Vol. 71/No. 29      August 6, 2007

Henderson said the group was founded in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina “to address the problems of police brutality, unjust defense, and jail conditions.”

Six days after the storm struck New Orleans in August 2005, Ronald and Lance Madison, two African American brothers, were crossing Danzinger Bridge when a group of cops pulled up in a rental truck. Without identifying themselves as officers, the policemen opened fire on six others on the bridge.

The Madisons started running away from the shooting. Ronald, 47, who was mentally retarded, was shot twice in the shoulder. James Barset, 19, was killed, and four others were injured.

Lance carried Ronald to a nearby motel and went for help. When he returned, his brother had been shot five more times in the back and was dead.

Lance was arrested and charged with attempted murder.

“The cops feel they can do whatever they want and get away with it,” said Romell Madison, brother of Lance and Ronald, who also attended the U.S. Social Forum.

In a CNN interview in 2006, Kasmir Gaston explained that he saw cops lined up “like at a firing range” and fatally shoot Ronald Madison in the back as he ran from the cops. “He just fell like he was collapsing.”

After a grand jury heard testimony in the case, charges against Lance Madison were dropped, and charges of first-degree murder were brought against four of the cops involved in the fatal shooting.

The others who were shot by the cops on Danzinger Bridge have filed federal civil rights lawsuits against the city. The Madison family is still waiting for the criminal trial against the cops that killed Ronald.

The Madison case has received both local and national publicity. Robert Goodman, an organizer for Safe Streets, Strong Communities, explained, “We try to work together to help show Ronald Madison’s killing isn’t an isolated incident.”

Goodman’s brother Ronald was killed by the cops in New Orleans in May 2006. Goodman related the story in an interview with the Militant.

Like Ronald Madison, Ronald Goodman, 40, was mentally retarded. Unable to get him admitted to a mental facility in February 2006, his family cared for him in his mother’s house. Without proper medical attention, though, his condition deteriorated. In May his mother called the cops to take him to a hospital.

According to Goodman, the cops arrived at the house around 8:00 p.m. They claimed they heard gunfire, brought in a SWAT team, and sealed off the block. At 2:30 a.m. the first shots were fired.

The cops refused to let the family enter the house or communicate with Ronald by bullhorn.

During the siege, Goodman said, family members overheard cops bragging on their radio, “We have him on the bed crying for his mama.”

Two hours later, after initially telling the family that Ronald was fine, they admitted he had been killed.

“We have a lot of questions for the cops,” said Goodman. “Why was there no evidence of Ronald having shot a gun? Why tear gas the house after the shooting? Why was Ronald brought to the morgue in handcuffs?”

“Right now,” he continued, “the only option open to us is a civil suit. But we don’t care about the money. We only hope to use the civil suit to bring out the facts.”

“No amount of money will bring my son back,” explained Ronald’s 87-year-old mother.
 
 
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