To the Lafitte Greenway community:

These past months, we have seen the long-standing racial inequities in our country and our community laid bare: in the deadly racial disparities in COVID-19’s impact for Black New Orleanians, in the horrific killing of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and so many more Black Americans before them.

As stewards of a public space, we must engage with this reality: Institutional and structural racism plays out in our public spaces, and it is in our public spaces that people bravely stand up in protest to demand institutional change.

We stand with you in anguish, outrage, and solidarity. At the Greenway, we strive to intentionally build community across racial and ethnic differences, to create a space where Black people and all people of color feel safe and welcome. Yet we recognize, to create a truly equitable space, we have a lot of work to do at every level. Thank you to the leaders who have already stepped up to lead this change and who have challenged us to do better. 

We recommit ourselves to listening, and working to advance our core value of equity on the Greenway, in New Orleans, in America. 

-The Friends of Lafitte Greenway Team

Pictured Above: Mural on Lemann Pool by Young Artist Movement, lead artist Keith Duncan, Welcome Table New Orleans, and hundreds of community volunteers (Credit: YAM)