In the early days of the AIDS epidemic, most patients were
gay white males. That's changed. By last year, one-third of
the New Orleanians newly diagnosed with HIV were black women.
Today there are 1,300 local HIV-positive women, although they
are -- by and large -- a silent group ("Changing Faces of AIDS,"
July 29). Most women stay quiet because of multiple worries:
their families will fear infection from them, their children
may be teased and mistreated, and their friends will think less
of them because their partners were sneaking around on the side.
Barbara Brown heads up the Family Advocacy, Care, and Education
Services (FACES) program, which this summer marked its 15th
year of providing HIV-AIDS social services to local women and
youth. Brown says that the 800 women and kids the program serves
may have a hard time finding health care if the legislature
makes further cuts to the state's charity hospital system this
spring.
Currently, the HIV Outpatient (HOP) clinic sees about 4,000
HIV-positive patients from the New Orleans region. The clinic
was not cut during the recent charity-hospital closures, but
Brown says that FACES already has been notified about upcoming
cuts to the HOP clinic's programs and the group is bracing for
more. "When the Legislature starts up in the spring, everyone
is really concerned about what the outcome will be for HOP,"
she says.
Their Back Pages
Local book vendors Josh Wexler and Jordan Blanton, a couple
that met during their days at New York University, sought to
bring a bit of the Big Apple's "culture" and "pedestrian street
life" to New Orleans with sidewalk sales of used books. After
a long, strange legal skirmish with the City of New Orleans
("Me and You and a Dog Named Lenny Bruce," May 6), the two were
given a firm resolution supporting their venture.
In December 2001, Wexler and Blanton sought a required Department
of Finance permit to sell books on city streets. Because books
were not included on an approved list of goods ranging from
razor blades to peanuts, their request was ultimately denied.
During the April hearing, City Attorney Ed Washington admitted
"the city erred" in its handling of the couple's permit requests.
In June, Judge Stanwood R. Duval Jr. handed down his final decision
in the case -- supporting Wexler and Blanton's business -- ruling
that the city ordinance in dispute "operates as an overriding
ban on book-selling" and "[a]s a consequence of this finding,
the First Amendment applies in this case because book selling
is a form of expression. ... [Wexler and Blanton] will be denied
First Amendment freedoms if the ordinance is enforced whereas
[the City of New Orleans] does not appear to be at risk of suffering
any harm."
Wexler and Blanton still set up their book table at the intersection
of Esplanade Avenue and Decatur Street, but now only keep weekend
hours. "We still get people coming by all the time saying, 'Congratulations
on the case,'" Wexler says.
The "S-Word"
According to the state Governor's Program on Abstinence (GPA),
public schools in 45 of Louisiana's 64 parishes offer what is
called "abstinence-only" education, which promotes abstinence
until marriage and forbids discussions of condoms, birth control
and sex ("The S-Word," Nov. 11). In the 2003 race for governor,
voters had the choice of two abstinence-only proponents -- Bobby
Jindal and Kathleen Blanco.
It's not yet clear whether Blanco will restructure the GPA,
which has existed in the governor's office since July 1997,
when Gov. Mike Foster shifted it from the Office of Public Health
and named former legislator Dan Richey as its director. In 2002,
the national American Civil Liberties Union successfully sued
the program for using federal money to promote a religious agenda.
Medical experts have also criticized the GPA Web site, especially
its "ask the experts" section that, they say, is filled with
misleading information.
Last week, Richey said that no one has ever complained to
him. "Look, I've been doing this for six years," he said. "I
haven't had a soul complain about any of the facts and figures
associated with the Governor's Program on Abstinence. Just have
them bring it to our attention and give me chapter and verse."
Moving Forward at Fisk
Just before Thanksgiving, some students from Fisk-Howard Elementary
School came home, upset about an assembly called by their principal,
Eve Brannan ("Fisk Fiasco?" Dec. 12). Students told their parents
that Brannan had led third, fourth and fifth graders to repeat
the words "stupid and low-class" in response to questions such
as "What will people think if we are fighting?" and "What will
people think if we don't pass the LEAP test?" Brannan says that
she did ask those questions but maintains that she had simply
told the kids how intelligent they were.
After Thanksgiving break, students say, Brannan began telling
them that they were intelligent, every day, over the school's
intercom system. The area superintendent, Julian Stafford, made
visits to Fisk. And there was an assembly where -- parents had
heard -- Brannan was going to apologize. Parent Eva Brown says
her three children at Fisk told her, "Dr. Brannan had the assembly,
but the word 'sorry' never came out of her mouth."
That leaves Brown feeling less than satisfied. "She should
have verbally said she was sorry to the kids and to the teachers,"
she says. Brown also says that social workers must go room to
room and check in with the kids who still feel upset. The spokeswoman
for Orleans Parish Schools did not return phone calls for comment
for this story.
New Homeowner
In October, when Gambit Weekly published its story
about John Thompson, he had been free nearly six months, exonerated
18 years after he was wrongly convicted of murder ("Six Months
Out," Nov. 4). With his release, Thompson became the 108th person
to be exonerated from this nation's death rows since 1973. Earlier
this month, he and his new wife, Laverne, became first-time
homebuyers.
Last week, Thompson said that he and his wife Laverne hoped
to spend the holiday in their freshly built Habitat for Humanity
home. Habitat volunteers built the Thompsons' dwelling, with
the couple working alongside -- pounding nails, placing shingles,
shoveling dirt. The finished product fulfills one of Thompson's
dreams. "I'm assuming that's every man's dream -- owning his
own house," he says. The next dream is a little smaller -- a
table that will fit six, to accommodate their children and grandchildren.
Making Waves
This summer, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) made
what The New York Times called "the most important changes
to the nation's media ownership rules in a generation," when
it voted to change media ownership rules such as raising a media
outlet's potential national audience from 35 percent to 45 percent.
If the FCC vote was so groundbreaking, then why did it barely
register a blip on the national media radar until the last minute?
("Broadcast Blues," June 10). Critics blame the issue's relatively
spare national news coverage on a lack of diverse media voices,
a specter they feared the FCC vote was abetting. Vocal opposition
to the vote came from a strange mix of bedfellows including
the National Rifle Association, the National Organization for
Women, and politicians from both sides of the aisle.
Chief among the vote's supporters is Louisiana Rep. Billy
Tauzin, Republican chairman of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications,
Trade, and Consumer Protection. Tauzin told the FCC was ordered
to act by a federal judge who demanded that FCC regulations
reflect the advent of cable, the Internet, and other channels
of communication in American society.
Some critics acknowledged the FCC was legally compelled to
act but denounced its perceived rush to vote without giving
outsiders much time to review the proposed new rules. Both houses
of Congress later voted to restore the 35 percent cap, but in
December, as part of the omnibus federal spending package, the
House amended it to a 39 percent compromise cap on TV network
ownership. The Senate is scheduled to vote on that measure in
January.
Meanwhile, musicians led by Tom Morello of Rage Against the
Machine launched a 13-city national tour at the end of 2003
in protest of media consolidation. The "Tell Us The Truth,"
tour featured two national policy wonks who were showered with
rock-star adulation: Michael J. Copps and Jonathan Adelstein,
the Democratic FCC commissioners who had voted against the changes.
New Hope for Ryan Matthews
In April, attorneys for death-row inmate Ryan Matthews released
DNA evidence linking another man to the 1997 killing of popular
Bridge City grocer Tommy Vanhoose ("New Trials," May 13). Matthews
was a juvenile when he was arrested; he's now 23 and has been
on death row for six years. His co-defendant, Travis Hayes,
received a life sentence.
As a result of the DNA evidence, Matthews' case received its
first hearing in August. Attorney Billy Sothern had originally
hoped that his client would be home to spend Christmas with
his mother, Pauline Matthews, and his sister, Monique, who gave
birth this spring to a daughter she named Ryen in his honor.
Now they're hoping for his release "very soon," says Sothern.
Poop Decks
Cruise ship traffic from the Port of New Orleans has become
one of the brightest spots on the city's economic horizon. Yet,
the berth boom may come with a price. Nationwide, environmentalists
are raising concerns about sewage and water treatment procedures
followed by cruise lines; locally, few questions have been raised
about the lines operating out of New Orleans ("Making a Stink,"
Nov. 18).
Dana Dubose of Oceana, a national environmental group, says
that outdated regulations on wastewater and the general lack
of oversight by the government mean that citizens have no way
of knowing how close to shore sewage is being dumped. Dubose
says the concerns raised include both threats to human health
and the marine environment. Cruise industry representatives
say that their corporate policies ensure that the sewage is
adequately treated and is released far out from shore.
Environmentalists are hoping for legislation that will set
a standard for wastewater treatment and also make regulations
legally enforceable. Several states have already started on
this path, with Alaska leading the pack and California and Maine
not far behind. Should Louisiana lawmakers choose to take up
this issue, they could enact a no-discharge zone in state waters
or add their support to efforts in Washington, D.C., to establish
national regulations. For the moment, however, state officials
don't seem too concerned. "I assume the cruise lines are taking
care of it," Barbara Roy of the Office of Tourism told Gambit
Weekly.
Rebel Yell
Today, Louisiana singer C.J. Trahan is considered a forefather
of "hate-core" music and a cult figure among white supremacists.
This summer, Trahan gave his first in-depth interview about
his days as artist Johnny Rebel, who in the late 1960s recorded
segregationist cuts for Crowley-based Reb Rebel Records ("Johnny
Rebel Speaks," June 10). His specialty: setting racist lyrics
against swampbilly twangs.
Johnny Rebel's work and its messages have been mimicked for
years, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). "Since
the 1960s, when racist country singer Johnny Rebel recorded
songs such as "N--Hatin' Me," more than 500 hate rock bands
have formed worldwide," reports Bigots Who Rock: An ADL List
of Hate Music Groups. A few years ago, after Trahan discovered
that Johnny Rebel 45s sold for $60 on the Internet, he compiled
all of his singles onto a CD. After 9/11, Trahan came out of
retirement to record "Infidel Anthem," a song about how the
United States should trounce Osama bin Laden. That tune landed
him on Howard Stern's radio show, which led to an overwhelming
demand for all of Johnny Rebel's music. New recordings include
songs such as "Send Them All Back to Africa."
Our story on Johnny Rebel provoked much response -- with most
readers questioning our decision to run the profile at all.
"How ever did you arrive at this topic, anyway?" wrote Shawn
Lamb Bowen. "Were you just looking for the most ignorant, self-contradictory,
back-woods hick on the planet and arrived at C.J. Trahan? Did
you have nothing better to do?" Writer Heather Wright, meanwhile,
wondered if "it was assumed that your readers assign themselves
to wearing sheets and burning crosses on people's lawns."
Legal Lynching?
The issue was whether Jefferson Parish prosecutors Cameron
Mary and Donald Rowan should be barred from wearing neckties
bearing images of a grim reaper and a hangman's noose. Last
December, local death-penalty defense attorney Clive Stafford
Smith filed a document titled "Motion to Prohibit Prosecutors
From Wearing Tasteless and Improper Garb in the Courthouse"
on behalf of his client, Lawrence Jacobs Jr., a young black
man charged with first-degree murder.
Jefferson Parish District Attorney Paul Connick responded
immediately, saying that he didn't know that the ties were being
worn, that he considered them to be inappropriate, and that
he had instructed Mary and Rowan not to wear the ties again
to work. "End of story," he said.
Several months later, Stafford Smith's office, the Louisiana
Crisis Assistance Center, released a report that once again
raised the question of race in Jefferson Parish death-penalty
cases. In the study's sample of more than 500 felony-level juries,
20 percent had no black jurors at all, even though 23 percent
of the parish is black. Center attorney Richard Bourke alleged
that the only conclusion to reach is that prosecutors were deliberately
striking black prospective jurors. Connick called the charges
"politically motivated," since the Center is opposed to the
death penalty.
