Hurricane Katrina And Killer Cops

The murder of Henry Glover by New Orleans police harkens back to the dark days of lynching. The murder and mutilation of his body is a sacrilegious act done by cops mirroring the wishes of the Klan and the White Citizens Council—that Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, who fancies himself as a Republican presidential candidate in 2011, tells us weren’t so bad.

[Speaking Truth To Power]

Three New Orleans cops have been convicted, by a federal jury, on charges relating to the killing and burning of a Black man in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Recently, a jury found Officer David Warren guilty of manslaughter—instead of murder—in the shooting death of 31-year-old Henry Glover, on Sept 2,  2005; near a strip mall in Algiers, New Orleans. Glover later died in police custody. Officer Greg McRae was found guilty of obstruction of justice and civil rights charges for the burning of Glover’s body.

Lt. Travis McCabe was convicted of creating a false police report and of lying to federal authorities. Two other officers, Lt. Dwayne Scheuermann and Lt. Robert Italiano were acquitted for their role in this Klan-style outrage. Lt. Italiano is no longer on the force.

Glover was shot by Warren for, allegedly, grabbing a suitcase of stolen goods. Officer Warren, who was guarding a second-story police sub-station in the mall, says he “feared” for his life. After the shooting, Glover’s brother, Edward King, and a couple of good Samaritans, William Tanner and Bernard Calloway, carried the injured Glover to Paul  B. Habans Elementary School, where a SWAT team had set up headquarters. But instead of helping Glover, the three men said the officers proceeded to beat them. Meanwhile, Glover bled to death in Tanner’s car. 

Officer McRae testified he torched Glover’s body, and Tanner’s car, on the banks of the Mississippi  River. All that would be left, of Glover’s incinerated body, was some charred flesh, bone fragments, a skull and ashes. His remains were left in close proximity to the New Orleans Police Department’s 4th District Station. Officer McRae claimed to be remorseful, but said he was overwhelmed by the stress of Hurricane Katrina.

Here, in New   York City, we’ve heard this kind of insulting excuse before, when criminal cops perpetrate wrongdoing, haven’t we? Officers shed crocodile tears and tell us of all the pressure they’re under. Why do these murderous cops always somehow kill Blacks when they’re under “stress”?

Almost immediately, after Hurricane Katrina, there were stories that killer cops were using the tragedy to kill Black people. Even though we heard of the outrage in Gretna,  Louisiana—where officers threatened to shoot residents who were trying to flee over a bridge to safety—stories of cops killing Blacks were chilling, but largely unsubstantiated rumors. This case must force us to examine more fully how many Blacks were killed by New Orleans police officers during and immediately after Katrina.

Here are two other suspicious cases we know of: (1) The Danzinger Bridge incident, of Sept. 4, 2005; when police opened fire on several civilians
injuring four and killing 40-year-old Ronald Madison and 17-year-old James Brissette. Brissette was shot seven times. Mr. Madison was shot once in the shoulder and five times—in the back. The police said they were fired upon. But, that claim was refuted by all the survivors.

(2) Then there is the case of Keenon McCann.

McCann was shot, on Sept  1, 2005; by Capt. Jeff Winn and Lt. Dwayne Scheuermann. Yes, the same Scheuermann who was just acquitted in the Glover Case. The cops claimed someone had stolen a Kenwood Springs water truck and that, when they investigated, they found several of the Kenwood trucks parked near the Superdome, on the Clairborne Overpass.

As some other officers approached the trucks, Office Scheuermann, and his colleague, stated they saw McCann with a handgun. Supposedly, fearing for their fellow officers lives they fired multiple shots at McCann from a ramp by the overpass. McCann survived, only getting hit once. No gun was found on him and he filed suit against the officers. Unfortunately, before that suit was resolved, McCann was, mysteriously, killed outside his home. That murder remains unsolved.

For decades, the New Orleans Police Department has been known to be the most corrupt in the country. And, perhaps, since New Orleans is David Duke country, we shouldn’t be surprised there are Louisiana cops who will kill Blacks given any opportunity. But this sort of behavior needs to be rooted out. Where is the mainstream media on this story? Is Black life so cheap that we will allow these outrages to go unpunished?

The murder of Henry Glover by New Orleans police harkens back to the dark days of lynching. The murder and mutilation of his body is a sacrilegious act done by cops mirroring the wishes of the Klan and the White Citizens Council—that Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, who fancies himself as a Republican presidential candidate in 2011, tells us weren’t so bad.

Members of law enforcement have a history of torturing and murdering Black people. Do they think the world has forgotten that Sheriff Lawrence Rainey and Deputy Sheriff Cecil Price were involved in the 1964 murders of civil rights workers James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew
Goodman in Mississippi?

Murder is the worst crime on the face of the earth. What can be worse than murderers who are cops?


“Speaking Truth To Empower.”

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