known task force (such as one mentioned in Department of Justice press releases) was unavailable. One thing was clear - there was a lot of federal money being invested in these task forces from entities such as the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security. It was much less clear – and impossible to figure out in a month –what exactly was being done with those millions of dollars and who had oversight over that money and activity.
At the end of my work, I was able to leave Safe Streets with a binder of information around the dozens of task forces operating in their city. I also had to leave them with many questions, some of which would have to be answered by subsequent law student volunteers or which would be revealed in the course of Safe Streets’ work.

Throughout this work, I was able to connect with a wide range of people – community members, lawyers who had been working in their communities for dozens of years, young activists, fellow law students and organizers who were dedicated to working together to improve community conditions.

How did the New Orleans Reconstruction Project come about?

Another UCLA law student and myself met each other in the first week of classes and bonded over the work we had been doing in the Gulf Coast prior to law school. We also bonded over our culture shock at being in a place like West Los Angeles where the cars were so shiny and undented, all of the houses aggressively maintained and stray dogs didn’t run in the street. Both of us had been tremendously enriched and challenged by our time in New Orleans, and both of us were clear that this was work that would continue to be important to us. We also felt like New Orleans was falling off the national radar and we knew firsthand the level of work that remained to be done there and the importance of national attention and support.

We discussed ways to leverage our positions of access and resources and law students, and with the financial assistance of our Dean and the Epstein Public Interest and Policy Program and the Critical Race Studies Program, we founded the New Orleans Reconstruction Project (NORP) within the law school. We were able to procure funding to bring 14 other law students down to New Orleans to do two weeks of volunteer legal and organizing work .

As NORP, we recruited a highly diverse group of students who were interested in the issues playing out in the Gulf Coast. We arranged free housing and then provided them with context on the city, including visits to key important places in the city such as the place in the Ninth Ward where the levee broke and the Backstreet Cultural Museum, which provided students with an understanding of the rich and distinct culture of the African American community in New Orleans. We then placed the students at six different community organizations doing work around a wide range of issues from school improvement to immigrant worker safety to access to public hospitals to economic redevelopment for small businesses. These students provided a combined total of over a thousand hours of volunteer services during their time in the Gulf Coast, and were very well respected by the organizations where they were placed.
At the end of the two-week period, the students were impassioned about their work. The organizations they were placed at were uniformly impressed and grateful for the students’ energy, enthusiasm and skills. Many participants volunteered with additional projects and made a lot of additional work happen that otherwise would have fallen on the shoulders of overburdened organizers and community members.

We talked with organizations about ways UCLA Law students could continue to support the reconstruction process in the Gulf Coast, and the group left New Orleans with a bevy of exciting ideas, including encouraging 1L law students to work in New Orleans for their entire summers, having advanced students collaborate with local groups on research, and potentially building a clinical class focused on New Orleans. One of the more unexpected suggestions given to us by a highly respected local civil rights lawyer was to think about bringing students from our entertainment law program down to assist the community of musicians in New Orleans, who formed the heart of the city and a key economic attractor and who also frequently remained impoverished and unable to benefit from their hard work.

We are excited to continue our relationship with the New Orleans work, and already have plans for this upcoming year!

New Orleans Through the Restaurant Business

Yesterday, I accompanied Robin Barnes, Seedco Director, to visit various restaurant owners in New Orleans to explore issues surrounding rebuilding the service industry – including issues regarding H2B visa workers and the spirit of the New Orleans people.

Palace Café – Dickie Brennan

Our first stop was with Dickie Brennan and his management staff. Mr. Brennan owns several large and established restaurants in New Orleans, and he has recently begun hiring staff on H2B visas. After the storm, 53 out of his 55 management staff chose to come back and rebuild the restaurants. However, he found the process to be very difficult because he did not have enough employees to staff all his restaurants (especially in the front of the house). He realized that the restaurant business is seasonal, with the high season being between September to June and the low season during the summer. Mr. Brennan realized that the length of the visa perfectly fits his restaurant business and decided to participate in the program. They hired 15 people the first year, 22 two the second year, and 50 this year. They project to hire about 60 workers this year. They have hosted workers from Croatia, South America, and the Philippines.

Mr. Brennan and his company are known for treating those on H2B visas especially well. They welcome them to the city by helping them find housing, giving care/ welcome packages, and providing meals. They are pleased with the “ripple effect” of the program because the American staff members are learning so much from the foreign workers. According to a staff survey, they found out that 99.9% of the workers want to return and continue to work for Mr. Brennan’s restaurants.

However, the visa program is not without flaws. Currently, there are concerns that the government will be cutting back on H2B visas. There is also concern about balancing issuing H2B visas and hiring domestic workers. New Orleans government leaders want to ensure that locals have jobs, but at the same time if there are not enough individuals to meet the demand, they also want to invite foreign workers to fill in the vacant jobs.

Loretta’s Pralines

Loretta has been making pralines for 28 years, and she got her recipe from her mother. She initially took sold the candy at LSU and then later at the Jazz Festival. She was located at her “warehouse store” for 15 years, and she has not been able to sell their pralines in the French Quarter since the storm. She initially had 15 employees before the storm, but now she only has 3 employees. Many employees decided not to come back.

After the storm, people were looking for places to eat since no restaurants were open. People were asking her about opening for breakfast and lunch, and she begun providing those meals. She learned to adjust and change according to the needs of the time. Later, the demand of the restaurant decreased and she decided to only host lunch on Fridays.

Dukey Chase

Our last stop was at Dukey Chase – a famed New Orleans African American eatery. It’s a place where you would take your date. I got to try my first gumbo made by Mrs. Chase. The restaurant was beautiful and decorated with African American artwork. It’s definitely one of those community places where you could feel the New Orleans spirit.

Ken's Pharmacy

Today, community outreach was my main priority. I visited some of the local businesses in the Versailles community, introducing myself and letting them know I was at their service. During my quest, I stumbled upon a small pharmacy simply named Ken's Pharmacy, named after the owner/manager/employee (a one man show). The building is encompassed by a rusted iron fence, designed to resemble French design, while chipped crackling paint dress the faded exterior walls. At first glance it looks cold, desolate and barely worth much thought. However, as I walked into the tiny store, I quickly felt hypnotized by the vibrancy beaming within. There were carefully displayed products dangling from every corner, from bright green cough syrup, to glistening silver hand watches. There were people swaying in and out, laughing and pointing at the colorful toys quaintly stacked on the shelves.

The main reason for my site visit was to try and explain to Ken a leasing contract, in which MQVN CDC, had drafted for him and Tulane University’s Medical Center. Apparently, Ken was leasing some of his property to them, with the requirement that they build a medical clinic which would accommodate poor people in the community, based on a sliding scale. Ken explained that there was only one doctor in the entire area, and he felt horrible when people were turned away due to their lack of insurance.

While evaluating Ken’s leasing contract, I quickly realized that he was not going to make any profit on his leasing agreement, just enough to cover the insurance expenses for the property. Curiously, I asked Ken why he was not leasing his property for more, considering that it was worth a lot more and Tulane University could surely afford a higher lease. Ken just humbly replied, “I am doing it for my community.” Being only familiar to the usual profit hungry practices from most business owners, his answer really blew me away.

While talking to Ken, many people entered his store and greeted him as if they had been coming there for years. Most people did not buy anything; however, Ken did not seem to mind. He just genuinely seemed to enjoy the interaction with his fellow community members. At one point, a small boy, no older than 10 years old, came into the store. He was extremely shy, and was looking at his feet the entire way to Ken's counter. The boy was holding a small plastic bag and I was extremely curious to see what he could possibly need. As soon as he reached Ken, his little head perked up, as he unveiled a small trophy with the inscription 4.0. He smiled and quietly whispered, "I got it again." Ken’s then existing smile spread even wider, from ear to ear, as he congratulated the small boy. Then Ken pulled down a large Sponge Bob Square Pants alarm clock off one of his shelves and handed it to the boy and said, “here you go, keep up the good work!” The boys little blue eyes lit up with excitement as he thanked Ken and ran out of the store in delight.

Leaving my site visit today, I felt an extremely warm feeling about Ken and his little humble general store. Even more so, my visit to Ken’s pharmacy gave me a pretty good sense of the dynamics of the entire Versailles community in general. What looks like a small, poor and abandoned community is actually one blessed with something extremely special. It possesses a group-oriented culture that emphasizes community needs over individual rights and interests, where each individual in the community was duty-bound to help everyone in their community make Versailles not only a community, but home.

Welcome to New Orleans!

Coming to New Orleans, I don't think that anyone in the group really knew what to expect.  We all had chosen to make the trip for reasons, personal to ourselves, but there definitely were heightened expectations of New Orleans, now almost 3 years post-Katrina.  We visited the 9th Ward today, which in 2005 suffered catastrophic flooding because of Hurricane Katrina.  It was such an odd feeling to walk among an area which had once been fully inhabited and alive.  Also, to know that where we were walking had been flooded by water and the place of so much grief.  Most of the houses have been torn down by now, except for a few that still need to be demolished.  The grass is overgrown in most places, and the only remnants of the previous neighborhood lay in the concrete porch steps that occupy most of the empty lots, or the occasional rusty fence, or fork in the road.  

I think that this visit was really significant for many of us going on this trip, it really made clear the impact of the disaster, as well as (speaking for myself) our purpose for being here.  Two weeks doesn't seem like enough time to make a difference, but I think that the sincerity of our group really shines through.  Especially after we visited all of the different organizations that we will be working with.  I feel like everyone got really pumped up after that and is ready to start off the week.  So here's to good work, good people, and a great cause, all in the name of justice and equality!