The safety of the residents in one of the nation’s Blackest cities is in the hands of an emergency management director who has a long history of questionable decision-making. Joanne Moreau, the Director of the Mayor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, was previously investigated for irresponsible management of funds meant for the emergency preparedness department.

And it doesn’t stop there-- Moreau’s professional e-mails revealed her casual use of racial slurs calling one Arab colleague a “terrorist.” In a city still healing from the racially charged murder of Alton Sterling, and facing yet another crisis, emergency managers must be accountable to the Black folks they represent.

In the moments following natural disasters and crisis, emergency managers are tasked with the crucial responsibility of leading all service and response efforts. These emergency managers are rarely held accountable for the devastation they cause Black communities because they are appointed by governors and mayors; not elected by the people. In nearby New Orleans, the governor pioneered emergency management takeovers: using Hurricane Katrina as a permission slip to privatize public education--firing Black teachers, shutting down public schools, and killing unions. Ten years later, it was an emergency manager who poisoned Flint, Michigan’s children with the cost-cutting decision to change the city’s water source.

That’s why we’re asking Governor John Bel Edwards to fire Joanne Moreau and give elected city council members decision-making power in the wake of this historic devastation. We cannot afford to let a government official with a history of financial mismanagement and racially-charged bullying lead the response that could determine life or death for thousands of Black people.