At a Take Back Pride demonstration on June 13, hundreds of protestors joined the worldwide movement to rid the earth of monuments to white supremacy. Carrying out the people’s mandate, they toppled a long despised statue of slaveholder and segregationist John McDonogh in Duncan Plaza. John McDonogh amassed a vast fortune off the backs of enslaved African people. Upon his death, some of this money went to the city to ensure a racially segregated school system. For their mere presence at the scene of this righteous demonstration of people power, Protestors Caleb Wassell and Michaela Davis were wrongfully singled out, arrested and face serious charges.
The City of New Orleans government should be arrested for continuing to allow the emulation of slaveholders to litter the city. It is long past time that all racist monuments to slavery be taken down. For years the City has ignored people’s demands to remove these statues. Just as all civil disobedience arose out of justice denied, people are rising up to push society forward. The national uprisings that were sparked by the public lynching of George Floyd are not over. Too many of our people are being repressed by police and jailed for exercising their right to rebel. We refuse to have our tax dollars used to imprison anyone standing up for freedom. We demand that all charges against Caleb and Michaela be dropped.