On Eddie Jordan: Defeated
Wednesday, July 18th, 2007I was just telling someone else about my troubled reaction to this afternoon’s Criminal Justice Committee meeting during which questions about the competence of the District Attorney’s office were raised, and I now feel compelled to share my views more broadly.
Defeated. That’s the feeling I had as soon as I stepped away from the podium.
Defeated, because nobody likes to speak in front of groups in emotionally-charged situations, but I am compelled every time in memory of the eleven-month-old baby who I watched die on a hospital bed after a bullet fired into the back of a car by a remorseless crackhead passed through his brain and lodged in his eye socket.
Defeated, because given the racially- and politically-charged environment in Council chambers, there seemed little that anyone (who’s white) could say or do that wouldn’t be met with mistrust (by blacks).
Defeated, because I feel like I, we, all of us who spoke against Mr. Jordan, are being treated like the enemy, when what we should all really want is justice for all murder victims — especially for the children who are victims of violence, like those five teenagers executed in Central City last summer — especially for those who loved and nurtured children, like Dinerral Shavers. If we can’t save our children – let alone give them better educations, and jobs, and hope — what kind of future are we creating?
Defeated, because if the African American community can’t get past the issue of race to realize that we’re fighting the same fight for justice — universal justice throughout society – then we can’t work together as we must to prove this city (and nation) has a viable and promising future.
Defeated, because despite the diligence and responsiveness of the Criminal Justice Committee and full City Council to every material or financial request made by the District Attorney, Mr. Jordan squeaked through another crisis without answering the most vital question — why he didn’t prioritize these most troubling cases, and pick up the phone to find or compel a witness to testify before dismissing charges.
Defeated, because I stick my neck out, risking my job and future in controversy because it’s what I must do, when in the end, it seems that those who are least outraged by Mr. Jordan’s failings are those who stand to gain the most, but who are too blinded by their own experiences (or indoctrination) of injustice that they can’t see that I, we who are white, are not the enemy.
Defeated, because I understand injustice — maybe not racial injustice, but its near cousin, economic injustice. I don’t come from a privileged background. I’m lucky I didn’t turn to a life of crime myself given what happened to me — but I didn’t. I didn’t use my own experience of hardship growing up as an excuse to pick up a gun and murder another human being. And there are many others among the hecklers for Jordan in Council chambers who know what I’m talking about, because they didn’t pick up guns and murder people just because they were mad at “the system.” No, the act of murder is a sociopathic act placing its practitioners into a category completely apart from the rest of civilized humanity.
Defeated, because even more than I am disappointed by Mr. Jordan’s ineffectiveness, I am discouraged by the antagonism against Mr. Jordan’s detractors which occurred in Council chambers today. We have to get past this issue of race. I’m afraid it appears there’s little we in the white community can do anymore to address the cultural divide on this issue of criminal justice if we can’t have civil dialog about the problems we must confront together.
I wish that more people of color in the audience would have spoken up to support Council Members Midura, Carter, Fielkow, and Head, and demanded of Mr. Jordan a more direct response to the questions about why his office has dismissed charges in two of the highest-profile murder cases in New Orleans’ history — both involving members of the African American community.
The more I feel defeated, the more I’m inclined to concede that you get the criminal justice system you deserve, and leave this magnificent city to its doom.
Since many have asked what I said in Council chambers today, I’m including below the notes I scribbled on a piece of paper. There were a few other spoken remarks made between the lines.
Peace,
Brian Denzer
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I want to thank the Criminal Justice Committee for calling this hearing on this very important criminal justice matter.
Mr. Jordan’s responses were carefully crafted to avoid actually answering any question about his competence. We citizens have no assurance that charges against particularly violent offenders won’t be dismissed in the future.
While it’s true, as Councilman Carter said, that Mr. Jordan didn’t create the crime problem in New Orleans, nevertheless, he is the lead prosecutor in a city fighting to survive, and under siege by violent criminals.
Because the issue of Mr. Jordan’s competence appears to be politically charged, I feel it is important to underscore the fact that there is no more egregious violation of an individual’s freedom, no more egregious violation of an individual’s civil and human rights, than to be mercilessly executed like an animal.
Mr. Jordan, I wish that those five kids gunned down in Central City last summer could be here today to offer their views about whether you have done enough to provide them with justice. I wish they could ask you why you didn’t pick up the phone to the NOPD to find a witness to their murders.
It’s left to us to make sure they receive whatever justice can be obtained.
Mr. Jordan, please stop blaming the failures of your office on Hurricane Katrina. I believe the phones are now working.
Mr. Jordan, please resign!
