NEW ORLEANS — A rally was held at Armstrong Park in New Orleans Thursday in the wake of the Kentucky Attorney General’s decision not to press charges against police officers for the death of Breonna Taylor.
Mobilizing Millennials brought out about two-dozen people to the park. While it’s smaller than protests seen in New Orleans after the death of George Floyd, organizers say the meaning behind the rallies has not changed.
“This is not going away anytime soon,” said J. Christopher Johnson, founder of Mobilizing Millennials. “As long as I am a black man who is a part of the marginalization and the disenfranchisement of what is going on in America, my fight will not cease. Even though at our original march there were 300 people and today we had smaller numbers, I don’t care if I was out here by myself with a microphone.”
Johnson and others at the rally encouraged attendees to vote for candidates who will enact change. There’s fear that what happened to Taylor could happen in New Orleans, where no-knock warrants are still legal by state law. City Council did pass a resolution asking NOPD to reconsider their use.
Marc Morial, former Mayor of New Orleans and current president of the National Urban League says he believes no-knock warrants should only be used in extreme instances and require approval from the police chief.
“The risk of life, the risk of a problem is high when you startle people at their door by just breaking the door down, this is the theory of a no-knock warrant, without announcing that you are the police,” he said.
Morial calls Taylor’s case a miscarriage of justice.
“While one officer was charged with a crime, no officers were charged with the death of Breonna Taylor. That’s suggests in the mind of this prosecutor and this grand jury that somehow the shooting was justified which I vigorously disagree with,” he said.
Majeeda Snead, an attorney and professor of law at Loyola University in New Orleans, agrees.
“The main thing is to look at the purpose, historically, of what a no-knock warrant is and balance that against the lives that have been lost. I mean, Breonna Taylor’s name, I mean, we know her name. But there have been so many others that have died as a result of these no-knock warrants,” Snead said.
Snead calls the announcement not to charge officers in Taylor’s death a “travesty.” But says this is undoubtedly a historic moment in the fight for racial justice, as Taylor’s death has a national impact.
“I honestly think this is a new phenomenon. And I think the advent of social media and just people being able to communicated across cities and states and countries has allowed for us to be able to examine the practices not just in our city or state, but nationally," she said.
For those examining those practices and marching for justice, the time is now.
RELATED: 'This is really heartbreaking.' Protesters express pain, anger after Breonna Taylor decision
RELATED: DA candidates talk race, policing in New Orleans after no charges in Breonna Taylor's death
► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the new FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.