 May 12, 2010, The Times-PicayuneSerpas vows to grill district leaders dailyHe says he'll seek answers on each violent crime ... Robert Goodman, an organizer at Safe Streets/Strong Communities who participated in the protest, said he is concerned Serpas is essentially one of the "good ol' boys" who will resist real change to the NOPD. Protest organizers plan to make their voices heard at another march in front of City Hall on Thursday morning, he said.
May 10, 2010, The LensActivists plan Thursday protest against NOPD chief SerpasAt Sunday’s second line in the Seventh Ward – the first social aid and pleasure club parade since Landrieu took office – vendors hawking ice cold Heinekens had with them a new accessory: a flier announcing a protest of the mayor’s selection of Ronal Serpas as the new police superintendent. The upcoming Thursday protest will be the first public show of dissatisfaction with the new chief, who hasn’t even come to town yet for his new job... The event, to be held at 11 a.m. in front of City Hall, is sponsored by a coalition of grassroots organizations called Community United for Change, organizer W.C. Johnson said by phone Sunday. Johnson is a longtime activist and the founder of a black nationalist media organization, OurStory Network. Other organizations sponsoring the rally include: Safe Streets-Strong Communities, African Americans Against Police Brutality, and Stand with Dignity.
May 06, 2010, Examiner.comCitizens ask Department of Justice civil rights division to take over New Orleans PoliceA group of community activists in New Orleans sent a letter to the Assistant Attorney General's office. They asked that Thomas E. Perez institute immediate action as head of the Civil Rights Division to insure citizens safety under the United States constitution. They informed the Civil Rights Division that the recent police brutality was occurring well before the hurricane. The way the second paragraph is worded implies the community leaders were determined to seek federal intervention with or without Mayor Landrieu's support. Their letter is dated on May 4th. Landrieu's letter was put together on the 5th.
May 04, 2010, The LensCoalition wants intervention from feds in NOPD; Landrieu position is still unclearEarlier today, more than two dozen organizations signed onto a letter addressed to Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez, the head of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. The letter calls on the Department of Justice to intervene in local police departments guilty of civil rights abuse, to sue the NOPD and to obtain a consent decree... The coalition of signatories, organized by the Louisiana Justice Institute, includes Safe Streets/Strong Communities, Silence is Violence, the New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian Council, the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana, the Loyola Law School Community Justice Clinic, V.O.T.E., Puentes NOLA, SCLC, and many others.
May 04, 2010, The Times-PicayuneNOPD needs more federal oversight, community coalition saysA coalition of community groups is calling upon the U.S. Department of Justice to file a lawsuit against the New Orleans Police Department in order to force more federal oversight over the troubled agency, according to a letter released Tuesday... The letter sent to the Justice Department was signed by a number of community activists, including Barbara Major, Silence is Violence founders Baty Landis and Ken Foster, and Allen James with Safe Streets/Strong Communities...
April 22, 2010, RaceWireNew Orleans Activists Want Feds To Get Real About NOPD MisconductCommunity United for Change, a new coalition of New Orleans-based grassroots groups, is convening a public hearing tonight to collect testimony of people’s experiences of police brutality with New Orleans Police Department officers. The coalition will deliver transcripts of the hearing to the U.S. Department of Justice as part of its effort to force the DOJ to expand its probe of NOPD misconduct... Currently, the FBI is investigating eight individual cases of NOPD misconduct that include police brutality, lethal shootings and cover-ups. But Robert Goodman, an organizer with Safe Streets/Strong Communities, says that there are many more cases of police brutality that the department is trying to quietly ignore. Goodman’s brother, Ronald, was killed by police officers in May of 2006, in his family’s home in Algiers.
April 21, 2010, The Times-PicayuneNew Orleans police monitor candidates field questions from the publicThe finalists for the city's independent police monitor position faced-off in a community meeting Wednesday night, lobbying a distrustful public as to why they should become the independent watchdog of a distressed police force. The meeting was the first step in a three-day gauntlet of interviews and hearings, set to culminate Friday morning when Inspector General Ed Quatrevaux names the new monitor... A member of community group Safe Streets/Strong Communities, asked how candidates would work with police leaders who could be less than cooperative.
April 20, 2010, The Times-PicayunePolice misconduct needs broader federal inquiry, rally participants sayAt a rally in front of the federal court on Camp Street on Tuesday, Robert Goodman said he wants federal investigators to look at the death of his brother, Ronald Goodman, who was killed after a standoff with the New Orleans Police Department's SWAT team at the family's Algiers home in May 2006... Robert Goodman, an organizer with Safe Streets/Strong Communities, said he plans to talk about the incident during the hearing at St. James AME Fellowship Hall on 219 N. Derbigny Street. The meeting by the new coalition "Community United for Change" will be held Thursday at 6 p.m.
January 28, 2010, ColorLinesJames Perry’s Run for Mayor of New OrleansCan a social justice candidate win an election in the new New Orleans? ... Many voters feel that, at 34, Perry is too young for the position, but this hasn’t hurt him with everyone. Yvette Thierry, the lead organizer with Safe Streets Strong Communities, a grassroots criminal justice reform organization, said that Perry’s youth is an advantage. “We need new voices and new ideas,” she said, adding that she is still an undecided voter.
January 18, 2010, Robert Wood Jonnson FoundationNational Program Will Strengthen Community-Based Advocacy to Reduce Health Inequities and Create Healthy Neighborhoods$15 million investment engages residents in communities of color and indigenous nations in local efforts to improve food and recreation environments Ten local advocacy organizations have been awarded grants by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to plan and implement community-based strategies to build and sustain healthy neighborhoods from East Los Angeles to Harlem. The organizations receiving funding will use a variety of strategies to improve the health of their communities. For example, in Madison, Wis., Freedom, Inc. will engage youth within the Hmong, African-American and Latino populations to reclaim control of local neighborhoods dominated by fast food outlets and liquor stores. In New Orleans, Safe Streets/Strong Communities will push for equity in the public allocation of recreational resources for African-American residents of the city’s low-income wards. The group will aim to redistribute resources to community playgrounds and recreation centers.
August 8, 2009, NOLA.comJarvis DeBerry: New Orleans police monitor choice looks like a set-up... The person hired for the position is supposed to be a prayer answered. But if the people who have been clamoring for such an official believe the selection process is rigged, the relationship between police and the community is destined to worsen, not improve. Evelyn Lynn, spokeswoman for Safe Streets/Strong Communities said, "We feel like the process was a set-up, and we are deeply frustrated and disappointed."
May 31, 2009, The Times-Picayune40 apply for New Orleans police monitor positionNearly a year after the City Council established an independent monitor to oversee the conduct of New Orleans Police Department investigations, the search for a candidate to fill the post has drawn 40 applicants from across the country and is on track to wrap up by midsummer... the search panel includes Police Superintendent Warren Riley, Chief Administrative Office Brenda Hatfield, Ethics Review Board Chairman Kevin Wildes, Councilman James Carter and two representatives from the police and prison watchdog group Safe Streets Strong Communities.
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