Students prepare to rally and march in New Orleans

This weekend, Southern University students will have an opportunity to call for change.
“The Right to Return, Right to Reconstruction, Right to Rebuild” rally and march will take place on Saturday, April 28 in New Orleans.
Southern will be providing two buses that will take interested students down to New Orleans to participate in the march.
SU history professor Veronica Freeman, and SU system president Dr. Ralph Slaughter, worked to organize the event, along with AWAKE, a new student activism group on Southern’s campus.
AWAKE student organizer Lauren Malbroux says the rally can only produce positive output.
“I am anticipating this march, I think it will be a great opportunity to bring positive press here to SU,” said Malbroux, a senior political science major from Opelousas. “It will show that Southern University students are actively involved in the community and are committed to making a difference.”
Although some show a minimal interest in the march, most students said they agree with Malbroux’s sentiments.
“I’m not against the march,” said Brant Anderson, a senior mass communications major from Dallas. “It’s a great chance for students to show our initiative and let people know that we care about issues like these.”
Students who are interested should sign up in the office of the Student Government Association by Thursday afternoon. The buses will depart from the Smith-Brown Memorial Union at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday.
The march will begin in New Orleans at 9 a.m. at Fredrick Douglass High School. Lunch, T-shirts and snacks will be provided to participating students as well.
The march, organized by the Rainbow PUSH Coalition and headed by Rev. Jesse Jackson, is a march for the battered ninth ward of New Orleans, which was severely damaged when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005.
According to officials, the prime objective for the march is to raise national and international awareness of the fact that New Orleans continues to be in a crisis nearly two years later.