PrintAugust 20, 2007
Members of an unidentified political party bear responsibility
NPR's Morning Edition today included a lengthy report on the problems with New Orleans' main prison, ascribing them to Hurricane Katrina. Later in the report however, we learn that the ACLU has had a lawsuit pending on behalf of inmates against Orleans Parish Prison over its inhuman conditions since 1969!
The reporter and the ACLU representative both lament that the Sheriff will not respond to their questions and calls for accountability. Which political party has nearly completely controlled Louisiana's state, county (parish) and New Orleans municipal government since Reconstruction? Yet not once is the Democratic Party mentioned in this report.
In contrast, imagine the outrage if a Republican governor, mayor or sheriff stonewalled NPR, the ACLU, and the judiciary over inhuman conditions for black Americans even for a week.
