NEW ORLEANS PUBLIC HOUSING DEFENDERS FACE TERROR CHARGES
By Bill Weinberg

[July 18, 2008] A trial is about to open in New Orleans of housing activists Jamie "Bork" Laughner and Joy Kohler, both of whom face charges of criminal trespass and possession of a "fake explosive device" following civil disobedience arrests at public housing projects slated for demolition. Laughner has also been charged under a Louisiana anti-terrorism law passed as the state's answer to the federal PATRIOT ACT.

Laughner and Kohler are among three activists arrested on December 19, 2007, as bulldozers moved in on the 1,500-unit BW Cooper housing project, one of four in the city designated for destruction in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which hit the city in September of 2005. The activists were initially charged with "terrorism," carrying a 20-year sentence. City prosecutors are now pursuing the less ambitious false explosive and trespass charges, carrying five years and six months, respectively.

The "false explosive device" is what Laughner calls a "lock-down device," and police commonly call a "sleeping dragon": metal pipes that can be chained together with a protester's arms inside. At no point did Laughner attempt to portray the lock-down as an explosive device. Laughner says the charges are ironic, given that she is "sworn to nonviolent direct action, trying to save people's homes."

Laughner would soon be facing more serious charges, as she immediately returned to the frontlines after being arrested and released. "If we could delay the bulldozers even for a few hours, they'd send the crews home and that would be one day of no buildings being torn down," she told the SHADOW. "We were trying to build momentum of people stopping the bulldozers every day."

On Good Friday, March 21, 2007, Laughner was among three New Orleans residents who entered the vacant Lafitte housing development in a bid to save it from being razed. The three activists, Laughner, Thomas McManus, and Ezekiel Compton, slipped below a barbed wire fence, scaled a metal grating and reached the balcony of an empty apartment, where they dropped a banner. When the three were arrested an hour later, they were charged with trespassing, resisting an officer, and "unlawful entry of a critical structure." This last charge falls under an anti-terrorist "critical infrastructure" law enacted by the Louisiana legislature in the wake of the passing of the PATRIOT ACT.

Laughner again points out the irony: "The housing couldn't have been very critical if they were trying to destroy it." The "critical infrastructure" charges were later reduced to a charge of trespass. In any case, prosecutors are pursuing the December 2007 charges first. The office of New Orleans prosecutor Keza Landrum-Johnson confirmed that Laughner and Kohler face trespass and false explosive charges, but would not comment on whether any other charges had been or would be filed against the activists.

The City Council voted in December to demolish New Orleans' "Big Four" public housing developments [BW Cooper, CJ Peete, St. Bernard and Lafitte], which had been damaged in the storm, but which activists insist were still salvageable. Mayor Ray Nagin soon thereafter signed three of four demolition permits, excluding the Lafitte complex. Bulldozers and wrecking cranes then moved in on the three housing projects.

Nagin initially held off from approving Lafitte's demolition permit, pending authorization of redevelopment plans from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). He finally signed the demolition permit on March 24, 2008, allowing the destruction of all but 196 units at the 1,000-unit Lafitte project, which is being preserved temporarily for returning residents.

Housing activists with groups like Laughner's May Day NOLA, as well as historic preservationists, petitioned for Lafitte's survival, calling it an integral part of the culturally-rich Sixth Ward. Activists note that the new housing to be developed under the HUD plan will provide far fewer homes for low-income residents. Their hopes were dashed when Nagin announced that he and Council members were "comfortable" that HUD was honoring its commitments.

HUD openly threatened to cut off funds for redevelopment if New Orleans didn't vote to go along with the demolition policy. HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson wrote Mayor Nagin, pledging to withhold $137 million in funds slated for "affordable housing" if the projects were not razed. The HUD plan, drawn up with the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO), a body under HUD's direct control following mismanagement claims, called for demolition of 4,500 public housing units. They are ostensibly to be replaced, but with 5,108 "affordable and mixed-income rental homes," which activists charge will not be "affordable" to the displaced residents.

At the end of March, just after bulldozers moved on Lafitte, HUD Secretary Jackson announced his resignation. Although he made no mention of it, he was facing charges of political favoritism and a criminal investigation related to the situation in New Orleans. The FBI is said to be examining ties between Jackson and a friend who was paid $392,000 by HUD as a construction manager in New Orleans. The friend got the job after Jackson asked a staff member to pass along his name to HANO.

There were initially signs that New Orleans would not go along with the HUD plan. On November 1, 2007, the City Council passed a resolution to support a congressional bill calling for one-for-one replacement of public housing units. Opponents of the housing demolitions filed suit, contending the Council's consent was required by the city charter before demolitions could proceed.

But on November 17, new elections brought about a white-majority City Council in New Orleans for the first time in over two decades. The 52,614 votes cast were down sharply from 113,000 votes in the May 2006 mayoral election. In that race, many of those displaced by Hurricane Katrina voted absentee or drove into New Orleans to vote. But these displaced residents, still dispersed across the country, were this time effectively denied the ability to vote.

At a December 6 hearing, police blocked the door of the Council chambers to keep former housing project residents out as they pressed against police lines and chanted "Stop the demolitions!" On December 13, protesters again gathered outside City Hall, chanting the same demand. That same day, two activists, including Laughner, were arrested for allegedly attempting to block demolition at the BW Cooper project.

The next day, HANO blinked, agreeing to postpone demolition of three of the housing projects pending a vote of the Council. (BW Cooper was excluded, as the Council had already approved its demolition.)

Following the new elections, however, the struggle for a Council vote on the demolition policy proved for naught. On December 20, the new City Council capitulated, voting 7-0 to approve demolition of the public housing. Police used chemical spray and stun guns on dozens of protesters who had been barred from the Council chamber after the seating capacity of 300 was reached. There were several arrests.

Nagin didn't attend the Council meeting, but held a press conference after the vote to compliment Council members for approving the demolitions. "The decisions made today were ones of compassion, courage, and commitment to this city," Nagin said.

This was the day after Laughner's second arrest at BW Cooper. Released from jail on her own recognizance, despite being charged with "terrorism," she was among those who protested that afternoon outside City Hall. "I got out at 4 in the morning, and tried to get into City Hall for the vote," she says. "I was pepper-sprayed and tasered."

Laughner says such tactics were all too effective. "A lot of people backed down at that point," she told the SHADOW. "They felt like if people were going to be facing terrorism charges, and the police were tasering people and torturing people, they had to back down."

Laughner says that at the December 19 arrest, she was verbally threatened by the police as they worked to free her from the lock-down device and was told to leave town, if she knew what was good for her.

But, Laughner is still in New Orleans, and hasn't given up her fight for one-to-one replacement of pubic housing. "45,000 people have dropped off the map," she says. "The city doesn't know where they are. People evicted because of a storm should be able to come back to their own homes and their own community. Instead, a political decision is being made under the excuse of a natural disaster."

Laughner told the SHADOW that failure to halt the destruction of the projects doesn't mean the issue has gone away. "It would have been nice to save the buildings. But what we've always been about is that every citizen of New Orleans displaced by that storm has the right to come back. And if they're not allowed to come back, they've essentially become refugees in their own country, and that's not right. Its not what our country should be about."
 

[Art from DISASTER AND RESISTANCE, by Seth Tobocman]