NEW ORLEANS — Protests for racial justice continued Friday on both sides of the parish line.
Some protesters, who said they were largely hospitality workers, gathered in front of Mayor Cantrell’s home on Louisiana Avenue Parkway.
Protesters called for reallocation of the police budget, better treatment of sanitation workers, and for the city to stand up for hospitality workers during the pandemic. Organizers say that hospitality workers, many of whom are Black, are being forced back into work without proper protective equipment and no paid sick leave.
“We are generally saying that right now this city is not operating in a way that benefits working-class people, and that is clear. The way they are operating is beneficial to our bosses,” said Meg Maloney with the New Orleans Hospitality Workers Alliance.
As the protesters began blocking traffic, neighbors in the area grew frustrated. Some started shouting, “Take it to City Hall,” and two other neighbors began blasting music from large speakers to drown out protesters’ chants.
Later, in Metairie, 16-year-old Olyvya Boatright led a protest she planned on her own. Boatright had originally posted a call for action on her personal social media pages, but it was shared hundreds of times.
The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office paid Boatright a visit at her mother’s home to ask if she understood the risks of organizing a large protest, and ask for her safety plans.
Boatright, who said her mother was not aware she was planning a protest at the time, said the visit made her very nervous but did not deter her efforts.
“I am, actually, really scared. I was scared the second they came to my house, because of what happened during the Ferguson riots,” she said. “You know, they know where I live.”
She led a group of about 20 people down Veterans Boulevard, Bonnabel Boulevard, down Metairie Road, and eventually to the front door of JPSO.
The group kneeled for a symbolic 8 minutes and 46 seconds; the amount of time a Minneapolis Police Officer kneeled on George Floyd before he died.
“We want to refund communities, make sure that the mass amounts of money that goes into police is put into education, healthcare, social work, things like that,” said Boatright.
It’s a call for change, accountability, and in New Orleans, cooperation from the mayor.
At a press conference Friday, she said this about demonstrations in her front yard.
“Great, as long as they don’t step on my grass. No trespassing,” she said. “But I will always be supportive of peaceful protesting. I think it’s very important.”
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