New Orleans has a reputation among people who don't live there as a place where almost anything goes. Maybe it's the Mardi Gras spirit. Maybe it's simply the name of the tourist destination of Bourbon Street.
The reality does not live up to the reputation for some of the people who live in New Orleans.
Ann is a young transwoman of color. In September she left her residence to walk to a friend's house on Tulane Avenue. She was spotted by a NOPD officer who decided she needed to be stopped and questioned.
After a short "conversation" Ann was handcuffed and arrested for crimes against nature. She was then taken before a local judge who verbally abused her.
Her "crime" was being young, black, and transgender.
Ann did not relate her story herself because she feared for her safety. It was rather told by another young LGBTQ person.
At an October 24 meeting Ann's story and other stories were shared with members of the New Orleans City Council's Criminal Justice Committee. The meeting was part of a consent decree New Orleans entered into years ago with the USDOJ. The Department of Justice found that the NOPD has a history of discriminatory policing on the basis of race, ethnicity, and sexual status.
Wesley Ware, founder and director of BreakOUT! told committee members Susan Guidry, Stacy Head, Jackie Clarkson, and Ernest Charbonnet that while BreakOUT! partners with the NOPD on diversity training, it is rare that they are taken seriously.
Young people who are either gender non-conforming or transgender, primarily African-American transgender young women are being stopped for walking down the street and being assumed to be prostitutes or engaged in some kind of sex trade. This makes for young people not being able to literally walk down the street.
--Ware
Ware presented the committee with
a proposed policy to address the department's unconstitutional conduct.
Commander Otha Sandifer, leader of the NOPD police academy reported that weekly diversity training began last January and was administered in part by LGBTQ police officers. Additionally officers accused of violating a person's civil rights are investigated by the department's Public Integrity Bureau and appropriate action is taken upon the completion of the investigation.
The DOJ report included the following:
Members of the LGBT community gave accounts of harassment and even sexual and physical abuse by law enforcement. The community cited a culture within NOPD of insensitivity and animosity, and our own interviews and observations of inappropriate joking underscored a need for sensitivity training and education regarding LGBT issues.
A number of community members also complained of a long-standing failure by NOPD to take complains by LGBT individuals seriously, with several reporting that PIB had failed to act on their complaints on officer misconduct.
Ursula Price is the head of community outreach for the Independent Police Monitor's Office, which is supposed to keep an eye on police conduct, reported that LGBTQ youth who are victims of police harassment or violence are too afraid to file complaints but will report the abuse to the IPMO. But the office does not have the power to investigate the claims. They can only document the accusations and observe any resulting PIB investigations.
To think that this diversity training is just coming now … is just outrageous.
--Red Tremmel, Office of Gender and Sexual Diversity, Tulane University
Tremmel said that the fear of people to even appear at City Hall to discuss the issue shows there has been no real progress.
This is the heart of a democracy, and yet they feel terrified. You are already discriminated against for job employment. Then to have police going after you at the same time, it means it’s virtually impossible to be a citizen.
--Tremmel
Speaking in support, through a translator, was Santos Alvarado of the
Congress of Day Laborers.
We share the experience of being afraid to walk down the street,. We know what it means to be stopped for the color of your skin, because you look different, because you talk different — because you are different. That’s why we hope the Police Department applies and starts to practice this new policy, so we can all be able to walk down the street and feel safe.
--Alvarado
Guidry said she hoped the meeting would spur people to examine their prejudices and become more accepting.
I think that in our world, all we can do is continue to strive to be the better part of ourselves.
--Guidry
It was not immediately clear if Ms. Guidry was speaking about New Orleans authorities' prejudices about transpeople or the transpeople's prejudices about the police and the City Council.
BreakOUT! was hoping to show a video featuring group members, but the video ended up not being shown. I have shared it here before.