In the early hours of New Year’s Day, a man drove a truck into a crowd of people on Bourbon Street and opened fire, killing fourteen people and injuring over thirty others. We mourn those killed and injured and we encourage you to donate to them directly and to donate blood if you are able. In addition to condemning this act of senseless violence, we must condemn the opportunistic and negligent government officials and media outlets. We recognize that the scale of this tragedy is a result of political decisions made by officials at every level, and we have not forgotten the lives lost in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina or in the Hard Rock Hotel Collapse. Even in the midst of this latest tragedy, our City officials chose to center the experiences of tourists while devaluing the lives of locals lost and injured. As if devaluing our lives isn’t enough, politicians and corporate media gleefully seized on our suffering and loss .to perpetuate violent, anti-immigrant, Islamophobic, and racist rhetoric, endangering people across the country and the world because of where they’re from, what they look like, and what religion they practice.
City Officials Say it Out Loud: Tourist Money Matters More to Them than Local Lives
In the first press conference after the attack, NOPD superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick made sure to reassure the press that it appeared most of those impacted were “locals versus tourists.” She continued, “There’s so much to enjoy about New Orleans… We had this tragic event, and we’re sorry again to everyone in our community, but we do want you to go about the day.” Not even five hours after the incident, the police chief was making their priorities clear: they’re more concerned with coddling the anxieties of tourists over the lives of the locals affected. This is nothing new: New Orleans leadership decided long ago to prioritize the tourist economy over all other parts of city life, creating a feast/famine cycle that puts the needs of local workers last – we deserve better.
Government Failure to Respond Promptly to Victims’ Needs and Concerns
Meanwhile, several victims and family members of victims reported an inability to access victim advocates or other resources officials have told news that they’re offering. This includes the FBI refusing to speak with the family of an injured victim whose vital mobility equipment, accessibility devices, and wallet were confiscated—proving there is no consideration for those victimized by the incident and subsequent investigation. One victim, who was both run over by the truck and shot, told reporters that the Amazon warehouse where she works initially denied her requests for a leave of absence.
Barricades Designed and Installed to Prevent this Exact Scenario Left Unutilized and Rusting
In 2017, after similar vehicular attacks took place in Europe, the City invested in systems of protective barriers. The City is in possession of at least three types of protective systems that could have prevented this attack: (1) Bollards, (2) Archer Barriers, and (3) Wedge Barriers.
- First, City officials admit the bollard system has been down since November. According to locals, law enforcement officers claimed the bollards were too heavy to close and operate. Instead of employing city workers to maintain, close, and lock the bollards each night, officials let them fall into disrepair as the mechanics of the bollards became jammed with debris. In 2019, the City was warned of the “risk of terrorism” via “vehicular ramming,” specifically as to “the most high profile target in New Orleans – Bourbon Street.” City officials apparently gave “conflicting explanations” for why they failed to use the bollards and were explicitly advised to remedy this “immediately.”
- Second, the City owns 38 portable vehicle barriers, known as “Archer 1200 Vehicle Impact Barriers,” valued at $250,000 and designed for placement on the sidewalks. These barriers were left collecting rust in a storage yard off the Lafitte Greenway. Law enforcement and City officials chose not to use these barriers because they did not feel like dealing with them.
- Lastly, the Wedge Barriers, which lay flat across the street and can be raised, were in the flat position. According to family members of victims, if these barriers had been raised, it would have prevented the truck from advancing to the block where it struck their loved ones.
Yet, the City has Capacity and Funds to Act Swiftly When it Comes to Harassing Unhoused Members of our Community, Barricading them Out of Sight of Tourists
Mere months ago, we saw city workers erect a massive metal fence around Duncan Plaza seemingly overnight. They said they were “cleaning up” the park for Taylor Swift fans. The City used the distraction of the Louisiana State Police assaults to install permanent fences and a new sign announcing park hours as a way to prevent encamping in this public park historically used as shelter by some experiencing homelessness. City and State officials have demonstrated they can move swiftly to harm unhoused people and destroy their few belongings for the sake of tourists. They apparently do not feel this same sense of urgency when it comes to protecting pedestrians and those deemed “locals.”
Learning from the Post-9/11 Rise in Islamophobic Repression and Surveillance by the State
We’re seeing the same dangerous Islamophobic rhetoric spewed by government officials and media as we saw after 9/11, which will result in increased rates of both personal hate crimes and violence from the State. ICE was established in the wake of 9/11 through the Homeland Security Act and is known for its practices violating the human rights of immigrants through violence, separation of families, and detainment in centers described as “living hell” due to their inhumane, “barbaric” conditions and rampant physical, psychological, and sexual abuse – factors which led a coalition of human rights groups to release a 107-page report detailing how ICE centers in Louisiana meet the legal definition of torture. Based on what we’ve heard from politicians, we can expect an increase in anti-immigrant violence by the State and a targeting of countries similar to Trump’s previous Muslim Ban.
The federal government invested nearly $8 trillion in the wars they waged following 9/11, and their fervent funding of slaughter in Palestine and Lebanon as well as vocal support of expanding Zionist violence across the region indicates their willingness to increase their involvement even more for the sake of “fighting terrorism.” Around $1.1 billion was spent on “preventing terrorism at home,” which manifested as launching surveillance programs focused on the Muslim community and going so far as to embed themselves in mosques, community groups, and religious student groups to surveil their actions and ask probing questions. This surveillance has increased since October 2023 and undoubtedly will continue to increase in the coming months.
Media Complicity in Imperialist Violence by Spreading Unfounded Islamophobic Conspiracies
Just as the U.S. media has been complicit in the genocide of Palestinians, they too assisted the government’s “war on terror” by parroting dubious claims around al Qaeda and ISIS even when there was no real evidence suggesting their involvement. We recommend you read Workers Voice’s statement for a more comprehensive but concise analysis of our government’s involvement with ISIS.
Public Officials Who are Unwilling to Name and Address Root Causes are Not Serious about Preventing Violence
We also wish to highlight that the shooter had an extensive U.S. military background and appeared to have dressed in his U.S. military combat uniform for the attack. According to the AP, among extremists “the No. 1 predictor of being classified as a mass casualty offender was having a U.S. military background,” outranking mental health issues, a previous criminal history, and substance abuse issues. It’s also a worsening problem: a 2022 study revealed that the number of Americans killed by extremists with a U.S. military background quadrupled from an average of seven people per year in 1990-2010 to 29 people annually in 2010-2020.
Despite this documented problem of growing violent radicalization, AP reported that “Defense Department researchers developed a promising approach to detect and monitor extremism [among servicemembers] that the Pentagon has chosen not to use.” This week’s attack is yet another example of a former member of the U.S. military bringing international imperialist violence home. Rather than address root causes, our government officials are already using this attack to seize greater power at home, expand their violence overseas, and stoke racial and religious hatred against our Arab and Muslim community members. We condemn this narrative and reiterate that the empire’s violence always comes home.
We recommend all read other statements released by similar organizations, including:
- Workers Voice Socialist Movement provides a concise analysis of our government’s involvement with ISIS.
- Eye on Surveillance speaks to our City’s massive investment in policing and surveillance and divestment from community resources and public goods.
- Jewish Voice for Peace highlights the heightened threats and prejudice faced by our Black, Brown, Arab, Muslim, & Palestinian communities, and selective expressions of grief by those who deem life less valuable based on skin color, religion, or citizenship status.
- Louisiana PSL reminds us that we must remain critical of the opportunist fear-mongers in our government and corporate media who racistly rushed to blame undocumented immigrants for this attack.
We invite you to consider how these statements are interconnected.
Direct Donations to Victims
GoFundMe Verified Hub: https://www.gofundme.com/c/act/how-to-help-attack-in-new-orleans
Blood Donations
https://www.thebloodcenter.org/bourbonstterror
Resources for Victims and Survivors
crimesurvivorsnola.org/jan-1-help
Below is the statement abbreviated for social media.
