The Audubon Nature Institute proposed hosting “Blue at the Zoo” from May 11 to May 16th as a joint venture with the New Orleans Police and Justice foundation in order to promote and foster positive, interactive experiences with the police department. But members of the community and others from around the country opposed that idea, and ultimately, the Audubon Institute ended up scrapping the idea, which only further developed controversy in the community. Ron Foreman, President and CEO of the Audubon Nature Institute, joined Newell to explain what happened.
“Ron, what was the thought process behind doing “Blue at the Zoo” in the first place?” Newell began.
“We've worked together for many, many years,” Forman said. “When we talk about Audubon, we mean the zoo and aquarium, also the parks and other facilities we have, and we always work to make the community better. We've been doing this for a long time. When the New Orleans Police and Justice Foundation and our staff were talking, we said, it's a tough time around our country right now. We should do an event for the police, and do it in a way to hopefully unite our community. That was our game plan. But unfortunately, there was a lot going on at the time. There were some demonstrations going on in New Orleans. There were some trials going on and we started seeing, people saying - is this the right time to do the event?
“Our original plan wasn’t to scrap the idea, we never wished to scrap the idea,” Forman continued. “It was to look for a better time to do it, where police could come and enjoy the event and didn't have to worry about all the craziness going on in the world. We canceled the one that was on, and we regret and apologize for canceling it. Even in tough times, we need to stand up for our police. I grew up with parents that raised me, if you see a police officer, if you see a fireman, if you see a first responder, someone in a military uniform, you go up to them and thank them. So the fact that we did this and some thought that we were turning our back on the police, we sincerely apologize. That wasn’t our plan.”
“I was surprised and very disappointed because I know all the hard work that you all have done in fostering a great relationship with the police,” Newell said. “That, and being behind constitutional policing, Nobody's in favor of unconstitutional policing! But everyone understands the utility of policing within their community. And you guys have been great corporate partners. I know when I was the sheriff, we always had our picnic there. It was one of the highlight events of the year, something that our employees truly enjoyed, that opportunity for us to come together as our own JP community, meet each other's children, and foster good relations within the organization, separate and apart from the community as a whole. That's every bit as important.”
“We have always been unwavering in our support for our policemen in our community,” Forman reiterated. “Police are our friends and we always have to remember that these people put their life and career and family in front of us to protect us. That’s where Audubon stands. And we're going to continue to show that support, we're planning the next event and it is is going to be even bigger and better than others we talked about. We're looking forward to it.”
Hear the entire interview in the audio player below.
