A new law passed in New Orlean’s French Quarter sets an 8pm curfew for kids who are 16 and younger, setting it earlier than the
previous curfew which had been fixed at 11pm. Councilwoman Kristen Gisleson Palmer, who promoted the law, says her goal in changing the curfew is to protect kids within her district from violence and underage drinking. The French Quarter is awash with liquor stores, strip clubs, and other tourist attractions and “If we can, in any way, protect children from that, I think it’s very reasonable,” Palmer said.
However, many who live within the councilwoman’s district believe the point of the new law is not to protect local kids from tourists, but to protect tourists from local kids – namely young black males. Some in the city believe the aim of the new ordinance is to take young black boys off the streets of the French Quarter. ”There is this desire not to have these black males in the French Quarter,” said Tracie L. Washington, an attorney for the Louisiana Justice Institute, a civil rights organization.
Palmer has vehemently denied these allegations.
