Letters: Louisiana Bond Commission's targeting of New Orleans reeks of White Supremacy

In an attempt to make New Orleans officials enforce the state’s abortion ban, the Louisiana Bond Commission deferred an application for a $39 million line of credit for a project that would help mitigate flooding.

Attorney General Jeff Landry said, “…we should not defer the ability to use the tools at our disposal to bring them to heel ...”

As the executive director of a New Orleans-based organization that works at the intersection of gender, race and public health, I’m disgusted but not surprised. We at Women with a Vision have been working for over 30 years to ensure the health, well-being and bodily autonomy of the people too often deemed disposable — Black people, women, LGBTQ+ folks, poor people and people who use drugs.

Some have argued that Louisiana’s abortion ban is a throwback to the antebellum period, when enslavers profited off the forced reproduction of the enslaved. Landry’s comments, however, highlight how the ruling class still believes they have an unalienable right to control racialized bodies, and when we resist we must be “[brought] to heel.” It’s worth noting that New Orleans is almost 60% Black with mostly Black elected leadership.

The commission’s withholding of infrastructure funds that are critical to the health and safety of all is a clear example of the need for solidarity. While their actions are a direct assault on the bodily autonomy of birthing people, every single person in the city will face the consequences of flooded streets and unsafe drinking water.

Read more at The Advocate