Mexico's fearless woman mayor who survived two drug gang assassination attempts is beaten to death and dumped by the roadside Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2238577/Maria-Santos-Gorrostieta-executed-surviving-assassination-attempts

She had survived two assassination attempts which claimed the life of her first husband and left her with horrific wounds that never really healed. But despite being a marked woman, Maria Santos Gorrostieta remained defiant to the very end. With unimaginable courage, the 36-year-old stood up to the drugs gangs that had ravaged Mexico and Tiquicheo, the district where she once served as mayor. When some doubted that she had been shot, Gorrostieta bared the scars that riddled her flesh and swore she would never give in. It was almost inevitable that she would eventually pay for her bravery with her life. Gorrostieta's body - stabbed, burned, battered and bound at wrist and ankle - was found dumped by a roadside in San Juan Tararameo, Cuitzeo Township. She left behind two sons and a daughter. Her second husband Nereo Delgado Patinoran, understood to have vanished at the same time she did, is still missing. She disappeared on Monday, November 12. She had left home early to take her youngest daughter to school, just before 8.30am. She helped her daughter into the white van that she drove. Her two boys had gone to school by themselves. During the trip, while on a northern street in the city of Morelia, another vehicle blocked her in. In the full view of passers-by two men hauled her out of her van and started shoving and kicking her. Through her begging, she managed to get them to leave her daughter alone and witnesses said she almost voluntarily agreed to get into the car, which had black tinted windows. The El Universal newspaper said: 'No-one could do anything to help her'. Her daughter remained in the van, crying her eyes out, and seeing her mother for the last time as she was whisked away by her captors. Following the kidnapping, the family spent hours waiting for a telephone call, thinking she was going to be released in return for a ransom. But when the hours turned into days, they decided to report her disappearance to the police, which led to a massive police search until her body was found, some eight days later after she was taken. Gorrostieta had seen her government security team withdrawn in November last year, and then her police escort in January. The decision has provoked much soul-searching in Mexico which has been torn apart by brutal drug cartels. She had become an icon in Mexico for her work against the gangs and had been described as a heroine of the 21st century. Gorrostieta was elected as mayor of Tiquicheo, a rural district in Michoacan, west of Mexico City, in 2008. Almost immediately, she received threats. The first assassination attempt came in October 2009 when the car she was travelling in with her first husband Jose Sanchez came under fire from gunmen in the town of El Limone. The attack claimed his life but Gorrostieta lived. An attempt had been made on Sanchez's life earlier that year, but he managed to escape the armed mob who came after him. Gorrostieta bravely battled back from her injuries in the face of overwhelming tragedy, but she was not destined to know peace. The next attempt on her life was just three months later, when an masked group carrying assault rifles ambushed her on the road between Michoacan and Guerreo state. The van she was traveling in was peppered by 30 bullets. Three hit her. This time Gorrostieta's injuries were more severe, leaving multiple scars and forcing her to wear a colostomy bag. She was left in constant pain. A reporter was also wounded in the attack, as well as her press officer and brother. Grim discovery: Residents of the community of San Juan Tararameo found her body as they went to work in the fields In a famous act of defiance, she posed for pictures showing the extent of her horrifying wounds to draw attention to the brutality the drug gangs routinely mete out to their opponents. In a statement to the public made at the time, the devout Catholic said: 'At another stage in my life, perhaps I would have resigned from what I have, my position, my responsibilities as the leader of my Tiquicheo. 'But today, no. It is not possible for me to surrender when I have three children , whom I have to educate by setting an example, and also because of the memory of the man of my life, the father of my three little ones, the one who was able to teach me the value of things and to fight for them. 'Although he is no longer with us, he continues to be the light that guides my decisions.' She added: 'I struggle day to day to erase from my mind the images of the horror I lived, and that others who did not deserve or expect it also suffered. 'I wanted to show them my wounded, mutilated, humiliated body, because I’m not ashamed of it, because it is the product of the great misfortunes that have scarred my life, that of my children and my family.' 'Despite my own safety and that of my family, what occupies my mind is my responsibility towards my people, the children, the women, the elderly and the men who break their souls every day without rest to find a piece of bread for their children. 'Freedom brings with it responsibilities and I don’t dare fall behind. My long road is not yet finished - the footprint that we leave behind in our country depends on the battle that we lose and the loyalty we put into it.' After her ordeal she remarried and ran for a seat in Mexico's Congress of the Union, but failed to gain the backing she needed. Her family reported her missing on November 14 and her body was found three days later. A murder hunt has been launched and police are still searching for her missing husband. Mexico has been torn apart by murderous drug gangs since President Felipe Calderon launched his drug offensive in 2006. More than 50,000 people have been killed in clashes between rival drug cartels and security forces and about two dozen mayors have been murdered. The cartels have ruled the streets with fear for years, enforcing their authority with murders, bribery and torture. But after decades of using force to combat the gangs, it is U.S. lawmakers who are the criminals' biggest problem. Legalisation of marijuana, as recently voted for by Colorado and Washington states, may wipe billions of dollars from the cartels’ annual profits. And it has left politicians in Mexico with a tough question: How can they continue to justify spending money – and lives – fighting drug distribution to America when it will be legal in some states from next month? Mexico presidential advisor Luis Videgaray said in a radio interview last week: 'Obviously, we can’t handle a product that is illegal in Mexico, trying to stop its transfer to the United States, when in the United States, at least in part of the United States, it now has a different status' From January to September last year, 12,903 people were killed in the country in drug-related crime, ranging from gang members, Mexican military and innocent victims caught up in gun battles. The Mexican government claim they are winning the war on drugs, but few outside – or inside – the country believe that. So corrupt are their police that they are rarely employed in combating the cartels. Instead, the country relies on its army to tackle the gangs while it attempts to rebuild its police forces. Public support for the drug war continues to fall as the death toll rises and the cartels’ profits rise. The business of trafficking drugs from Mexico into the U.S. is estimated to be a business worth between $13billion (£8billion) and $49billion (£30billion), with 90 per cent of all cocaine used in America originating from the country, according to a U.S. state report. The U.S. Justice Department considers the cartels as America’s greatest organised crime threat, while conceding that it is U.S. dollars that fund the crime ravaging Mexico. In 2009 a military assessment predicted that if the drugs war continued for another 25 years, Mexico’s government was at serious risk of collapse and the conflict would spread into America. A year earlier, the U.S. Joint Forces Command suggested a similar time-scale of collapse in Mexico and warned American intervention may be necessary due to the implications for homeland security. The problem of strengthening the Mexico/U.S. border even prompted President Barack Obama to deploy 1,200 National Guard troops in 2010. The two major cartels in Mexico are now the Sinaloa Cartel and Los Zetas. The Sinaloa Cartel was formed when several gangs agreed to join forces in 2006 and is now led by Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman. He is Mexico's most wanted drug trafficker and is believed to be worth $1billion. Forbes magazing even declared him the 55th most powerful man in the world in 2009. Los Zetas were originally a mercenary outfit of former elite members of the Mexican army by the Gulf Cartel. Consisting of Airmobile Special Forces Group and Amphibian Group of Special Forces members, they helped control parts of Mexico for the Gulf Cartel until its leader, Osiel Cardenas Guillen, was arrested. Los Zetas took the opportunity to seize power for themselves and are now a 300-strong independent drugs and arms trafficking gang under the leadership of Heriberto Lazcano. BRAVERY, LOSS AND SACRIFICE: THE LIFE OF DR MARIA GORROSTIETA Gorrostieta was born in 1976 and graduated in medicine from a university in the city of Morelia. She was elected mayor of Tiquicheo in 2008 and served until 2011. During that time she defected from the Institutional Revolutionary party to the left-wing Democratic Revolution party. In January 2009 her husband Jose Sanchez Chavez was set upon by an armed group but escaped In October that year Maria was attacked while she was with her husband as they drove along in El Limone. Jose died that day from gunshot wounds. Maria survived but was taken to a hospital in Morelia, the state capital. On January 23, 2010, she was attacked by men with machine guns in Ciudad Altamirano Guerrero, on her way to an event at the City Hall. She was severely injured after being hit by three bullets, as well as receiving wounds in the crash after the shooting, and had to use a colostomy bag. She said her wounds left her in constant pain. On Saturday November 17 her body was found by farm workers from San Juan Tararameo, Cuitzeo Township, who were heading to work. She was discovered on the property known as El Chupadero. The next day she was identified by members of her family. MAY CHRIST COMFORT THE FAMILY

Hector 'Macho' Camacho clinically brain dead, will be taken off life support after two more days

The legendary Puerto Rican boxer was shot as he and a friend sat in a Ford Mustang parked outside a bar Tuesday night. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Famed Puerto Rican boxer Hector “Macho” Camacho is clinically brain dead, doctors said Thursday, but family members disagreed on whether to take him off life support and two of the fighter’s aunts said later that relatives had agreed to wait two more days. Dr. Ernesto Torres said doctors had no more medical tests to perform on Camacho, who was shot in the face Tuesday night. “We have done everything we could,” said Torres, who is director of the Centro Medico trauma center in San Juan. “We have to tell the people of Puerto Rico and the entire world that Macho Camacho has died, he is brain dead.” He said at a news conference Thursday morning that Camacho’s father indicated he wanted the boxer taken off life support and his organs donated, but other relatives opposed the idea. “This is a very difficult moment,” Torres said. One of the fighter’s aunts, Aida Camacho, said Thursday evening that two of Camacho’s sisters had asked to have two more days to spend with him, and other family members had agreed even though they felt it was time to give in. “I’m a person of a lot of faith, and I believe in miracles, but science has spoken,” she said. Another aunt, Blanca Camacho, also said the family had agreed to the wishes of the two sisters from New York to hold off on ending life support. But, she added, “There’s nothing left here. He’s already dead.” Most of Camacho’s relatives left the hospital by Thursday night without commenting. About a dozen people stood vigil outside. One, Orvil Miller, a singer and actor, expressed sadness about Camacho’s fate and recalled his admiration for the fighter’s flamboyance. “He had the combination of the skills of a boxer along with a great sense for entertainment,” Miller said. Steve Tannenbaum, a friend and a former boxing agent for Camacho, said in a phone interview that he idolized Camacho as a boxer. “He is one of the greatest small fighters that I have ever seen,” he said. “Hector Camacho had a legendary status.” Tannenbaum said he initially believed Camacho would survive. “He was almost like the indestructible man. He had so many troubles with the law, so many altercations in his life. It’s a great shame.” The 50-year-old Camacho was shot as he and a friend sat in a Ford Mustang parked outside a bar Tuesday night. Police spokesman Alex Diaz said officers found nine small bags of cocaine in the friend’s pocket, and a 10th bag open inside the car. Camacho’s friend, identified as 49-year-old Adrian Mojica Moreno, was killed in the attack. Doctors had initially said Camacho was expected to survive, but his condition worsened and his heart stopped briefly overnight Tuesday, Torres said. The bullet entered his jaw and lodged in his shoulder after tearing through three of four main arteries in his neck, affecting blood flow through his brain, doctors said. “That lack of oxygen greatly damaged Macho Camacho’s brain,” Torres said. Camacho was born in Bayamon, a city within the San Juan metropolitan area, but he grew up mostly in New York’s Harlem neighborhood, earning the nickname “the Harlem Heckler.” He won super lightweight, lightweight and junior welterweight world titles in the 1980s and fought high-profile bouts against Felix Trinidad, Julio Cesar Chavez and Sugar Ray Leonard. Camacho knocked out Leonard in 1997, ending the former champ’s final comeback attempt. Camacho had a career record of 79-6-3. In recent years, he divided his time between Puerto Rico and Florida, appearing regularly on Spanish-language television as well as on a reality show called “Es Macho Time!” on YouTube. In San Juan, he had been living in the beach community of Isla Verde, where he would readily pose for photos with tourists who recognized him on the street, said former pro boxer Victor “Luvi” Callejas, a neighbor and friend. Camacho battled drugs, alcohol and other problems throughout his life. He was sentenced in 2007 to seven years in prison for the burglary of a computer store in Mississippi. While arresting him on the burglary charge in January 2005, police also found the drug ecstasy. A judge eventually suspended all but one year of the sentence and gave Camacho probation. He wound up serving two weeks in jail, though, after violating that probation. His wife also filed domestic abuse complaints against him twice before their divorce several years ago.

Two Crips guilty in boy’s death

Shenee Johnson, an anti-gun activist who lost her son to a shooter, said she hoped the conviction of two notorious Crips street gang members for the 2009 killing of a 13-year-old Jamaica boy would bring his mother, Donna Hood, peace and warn others against pulling the trigger. “I’m happy for her. I feel like she can get closure,” Johnson said. Gregory Calas, 21, of 228th Street and 145th Avenue in St. Albans, and Nnonso Ekwegbalu, 19, of 183rd Street and 141st Avenue in Springfield Gardens, who are both Crips, were found guilty of killing Kevin Miller Jr. after a six-week trial presided over by Queens Supreme Court Justice Gregory Lasak, the DA said. Hood said she was relieved at the verdict. The case was difficult to bring to trial, as many of the youths involved in the incident were afraid to come forward and put their lives in jeopardy. “I feel like, rightfully, justice was served,” she said. Calas and Ekwegbalu had been involved in a physical fight with the Bloods Oct. 2, 2009 outside Campus Magnet HS in Cambria Heights, at around 3:15 p.m., the DA said. Calas had fired his .380-caliber, semi-automatic revolver and Ekwegbalu had fired another gun at three unarmed Blood members he had been fighting as they tried to run away in front of a car wash at Linden and Springfield boulevards, the DA said. One of their bullets ended up striking Kevin, who had been walking to a nearby McDonald’s, in the head and killing him instantly, the DA said. Another bullet hit 17-year-old Pedro Garcia in the left leg, the DA said. Garcia, who was working at the car wash, was treated at a Queens hospital, the DA said. “The defendants in this case cut short the life of an innocent 13-year-old student and wounded a second teen who was working at a car wash by engaging in reckless — and ultimately fatal — gun violence,” Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement. “The streets of Queens County must not be turned into deadly battlegrounds for these rival gangs.” Kevin, who like Garcia had no involvement in youth gangs, was a hardworking student and a member of many community groups. After the death of her son, Hood started the KLM Jr. Foundation to improve the lives of youths in the community and award scholarships. Calas and Ekwegbalu shared the same trial, but their cases were both considered by separate juries, which found each of them guilty, the DA said. Calas’ jury found him guilty of first-degree manslaughter, second-degree attempted murder, two counts of assault and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon, the DA said. Ekwegbalu’s jury convicted him of first-degree manslaughter, two counts of assault and one count of criminal possession of a weapon, the DA said. Calas and Ekwegbalu both face 50 years in prison at their sentencing, which will be held Jan. 9. Johnson, whose son Kendrick Ali Morrow was fatally shot at a block party in 2010, said she hoped the conviction of Calas and Ekwegbalu would discourage other young men from picking up guns. She also said witnesses unwilling to speak up is common, which makes convictions more difficult. “I understand the fear because who’s going to protect them?” Johnson said. “On the other hand, do the right thing.” Hood said she has asked to speak at Calas and Ekwegbalu’s sentencing. She said she does not seek sympathy or even an apology from her son’s killers, but she wants them to have long sentences and to realize the impact of their crimes. “I just want to be able to state how I feel,” Hood said.

Alicia Moore's Murder: Heartbroken Family Pleads For Teen's Killer To Come Forward

The heartbroken family of teenage girl who was murdered, placed in a trunk, and dumped along a remote stretch of Texas highway is making a painful plea for the killer to surrender to police. The emotional plea came Thursday from Alicia Chanta Moore's aunt, Jessica Byrd, on behalf of the 16-year-old murder victims' entire family. "Do the right thing and turn yourself in. That's all we ask you to do so we can get some sort of peace from this situation," Byrd told The Huffington Post. The distraught aunt, whose deep sorrow was evident in her voice, added, "We're not here to judge you. That's not our job. That's God's job." Related Resources: Black And Missing Foundation HuffPost Crime Missing Persons The Black And Missing Foundation Aims To Find People Of Color The body of 16-year-old Alicia Moore was discovered at about 12 p.m. Tuesday in a furniture trunk along Highway 47. The body, police said, was transported to the Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office for the positive identification. According to Greenville Police Chief Dan Busken, detectives are treating the case as a homicide. Moore appears to have suffered trauma wounds, though the exact cause of death has not yet been determined, Busken said. "We have a lot of work ahead of us with this investigation," Busken said. "We have received many tips from the community, and we hope those tips continue to come in." The police chief did not elaborate on what type of trauma Moore suffered and did indicate whether police have a suspect in mind. Moore's body was found in Van Zandt County, about 40 miles away from Greenville where she disappeared. Moore was last seen Friday afternoon when she got off the school bus. Busken said officials at Greenville Independent School District reviewed campus surveillance camera footage that showed Moore safely exit the bus at 3:25 p.m. Friday, near her home at the corner of Bourland and Walnut streets. What happened to the teen after her drop-off -- roughly one block from her home -- remains a mystery. "There's nothing that we can think of that could have happened," Byrd said. "She's not the type that would just take off and she would not walk up to anybody she did not know. She is very shy and quiet. Either someone threatened her to come with them or she was approached by someone she trusted. We just don't know." Authorities said they interviewed Moore's friends and teachers. The school district's technology department also attempted to trace the location of Moore's school-issued iPad, however officials said the device had been reset and was untraceable. Byrd said Moore's family is upset that police did not do more to locate the missing teenager. An Amber Alert was never issued and a police press release was not issued until Monday, Byrd said. "[Police] didn't do enough," Byrd said. "They told us the situation did not qualify for an Amber Alert because there was no evidence of abduction. Then they waited till Monday to do something." Cedric Fisher, a friend of Moore's family, expressed the same doubts in an interview with The Dallas Morning News. "I feel like personally [the police] really dropped the ball," Fisher said. Lori Philyaw, public information officer for the city of Greenville, Texas, told HuffPost Wednesday that authorities did not issue an Amber Alert for Moore because the case "did not fit the criteria." According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, a law enforcement agency in Texas must meet a number of specific criteria's to issue a state Amber Alert. That criterion includes determining whether abduction occurred and or if the child is in "immediate danger of sexual assault, death or serious bodily injury." The Greenville Independent School District issued a notice to parents Thursday about a suspicious person who had approached a student. According to the notice, a student at Greenville Middle School reported being approached Wednesday and offered a ride by a man in a gray or silver Dodge four-door pickup truck. "The student reported that the suspect had been waiting on Texas Street in front of the Middle School as though waiting to pick up a child, only he did not pick up a child," Superintendent Don Jeffries said. "Instead, the man drove his pickup truck toward the student in the parking lot. He lowered his window and asked if the student needed a ride and offered to take the student home. When the student refused, the man drove away west on Park." The suspect is described as a Hispanic male with gray hair and a stubble of gray beard. He wore a gray Dallas Cowboys shirt and was described as speaking English, but not well. The truck was said to have rails on the top of the cargo box sides. Authorities have not yet commented on the possibility of a link between Wednesday's report of a suspicious person and Moore's homicide. Meanwhile, Byrd said that the last 6 days have been a living nightmare for her family. "We just don't know why [this happened] or who could be responsible," she said. "This is a nightmare that we wish would just go away." Anyone with information in this case is asked to contact the Greenville Police Department at 903-457-2900.

Principal, 42, ‘sexually abused male student for three years from when he was 13’:

A middle school principal has been charged with sexually abusing a male student over a period of three years starting when he was 13 years old. Greg Tibbetts - who has been the principal of Vicksburg Middle School for the last nine years - was charged with second-degree criminal sexual conduct and several offenses related to using a computer to possess or distribute sexually abusive material. Vicksburg Superintendent Charles Glaes told the Kalamazoo Gazette that the boy was a 13-year-old student at Tibbetts' school when the alleged abuse began in 2010. It allegedly continued until earlier this year when he was 16. Tibbetts, 42, was placed on leave in late September. The boy is now a student at Vicksburg High School now, Glaes said. Tibbetts is facing one count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct, five counts of using a computer with child sexually abusive material, five counts of possessing child sexually abusive material, one count of using a computer to solicit another to commit distribution of child sexually abusive material, and a count of exhibiting sexually abusive material to a minor. Glaes told Michigan Live that the investigation took him and other Vicksburg officials by total shock. 'Greg has been a very trusted and very capable administrator,' he said. 'When we were first notified by law enforcement about this, I said that if there was anyone who was the least likely candidate for something like this, it was Greg Tibbetts. But these are terribly serious charges.' A letter was sent on Monday to parents with children in Vicksburg Community Schools telling them counselors would be available for any students affected 'to deal with concerns and emotional issues students might have regarding the investigation'.

Dead Ogden woman was frequently abused by boyfriend

OGDEN — Everything was fine, domestic violence victim Marnie Franich Stark told her family; her boyfriend was getting help. On Thursday, 43-year-old Jeffrey Dean White was arrested and booked into Weber County Jail in connection with the death of Stark — his live-in girlfriend — which police believe was a homicide. White faces a charge of first-degree felony murder and two third-degree felony counts for commission of domestic violence in the presence of a child, according to an Ogden Police news release. White’s two children, ages 7 and 9, were present during an argument preceding the homicide, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained Thursday night by the Standard-Examiner. Police have declined to say whether the children witnessed the actual killing. Police were dispatched to the home White and Stark shared at 1390 Douglas St. around 10:15 p.m. Saturday to a report of a female who had lost consciousness and was not breathing. Stark, 38, was pronounced dead less than an hour later at McKay-Dee Hospital. Dr. Edward A. Leis, the state’s deputy chief medical examiner, determined Stark died from a lacerated liver caused by blunt force trauma, the probable cause affidavit says. The injuries were consistent with punches or kicks. White told an Ogden Police detective he and Stark had been involved in a loud argument and had thrown items at each other Saturday night, according to the probable cause statement. In addition, White said he and Stark had “rough sex” shortly before he called 911 and also admitted to choking her during sex, the statement reads. White told police he was the only adult with Stark that night. However, police interviewed several witnesses who had been at the home shared by White and Stark on Saturday night, and they noted that Stark was not injured or complaining of pain when they left around 8:30 p.m., according to the probable cause statement. Still, a neighbor reported to police of hearing a man and woman screaming at each other from the direction of the home around the time the people were leaving. Multiple witnesses also gave statements to police detailing a history of domestic violence injuries to Stark inflicted by White, the probable cause statement reads. A South Ogden man who said he has known Stark for 16 years said her death comes after more than a year of violence between the two. “Marnie has had abuse with him in the past,” the man said. He said he often wondered why she didn’t leave White. “Women in abuse won’t leave the situation out of fear,” he recalled being told. “It’s been a rough, rocky year and a half for the two of them. They had a very rocky relationship.” He said the last he knew of their situation was that the two were separated. The funeral is set for noon today at the Morgan 6th Ward Chapel, 2700 S. Morgan Valley Drive, in Porterville. Stark’s mother and sister, Jessie Franich and Rana Franich Aguirre, spoke Thursday at Walker Mortuary, 45 W. 200 North, in Morgan, during the viewing. “We want people to know how totally, totally unnecessary it was,” Jessie Franich said. “If a man says he’s going to stop hitting, he’s not. Any girls in this kind of relationship better get out before it comes to this.” Morgan County Sheriff’s deputies were at the viewing Thursday in case White’s friends caused any trouble, said Deputy Tyler Grose. Ogden City Police Department will also attend the funeral at Porterville today. About two weeks ago, Stark told her family White said he was getting help and everything was going to be fine, Aguirre said. “We couldn’t make her leave,” she said. “I tried and tried.” Stark’s brother, Torrey Franich, said he lived with White and Stark for two and a half months. He said he didn’t know about the violence then and did not see any. He said he found out when White called him from the McKay-Dee emergency room and was laughing about roughing up Stark so much that she was in the hospital. “If I had to do it over, I would grab her by the hair of her head and haul her out,” her mother said. Aguirre said she did everything she could do. She sheltered her sister at her home after the beatings, promised Stark she had a place to go and warned her White was going to kill her. Aguirre said she had her own trouble with White, who had grabbed her by the throat and pushed her across the basement. “He broke her ribs, knocked her out, threw her in the closet and left her there and tried to gouge her eyes out,” Aguirre said. “That’s just what she told me about. I saw her with bruises on her arms.” Stark’s ex-husband, Bob Stark, of Ogden, was at the Morgan viewing. He had spoken to Marnie about the violence, he said, but she said she “was not a cop caller.”

(THE NEW PLANTATION-INVESTING IN FAILURE)

COMMUNITY FILES: (THE NEW PLANTATION-INVESTING IN FAILURE) If racists were ever looking for a strategy to enslave black people again, they need only look to Louisiana. According to the Times-Picayune, the Bayou State now imprisons more of its people – one in 86 adults – than anywhere else in the world. Among black men from New Orleans, 1 in 14 is incarcerated, while one in seven is either in prison or on probation or parole. This is happening because a long time ago, the state learned that it could make money by sending inmates to privatized prisons. It learned that by giving people who commit minor crimes, like bouncing checks, 10 years instead of 10 months, it could keep those prison beds filled and rural redneck sheriffs, who tend the run the facilities, flush with cash. It decided there was no money in investing in education and in jobs, or in people’s success, but rather, in their failures. And the fact that it can get away with this ought to be a screeching wake up call to black men who can’t shake the idea of incarceration being an inevitability in their lives – because Louisiana, while certainly the worse, isn’t the only place where lawmakers and other assorted exploiters have figured out that they can build new plantations largely off black men screwing up. This has been in the works for some time now. I saw this taking shape in Folkston, Ga., back in 1998, when town officials held a resplendent, ribbon-cutting ceremony for a private prison that was to be built there. They saw it as an opportunity to create jobs; I saw it as an opportunity for them to capitalize on the troubles of black people who likely had little to no opportunities in their lives. I saw it a couple of years ago when Corrections Corporation of America – the nation’s largest for-profit prison chain – lobbied the Arizona legislature to pass a law allowing police to stop Latinos and question them about their citizenship. That was so they could build a private prison to house women and children of illegal immigrants. I’ve seen it through stock offerings for private prisons, all of which means that Louisiana was bound to happen and other states are bound to follow – and black incarceration is bound to worsen. And we still have two enemies to fight. One enemy is the mentality that has deluded far too many black men for far too long. It’s the one fed by rappers – who are abetting the racists in filling the pockets of these prison profiteers – that says that doing things that lead to incarceration is about keeping it real and not about making bad choices. It’s a mentality fed by videos and songs in which violence and prison life is either glorified or shrugged at; where it’s accepted as part of our culture instead of an aberration of it. The other more formidable enemy is the one we’re seeing in Louisiana; a system where white lawmakers, along with prison lobbyists, have found value in the devaluing of black men. What’s happening there isn’t just the New Jim Crow, as Michelle Alexander documents so vividly in her book of that name. It’s the new slavery. Except that instead of relying on black people, and black males especially, to support its economy by picking cotton and laboring on plantations for free, states of the former Confederacy like Louisiana are relying on enough of them to come to prison to provide jobs largely for rural white people; people who, 400 years ago, would have been their overseers. This ought to anger all of us. But we can fight this, though. First, there must be a full-court press against mandatory minimums and other attempts to criminalize minor infractions for the sake of trying to fill a prison or jail. Then ministers, mentors or counselors to black males – especially to those who are bent on stealing, or selling drugs, or hurting someone over a slight insult – ought to be telling them about Louisiana. They need to be told that if they shoot someone over $10, there are people waiting to make $20,000 on them once they get locked up – and more than that when they wind up locked up again when they get out and can’t find a job. Hopefully, they’ll make the right decision – because incarceration is no longer about being on the inside or the outside. It’s about slavery and freedom.