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October 3, 2025 |
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Features |
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New Orleans DSA has endorsed Gregory Manning for City Council At-Large Division 2 Pastor Gregory Manning is a committed activist, proud New Orleans DSA member, and the pastor of Broadmoor Community Church. He is emphatically progressive on social issues and an ardent champion of economic justice, climate justice, and environmental justice. He founded the Greater New Orleans Interfaith Climate Coalition and helped lead the Community Lighthouse project in New Orleans, which uses distributed solar generation to offer backup power during extended outages. To reduce the city’s climate impact and break Entergy’s energy monopoly, Manning will “municipalize the gas network” and ban the “expansion of gas infrastructure.” He supports the short-term reduction of rates and elimination of customer debts, and the long-term municipalization of Entergy. Manning, who is legally blind, has put his body on the line for these principles—in 2019 he was arrested for protesting the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry’s Cancer Alley petrochemical corridor. With a growing housing crisis in the city, Manning has called for building new, permanently affordable housing on vacant public lands, and is against council exemptions for “wealthy and well-connected” short term rental and Airbnb owners. Manning is a strong voice against the genocide in Gaza, having spoken at the Gulf Coast March for Palestine and derided the City Council’s “Statement of Peace” as a “farce” that denies the horrors of the violence. Manning was endorsed by the Orleans Parish Democratic Executive Committee, despite running against an incumbent. Pastor Manning has a record of showing up anytime, anywhere, always on the right side of history. He is more than capable of building bridges, but knows when to fight the good fight and won’t back down in the name of doing the easier thing. Time and time again, he has risked his physical safety and professional connections to do the right thing, regardless of personal costs. He will bring that same energy to City Hall, at a time when the people of New Orleans desperately need it, in light of overreach by our fascist state and federal governments. We wholeheartedly believe Pastor Gregory Manning is the right candidate to confront the urgent challenges bearing down on all of our region’s residents. Read our full Voter Guide here.
New Orleans DSA has endorsed Bob Murrell for City Council District A Bob Murrell is a longtime leader in New Orleans DSA and one of the chief architects of our electoral program. For years, he has worked within grassroots organizations – Voice of the Experienced, Step Up Louisiana, and Eye on Surveillance – to build people power in every neighborhood of our city. Because he shows up and fights for all of us, every single day, he’s won VOTE’s endorsement, as well as that of Step Up for Action, Run for Something, the 3.14 Action Fund to bring STEM leaders to the front of issues from climate change to reproductive healthcare, and local progressive champions Gaby Biro, Devin Davis, and Pearl Ricks. Murrell has never been afraid to call out the genocide in Palestine, supporting the People’s Ceasefire after Council’s empty “Statement for Peace” failed to even mention Palestine. In 2018, he spoke in favor of Council’s efforts toward a Human Rights Resolution in line with Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions principles, but Council backtracked when the ADL protested that the resolution would challenge the apartheid state’s economic viability. While other candidates silently avoid alienating the wealthy, white, and conservative segment of donors in District A, Murrell has consistently and loudly stood for all residents in opposition to Jeff Landry, Donald Trump, ICE, and encroaching fascism of all kinds. His work with the Eye on Surveillance coalition informs his unwavering support for privacy, safety, and our ability to organize against a surveillance state. “[W]hat happens in Gaza will happen here,” he warns. “The Motorola crime cameras in Black neighborhoods were developed and refined in Gaza and the West Bank. The police tactics used on encampment protestors were developed and trained by Israelis.” Murrell has been organizing with the Make Entergy Pay campaign to fight back against the monopoly’s utility shutoffs and rate hikes. New Orleanians must replace our profit-driven energy monopoly with a publicly-owned utility, and his commitment to our campaign gives us full confidence that he’ll make municipalizing Entergy one of the next Council’s key tasks. Murrell’s campaign also prioritizes affordable housing, great public schools, good paying union jobs, and better streets and drainage, and he has long spoken about wanting to live in a District A that pays as much attention to its traditionally neglected Black neighborhoods like Hollygrove as it does its white ones like Lakeview. A powerful organizing force in New Orleans grassroots politics, often found pressuring Council members to prioritize working class interests over those of wealthy political donors, Bob Murrell has the courage, principles, and track record to fight for us. We need public servants who will make New Orleans safer, more fair, and more liveable for everyone. New Orleans DSA fully endorses Bob Murrell for that mission. Read our full Voter Guide here.
New Orleans DSA has endorsed Jackson Kimbrell for City Council District C Jackson Kimbrell is a New Orleans DSA member bringing a construction background to his focus on working class issues that affect us all: affordable housing, rising insurance rates, underfunded public transit, expensive childcare, and rising utility bills. He has committed to fiercely regulating Entergy and our Make Entergy Pay demands, putting people over profits. Much of Kimbrell’s campaign centers on economic and environmental sustainability in the face of global warming, and he has nuts-and-bolts proposals to get things done. At candidate forums and in questionnaires, Kimbrell addresses roof fortification funding and expanding solar retention on all city properties. He’s proposed partnering schools with unions to teach our children trade skills and create more union jobs. He’s proposed investing in our tree canopy to fight the urban heat island effect. Ideas like these that focus on what we can do locally are critically important at a time when federal and state funding sources are drying up. Around town, Kimbrell has been advocating with Critical Mass NOLA about making roadways work not just for cars and trucks, but for cyclists and pedestrians as well. These measures would protect residents all over District C, particularly in a dangerous St. Claude corridor that has seen several recent deaths. Out of all the candidates running for the District C seat, he has taken the lead in speaking out against Israeli war crimes in Gaza. He is committed to bringing a proper ceasefire resolution in council, stating that the council’s 2024 “Statement of Peace” was “[a] weak statement to quickly sidestep making a tough stand for human rights.” Kimbrell is running a campaign funded by small-dollar donations from neighbors and fellow DSA members—not corporations or law firms that put profits first. Read our full Voter Guide here.
New Orleans DSA has endorsed Danyelle Christmas for City Council District E Dental assistant and single mom of four Danyelle Christmas is a proud member of New Orleans DSA. She has earned the endorsements of Step Up for Action, Voters Organized to Educate, Run for Something, and Lead Locally. Christmas has been leading a campaign that fights for safety, affordable housing, economic justice, and human rights. The daughter of the late Dan Bright, a man wrongfully convicted and sent to Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, Christmas was inspired to run based on witnessing the unjust impacts of the prison-industrial complex on her family and the wider community. In candidate forums and interviews, Christmas recalls childhood memories of taking the bus to visit her father at Angola, witnessing his activism with Innocence Project New Orleans (now Innocence & Justice Louisiana) once he was released, and dealing with the trauma that resulted from his incarceration. These experiences have solidified her commitment to banning facial recognition technologies in the city, supporting immigrants’ rights and access to legal services, speaking out against the genocide in Gaza, shifting budget priorities towards more youth and community-oriented initiatives, and advocating for policies that are human-centered and recognize the dignity of working class people. Christmas has also expressed her frustration with the blight rampant across New Orleans East and the Lower Ninth Ward, where she grew up and went to public school. Christmas spent seven years in Orlando and was dismayed to return home to see streets, sidewalks, and infrastructure the same as when she left, and just the bare foundations of flooded homes as a vestige of Hurricane Katrina. In a Step Up for Action forum, Christmas also brought up her concerns about clean air and water, noting that her children have dealt with more sicknesses here in New Orleans than anywhere else. Christmas has also been active in work for safer streets for bicyclists with Critical Mass Nola and has pushed against disruptive industrial activity with the proposed Sunrise Foods International Grain Terminal in the Lower Ninth Ward/Holy Cross neighborhood. She has pointed to the lack of investment in people and the neighborhoods of District E as a major public safety issue. Pushing out corporate greed, pushing for city-owned utilities that offer more transparency and an end to unjust fees, and pushing for a city cap on rental costs are additional measures that Christmas is advocating for to make New Orleans a city that is affordable for everyone and would allow people to stay and thrive. She wrote in her VOTE questionnaire: “New Orleans residents are [either] choosing between paying Entergy, rent, or food to feed families,” and she feels that it shouldn’t and doesn’t have to be that way for people in the city who are working 40+ hours a week and still not making the income needed to survive. Ultimately, Christmas argues that everyday working people in District E and New Orleans are tired of the lack of adequate services and deserve representation by someone who understands their experiences. As she remarked in a recent news interview with The Boston Globe, ”What I’m fighting for, I’ve lived it.” Read our full Voter Guide here.
New Orleans DSA recommends Calvin Duncan for Clerk of Criminal District Court Calvin Duncan was one of the principal architects of the legal strategy to overturn Louisiana’s system of non-unanimous juries, a success achieved at the US Supreme Court in 2020. Wrongfully arrested at 19 for murder, Duncan was sentenced to die at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. Refusing to give in to the crushing weight of Louisiana’s criminal legal system, Duncan became a jailhouse lawyer and helped other incarcerated men research their cases, file appeals, and overturn their convictions. Duncan tried challenging his own case, but could not get access to police reports, witness statements, and other records. When he finally got Innocence Project New Orleans to take his case, those records showed that prosecutors had hidden evidence that proved his innocence. After 28 years wrongfully imprisoned at Angola, Duncan co-founded The First 72+ re-entry program, graduated from Tulane, and earned a law degree. He’s now a research associate at Loyola’s Jesuit Social Research Institute, pushing for criminal justice reform. People wonder why the clerk of court is an elected position, and justifiably so. Duncan knows what it means if the clerk of court doesn’t preserve court records and doesn’t give people access to them: human beings, like Duncan himself, languish in prison without a chance to challenge the evidence against them. He is endorsed by VOTE. Read our full Voter Guide here.
New Orleans DSA recommends Casius Pealer for Assessor Casius Pealer is an architect, attorney, affordable housing advocate, and Senior Professor of Practice at Tulane’s School of Architecture. He has worked on hundreds of millions of dollars in community projects and has been active in national housing initiatives. Now, as a first-time candidate for assessor, he is running on a platform of fairness and transparency. Pealer has been one of the sharpest critics of Errol Williams’s assessor’s office. He has called out the practice of “sales chasing,” which drives up assessments for families who just bought a home while leaving longtime owners with lower valuations. On the equally thorny question of short-term rentals, Pealer stresses that decisions like these must be made fairly and transparently to address residents’ complex needs, but also acknowledges that STRs should likely be removed from neighborhood sales data due to the risk of inflated neighborhood values, particularly in gentrifying areas. He proposes publishing annual reports on all property tax breaks and exemptions so the public can see who benefits. He also wants to simplify the appeals process, which many homeowners find confusing and inaccessible. His approach, he argues, would reduce costly disputes and restore trust in the office. Pealer has criticized the city’s plans to double the homestead exemption, which gives wealthy homeowners the same tax break as struggling families while draining about $40 million a year from the city budget. He also argues that the current tax system is inequitable: homeowners have access to homestead exemptions, but renters have no comparable relief and would end up shouldering higher costs. He speaks often about how the assessor’s office and housing policy can and should work together to benefit everyone in Orleans Parish: homeowners, but also renters and small business owners. He emphasizes that renters also pay property taxes, since landlords pass the costs into rent. In New Orleans, where the median renter income is less than $34,000, more than half of renters are already cost-burdened, and rising property taxes can amount to two months’ rent each year. He notes that 13,000 seniors rent their homes with no protections, and points to “circuit breaker” programs in 30 other states that tie property taxes to income, helping both homeowners and renters avoid being priced out. Louisiana’s own constitution even allows for renter tax relief, but the current assessor has ignored that while pursuing larger exemptions for homeowners. Pealer’s background in housing and real estate development, combined with his clear responses to problematic aspects of Williams’s record, position him as a credible reformer. Where Williams has spent decades entrenching favoritism and opacity, Pealer’s campaign offers a path toward equity and accountability. Read our full Voter Guide here.
New Orleans DSA recommends voting YES on the Home Rule Charter Amendment Our city has a Bill of Rights prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, religion, disability, and gender. It’s time to add criminal conviction history to that list, because the criminal legal system shouldn’t block people from housing, jobs, and a path to getting back on their feet. This update, called the Fair Chance Amendment, is presented by VOTE, a frequent partner organization of ours composed of people who have experienced the criminal legal system. Read our full Voter Guide here.
A Weekend of Action Possibilities - Brodie L People can often get caught up in the details of their everyday life. Our modern economy and ruling class, in fact, depend on our collective inaction. The only way to reach the equitable society that we know we all deserve is to show up. Even when you're tired. Even when you're stressed. Particularly when you're tired and stressed! When you are among people who not only believe in awakening class consciousness, but are actively involved in the work, you feel a deep rejuvenation of your soul because you see that people aren't standing by passively. This weekend is filled to the brim with options for feeling that connection. I encourage you to attend at least one, but I also want to challenge you to bring someone with you, especially if that person is reluctant to use their power in this movement. If you are electorally minded, our endorsed candidates need your enthusiasm and charisma to help bring in voters. If you want to buy your coffee tomorrow morning, consider buying it at the River Ridge Starbucks on Jefferson Highway to show your support for their unionization efforts. Do you like using your hands or talking with your neighbors? Head over to the Brake Light Clinic at Tureaud Park to help our community members avoid unnecessary interactions with the police (no brake light experience required!). Consider going to Freedom Square at 6pm Saturday night to memorialize two years of active genocide of the Palestinian people, and join an organization to continue that work. Show up to rallies, and then make some friends while you’re there. The struggle isn't just work; it can also be fun. So round out the weekend with the first DSA Queer Social costume party at First Christian Church in Slidell. We only win by consistently and reliably showing up!
Qualitative Change Is Always on Its Way One of the core principles of historical materialism is that quantitative change leads to qualitative change. How many individual grains of rice constitute a bowl of rice? In physics, when you try to heat up a jar that has water and ice in it, the water will stay at 32° F until all the ice is melted. The quantitative change is the heat from the flame, touching small parts of the whole. The qualitative change is the ice’s state change from solid to liquid. When this happens in society, we don’t always see it in real time. The pigs kill people of color regularly, often in conditions that seem indefensible to people who aren’t desensitized by the violence of American society. Yet the murder of George Floyd set off a rebellion more immediately widespread than the murders of John Crawford III or Sandra Bland or Tortuguita. Many factors contributed, but that single event kicked off a qualitative change in the way a lot of people think about this. Tens of millions won’t ever go back to the carefully crafted image of the cops as servants of the people. We see them as the class enemies that they are. Another qualitative change is in progress, related to American dominance. The Global South is knitting together a system that doesn’t need the US. China doesn’t buy US soybeans anymore, getting them from Brazil instead. Chinese exports to the US dropped 15% this year, with China’s total exports dropping less than 1%. They’ve found less troublesome buyers. We don’t know what the next qualitative change will be or when it will happen, but now is the time to hone your class analysis. Be ready for people to start asking questions. Help them see through counter-revolutionary answers. Keep your wits sharp and your eyes on the prize: Global Liberation! |
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Bulletins |
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No Contract, No Coffee! Support the Starbucks Workers United Practice Picket Starbucks Workers United will have a picket on tomorrow, October 4. It’ll go from 10:00 am - 12:00 pm at the River Ridge Starbucks, 9301 Jefferson Hwy. They are demanding a fair union contract with the staffing, hours, take-home pay, and on-the-job protections they need to do their jobs. They are part of our community and part of the fabric of our daily lives. They are neighbors. They are workers. They deserve a fair wage. When they fight, we will support them. And when they strike, we will not cross the picket line. Show your support: sign the pledge and join the picket. We will not patronize any Starbucks store when baristas are on strike.
Brake Light Clinic & Health Fair Tomorrow Your favorite DSA comrades will be at AP Tureaud Memorial Park tomorrow, October 4, changing brake lights and handing out hot meals, cold drinks, and doing health checks. We also are providing safe injection kits and Narcan kits courtesy of Trystereo. It’s always a good time with good people, so come hang out and do some community organizing! The address is 1800 AP Tureaud Av, from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. Get your hat, get your sunscreen, and get a friend or make one at the clinic.
Action and Solidarity on the Second Anniversary of October 7th This next week marks the second anniversary of this latest period of genocide by the state of Israel upon the people of Palestine. Our comrades are showing solidarity with the people of Palestine this Saturday, October 4th, in a rally at Jackson Freedom Square. You may have seen our latest banner in support of Palestine at the latest General Meeting. We'll be unveiling it at this action, and would love to have you behind it. If you are available to join us and carry it, we would love to see you there!
DSA Queer Social Costume Party on Sunday In the South, the LGBTQ+ community is often more isolated than anywhere else in the United States. As socialists, we want to build up strong, healthy communities that support each other through shared struggles. To do this, we established a Queer Socialist Section (Queer Soc) at our September GM! To bring together our queer community and allies, Queer Soc is launching monthly themed socials. Build up your Halloween spirit by joining us for our all-ages Queer Social Costume Party at the First Christian Church, 102 Christian Ln, in Slidell this Sunday, October 5th, 6-9pm! We hope to see you there~ 🦇🏳️🌈
Eye on Surveillance Monthly Meeting This Wednesday Join EOS at our October monthly meeting on Wednesday the 8th, at 6:30 pm, via Zoom. Exciting updates include our mapping out and scouting of Project NOLA cameras, future teach-ins on the harms of racist tech such as facial recognition, and efforts to prepare against a local and federal government that attacks our privacy, livelihoods, and right to organize. RSVP here.
Keep Up With the Candidates at Endorsement HQ Election Day is October 11 and New Orleans DSA has four endorsed members running for City Council. Pastor Gregory Manning, Danyelle Christmas, Jackson Kimbrell, and Bob Murrell are making calls, knocking on doors, and attending candidate forums. Volunteer, donate, and follow these campaigns at our Endorsement HQ.
DSA + FRSO + Indivisible Safety Coalition Training DSA, FRSO and Indivisible NOLA have teamed up to build collective capacity for the increasingly frequent need to take to the streets. Our goal is to develop a large pool of New Orleanians trained in security and de-escalation that can be activated to keep our community safe during free speech events. This is the last training opportunity if you'd like to volunteer for the Safety Team for No Kings NOLA 2.0. Meet at the New Orleans Healing Center, 2372 St Claude Av, on Sunday, October 12, from 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm. Sign up here.
Sign Up for Neighborhood Circles We’re making neighborhood circles to connect people where they live, work, and anywhere else they spend time. Use your circle to host gatherings, plan events, and organize around issues in your neighborhood. If you're interested in joining our newly formed neighborhood circles, opt in here. Neighborhood circles will follow the chapter's code of conduct and guidelines for respectful discussion.
2025 DSA Membership Survey Members in good standing are encouraged to fill out our quick 2025 Membership Survey for us to get a better sense of who our membership is overall and to guide our actions as a chapter.
Do It Jewett for US Congress District 1 Union teacher and New Orleans DSA member Lauren Jewett is running for US Congress, LA-01. Lauren has been a public school special education teacher for 17 years, standing up for the things that working people in Louisiana deserve: dignity, a life we can afford, thriving opportunity, and actual protection and recovery from major storms and disasters. She knows that workers are the hands, hearts, soul, and backbone of our state and our country. We deserve a representative who believes that and acts like it. Stay tuned for more campaign updates for Lauren, and help us kick off her candidacy with your financial support.
Write Like a Socialist: We Have a World to Win! Have an update from your committee or working group? That’s a Bulletin! Want to tell us about an upcoming event? Add it to the Community Calendar! Got some opinion or analysis to share for the good of the membership? Write us a Feature! Make your contribution to the next edition of Solidarity Means Action in the Comms Discord channel. |
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Community Calendar |
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Friday, October 3 Early Voting
Free Palestine! Abolish ICE! Weekly Lunch Hour Rally
Knock Doors with Bob Murrell, Council District A
Queer Soc Planning Meeting
Film Screening & Panel: The Facility
Saturday, October 4 Early Voting
Canvass for Jackson Kimbrell, Council District C
River Ridge Starbucks Workers United Practice Picket
Brake Light Clinic & Health Fair
Canvass for Bob Murrell, Council District A
Canvass for Danyelle Christmas, Council District E
Rise Up for Gaza: Two Years of Genocide International Day of Action
Sunday, October 5 Coffee with Comrades
Canvass for Bob Murrell, District A
Canvass for Danyelle Christmas, Council District E
Street Medic Training
Poli-Ed Planning Meeting
DSA Queer Social Costume Party
Chapter Orientation
Monday, October 6 Knock Doors with Bob Murrell, Council District A
Canvass for Pastor Gregory Manning, Council At-Large Division 2
Tuesday, October 7 Knock Doors with Bob Murrell, Council District A
Canvass for Pastor Gregory Manning, Council At-Large Division 2
Health Justice & Direct Service Meeting 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm (first & third Tuesday)
Wednesday, October 8 Indivisible Wednesday ICE Protest
Canvass for Pastor Gregory Manning, Council At-Large Division 2
Eye On Surveillance Monthly Meeting
Thursday, October 9 Canvass for Pastor Gregory Manning, Council At-Large Division 2
Rank & File Project Monthly Meeting
Friday, October 10 Free Palestine! Abolish ICE! Weekly Lunch Hour Rally
Knock Doors with Bob Murrell, Council District A
Queer Soc Planning Meeting
Rent Party!! Raffle & Music Show
Saturday, October 11 Election Day: Municipal Primary
New Orleans DSA Election Results Watch Party
Sunday, October 12 DSA/FRSO/Indivisible Safety Coalition Training
Down the Road October 18 No Kings |
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Solidarity Means Action is the weekly newsletter of the New Orleans Democratic Socialists of America. Subscribe for updates every Friday at 8:00 am Central. |
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