New Orleanians hit the streets to resist Trump’s National Guard threat

New Orleans, LA – On Tuesday, September 9, more than 200 people marched through downtown New Orleans to resist Trump’s threat last week to send the National Guard to the city. The New Orleans Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression led the protest, alongside a broad coalition of more than 15 other organizations.

Protesters gathered at the Federal Building chanting “No troops, no Trump!” and “When killer cops are on patrol, what do we demand? Community control!”

Felix Allen of the New Orleans Alliance stated, “People from New Orleans remember searching for food, water, and shelter at gunpoint during the military occupation after Hurricane Katrina. We’re here to say never again to racist military occupation here or anywhere!”

When the National Guard was deployed to New Orleans exactly 20 years ago after Hurricane Katrina, troops reported receiving “shoot to kill” orders. The New Orleans police slaughtered two Black residents and injured four others in the Danziger Bridge shooting.

“We want to send a message to Trump, to everyone in DC, and our governor: We don’t need you, we don’t need the military here!” said Sabrina Foster, founder of Black Lives Matter Grassroots New Orleans. Her son Glen Foster Jr. was tortured and killed at the hands of racist police in Pickens, Alabama. “Who the fuck needs more law enforcement here? All they do is murder people of color!” Foster shouted.

“I believe that we need to unify our movements,” said Mike Robertshaw, a union organizer with New Orleans Nurses United and the Rank and File Project. “For labor, for immigrants’ rights, for trans rights, we have to come together and continue to march. It is the only way forward.”

As the crowd marched passed ICE headquarters, City Hall, and finally down the commercial corridor of Canal Street, people flocked to the chants of, “Fuck Donald Trump,” and joined the protest. The protest closed out back at the Federal Building.

Toni Mar, a member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, expressed the need to militantly resist Trump’s takeover, telling the crowd, “We are rising up everywhere, in LA, DC, Chicago and New Orleans. We are not afraid, and we are not going to back down from a fight. We have everything to gain from standing up to Trump! We have nothing to lose but our chains!”

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