NEW ORLEANS — As locals turned out for the many events Monday commemorating the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, one concern was front and center. People are worried about the escalating crime.
Monday's commemorations included the many local traditions we've all come to know, but this year, there were two things that were different. The mayor was away at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington, D.C., and one notable event this time was organized by a group called "We the People."
It was not the traditional MLK Day march like others since 1986. Monday’s gathering was dubbed the March and Rally Against Crime Celebrating the Life and Memory of Dr. King. It was not on the city's official calendar.
“The mayor, who normally takes the lead in something like this each and every year, dropped the ball this year. So, the community picked it up, because we refuse to allow the remembrance of Dr. King to go without a statement being made in New Orleans,” WC Johnson of New Orleans United Front and We The People said.
“A march is about being in the community you represent. It's about being answerable to the people, and having solidarity, and there being a sense of inclusiveness. I just don't think having closed door ceremonies, or closed door events, where you control who goes in and who goes out, I think that's a disservice to Dr. King’s memory,” City Council President, JP Morrell said.
That official event was at the New Zion Baptist Church, where in 1957, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference was founded with Dr. King as its first president.
“He gave up so much, and not only Dr. King, but so many others, and we ought to be thankful for their sacrifice and many of the blessing that we enjoy today,” Pastor C.S. Gordon, Jr. of New Zion Baptist Church said.
And just as the march and rally in Dr. King's honor called for an end to crime, so did part of Congressman Troy Carter's address to the church congregation.
“We’ve got to continue to partner with our brothers and sisters in local government, and state government, to make sure that we are fighting to make our community safe, that we're preaching, not just in the church, but also in the streets to our young people that killing each other is not the answer, that taking another one's life does not make you a man . Being big, and bad, and taking somebody else's stuff is not a big thing to do, but they won’t know this if we don’t talk to them. The answer is not a pair of handcuffs, and a jail cell. They may commit crimes that cause them to be there, but while they're there, we’ve got to reform them,” Representative Troy Carter said.
Eyewitness News asked the city why the march and rally was not one of the official events this year, and a spokesman said he would get us an answer.
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