NYT: La. Town's 1st Black Mayor - Elect Killed

[lindisfarne]

January 2, 2007
La. Town's 1st Black Mayor - Elect Killed
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 10:59 a.m. ET

WESTLAKE, La. (AP) -- The newly elected mayor of this southwest Louisiana town was found shot to death in a parking lot over the weekend three days before he was to become the town's first black mayor.

The body of Gerald Washington, 57, was found Saturday night in the parking lot of a former high school. He had been shot once in the chest, investigators said.

<snip>
Officials said Washington was found lying by his truck with his cap on and a pistol nearby.

Gary ''Stitch'' Guillory, chief deputy of the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office, said his death is being treated as a homicide.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Mayor-Killed.html?pagewanted=print

[alfredo]

1. The south really hasn't changed.

[Uncle Joe]

2. Neither has wherever you come from

"Although the town of 4,500 is 80 percent white, Washington had no trouble winning election in September. He had 696 votes -- nearly 69 percent of the vote -- to 318 for social worker Paula Johnson."

[Tempest]

6. All it takes is one racist

To pull the trigger.

[alfredo]

8. It may not have been a resident of that town, but someone

who did not want AA's to show they are not like what the racist want us to believe.

[Uncle Joe]

9. Which can be found anywhere in the nation n/t

[Tempest]

13. But are overwhelmingly found in the south

Especially the violent ones.

[Uncle Joe]

14. Primarily because of demographics

If for example Maine had 20%-30% African Americans, I have no doubt racism incidents would be much higher.

The last lynching, I am aware of happened in Indiana and it wasn't any less violent than what happened in the South

[lindisfarne]

20. So you're saying incidents of racism INCREASE as the minority population increases? So non-minority

people become MORE likely to carry out racist acts as the minority population increases? Any data to back yourself up? (NY City has a large minority population, yet racism is far less prevalent than it is in small town Mississippi or Arkansas or Louisiana).

[Uncle Joe]

22. Just logic

If you live in a state with a small amount or no minorities, there is little or no chance of an incident happening as there is no interaction. This is one reason you will be hard pressed to find an Eskimo lynching in Mississippi.

I believe humans will eventually evolve out of these ignorant, fearful tendencies but until they do incidents will happen, in the mean time I believe it would be wise not stereotype an entire region as this only serves neocon interests.

[susanna]

33. My Detroit view doesn't fit your analogy.

Detroit is now overwhelmingly black. The suburbs are pretty white. Yet we don't seem to have a lot of white-on-black hate crime here. So I'm not sure your logic is solid. Just my opinion, I guess.

on edit: clarify Subject

[michreject]

35. It's a little different in Detroit

There's not a lot of social interaction between the races in the Detroit area. Except for employment, those in the surburbs stay in the surburbs and those in the city, stay in the city. Suburbanites may come into the city to attend a sporting event, but after the game, they head back to the surburbs.

[susanna]

32. Same with Detroit. n/t

[benEzra]

36. Not so...

my wife is from Massachusetts, grew up in Maine, and we now live in NC. She says that overall, Boston/Cambridge is more racist than NC is; it's just not talked about. Up north, there's also more of an ethnicity component.

The Archie Bunker type is alive and well...

[unpossibles]

3. I don't know - he got 69% of the vote

it's not that the South that hasn't changed, but apparently some racist assholes hate Democracy when it doesn't fit their narrow worldview.

[Maddy McCall]

11. Other regions should strive to do what we are doing in the south.

Let me begin by asking you: did you know that the town that elected Washington by 2-1 margin is 80% white?

"Washington, who served three terms as a city councilman, was sworn in Dec. 19 as Westlake's first new mayor in 24 years. He was set to take office Tuesday and would have been the city's first black mayor.

Although the town of 4,500 is 80 percent white, racial issues appeared to play little or no role in the mayor's race. Washington had no trouble winning election with 696 votes — nearly 69 percent of the vote — to 318 for social worker Paula Johnson.

The city council will hold an emergency meeting Tuesday. The council has 10 days to appoint an interim mayor, and if it fails to do so by that deadline the governor could appoint someone to lead the town, according to Mayor Dudley Dixon, who is retiring after 32 years as mayor and council member."


Are you aware that black mayors are being elected all over the South? I'd wager that there are more black mayors in the South than in any other region of the nation.

In our small town, a bi-racial coalition worked hard to elect our black mayor. Republicans and Democrats alike supported him and continue to support him. He presides over a council that consists of two black councilmen and two white councilwomen. YEah, that sounds like 1960 Mississippi, doesn't it. :eyes:

And what's going on in our town is not unique in the South.

I am very sad that Mayor-elect Washington was murdered. From what I read about him, he seemed like a great guy with a lot of promise and good plans for his town.

I am also sad that some DUers use any violent event that happens in the South to almost reflexively point their snobbish little fingers at us, while they make the pronouncement that "things haven't changed in the South."

I'm here to tell you that they have. The South is more progressive on race issues than the rest of the nation. The South has a mixed population and much more racial balance than other regions of the country. Indeed, blacks who have ancestors in the South and who live in other regions are returning to the South in droves--evidently there is opportunity here that isn't available in other places. Such would not be true if we are as terrible as you'd like to believe.

We don't sit on our pedestal in lily white regions of the US--areas that lack the experience in dealing with racial issues; areas that haven't made the strides that we have in seeing racial equality come to fruition--and sneer at those regions for doing little of what we have.

Black mayors are being elected ALL OVER THE SOUTH, by white voters. IF the South were as backwards as you'd like to believe, then these black men and women would have no chance of being elected.

You saying that nothing has changed in the South only affirms your ignorance of race relations in the modern South.

[pitohui]

12. this post is a good one

i feel the same, i honestly think if this be conspiracy, there is something else behind it, maybe refinery safety issues

this whole town is quite scary even just to drive by w. all the smokestacks

[MrCoffee]

27. Standing Ovation!!!!

Hear Hear! :applause:

[tom_paine]

30. Well said. n/t

[NoodleyAppendage]

31. I was born and raised in the Deep South and while progress is made, it still sucks.

Black mayors may be elected all over the South, but part of this is a byproduct of "white flight" to secondary towns and suburbs. Race relations in the South still suck and for the most part there is little mingling of the races on a social level. You can live in la-la land if you like, but as a lifelong Memphian and former resident of Baton Rouge (7 years) I have kept my eyes open throughout.

BTW - while the town in question is 80% white, it only takes 1 crazed racist to kill someone. I'm 100% positive that there are some in that town that aren't too broken up about the death.

J

[susanna]

34. Thank you for taking the time to write this post.

It explains things I have not seen with my own eyes.

For the record, I am the 1st generation of my family raised in the north, and frankly, what I saw in the south visiting family over the past thirty years was pretty disturbing. Your post gives me more insight than my own limited knowledge.

Thanks, Maddy!

on edit: clarity

[brentspeak]

29. It may, or may not be, a racial murder

[Deep13]

4. "...said his death is being treated as a homicide"

Do ya think?! CSI has nothing on that deputy sheriff.

[quiet.american]

5. Tragic. n/t

[Little Wing]

7. I love town officials and Sherrif-types with nicknames

:eyes:

[pitohui]

10. i'm wondering if refinery safety issues were involved, he was a refinery worker

this is the town in the lake charles area w. the very dramatic smokestacks that can be seen pumping whatever into the sky in huge, lit-up clouds, quite dramatic at night

i wonder if there could be any fear, from corporate wrong doers, that he planned to draw attention to worker's rights or refinery safety issues

this is pure speculation but it is what sprung into my mind right away when i heard this occurred in westlake

[Straight Shooter]

15. Found in a parking lot? Did he go there to meet someone?

That sounds like the kind of place you might have a clandestine meeting to discuss things that others aren't supposed to overhear. Over the weekend means any nearby businesses were probably closed. That makes it the ideal place to kill someone and get away.

I'm very sorry Mr. Washington died that way. From reading the other posts, I get the feeling he may have been trying to investigate something and things got out of control.

RIP.

edit: spelling

[pitohui]

16. update: coroner rules suicide

http://www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/index.ssf?/base/news-29/116775236785190.xml&storylist=louisiana

i'm not liking the smell of this one, as racial issues don't seem to be involved, if there is a conspiracy i think it would involve a public health issue considering the town

i wish i knew more about this

the coroner and sheriff urged the family to ask the state police for an investigation if they are not satisfied, and the family has decided to do so

no motive or note

seems to come completely out of nowhere for this 30 years retired refinery work who was apparently very much liked and previously served 3 terms as councilman

[Straight Shooter]

19. Well, unless he had a terminal illness or was having an affair, I'm suspicious.

The soot on his hand and in the wound does not rule out homicide, it simply allows for the inclusion of suicide as a possibility.

A parking lot, though. That's just bizarre. He got out of his truck to commit suicide. Things that make you go hmmmm .....

[Maddy McCall]

17. Coroner, sheriff: Westlake mayor-elect shot himself

WESTLAKE, La. -- A three-term councilman for this southwest Louisiana town shot himself days before he was to take office as its first black mayor, the Calcasieu Parish coroner and sheriff said Tuesday.


Handgun soot "on the wound and in the depths of the wound" indicates that the gun barrel was touching Gerald "Wash" Washington's torso when it went off, said Dr. Terry Welke, the coroner.

"That is what is usually seen in a self-inflicted gunshot wound," he said.

There was no immediate indication of motive. No note was found, but suicide notes are rare and often suspect anyway, Welke said.

The mayor-elect's family did not accept the results, and asked for a state police investigation, Sheriff Tony Mancuso said.

Washington's body was found Saturday night in the parking lot of a school system administration building, originally built as the high school from which the mayor-elect, 57, had graduated. Deputies said his body _ his cap still on _ lay next to Washington's truck; a pistol lay nearby.

The sheriff said he met with Washington's family on Monday, to tell them that his preliminary investigation indicated suicide.

"It is always hard for family members to believe a loved one caused their own death and it was no different for the Washington family," Mancuso said. "When I met with them yesterday, I offered to turn this investigation over to the state police.

"At that time, they indicated it was not necessary. However, this morning, they called to request that state police handle the investigation."

MORE: http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=5881941

[superconnected]

18. Wow, very very questionable death

Godbless that mans family, and that mans soul, whichever God he believes in/or nie if he doesn't believe in.

So sad.

[SoCalDem]

21. "... death is being treated as a homicide...".. Gee, d'ya think?

what a crock.. It's shameful to think that an asshole with a gun, can negate an election.:cry:

[Jacobin]

23. Looks like its being ruled a suicide

I live near the town. While the sheriff's department is not known for its stellar investigative skills, many in the department, including several black deputies concur in the findings. They also offered to have the state police look at the results and do their own investigation. The children of the mayor-elect are not buying it, but family members usually have a very very hard time accepting the suicide of a family member.

I think its just a very sad case of untreated depression.

[SoCalDem]

24. If I put a gun in your hand, and forced you to pull the trigger

you would have gunpowder residue on your hands, but I would not necessarily call it a suicide..

"Gut-shot" is not the way "most" people would do a suicide, also.

(perhaps I watched too many "Law & Order"s this weekend) :evilgrin:

[Jacobin]

25. wasn't a gut shot

shot himself in the heart, which happens.

I don't pretend to know what happened. I just get frustrated with some people on DU (not you) who jump the the conclusion that since this is the south there had to be some racist motive. He got 2/3 of the vote and the black population is only 30 percent or so there.

[SoCalDem]

26. It just seems hard for me to believe that someone who had just won

his election would kill himself.. and it only takes ONE looney person, doesn't it.

Of all the people in the US, everyone EXCEPT the shooter did not kill JFK. (unless there was another shooter)

[pitohui]

28. thanks for your input, good to hear from someone in that area

while it would be unusual for someone to commmit suicide at the peak of their success, it does happen, as we all learned from kurt cobain :-(

at first i was v. troubled by the parking lot angle but if he did plan suicide, this is a good way to be sure there is not a mess left in the home or office that people close to him might find

a very tragic occurrence however it went down