The Home Defense Foundation is sponsoring a Rally For Merritt on Thursday, August 22, at 6:30PM, in front of Merritt's house at 735 Mandeville Street in New Orleans, LA. The following statement appears on their website:
We are strong believers in the right of self defense, which is the most basic human right. All four of our governing members, shown on the Home Page, are helping to organize homeowners and voters to try to convince the system to do the right thing in the Merritt Landry case.
We feel that if a law abiding citizen is asleep in his home, and a "professional thief" violates curfew and trespasses on the homeowner's property at two o'clock in the morning, and the professional thief climbs over a locked steel fence to gain access to the homeowner's courtyard right next to the homeowner's windows and side door, the homeowner has a right to protect his young child and his pregnant wife.
In short, there is no civil right to be a "professional thief" - and there is no civil right to climb over a locked steel fence to trespass on someone else's people's property at two o'clock in the morning.
Crime hurts ALL races. We all have to unite to fight it.
Go to JusticeForMerritt.org for more info on this case and to learn about the August 22nd rally seeking justice for Merritt.
At the rally Nadra Enzi, aka "Captain Black," will speak, as will media personality Jeff Crouere, who is a member of the Advisory Board of The Home Defense Foundation. Local Black businessman, Mr. Benjamin John, is also expected to give a short address.
Captain Black, anti crime activist & Organizer of Brothers Against Crime, recently spoke at the Home Defense Foundations'( HDF ) monthly meeting on Tuesday, August 6th, 2013 at 7PM. His topic was: Justice For Merritt Landry. Mr. Landry is a New Orleans homeowner who recently shot an intruder at 2AM who turned out to be an African American male, aged 14.
"As someone who has faced negative presumptions of his character because of his ethnicity, I always oppose seeing the same happen to others, regardless of color. it seems a rush to judgment is underway by some in the community. Home defense is color blind common sense & unites people from all backgrounds" said Captain Black.
Statements issued by the Justice for Merritt Landry support system before the August 6th meeting included: "Now is the time you can offer your support by showing up for a rally for Merritt. Some factions are trying to politicize this tragedy for their own gain, its always the same groups stirring the pot. They want this thing to be about race when clearly the facts say otherwise."
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| Photo from Justice for Merritt Dot Org |
WGNO reported on the August 6th Justice for Merritt Landry Meeting.
Said Andrew F. Branca, author of the seminal book The Law of Self Defense, 2nd Edition "We can only wonder how the public narrative that surrounded George Zimmerman would have differed had there been any similar forces on his behalf to counter the massive disinformation campaign waged against him with the eager collusion of the media." ~ Racially Diverse Landry Supporters Swiftly Organize in His Defense
Justice for Merritt Landry emphasizes the importance of holding elected officials and police accountable for the New Orleans crime rate and calls for political reform and community engagement.
"What happened to the Landry Family could easily have happened to any one of us had the criminal chosen our home to target. That realization was a large part of why we started the page and we suspect it is a large part of why so many people have joined the cause despite having never met Merritt Landry.
"Free Merritt Landry" isn't just about keeping Merritt free it's about protecting the right every one of us has to keep your family, yourself and property safe from criminals. It's about us standing together in one clear and loud voice saying, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
We are tired of elected officials and community 'leaders' making excuses for criminals. We are tired of living in fear. We have a right to live in a safe community and to walk to our car without fear of having some thug stick a gun in our face. We are tired of waking up to broken glass and missing property."
Photographs of the New Orleans crime map are being used to raise awareness about Thursday's rally.
Landry will appear in court on August 23. Currently the Free Merritt Landry Facebook page has over 4,000 "likes" and his defense fund has raised $21,170.00 in donations
Captain Black is a long-time anti-crime activist whose campaigns include "NOPD Hates Me" a project dedicated to reforming the New Orleans Police Department.
Learn more about Captain Black here!
Marshall Coulter, remains hospitalized in critical condition after allegedly being shot by Landry.
Meanwhile, New Orleans community organizers are planning a rally for the Jobs, Justice and Education that will take place Saturday, August 24.
Public Housing Activist and Ecosocialist Michael Howells issued the following press release earlier this week in an email that includes the subjects line "Rally for Shooting a Kid for Trespassing. And a Rally Against It" and most recently "Rally for Coulter Shooting. And a Rally Against Coulter Shooting."
The actual rally is also being called Rally for Jobs, Justice, and Education and is described as follows:
If you think it's okay to shoot a black kid in the head for trespassing on a yard after climbing over a fence, then you'll be pleased to note that like-minded people are holding a rally on Thursday in the Marigny that is calling on the Orleans D.A. to drop all criminal charges against Merritt Landry. Landry is the Marigny homeowner who shot 14 year old Marshall Coulter for trespassing on the lawn of Landry's home. This rally will be in front of Landry's home on Mandeville Street. The Home Defense Foundation, led by WGSO shock jock Jeff Crouere, is organizing the rally.
The Home Defense Foundation apparently sees no contradiction in calling on the DA to drop felony aggravated battery and other felony charges against Landry while simultaneously urging blacks and whites to come together in a united front against crime.
If you do not think it is okay to shoot a kid in the head, or anywhere else, for trespassing on a lawn then you are urged to attend the Rally for Jobs, Justice, and Education 6:30pm Saturday on the corner of Mandeville and St. Claude in the Marigny. This rally is being organized by C3/Hands Off Iberville, Reverend Raymond Brown, the Louisiana Ecosocialists, and others. This is a non-violent action protesting, among other matters, the surfacing of vigilantism in New Orleans.
Enough is enough. The near fatal shooting of Marshall Coulter in New Orleans is no more justifiable than the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida.
For additional information call Mike at 504-587-0080.
Reverend Raymond Brown has certainly made some fine points about the failures of the Landrieu administration, which range from the flawed NOLA for Life campaign to Mayor Landrieu's resistance to reforming the New Orleans Police Department and Orleans Parish Prison.
Louisiana Weekly writer Edmund W. Lewis reported in Tension boils over Marigny shooting, that Reverend Raymond Brown was involved in heated argument with Landry's neighbors and "At one point during the exchange, Rev. Brown shouted to the neighbors that they were going to allow another community activist to speak or that he and others would protest and shut the community down.“
"I think that the mother should not be the only person to blame for the criminal life style of her son,” Brown told The Louisiana Weekly. “The system as a whole should be blamed for the misguided behavior of Mr. Marshall Coulter. The school system failed him, the church and pastors failed him, the economy definitely failed Mr. Coulter. Lastly, the mayor’s so-called Nola for Life program has failed the Black community. The mayor has no job-training facility or program for African-American men but, says he is trying save our sons. Actions and government policy speak louder than words.”
In the same article, Lewis noted that "the New Orleans Branch of the NAACP and other civil rights groups and community activists gathered at a press conference to demand “a full, transparent investigation” of the shooting incident."
To be clear, Rev. Brown is attending the Rally for Jobs, Justice, and Education as an individual, not a representative of the NAACP.
The Hayride describes Marshall's family's grief in Marshall Coulter’s Brother Speaks "Marshall’s brother is outraged Landry fired the shot. 'You got a weapon, you got the upper hand,' he said. 'Shoot in the air one time.'”
Others have spoken out, including one of Marshall's former teachers, who told wrote: " I, too, am appalled – that he was shot in the first place. And that more people aren’t furious about the fact that a 14-year-old boy can step off his bike in the Marigny, one of our city’s “safest” neighborhoods, and get a bullet through the brain."
This week's rallies should be interesting, as New Orleans community members gather, with one group asking people of all races to come together against crime, and another group comparing this situation to that of Trayvon Martin while mislabeling the "Rally for Merritt" as a "Rally for Coulter Shooting" and using loaded phrases like "shock jock" to rally for Jobs, Justice, and Education. The New Orleans community obviously needs to unite in order to address issues of crime, poverty, race, political corruption, and education, and hopefully a dialogue about this situation will be a step in accomplishing that. To miss such an opportunity or to use this tragedy to promote a political party would be an outright shame.
Disclosure: I will be attending these rallies as a citizen journalist and interview those attending. I will not be rallying on either side but will report back with my findings. However, it is only fair that I mention that I have recently expressed extreme disappointment with the opportunist attitude of some local Socialists.
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