by Adam Pedescleaux
A week after Lafayette resident Trayford Pellerin was murdered by police outside of a gas station for allegedly carrying a knife, a demonstration protesting police violence was organized by a group called The Village in coalition with the NAACP. People of Lafayette gathered to march through the streets with Black Lives Matter signs, stopping to listen to speeches from people who knew Pellerin personally. Speakers called for justice and for the pig to be tried and jailed for the racist killing.
Just days after a white supremacist murdered two anti-racist protestors in Kenosha, Wisconsin, tension was high. White supremacists were emboldened by the fact that Trump and the police supported this act of terrorism. New Black Panther Party members as well as a New Orleans Workers Group member showed up armed and ready to defend the lives of protestors against any far-right provocateurs. Two Boogaloo members (far-right bigots who are radicalized on racist cesspool websites) came out armed though they later left.
On September 25, the New Orleans Workers Group caravanned to Baton Rouge to join a coalition convened by The Village to demand justice for Trayford Pellerin, Ronald Greene, Breonna Taylor and the countless others who’ve lost their lives to killer cops.
If we the people desire change in our community and communities everywhere, it is critical that we take to the streets and show our strength and determination to enact real and lasting change for the better, not those half-baked non-solutions that our two-faced politicians sell us so they can continue to line their pockets in peace. It is a requirement that we convince our coworkers, friends, and families that we can win a future where we and our children are free from racist terror!