Study: New Orleans could lose 80 percent of black population

By Michelle R. Smith, Associated Press Writer  |  January 26, 2006

PROVIDENCE, R.I. --The city of New Orleans could lose up to 80 percent of its black population if people displaced by Hurricane Katrina are not able to return to their damaged neighborhoods, according to an analysis released Thursday by a Brown University sociologist.

Blacks and the poor were disproportionately affected by Katrina, according to the study led by Brown Professor John R. Logan. The analysis concludes that the difficulty in moving back to the city could mean a massive loss of population, overwhelmingly among blacks.

Transcript of Nagin's speech

Now, I'm supposed to give some remarks this morning and talk about the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. You know when I woke up early this morning, and I was reflecting upon what I could say that could be meaningful for this grand occasion. And then I decided to talk directly to Dr. King.

Now you might think that's one Katrina post-stress disorder. But I was talking to him and I just wanted to know what would he think if he looked down today at this celebration. What would he think about Katrina? What would he think about all the people who were stuck in the Superdome and Convention Center and we couldn't get the state and the federal government to come do something about it? And he said, "I wouldn't like that."

Teens sent to prison for lynching

Judge: 'You are an embarrassment to the community'

By Ann O'Neill
CNN

(CNN) -- Moments before their trial was to begin, five white South Carolina youths admitted their roles in a mob attack on a black teen and received prison sentences from a judge who called their actions "despicable" and "cowardly."

The teens, ages 17 and 18, tearfully stood before Judge Doyet Early with heads bowed as the judge gave them sentences ranging from 2 1/2 to six years in state prison.

Their victim, Isaiah Clyburn, 17, said through his lawyer that he forgave them.

"He holds no hatred in his heart for what they did," attorney Trey Gowdy said.

Teens plead guilty

Before lawyers could begin opening statements Tuesday, the teens pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated assault and battery and second degree lynching.

South Carolina legally defines lynching as a mob attack against an individual where the victim survives.

Prosecutors said the five, riding to a nearby drag strip in three pickup trucks, accosted Clyburn on July 7 as he walked along a rural road in Cherokee County, South Carolina.(Watch a case that recalls a dark era -- 3:09)

One of the defendants shouted a racial slur. Another, identified as Christopher Scott Cates, challenged Clyburn to a fight, and the others surrounded Clyburn, beating and kicking him, prosecutors said.

Clyburn, who did not know any of his assailants, tried to run to a friend's house, but couldn't scale a barbed wire fence. The beating continued across the road and into a ditch, according to prosecutors.