Eddie Jordan, apparently the first black district attorney in New Orleans, has been a bad boy. He fired white employees to make room for black employees. A judge has ordered his administration to pay $3.58 million in damages and fees.
There were 43 plaintiffs, and most appeared to be support staff. Hmmm. I wonder why he fired white support staff but not white lawyers? Perhaps he did, and the white lawyers chose not to sue. Unlikely. I’m just guessing.
Jordan’s office is in bad shape, so I’m sure the plaintiffs aren’t holding their collective breath waiting for the cash. From The Times-Picayune:
His office has a backlog of 6,000 open cases at Criminal District Court, which reopened June 1 for the first time since Hurricane Katrina hit Aug. 29. His chief investigator, Dwight Deal, is on paid leave after a witness from a criminal case accused him of sexual misconduct…And last week, Jordan, whose term runs until 2009, announced that the courthouse may benefit from adding temporary judges to the bench to deal with cases, a statement that offended a group of judges, including two former first assistant district attorneys who worked under Connick.
The reaction wasn’t pretty. Chief Judge Raymond Bigelow suggested in open court that Jordan’s staff needs to learn to work more efficiently with police officers.
Bigelow flatly denied prosecutors’ request to delay a case in his court and then mentioned Jordan’s suggestion to bring in extra judges.
“Maybe the fact that his office isn’t ready to go forward or the fact that the Police Department isn’t ready to go forward” is the problem, Bigelow said in court last week. “Until he fixes that, I’m not continuing any cases.”
Funny things happen when the Civil Rights Act is properly interpreted and applied.
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So you are saying that civil rights laws are necessary and effective? Interesting, I happen to agree.
La Shawn,
A search of the web reveals that this sort of thing is VERY common these days, sort of like the polar opposite was so common 40 years ago. Why do some people seem to think that its OK to practice what they fought so hard against in the 60’s, so long as it’s directed toward Whites?
How quickly would you guess that either a. Jesse Jackson or b. Al Sharpton will be making a stink of this within a short time period?
I would think this verdict is prime fodder for them to spin into “racial injustice”
Montie, black liberal types aren’t really interested in equal justice. You would be hard-pressed to hear a black liberal say this in public, but they view discrimination against whites differently from discrimination against blacks.
Some believe blacks deserve special treatment based on the American slave trade and Jim Crow, whether or not they’ve ever been slaves or were alive during Jim Crow. Blacks aren’t stupid; they know it’s wrong to fire people because they’re white or black. They just believe discrimination against whites is justified. I’ve been blogging for almost three years, and I long for the day when a black liberal will ADMIT to it.
Liberals don’t admit to anything, including being liberal.
This “getting even” business reminds me of the Hatfields and the McCoys. A Hatfield shoots a McCoy, then a McCoy shoots a Hatfield, etc. In the end, no one wins.
Jack at #1, I don’t know if there’s a difference between civil rights lawyers and employment discrimination lawyers. I’m sure both are necessary. The problem I have is that the pendulum seems to have swung too far. There was a case in the town where I live a few years ago that caught my attention because the lawyer for the lady who brought the discrimination suit was someone I went to college with.
Going by the interview in the paper, the plaintiff’s case was built entirely on her subjective impressions. She could tell they didn’t like her because she was black simply based on their tones of voice and facial expressions. And she won. If all you need for “proof” is your subjective impressions of someone else’s facial expressions and vocal tone, then the pendulum has swung too far.
A while back, I was looking for a heavy equipment operator who had been recommended to me. His wife told me to check for him at the little restaurant down the street from his house. When I walked in (the only white face in the place) everyone quit talking. The facial expressions told me they didn’t like me because I was white. Do I have a case?
“A search of the web reveals that this sort of thing is VERY common these days, sort of like the polar opposite was so common 40 years ago. Why do some people seem to think that its OK to practice what they fought so hard against in the 60’s, so long as it’s directed toward Whites?
Comment by Montie Burchett ”
I guess the same reason many women find it perfectly okay to be sexist pigs towards men these days. Some people like revenge, and never really wanted equality to begin with. They wanted to be better. They wanted “their turn”.
You know if they had come up with a name for it and put it in the public eye (racial leveling) or something of the sort, it would have been okay, or at least considered to be. They tried to leep it on the DL so it shows they knew it was wrong.
Montie
Despite what you may observe on the Internet, from a statistical standpoint, around 5% of discrimination claims come from whites claiming “reverse discrimination” and around 6 or 7% of those are substantiated. So while unfortunate situations like this happen, they are far from the preponderance.
Shade,
Where did you come up with those percentages? Can you back them up? Perhaps reverse discrimination complaints garner more publicity because of the novelty. Then again…
I just watched a news item over the weekend involving a Black Mayor who had fired 2 White police officers for minor infractions. The Police Chief was outraged, and said he believed it was a race based decision on the part of the Mayor, and further stated that several of his Black officers had committed far worse infractions and only been given a slap on the wrist by that same Mayor. Incidentally, the Police Chief is Black.
The Mayor denied any racism in her decision making process, but the Police Chief, the officers, and of course, the officer’s lawyers, see it otherwise.
We also have some internal strife over reverse discrimination policies locally, which has been making the local news, so maybe it’s just that I’ve been exposed to so much of it lately, not only on the news, but here at “La Shawn Barber’s Corner”.
What I have seen lately though is somewhat alarming. In many of these cases, Blacks, who have obtained positions of power, exercise reverse discrimination as though it is their RIGHT to do so (just as Whites did for many years). The thing is, two wrongs don’t make a right and NEVER WILL. It will just be more of the same old stuff that frankly, I wish we could just get over.
Montie
The last Department of Labor analysis on the subject found that fewer than 100 out of 3,000 discrimination cases filed involved reverse discrimination, and in only six cases were such claims substantiated.
Can you provide a link, Shade? I’d like to take a look at those stats.
Shade,
The obvious point with your stats is this:
NO WHITE MAN OR WOMAN WOULD WANT TO FILE THIS TYPE OF CLAIM.
Why? Because black liberals are conditioned to regard such claims as inherently racist. Do you think they want to deal with the potential media blitz or potentially being ostracized?
Furthermore, using your previous population stats, examine your claims data in proportion, and also examine the overall history of the agency which reviews these claims (Civil Rights Commission and EEOC).
Everything needs to be looked at in proportion.
100 claims out of 200 million substantiated.
OK, how many claims of blakcs were substantiated? Versus Asians, Hispanics, Eskimoes, etc…
The Civil Rights Act (which the EEOC doesnt seem to get) was supposed to be interpreted for all races, not just blacks.
Eddie Jordan will have to pay 3.58 million. How is Eddie Jordan going to come up with 3.58 million?
I hope that taxpayers do not end up with the bill.
Doug, of course the taxpayers are going to foot the bill IF anything ever gets paid out. It’s well known that Jordan’s DA office is lacking in cash anyway and doesn’t have 3.58 million. Jordan’s already appealing the decision and even if the appeal fails, I seriously doubt is a single dime ever gets paid to the victim of Jordan’s discrimination. It’s just the New Orleans way.
Here are some links La Shawn. The first is directly related to this topic.
http://www.lipmagazine.org/~timwise/PlayingRaceCard.html
http://spot.pcc.edu/affirmativeaction/Pages/aafaq.html
http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-qualified.htm
“Why do some people seem to think that its OK to practice what they fought so hard against in the 60’s, so long as it’s directed toward Whites?”–Comment by Montie Burchett
Montie might I suggest you pick up a book by Shelby Steele called “White Guilt” “How Blacks and Whites Together Destroyed the Promise of the Civil Rights Era”.
It is a great book and very informative.
here is the amazon l;ink
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060578629/002-2870373-6711203?v=glance&n=283155
La Shawn:
This type of stuff is a lot more common than most people think.
Most White people I know just don’t want to bother with civil rights lawsuits, because the cards are really stacked against them.
Years ago, as a White anesthesiologist, I had a bad outcome with a Black boy.
My attorney (Black man)told me that, with a Black victim, I would likely lose in a civil trial. They settled out of court.
PS – It’s ironic when I hear “the Poor” (disporportionately Black in the cities) complain about high medical costs. But malpractice settlements like this only add to the cost.
Just a little sidenote for whatever it’s worth:
I lived not too awfully far away from New Orleans from 1976 until I got married in 1986. I’ve also read a lot of historical material about New Orleans including its rather colorful political history. And I can say with certainty that New Orleans has some of the most politically corrupt politicians in the United States. They basically give Cook County, Illinois, Boston and NYC a run for their money each and every year. It’s a dubious title sad to say, but corruption in New Orleans and the surrounding region has been going on for so long that it’s just accepted as a way of life and is so entrenched that no one person or organization will ever clean it up.
That’s just the way it’s been, the way it is and sadly the way it will probably be.
Granted, some stretches of years are better than others, but it’s usually after something so bad has happened. Take the major police corruption trials from several years ago. For a time, the NOPD cleaned up its act, but it’s now headed towards the same deplorable situation it found itself in all those years ago when several police officers were found guilty on murder-for-hire charges.
So it’s really no surprise that Eddie Jordan did what he did. And it won’t be any surprise if not one dime is ever paid out from the NO DA’s office.
It’s a mess down in the Crescent City and not all of it was caused by Hurricane Katrina.
A friend of mine from N.O. says that Edwin Edwards ran for governor of Louisiana on the slogan: “I may be a crook, but I’m YOUR crook.”
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