As people witness the protests continue across the country, as America is forced to face years of racial injustice, one can’t help but think of how history is somehow repeating itself.

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.

Timestamps:

  1. 27:42 - Spies Recall Panther Trail
  2. 41:28 - The Story
  3. 44:59 - Panthers Found Not Guilty

Notable comment:

@JyvynShpdinterlude | 3 years ago (edited)

<The selected images from the documentary (there are still more from it)

  1. 2:00 aerial scene(s) of the Desire housing development
  2. 2:50 the intro of the presentation
  3. 6:42 image of the St Thomas housing development
  4. 15:04 map of a section of the Desire housing projects
  5. 15:09 aftermath of the Desire standoff
  6. 15:30 normalcies in the Desire
  7. 16:01 normalcy in the Desire
  8. 16:05 neighbors at a intersection in Desire
  9. 16:13 the Piety St. walking bridge that crossed the Florida Canal (either that or Louisa St.)
  10. 16:27 aerial map 1 of the projects️
  11. 16:30 the governmental results of the aftermath
  12. 17:43 aerial map 2 of the projects
  13. 18:25 aerial map 3 of the projects
  14. 19:20 kids in the Desire neighborhood
  15. 19:31 Black Panthers NOLA headquarters and residents in the community
  16. 21:49 kids in the Desire neighborhood 2
  17. 22:11 Black businesses in the Desire and kids and more residents The rest of the images show the standoff.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  18. 37:10 aerial map 4 of the projects
  19. 38:05 the second and final standoff
  20. 38:08 The NOPD just showing off the military defense
  21. 39:50 MAJOR standoff
  22. 41:41 a piece(s) of evidence on the neighborhood
  23. 45:04 Thank God the judge had some good, decent, and common sense.
  24. 46:13 Desire aftermath