I know Ken and he is truly a man who rewards you with his kindness. He’s got a great big smile for everyone. He has a wife and two young children. There should be a way to contribute next weekend at French Quarter Fest. Probably pieces of art donated to the cause by other Jackson Square Artists.
On the morning of April 10th there was a horrible tragedy in Jackson Square.
One of the artists there, Gang Hu (known to all as Kenny) was attacked and
beaten badly as he was setting up for a day of work.
Many of you know him, a really sweet, talented portrait and caricature
artist that is always ready with a smile and well wishes. The front and
back of his head were beaten in and he was rushed to the hospital where he
has had surgery. The last I heard he was in ICU. He is not conscious and
they won’t be able to tell much for a few days until the swelling goes down.The police who were called to the scene made ridiculous comments about the
character of the victim, stating he was drunk and probably his fault. This
is an outrage. They did not conduct any sort of investigation as far as I
heard they did not even classify it as a crime scene. When another local
artist insisted that he did not drink and that they should investigate, he
was told he would be arrested if he said anything else!This artist is a dutiful husband with two small children at home, a dear man
who gives everything he can to help those in need even when he has so little
himself. Jackson Square artists are considered a huge draw for New Orleans
tourists and they should have more support and protection from NOPD. We pay
taxes to the city as well as license and permit fees to set up there. We
should have the right to protection as citizens and as workers at one of the
city’s top tourist attractions.We are organizing to raise funds to help pay for his medical costs and to
get NOPD to provide patrol for artists in the morning. Please support this
cause, run a story, tell your friends, post to your social networks and do
all you can to help this wonderful person and his family recover from this
tragedy.
Please keep those of us who are out of New Orleans updated with donation information. This one really touched me.
If you want to take some action against the rising rate of crime in the city, please go to http://www.humandecencynola.org and paricipate in one or both of the actions being put forward. At least we might get to go face to face with Riley after this.
How awful – what time of the morning did this happen? I hope he does OK
It happened around 4:30 when a lot of artists set up.