Also see: As Mardi Gras Nears, New Orleans Strippers Fight Back Against Police Raids
On January 19 and 24, New Orleans police and Louisiana state police raided eight strip clubs on Bourbon Street, the city’s tourism center. Male officers reportedly stood in the dressing room while the women got dressed, took pictures of the undressed women, announced the women’s legal names in front of customers and made derogatory comments. This is part of what many see as a war on nightlife by outgoing Mayor Mitch Landrieu. He has also proposed shutting the city’s famous all-night bars early, and the city just spent tens of millions of dollars on surveillance cameras all across the city. The city and state have used the justification of “fighting sex trafficking” for the raids, but no trafficking victims were found. However, hundreds of workers are unemployed as a result of the raids.
As journalist Melissa Gira Grant has reported, this crackdown is rooted in sensationalistic and inaccurate reporting by The Times-Picayune, the city’s formerly daily newspaper. As Grant writes, the newspaper “referred interchangeably to stripping, selling sex, and trafficking, and concluded, vaguely and without data to support it, that victim advocates and law enforcement told them that French Quarter strip clubs were a ‘trafficking opportunity.'” As a result of his biased reporting, Kevin Litten, the lead reporter on the Picayune series, has now caused over a thousand women, many of whom are already living on the margins, to be harassed by police and lose their jobs.
Now the workers are fighting back, as this video shows. They protested and stole the headlines away from a press conference on Bourbon Street infrastructure improvements led by city leaders. Last Thursday, hundreds of strip club employees and their allies marched through the French Quarter in a raucous protest. The following night, they came out again. Today, the workers are organizing to make their presence felt at a City Planning Commission hearing for zoning restrictions on strip clubs. Whatever happens next, this struggle is clearly not over.
Help us Prepare for Trump’s Day One
Trump is busy getting ready for Day One of his presidency – but so is Truthout.
Trump has made it no secret that he is planning a demolition-style attack on both specific communities and democracy as a whole, beginning on his first day in office. With over 25 executive orders and directives queued up for January 20, he’s promised to “launch the largest deportation program in American history,” roll back anti-discrimination protections for transgender students, and implement a “drill, drill, drill” approach to ramp up oil and gas extraction.
Organizations like Truthout are also being threatened by legislation like HR 9495, the “nonprofit killer bill” that would allow the Treasury Secretary to declare any nonprofit a “terrorist-supporting organization” and strip its tax-exempt status without due process. Progressive media like Truthout that has courageously focused on reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza are in the bill’s crosshairs.
As journalists, we have a responsibility to look at hard realities and communicate them to you. We hope that you, like us, can use this information to prepare for what’s to come.
And if you feel uncertain about what to do in the face of a second Trump administration, we invite you to be an indispensable part of Truthout’s preparations.
In addition to covering the widespread onslaught of draconian policy, we’re shoring up our resources for what might come next for progressive media: bad-faith lawsuits from far-right ghouls, legislation that seeks to strip us of our ability to receive tax-deductible donations, and further throttling of our reach on social media platforms owned by Trump’s sycophants.
We’re preparing right now for Trump’s Day One: building a brave coalition of movement media; reaching out to the activists, academics, and thinkers we trust to shine a light on the inner workings of authoritarianism; and planning to use journalism as a tool to equip movements to protect the people, lands, and principles most vulnerable to Trump’s destruction.
We urgently need your help to prepare. As you know, our December fundraiser is our most important of the year and will determine the scale of work we’ll be able to do in 2025. We’ve set two goals: to raise $104,000 in one-time donations and to add 1340 new monthly donors by midnight on December 31.
Today, we’re asking all of our readers to start a monthly donation or make a one-time donation – as a commitment to stand with us on day one of Trump’s presidency, and every day after that, as we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation. You’re an essential part of our future – please join the movement by making a tax-deductible donation today.
If you have the means to make a substantial gift, please dig deep during this critical time!
With gratitude and resolve,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy