50 years ago - Black Panthers standoff, shootout with New Orleans police
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Published 2020-09-23
In the turbulent 60’s, young activists demanded the acknowledgement of systemic racism and social injustice and how it put Black and brown people at a disadvantage.
While we hear "Black lives matter" today, back then, we heard chants of "Black power", mostly from the Black Panther Party. An organization who would become heroes to the Black community but a threat to the federal government.
50 years ago the Panthers had a presence in the New Orleans community. More specifically, the Desire Housing Project, which was home to one of America’s largest and poorest communities. Their presence according those who lived in the community at that time, was very welcomed.
But, their reputation of violence against police officers made them a threat to the New Orleans Police Department, leading to a 30-minute shootout in the Desire Projects and a week's long effort to stop the Panthers from gaining a stronghold on the Desire community. What brought those young men and women to the Desire Projects leading to that standoff that began on Piety Street? In "The Story Behind the Standoff" you will hear from some of those involved about what happened in the Desire 50 years ago and implications it has on the city today.
All Comments (21)
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My grandmother and grandfather were both black panthers both born and raised in the Desire project RIP GRANDMA DEBBIE and my Qpop is still living today
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This Documentaty Film Needs To Recieve A Big Award. And needs to be given Nationally for Everyone to hear & see & know.
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THIS COUNTRY HIDES SO MUCH....EVERYTHING ISNT IN A BOOK..TALK TO YOUR ELDERS..THEY LIVED IT
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Brilliant work y'all. How grateful I am that the local news station here cares enough about our history to document it before it's gone.
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i can’t believe i never told of this historical moment in New Orleans from no one even as a NOLA student.
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Sounds like N.O. needs the resurgence of the B.P.P. I'm SO proud!✊🏿✊🏿✊🏿
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And this is the kind of stuff they would rather you not be taught!
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I enjoyed this documentary, thank you!
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From Lafayette and never knew about this until MajorTV said something about it. That New Orleans history and Louisiana history as a whole is rich.
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The klan didn't attack the cops, the klan was the cops.
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Good documentary. I am from New Orleans, but never heard this story as a kid growing up in the 1970s. I learned about it much later in life as an adult. I was certainly aware of the Desire Housing Project's reputation for poverty and violence. The Black Panthers showed that even the worst black neighborhoods can overcome those problems when people come in and care for people. Too bad the Moon Landrieu administration didn't see it that way.
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I grew up in that wild Desire
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This is a great documentary. In my older adult years, I'm finally taking an African American History course. I wish I would have taken an African American History course in college while still in high school; to get a good start in life with an understanding of what we have been through in the past historically. I think it would be less black on black crime and confidence in our youth if this was mandatory to learn about our history.
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The selected images from the documentary (there are still more from it) 2:00 aerial scene(s) of the Desire housing development 2:50 the intro of the presentation 6:42 image of the St Thomas housing development 15:04 map of a section of the Desire housing projects 15:09 aftermath of the Desire standoff 15:30 normalcies in the Desire 16:01 normalcy in the Desire 16:05 neighbors at a intersection in Desire 16:13 the Piety St. walking bridge that crossed the Florida Canal (either that or Louisa St.) 16:27 aerial map 1 of the projects✊🏾⚜️ 16:30 the governmental results of the aftermath 17:43 aerial map 2 of the projects 18:25 aerial map 3 of the projects 19:20 kids in the Desire neighborhood 19:31 Black Panthers NOLA headquarters and residents in the community 21:49 kids in the Desire neighborhood 2 22:11 Black businesses in the Desire and kids and more residents The rest of the images show the standoff.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 37:10 aerial map 4 of the projects 38:05 the second and final standoff 38:08 The NOPD just showing off the military defense😒 39:50 MAJOR standoff 41:41 a piece(s) of evidence on the neighborhood 45:04 Thank God the judge had some good, decent, and common sense. 46:13 Desire afterma
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The Panthers was founded by the late great Huey Newton or The Great Bobby Seal . The Black Panther Party was created in the house of SNCC . The Creator of the party was a woman named Eller Baker the former President of SNCC 🇲🇦
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50 years ago here it is 2022 and we still fighting the same fight
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I wonder why law enforcement wasn't as committed to destroying the KKK as they were to destroying the Black Panthers?
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Honestly, speaking intergrading the schools assisted in stopping black self reliance
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Nobody felt the need to pick up trash next to their front door! The first place to start is at your own place! I mean in my neighborhood us kids had to do yard work on Saturday, and man you better not even think of throwing candy wrappers or trash at your house or in your neighborhood.
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Power to the people.
