Alum Danny Glover Talks New Orleans Inequality, Tourism at #BlackWorkersMatter Summit

NEW ORLEANS TIMES-PICAYUNE -- Actor and activist Danny Glover is perplexed by New Orleans and its entrenched poverty and inequality. “New Orleans is the most unique city in the country,” he told an audience Monday (Jan. 18) at Southern University, where he was the keynote speaker at the #BlackWorkersMatter summit, a Martin Luther King Day event focused on improving the job climate for minorities. He listed off the attractions that make tourists flock: Mardi Gras, Super Bowls, college sports championships. “If it’s big, it’s happening in New Orleans,” Glover said. But despite that, the tourism industry here does not provide a living wage for many of its workers. “How can that be?” he asked. Glover, best known for his film roles in “The Color Purple” and the action-movie “Lethal Weapon” series, has a long history of activism, dating back his participation in the 1968 student strike at San Francisco State.