Richard A. Webster

For years, Black residents of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, have voiced complaints about abuses and a lack of accountability in its Sheriff’s Office. Unlike in neighboring New Orleans, no one has stepped in to help.

At about 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, just two days after Hurricane Ida pummeled New Orleans, plunging the city into a total blackout, more than 100 cars sat idling in a cue on North Rampart Street. The line stretched for several blocks, ending at a Chevron gas station at St. Louis Street just outside the French Quarter.