By Dawn Burleigh

dawn.burleigh@orangeleader.com

 

Not one, but two press conferences were scheduled for Thursday evening at the steps of Orange City Hall. Only one was officially held.

Councilmember Patrick Pullen was supposed to give a statement at 6 p.m. according to multiple sources, but he was not in attendance.

The second press conference was scheduled for a local rapper who recently released a YouTube video for a song called ‘Fight’ in which a female black officer for Orange Police Department appears.

Her appearance led to a complainant being filed against her and is currently under investigation for promoting #BlackLivesMatter.

A description for the video describes it as “Whip Game Proper performs a song dedicated to all lives lost to violence and police brutality. This single is titled “Fight.”

“I am here to show support for Officer Veronica,” James Woodrow said. “I have not see the video, but that is immaterial. She was doing her job. If it had been another officer, we would not have this conversation.”

Sharon Brown said she also attending to show support.

“I took it as police interacting with the community to bridge the gap for a peaceful community,” Brown said. “Isn’t that what she is suppose to do?”

David Richard said the video addresses the issue today.

“She was merely doing her job of serving,” Richard said. “You can’t discriminate when your protect and serve.”

Maquettia Ledet, facilitator for the event, reminded the crowd of well over 100, the previous week a video of Officer Veronica Monique praising Orange was posted on Facebook.

“She is blue and black,” Ledet said. “She is positive and shows a positive example. Our daughters see a strong example.”

Ledet also said she did not want to see Baton Rouge happen here.

A statement from the rapper, who also did not attend, was read.

According to the statement, the video was filmed during a protest on July 9 and the song was not about a literal fight but to bring awareness. The officer in question was doing her job when she stopped to tell the individuals to stay out of the street and park their cars correctly. A lady asked if she could take the officers picture to send to someone out of town.

Also included in the statement, the scenes were not planned nor did the artist realize the video director was filming during the interaction. The musician also apologized to the officer, in the statement.

“The man was trying to do something positive and others are trying to make it negative,” Ledet said after reading the statement.

Terrence Allison, attorney, said he told her to stay home and not attend on Thursday.

“I have a gut feeling someone jumped to conclusions,” Allison said.