Jack Strain, St. Tammany Parish Sheriff, has come under attack by the NAACP.  After a black on black, drug related, quadruple murder in a trailer park Strain was quoted on TV saying that black men with dreadlocks or chee wee hairstyles seen walking in St. Tammany Parish should expect a visit by a sheriff's deputy. He claims it's because they fit the description of the killers and won't back down from his statement.

The NAACP complains it is racial profiling and wants him to resign. They are investigating Strain's hiring practices over the past ten years. He is proud of his record. The killers are still on the loose. They are probably back in Orleans. No one is talking about them.

And then in October 2006 Jefferson Parish Sheriff Harry Lee is taking another turn on the hot seat. With a significant uptick in JP crime (displaced NO residents creating new turf conflicts?)  he feels the need to act. So he went to New York to learn about the Broken Windows crime fighting system they developed. He took the NAACP with him because he knew he'd need help. Upon returning he announced he wanted to go after loiterers in crime ridden neighborhoods.  He thinks they'll mostly be black. The reaction is outrage. Is this racial profiling?

Racial sensitivity seems to know no bounds. Crime is secondary. Why? We aren't about to return to Jim Crow era and people know it but still they act like the police are a more dangerous enemy than the criminals.

If you want to know why racial sensitivity is more important than crime fighting ask youself about the crime. Everybody wants to get rid of the psycho killers. Do you remember Derrick Todd Lee? Hopefully you don't. But do people really want to get rid of the neighborhood entrepreneurs who bring in the drugs that people like to buy? Think about it....no prohibition has ever worked when there was a real market for the product.

Clearly in this city racial profiling is seen as more dangerous than having a few drug dealers hanging around the neighborhoods. And as long as the drug business insiders restrict their violence to themselves the public will accept it.