The NAACP of Lake Charles, Louisiana, believes that television, radio, and newspaper audiences inside and outside of Louisiana may be receiving an inaccurate or incomplete portrayal of the "community sentiment" in Calcasieu Parish regarding a possible fourth murder trial for award-winning prison journalist Wilbert Rideau. As the predominant voice of the African American community, the NAACP of Lake Charles wishes to go on record as formally opposing any further prosecution of Wilbert Rideau on charges that would keep him confined in prison any longer. At a meeting of its leadership on March 15, 2001, the Lake Charles NAACP therefore adopted the following resolution (which has also been adopted by the NAACP chapters of West Calcasieu and Cameron Parishes as well as by the NAACP State Conference):

WHEREAS, Wilbert Rideau was convicted of murder in 1961 and has been continuously confined in prison for more than 40 years; and,

WHEREAS, the most basic principle of American justice--carved in stone over the entrance to the United States Supreme Court-- is "Equal Justice Under Law"; and,

WHEREAS, records in the Lake Charles courthouse reveal an egregious history of institutional racism in the 100 percent death sentencing rate for African American men convicted of murdering white people; and,

WHEREAS, every murderer convicted in Calcasieu Parish during the entire decade of the 1960s has been released from prison, except Wilbert Rideau; and,

WHEREAS, Wilbert Rideau has served significantly more time in prison than any other convicted murderer in the history of Calcasieu Parish, including murderers convicted of more than one murder; and,

WHEREAS, Wilbert Rideau has been called "the most rehabilitated prisoner in America" by former prison and corrections officials and Life Magazine (March 1993), and has been deemed safe to travel with an unarmed guard both inside and outside Louisiana for 25 years, to address students, probationers, church groups, boy scouts, civic groups, journalists, and others; and,

WHEREAS, the District Attorney of Calcasieu Parish makes decisions every day about which cases to try, which cases to plea bargain, and which cases to drop, based on available evidence and the danger to the community posed by the accused; and,

WHEREAS, the District Attorney of Calcasieu Parish is elected to represent the entire community, not just a favored segment of the community, in decisions about spending taxpayers' money to achieve the ends of justice, not the ends of vengeance; and,

WHEREAS, Wilbert Rideau has already been disproportionately punished and poses no danger to the community; and,

WHEREAS, the considerable monies earmarked to prosecute Wilbert Rideau a fourth time can be more profitably used for crime prevention programs to enhance public safety; and

WHEREAS, the Wilbert Rideau case has divided the Calcasieu Parish community along racial lines for four decades and it is in the community's interest to put this case behind it and move forward toward racial peace and harmony;

THEREFORE IT IS RESOLVED and publicly proclaimed by the NAACP of Lake Charles that the ends of justice and the interests of the entire community of Calcasieu Parish demand that the District Attorney not retry Wilbert Rideau a fourth time for murder. The NAACP would support a plea agreement that would release Wilbert Rideau from prison.