Black Rage in New Orleans: Police Brutality and African American Activism from World War II to Hurricane Katrina

2. OR DOES IT EXPLODE?: The Black Freedom Struggle Comes to New Orleans

43 2 Or Does It Explode? The Black Freedom Struggle Comes to New Orleans While African Americans across the South were marching, sitting-in, and holding various forms of protest against segregation and disenfranchisement , television viewers outside the South saw the brutality of southern police departments that black southerners had complained about for decades. During the civil rights movement, many police officials understood that they had an obligation to keep black folks in their place since the urban setting did not allow for mob activity. Although massive resistance rhetoric may have been espoused by segregationist politicians and white community leaders, it was carried out by members of the local police department who were empowered by demagogues, segregationists, and the courts to use any means necessary to resist integration. In some cities police officials responded violently to black protest efforts, and in other locales white segregationists brutally attacked black activists as police officials stood by giving their consent. The typical southern police department was filled with Klansmen and/or white supremacist sympathizers who cherished their working-class southern identity. Since the black drive for integration came, at times, at the expense of the white working class, they vigorously defended public space that they considered “theirs.” The integration of restaurants, swimming pools, parks, libraries, and schools in working-class white areas led to a significant white backlash that was carried out in violent clashes between police officers and African Americans. The Genesis of the Civil Rights Movement in New Orleans On September 9, 1960, members of New Orleans Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) launched a sit-in at one of the Woolworth stores on Canal Street, 44 Black Rage in New Orleans signaling the beginning of the direct-action civil rights movement in the Crescent City and a new era of black protest. After four hours, the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) arrested the protestors and charged all seven with criminal activity. After the demonstrations, newly appointed police Chief Joseph I. Giarrusso, an NOPD veteran with a reputation for being a good administrator, issued a statement referring to the sit-in as “regrettable .” He then mentioned how the NOPD would respond to direct-action: “As part of its regular operating program, the New Orleans Police Department is prepared to take prompt and effective action against any person or group who disturbs the peace or creates disorder on public or private property .” The thirty-seven-year-old chief then made it clear that the NOPD and its personnel were “ready and able to enforce the laws of the City of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana.”1 Throughout the next week protestors continued their sit-ins. However, Morrison instructed the NOPD to arrest them in violation of State Acts 70 and 80—two acts passed by the Louisiana legislature earlier that year to prevent demonstrations. The acts prohibited demonstrations that disturbed or alarmed the public, and Act 80 specifically prohibited the obstruction of public sidewalks. “It is my determination that the community interest, the public safety, and the economic welfare of this city require that such demonstrations cease and that henceforth they will be prohibited by the police department.” According to Morrison, the sit-ins did not represent the feelings of most African Americans but rather “a small group of misguided white and Negro students.” Police Superintendent Giarrusso added that he did not think that the demonstrators represented the more intelligent group of black folk. Morrison’s directive to arrest the demonstrators came as a shock to black leaders, notably A. L. Davis; Clarence “Chink” Henry, president of the General Longshore Workers Local no. 19 and local political operative; and Reverend Avery Alexander, a pastor and head of the middleclass -oriented Consumers League. All three men were arguably the most powerful black leaders at the time and all three received patronage benefits through Morrison’s Crescent City Democratic Association. However, in an effort to attract segregationist support for an upcoming gubernatorial bid, Morrison decided that the NOPD would hold the line of civil rights demonstrations to the disappointment of Davis, Henry, and Alexander.2 Giarrusso’s public statements on the matter also came as a shock to black residents. Although they knew the chief had to obey Morrison, they were confident that he would express some sympathy for the demonstra- Or Does It Explode? 45 tions. After he was appointed in August 1960, he told the press that he would...