On Saturday, June 11, hundreds of people took down a statue of slaveowner John McDonogh in Duncan Plaza and threw it in the river, rejecting the racist monument and everything it stood for. NOPD singled out and falsely accused two people among the hundreds. Mickey Davis and Caleb Wassell were assaulted and arrested. In an act of openly racist retaliation, the city had members of the white supremacist Monumental Task Committee appraise the statue in order to inflate the value of it and charge Caleb with a felony that could come with a sentence of 10 years in prison.
The charges are a blatant attempt to intimidate the mass movement that arose this summer in response to police terror and racism. Six months later, the city is still pursuing these ridiculous charges, with no evidence that either Davis or Wassell was involved in the alleged “crime” of removing a racist eyesore from a public park.
Stand in solidarity with Mickey and Caleb!
Contact the district attorney and the mayor and demand that ALL charges be dropped!
District Attorney’s office: (504) 822-2414 or emurphy@orleansda.com
Mayor’s office: (504) 658-4900 or mayor@nola.gov
Suggested message:
“I am contacting you to demand that the District Attorney’s office drop all charges against Mickey Davis and Caleb Wassell. The city must respect the will of the people of New Orleans, who decided to remove from the public landscape a statue that venerated the slaveowner John McDonogh. It’s time that New Orleans join the ranks of cities across the world who are taking the path of progress by disowning monuments to slavery, genocide, and racism. Drop the baseless and unjust charges against Davis and Wassell now.”