Endesha Juakali, we hardly knew ye ...
By Leverkuhn Posted in Archived — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
As most of you are aware, there was quite a little riot that took place in New Orleans yesterday, which lead up to a hugely important 7-0 vote by the city council to demolish 4,500 housing units in four old, decaying public housing projects. For those of you who want to know more on the subject, I urge you to read Vladimir’s excellent diary entitled “Don’t Tase me, Breaux” (mucho props on the great title, BTW). [1]
This diary will not cover the whole protest story, but rather an interesting sub-story involving the protesters who attempted to pull down the police barricades around city hall, thereby earning themselves the business end of several cans of pepper spray and a number of stun guns. One thing that hasn’t been covered very much in the national media is that a number of the protesters appeared to be out-of-towners, professional trouble-makers, and miscreants of all types. At this point, it may be impossible to determine how many of the protesters were from places other than New Orleans. We know that many of the protesters were seen driving vehicles with out-of-state plates, but we certainly can’t quantify how many of them are non-residents of New Orleans. [2] Likewise, it is probably impossible to determine how many of them actually live in the four condemned housing projects, although we should note that even New Orleans’ normally clueless mayor Ray Nagin has publicly expressed doubts on that point. [3]
However, at least one of the chief rabble rousers can be identified, and since we live in the wonderful world of the internet I have obtained some interesting biographical details about him. Herewith, I introduce to you …
Endesha Juakali
Mr. Juakali really is a piece of work. Yesterday the Associated Press described him as one of the leaders of the violent protests that nearly breached security at the New Orleans city hall, and quoted him as saying “For everything they do, we have to make them pay a political consequence.” He also vowed to fight on when demolition crews try to take down the condemned buildings. [4] Juakali actually is a former resident of Louisiana, although according to this editorial he wrote just last year he now lives in Natchez, Mississippi. [5] He is certainly not a projects resident. Mr. Juakali is a shyster, a fraud, and a criminal. His arrest yesterday on charges of disturbing the peace was not his first run-in with the law.
Juakali is a former lawyer who was suspended in 1995 for various acts of professional malfeasance. Throughout the late 1990’s he continued to practice law without a license, frequently taking legal fees from clients who did not know about his suspension. The Louisiana Office of Disciplinary Counsel (ODC) renewed his suspension on several cases, and eventually disbarred him forever. The disbarment resulted in a lawsuit, but eventually the Louisiana Supreme Court confirmed the ODC’s decision to disbar Juakali in 2003. [6]
[1] http://www.redstate.com/blogs/vladimir/2007/dec/21/dont_taze_me_breaux
[2] http://www.bayoubuzz.com/News/Louisiana/NewOrleans/Professional_Protesto...
[3] http://www.bayoubuzz.com/News/Louisiana/NewOrleans/New_Orleans_Nagin_Que...
[4] http://www.theolympian.com/national/story/305058.html
[5] http://www.survivorsvillage.com/endesha_editorial.html
[6] http://www.lasc.org/opinions/2003/03b0143.pc.pdf