No more war fatigue
April 12, 2006
As if this is any surprise, the Bush administration is caught in another lie related to the flawed reasons why the US invaded Iraq. You remember those mobile weapons labs that could be used for developing anthrax or smallpox? Well, at the time Bush made this harrowing claim, “U.S. intelligence officials possessed powerful evidence that it was not true.”
By now, I hope no one believes that the reasons for invading Iraq were anything but fluff. However, as the truth slowly comes to light, we should be careful not to become desensitized to the enormous harm these mishaps have cost America in blood and treasure.
Having said that, try to comprehend how brazen Bush is in his lying. “Leaders of the Pentagon-sponsored mission transmitted their unanimous findings to Washington in a field report on May 27, 2003, two days before the president’s statement.” Bush’s lie was when he claimed, “we have found the weapons of mass destruction.” To be sure, Colin Powell talked about these same mobile weapons labs in his testimony before the UN, but if you looked at the pictures, they just looked like empty trucks.
What’s more alarming is that “the three-page field report and a 122-page final report three weeks later were stamped “secret” and shelved. Meanwhile, for nearly a year, administration and intelligence officials continued to publicly assert that the trailers were weapons factories.” The report was conducted by the Defense Intelligence Agency (which would have a clear bias in my opinion) which means that rather than the typical assertion that this whole debauchery is based on Bush receiving bad intelligence, Bush’s own civilian-led Pentagon had it right, but he ignored their findings.
The previous story is eerily related to the other discovery that Bush was outed by Scooter Libby when Libby testified that Bush authorized the declassification of documents that resulted in the outing of Valerie Plame. This is wrong on many levels but I will only cover three for the sake of brevity. When the Valerie Plame story broke, Bush repeatedly asserted “If there’s a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. … I want to know the truth. Leaks of classified information are bad things.” But he is the one who authorized the leak!!! Secondly, it is disturbing that had not Scooter Libby forced Bush’s hand, it would have taken years before the truth came to light. Bush, if you are reading this post, lies of omission are just as bad as lies of commission. And lastly, Bush authorized the leak eight days after Plame’s husband, Joseph Wilson, criticized the administration for manipulating pre-war intelligence to exacerbate a war with Iraq.
I have no doubt that as time progresses, even more lies will be accounted for, but in the mean time, I urge everyone not to get war fatigued. The people who wanted this war went to great lengths (and probably sold their soul) to make it happen so we who believe in justice and truth must meet and overcome this challenge. But it will take stamina so if you are tired, hopefully this post gave you some energy.
Stay up fam,
Brandon
The Weekly Dream: Aint I A Woman?
April 5, 2006
“*This Woman’s Work/This Woman’s Work/Oh, it’s hard on a man*” “*Being a real woman means saying you are sorry and meaning it. It also means coming to grips with 3 fundamental facts over time: You are not perfect (twenties), you will never be perfect (thirties) and you do not have to be perfect *.”
-Maxwell, “This Woman’s Work”
-HD
Let’s be clear: I have a deep, enduring love and admiration for women. I truly am a fan. As a result, a large part of my life has been oriented in trying to understand what makes them tick; in hopes that I would procure a method for bridging the gap that often exists between the sexes. Often, we define ourselves through the lens of the opposite sex and their construction of what we should be. A definition by opposites so to speak. This can be good or bad, depending on what ideal is being projected. It is this formulation I am interested in. How does our sex define/influence us and how does it influence our interactions with the opposite sex? For my own part, I have been blessed to encounter some truly phenomenal women from all walks of life, and as a result, I am a better man for it.
I figured it would be a little disingenuous of me to pontificate on what it means to be a modern day woman. Therefore, I have solicited a little help. I petitioned a view individuals to write about what it means to be a woman, and how that relates to their other identities. I received some interesting responses, while with others, the spirit was willing but the flesh was weak (read: did not make the deadline). In any event, here are some very different responses. You may or may not agree, wherever you are on this issue, let your voice be heard.
My Struggle from Foreign Soil… Needless to say, defining the above concept is a task that requires me to draw from entirely different places in my life from the problems I face daily to the company that I keep. There is no overarching way for me to define what being a woman means, period. I can however lay out the theory to which I, as a Foreign Black Woman, vehemently subscribe that wholly describes the plight of the black women in modern American society today (Pardon my harsh cynicism in advance): The quadrant theory puts race and gender into very distinct boxes, and works only in Black and White. I don’t know and don’t really care for the purposes of this piece where Asians, Latinas, Arabs, etc, fit into all of this, but as far as Blacks/Whites are concerned, follow me on this: The quadrant theory divides White Men, White Women, Black Men and Black Women into four sections. A ++ (positive/positive) ranking is given to the white man, a +- (positive/negative) to the white woman, a +- (positive/negative) to the black man, and a — (negative/negative) to the black woman. Some of you may already see where this is going. White men suffer from excessive privilege (hence the ++). White women, though white, are still forced to grapple with issues of sexism. Black men, though fending off constant racial profiling, can still play the “Male” card, which leaves us with the Black woman. She brings up the rear fighting racism and sexism with both fists. This theory entirely guides my thinking in nearly every aspect of life, from career opportunities to the advantages/disadvantages of pursuing a romantic relationship with a ++ vs. +-. Black women have had, currently do have, and will continue to bear the brunt of societal crunches and not to throw my own pity party, but that leaves little sympathy for others (Others in the quadrant, of course). Our role as the Black Woman is that of the supporter & rarely the supported. I suppose that comes with the territory when 70% of us carry the weight of the Black Family. I find myself with an added personal indignance because of how Foreign Black women (and men, to be fair - immigrant/1st-generation Africans, etc.), don’t seem to enter into this Black/White discourse at all. I can’t even count the number of times my ideas and viewpoints have been dismissed with a slight wave of the hand and a breezy, “Well, you’re different, you don’t count”. So now my struggle isn’t real? So my father having to find five different advisors before he could find one who really believed that a Black Man in the late 70’s could actually earn a Ph. D. is Me not counting? The white man at our church who patted my brother on the head when he came back from Eritrea, congratulating him for coming back with “nigger hair” is Me not counting? My cousin being raped and having the rapist blame it not on himself, but on the Hyper-sexualization of Black women in America, is Me not counting? Our experiences may be different but the struggle is still the same. Don’t get me wrong; I wouldn’t trade my position for the world. It has made me who I am now and will continue to shape who I am in the future. It’s true what they say: Perseverance builds character. I could go on forever, but that, my friends, is what being a (Foreign) Black Woman means to me - Hard work, strength & determination = Under appreciation. Hey, but we all have our cross to bear right? Looking Back…Completeness I never thought that being a woman or female meant limitations. I now recognize that there is a vast difference between considering oneself a woman and considering oneself a female. Being a female defines you by gender without consideration for the responsibility for the various roles that you play. Being a woman includes your gender the responsibilities inherent in it and that which you assume. I am a wife responsible for working with another individual to incorporate his perspective add value to his life and allow him to do the same for me. I was chosen for that role and willingly accepted it. It isn’t always easy and so the struggle, challenge and promises continue. I am someone’s mother. They did not ask to be born. I chose to have them and take this role as seriously if not more than my role as wife. I relish in the challenge of being my children’s advocate, friend disciplinarian, confidant and any other role that at 19 and 22, allow me. They are the best of what their dad and I are to each other. Having them transcended my gender and added a new dimension to my woman ness. I am a professional and the unique qualities that women bring to that role as wife, mother, person and evolved individual make me better at being an employee and a professional. Each of my roles is interdependent on and inextricably tied to each other to coexist. After years of trying to compartmentalize each of my roles… aspect of myself, I realize that it is only through harmonious integration that I can be a whole woman harmoniously coexisting, comfortable and confident with my me. Waiting for Revolution… Womanhood
what a beautiful word. I smile sorrowfully when I think about all that womanhood and a girl’s journey into it entails. When Talib Kweli said “life is a beautiful struggle” he was right. In fact, that just about sums up how I feel about being a woman. The overt AND covert sexism that still plagues our country, and countries around the world, is often enough to make me feel burdened simply stepping out in the world every day, yet the ways women have struggled against and succeeded in the face of oppressions dating back to the beginning of humanity are feats worthy of eternal recognition and admiration. My mother once dashed any possible prior hope that I might ever own a Barbie when she told me that I couldn’t have one because “we don’t look like that.” She additionally put me in “my womanly place” when I was 12 (the only time I can ever recall actually wanting to lose weight) when she sternly but lovingly told me that my body would probably NEVER look like the models in the magazines because our family had breasts and hips and, above all, was never a “genetically skinny family”. While I was never able to truly decode those messages until much later in life, my love, respect and infinite gratitude goes out to my mother for being an “undercover feminist” during my most formative years. Sometimes I wish I had the public influence to move mountains. Yet despite my fury and frustration, I would NEVER chose not to be a woman, if I were somehow ever afforded the choice. A friend recently told me that “I’d make a good dude” and while my good self-esteem tells me that I’d probably make a good ANYTHING, I had to dissent. I can’t imagine not being a woman, I can’t imagine what it would be like to go through life masquerading as the “stronger sex” but being intelligent enough to know that I’m not and understanding that I sometimes benefit from society’s eternal fear of being overthrown or at least challenged by the likes of women and people of color and poor people and everyone else who our country owes SOMETHING. Being a woman is indeed a beautiful struggle. There are so many difficult but wonderful things about being a woman, even in all its complexities. Our bodies, for example, are amazing. We can create a life and nurture it inside of us. Our minds are even more amazing, we dissect the ins and outs of life in a way that incessantly mind-boggles members of the opposite sex, We pay attention to detail, we know how to love and feel and understand, even if we sometimes use these powers manipulatively. And now that we are finally allowed to “be educated” at all, liberal arts colleges across the country are outreaching to men, as there is now an over-abundance of qualified female applicants. Even if y’all disappoint me more and more lately, I’m still so very proud ladies. Sometimes I think our self-esteem is at the root of all our problems, but in a society that discourages our worth, I could never put the onus on us, exclusively. I’m just waiting impatiently for women to collectively say “we aint standing for this any longer”, and doing what I can in the meantime. Truth and Peace, Question of the Week: Ladies-What does it mean to be a woman? Men-What is your perception of women and how does that affect the way you relate to them? – Sent using Windows Mobile 5.0
~RHG
-Sheila A.
-Machita
Steven M. DeVougas
Garlin Gilchrist II
www.TheSuperSpade.com
New Orleans - Lunch with a FEMA Inspector
April 4, 2006
I was expecting to see a lot of things and talk with a lot of people during my time in New Orleans. Much to my surprise, when I was finished checking into my hotel, I got on the elevator with a gentleman who had on a blue windbreaker that said “FEMA” (Federal Emergency Management Agency) on the back. At the time, I was on the phone with my mother, however I was able to get the man’s name. On Sunday, I had lunch at my hotel with him. Here is how our conversation went.
The man, who was 51, was originally from Marrero, LA, which is on the West Bank not far from Gretna, LA (across the bridge). He fled the storm to a town just north of Nashville, where his brother lived. He and his brother returned to his home in Marrero, LA in mid-October only to find a pile of debris that was formerly his house. It was at this point that his brother encouraged him to seek out the help of FEMA to rebuild, since he had no insurance. They had already heard the stories of people not getting their money or any other kind of help, but they gave it a shot anyway.
He called the office of Congressman William Jefferson to get a number by which he could contact FEMA. He then told them his situation, and that he’d do anything to be able to move back to Marrero and get his house back (he did own the home). He knew “God was on the phone with him” when the person on the other end said that he could likely be helped if he was willing to work for FEMA. He happily said he would, and BAM! He was now a FEMA inspector. The fact that he had no experience here did not deter him or FEMA from hiring him (he was a chef by trade, but the restaurant he worked in was destroyed by the storm).
I asked what he did as an inspector, and he said he basically went to damaged/destroyed houses and make judgement calls on whether they were “recoverable” or not. I asked how they measured “recoverability,” and he said that they looked at “the damage of the other houses on the block, the structural damage to the building, how likely that area would be to flood again, stuff like that.” He also told me that they had “an engineer” accompany him when he went to look at the different sites. “We fill out a sheet for every house and then turn it in at the office.” “What was the ‘recoverability’ of your house?” I inquired. “Well, my house is gone, but I can afford to rebuild it.” I asked then if they took into consideration the “owner’s ability to afford rebuilding” when inspecting homes, and he said he didn’t know. “They know who owns the house back at the office, but I don’t know that when me and the engineer look at the house. I sure hope not.” He’s not the only one.
I then asked that he rate FEMA’s recovery and relief efforts on a scale of 1 to 10. “I’d give them like a 6. I mean, they are helping me out, and some other people too, but there is a lot more that can be done.” I asked him how they were helping him out, and he said that after he worked for a year, they’d give him money to rebuild his house, and that they are paying him to be an inspector. He didn’t tell me how much he made, but disturbingly, he said that the thing about giving him money for rebuilding his home was NOT given to him in writing. I’m no lawyer, but I advised him to consider getting that promise put on paper. He said he’d look into it. “I’m cool now. The money the give me is enough for me to eat, and me and my brother and my sister pay for my hotel room here [in this hotel]. I’m alive, so I got no complaints. I do wish my dog could be here [in the hotel] with me though. He’s with my sister in Nashville.” I told him I though FEMA, the Governor, and the Mayor all failed the people of the city, and that I’d give FEMA maybe a 3. He said he didn’t think it was that bad. “None of them could have stopped the hurricane.”
The last thing I asked him was if he felt the New Orleans area was better prepared now for a storm this hurricane season. He said, “Hell naw. They ain’t rebuilt a levy yet that I know of. I plan on leaving again if they say a storm is coming. I’ll rebuild my house if no storm comes before my year is up.” I told him that we’d be praying together that no storms ravaged the area like this ever again.
It was good to put a human face on FEMA.
One Love. One II.
New Orleans - Unfinished Business
April 4, 2006
Here are some pictures of buildings that are damaged in the downtown area and have yet to be fixed. The most recognizable of these will be the Louisiana Superdome.
This boat was across the street (Poydras) from the Superdome. Can you read what’s painted on its side? That sums up a lot of residents’ feelings towards the storm.
The hole in the roof of the Louisiana Superdome.
This is the best shot I could get of the construction going on inside of the Superdome. Security wouldn’t let me in. I thought I was a nice guy, but maybe I’m not that nice.
This is in the Superdome parking garage. I wonder why people who wanted to couldn’t get out?
Large puddles of standing water remain on the interior of the upper levels of the Superdome parking garage. The lowest level still has about 3 inches of standing water, but the pictures were too dark.
This traffic light is at the corner of Poydras and S. Claiborne, on the site of the Superdome.
The New Orleans Centre is a shopping complex connected to the Superdome by a pedestrian bridge. It sustained heavy damage and looks abandoned. This is its main entrance.
I was actually able to get inside the New Orleans Centre. What I saw brought me to tears. This is a little girl’s outfit.
A boy’s bike at the New Orleans Centre.
The Hyatt downtown. The lighter colored windows are the broken ones.
The remains of the building downtown that the 5 men I talked to lived in.
This was right across the street from my hotel. This used to be an auto mechanic shop.
This is a pic of Canal Street, one of the main strips of downtown, especially during Mardi Gras and other Festivals. This pic shows how some things have recovered while others have not. Notice that the building on the right is back in business while the one on the left (and connected to it!) is abandoned and not yet fixed.
This was a store during Essence Festival 2005.
Some businesses have pledged to return.
All of the pictures I took of damage can be seen on my Flickr site.
One Love. One II.
Relationagraphy
April 4, 2006
Location plays too much of a factor in relationships. Whether you or the person you are with have plans on attending graduate school in another state, switching jobs, or just want to see settle in another part of the nation/world, the chances of you having at least a part-time long distance relationship are increasingly high. What are the implications of this growing trend on relationships that have marriage potential? I got one clue from a friend of mine who said recently, “I ain’t tryin’ to be nobody’s girlfriend.”
I’m not ready yet
Are you currently in a place where you are avoiding serious relationships until you get a good feel for where you think you might be long-term? Or have you had a relationship hit a rough patch in anticipation of one or both of you relocating in different states? If not, then congratulations. If so, join the club. It is a really difficult situation that takes constant communication and trust. However, what troubles me is that one negative effect of the premium placed on location is that people will spend years in a temporary living/schooling/working situation and will close off all prospects of love because they don’t want to deal with someone who will not eventually end up where they want to be. In other words, a person getting an M.A. in New York who eventually wants to return to Kansas will only seriously engage others who either have plans on living in Kansas or live in Kansas already. I think this is somewhat closed-minded. Now I am all for being focused and being goal-oriented but when we think that the love of our lives has must be or want to be in the same state is silly. What’s more troubling is the notion that love and training/schooling don’t mix because you will always be making strides to improve yourself but love cannot be scheduled into Outlook. And once you find that person, he/she might be open to moving to Kansas and just maybe, just maybe, you might decide to stay in NY. I say all that to say that location is not as crippling as you might think.
Gender bias
Can we keep it real? Thanks, because in most long distance relationships, women are generally expected to relocate much more than men are expected to. As a result, you have situations where a man who relocates for his woman is often times labeled as “whipped,” where as a woman who relocates for her man is viewed as “doing her what she has to do.” This is extremely damaging to our relationships because these unspoken expectations result in grave misunderstandings of what the other person is looking for. Of course, these biases might be couched in the idea that the person making the most money should serve as the earth where their mate is the moon that revolves around them. So men, if your woman makes more money than you, your relocating does not take away any of your manhood. Likewise, women, your relocating does not make you any less independent than you are already.
But we should get married
You know I had to go there right? I think that making big geographical moves with someone without a ring is a very risky situation. To be clear, I am not talking about the 7-year engagement but marriage plans that have left the train station. Which brings me back to my friend’s quote I stated earlier, “I ain’t tryin’ to be nobody’s girlfriend.” Fellas, you would do well to remember this statement because you can’t expect your woman to jump through hoops and then get all quiet when marriage comes up. Man up!!! There is a reason why men propose but I will save that for another post.
I am not saying propose just to propose but before you ask someone to make that move, make sure you are willing to take it to the next level. Because if you two break up and are somewhere such that you need each other to cover the bills but both of you don’t know anyone, it could get real bad real soon. But at least if you are married, my hope is that your level of commitment would be cemented so that when times get hard, (and they will) the exit door will seem too small for you to leave. So don’t waste people’s time!!! You KNOW if you are willing to marry someone and if you know this is the one, stop trying to create doubts to talk yourself out of it. Being in a different location is not a disincentive for marriage and like I said before in previous posts, if marriage is all about compromise then how can people be stubborn as all get out but then expect to be compromising once they get married?
How do you feel distance complicates relationships? And how should it be resolved?
Looking forward to your comments,
Stay up fam,
Brandon
New Orleans - Tell Them What You See
April 3, 2006
I am in the airport in Minneapolis now, waiting to board my plane to return to Seattle.
The celebration of life I attended this morning was beatiful and inspirational. A great man who lived a great life and had a great legacy was greatly celebrated. We, his family, will continue to learn from his life until we too return home.
Today was my last in New Orleans. The images I’ve seen, the perspectives I’ve heard, the discussions I’ve had, the connections I’ve made, all of these have profoundly impacted me personally, practicality, and spiritually.
Briefly here, I will share the contents of a conversation I had with a group [of 5 men] in downtown New Orleans as they sat in front of their storm-ravaged apartment building. I greeted them and introduced myself as a writer from Seattle. They asked what I was taking pictures for, to which I happily replied, “www.TheSuperSpade.com, a site about telling the truth.” We then talked about where the were and what they did during/after the hurricane struck. 2 Latin men (brothers) said that they were able to evacuate by car with their elderly mother and go to Houston, where other relatives lived. I asked how early they left, and they told me they were gone on 27 August 2006, which was before the storm hit. On getting out early, the younger of the two said, “I just had a bad feeling. It was more than bad weather forecasts. It was a feeling, you know?” They returned on 25 September (my birthday) to find their apartment building completely destroyed (pictures will be posted upon my return) and the house of their mother greatly damaged. They moved in with their mother and are still rebuilding the home. The other three men, who were all Black men, were neighbors in the aforementioned building, said they were part of the mass of people who went to the Superdome. They did not leave the city, and very interestingly labeled themselves as “hard-headed” for not doing so. One said, “I don’t know how I could have left, but I should have left. I blame only myself for my suffering.” I responded to this by asking is there anything else that anyone could have done to save him, and his reply was a flat “NO.” To him, his safety rested on him and him alone. “Why didn’t I leave? Hard-headed man, just hard-headed.” To him, only he could save himself and those around him, not Ray Nagin, not Kathleen Blanco, not G. W. Bush. One brother agreed with him, while the other did not. He retorted, “What kind of man won’t save himself? There’s got to be more to it than being bull-headed.” I asked if he felt hopeless or helpless and if so, did that contribute to his not leaving. “Helpless, but not hopeless. I guess if I had more help, maybe I’d have gotten out. But that doesn’t matter anymore. That was what it was; this is what it is.” I asked him if he thought a city and/or statewide emergency evacuation plan would be beneficial. “Ha ha. Yeah, but after I get my own d@mn plan,” he replied. “I ain’t nobody’s beggar, never have been, never will be.” I left them with this question, “What can I do for you, to help you and your current situation?” The response was unanimous: “Tell them (your readers) what you see. Tell people who we are. Tell people not to forget…one more thing: tell people not to give money to the Red Cross.” Keeping my promise to them, I am sharing my experience with all of you. I’d like to hear reactions to these men’s stories, especially the man who blamed himself for not evacuating. More pictures will be posted soon. One Love. One II. Sent using Windows Mobile 5.0
–
Garlin Gilchrist II
www.TheSuperSpade.com
New Orleans - Rallying and Marching: It’s Personal
April 2, 2006
As I said earlier, I want to talk here about some of the personal accounts that people gave me during Saturday’s action.
First off, I was a bit surprised by how much people were willing to share with me. I think it was relatively clear that I was not from New Orleans, Louisiana, or the South. However, if it wasn’t everybody knew the moment I started talking. I was also taller than everybody (but that’s not too strange). I guess I kind of stick out. Nevertheless, people were very open and candid about their experiences with this stranger from Detroit by way of Seattle.
When I first got to the site of the rally, which was across the street from the Convention Center, I saw a family of 5 (mom, dad, 1 girl, 2 boys, all under 10) walking from the back of the lot. They were coming from a section that had charter buses, and so I asked them where they were from. The mother said that took a bus in from Houston, them and about 200 of their closest friends. As we walked up to the site of the rally, The little girl (6) told me that their hotel room in Houston was not as big as their apartment in New Orleans. The father agreed, and then we talked about how they got to Houston. He told me that they lived in the 7th ward. They didn’t leave the city because they did not have enough space in their car to fit all of the kids and his mother, who he refused to leave without. So the family went to his mother’s house to wait out the storm. She only lived a couple of blocks away, so they all walked over there. The rain and winds hit, they all survived, but he said that the flood waters were to high to leave. So they basically were trapped on the second floor of the house. He said he took his gun, a 12-gage, for what he called “just in case” security. He never fired any shots, but he did use the butt of the gun to break thru a second floor window, thru which he cried for help and attracted the attention of a Coast Guard helicopter. The copter came down and got all 6 of them out of the house safely. From there, they were taken eventually to Baton Rouge, where they were bussed to Houston. They have been in a hotel room there since September 10. They had the infamous FEMA Debit Card. The mother told me she was appalled at the ways in which the monies were being spent by people. She said that they stories about using the debit cards to so things like buy pornography were true. She said “I guess people do crazy things when they are helpless and hopeless.”
I only had brief conversations with people during the speeches, but I did have an extensive one with a woman who was selling books at the rally. She was selling socialist publications such as The Militant, and lots of books & writings on socialist theory by Malcolm X and Che Guevara among others. This woman, who was white, was from Gretna, LA, the city whose police force blocked people from crossing the bridge that we marched on later that day. Her home there had substantial damage she said: most of her windows were broken despite her storm shutters, a little more than half of her roof was blown off, a large tree in her front yard snapped and broke, falling about 2 feet in front of her front door. No one was hurt, but she did say her close friend who lived in the city was unaccounted for. I asked why she was there at the Rally/March, and her reason was that she saw the government’s response to Katrina as evidence of the need for a U.S. socialist movement. She admitted that it would likely never happen, and that if she had the money, she’d move away from the country. Interestingly enough, she told me that she did not feel this way until after the storm. She said that she disagreed that the biggest problem people had in the storm was that they were Black. To here, the biggest problem was “being broke.”
I spent most of the March itself conversing with a man who told me that he had 6 houses (I think he said he had one in the 9th ward), all of which were damaged by the storm. They were in various places in the city. He told me also that he worked at a ship yard that was washed out also. His point was that he lost a lot. He said he was never down though. His quote: “I got all of it legally. It was all insured. I got it before, I can get it again.” This was a sentiment of a lot of folks that participated in this action. They figured that if the got stuff legitimately, they could get it back legitimately. He told me that he had rebuilt 4 of his houses already, one he is living in, and the other three have tenants in them. He said that he had been active in the community for a long time, and that he could not miss this Rally & March. He was a union organizer at his job, so he told me that he has seen white folks try to stifle poor people coming together for a long time. Him and I spent the rest of the time talking about his son, who was 23 like me, and 55 credits from graduating college.
I met a woman at the end of the bridge who was there with her two daughters. She said her husband was killed in the storm, dying from dehydration at the Superdome.. The two girls, 4 and 7, she feared would have faint memories of their dad, especially the 4 year old. She talked about how she thought it was criminal to tell people to go there to die. I asked her if she had been able to leave the city before the storm. Her response was “How? I don’t have a car, I’ve never left the city. So, no.” She faulted the mayor for not knowing what to do and where to send people. This march and the right to vote in satellite polling places was important to her because she wanted as many people as possible to vote against Ray Nagin. She was worried about the amount of school her daughters missed, but she said that they were straight now. They eventually got bussed to Mississippi where they are living now. They rode a charter bus back for this Rally/March.
The last account I’ll share is that of a young man (19) who was there with the New Orleans NAACP. He was a freshman at Xavier. He was not from New Orleans and decided not to leave during the storm. His quote: “I couldn’t go home and watch people die on TV. I felt like I was needed here.” He told me how his dorm got flooded out, and how he and some people on his a hallway jumped from their 2nd-story windows down and waded thru waters to the Superdome. There, they volunteered their services as security people. He said “People do stupid things when they are scared. I just wanted to make sure those stupid things didn’t involve hurting other people.” He also said that while there was violence in the Superdome, he thinks that, in hindsight, the news account blew it way out of proportion. Most of the fights were over people trying to take more than a ration of water, as an example. He also made a run to a Cingular store that he said “wasn’t too far” to call his family in North Carolina to tell them that he was still alive every other day. He is not in school now. Instead, he lives with a member of the NAACP and has been working at the airport and volunteering his time helping people find housing and work.
There were others, these four are just a piece. I may be able to post more accounts later on. This was inspirational to me, and it is important to me to hear our people’s experience first hand. People of African descent have always treasured oral histories. It was powerful to hear, and it is important for me to transcribe much of this so that it can survive well into the future and inspire others to act.
One Love. One II.
New Orleans - Pictures from the Rally and March
April 1, 2006
As promised, here are some pictures from today.
Michael Eric Dyson, who was speaking when I arrived at the pre-March rally.
Judge Greg Mathis [from Detroit], who served as MC of the pre-March rally.
The front section of the pre-March crowd.
Theodore Shaw, President of NAACP Legal Defense Fund
All I can say is oh boy to this sign.
Al Sharpton addressing the pre-March crowd. This was when he chanted “Are y’all ready to march?”
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin addressing the pre-March crowd. This audience was very pro-Nagin.
John Legend performing.
The beginning of the march. Off to the right is the Convention Center.
A T-shirt with a message.
Young brother who was pushing his little sister in a stroller across the bridge.
Young activist in training.
As you can see, there were many types of signs.
Jesse & Al at the end of the March. Neither of them wore their walkin’ shoes.
All of the pictures, including some shots with me and the speakers, can be seen on my Flickr site.
New Orleans - Marching can be Substantive AND Symbolic
April 1, 2006
Today I attended a rally and march put on by Rev. Jesse Jackson and his Rainbow Push Coalition, here in New Orleans. The action was held across the street from the infamous Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in downtown New Orleans, which people now know as the place where thousands were left stranded during the midst and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
I watched the Million Man March on television in October of 1995. I attended the Millions More Movement in October of 2005. I have helped organize similar actions both in Detroit and in Seattle. I have attended numerous meetings and gatherings to plan other mobilizations. I say all of this to say that this was the most inspirational action I have ever personally witnessed and/or participated in. It wasn’t because of the great speakers; there were many. It wasn’t because of the great food; there was plenty. It was because of the people I met and interacted with, the sharing or their Katrina experiences with me, and their pride and resilliance and focus on improving the current situation and building a better future.
First let me describe the event and what happened. The rally began at about 8 AM. I did not know what time it began, and was quite dismayed to wake up a 9 and turn on CNN only to hear them saying “…Bill Cosby is just finishing up here in New Orleans…” Oh well. I got there at about 945. The speakers at the rally included Rev. Jackson, Al Sharpton, Bill Cosby, Michael Eric Dyson (I arrived just before his address), Marc Morial, [current] Mayor Ray Nagin, and Bruce Gordon, among others. The rally before the march was MC’d by Judge Greg Mathis, and it was concluded by a suprisingly decent performance by John Legend.
We then aligned ourselves to march across the Mississippi River Bridge to Gretna, LA. Why? Because it was on this bridge that hundreds of Hurricane survivors were met with police resistance in the days immediately following Katrina as they tried to cross searching for higher and safer ground. The goal was to have the thousands that gathered today to march across this bridge, symbolically saying “You stopped us then, yet we survived. You cannot stop us now.” Stop us from what? is the next logical question. The answer is voting, or more precisely, having a fair election. New Orleans is scheduled to hold a mayoral election on April 22, 2006. Many oppose this, arguing that due to wide dispersal, those in New Orleans now do not accurately reflect New Orlean’s true residents (Translation: since so many Black folks have been displaced, the fear is that there will be a mayor elected who will not listen to or care about the interests of New Orleans’ Black residents). “Stopping us” above refers to disenfranchising voters. Signs were held by marchers that read “Iraq has fairer elections.” This pointing out the fact that during Iraq’s elections last year, Iraqi citizens were able to vote from satellite locations in the United States. The activists want the election to be postponed so that satellite locations can be set up in places where evacuees now reside. The U.S. Department of Justice has OK’d the election to move forward with its April 22 date in spite of these requests. A goal of the march was to symbolize the residents’ opposition to this.
After we marched the approx. 2.5 miles from the Convention Center across the bridge to Oakbrook Mall, we reassembled and heard remarks from the organizers and local leaders. Here they (William Jefferson, Diana Bajoie, and other members of the Louisiana Legislativ Black Caucuss) summarized the next steps that they are taking legislatively and told people specific things that they could do to help. The largest step they would take would be issuance of a demand for Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco to exercise her executive authority and issue an executive order that would authorize satellite polling locations and postpone the election until they are set up. The idea is that if the federal government won’t stop it, maybe the state government will. As for what the people can do, we were advised to contact our representatives and urge them to lean on Blanco to issue the order, while in the meantime informing those we know who left New Orleans of how to register for and receive an absentee ballot. Those who wanted to be were then transported back across the bridge to the Convention Center. It all was done around 4 PM.
What is described in and of itself is the makings of an effective substantive and symbolic action. What is happening here is the re-emergence of the poll taxes of the Jim Crow South of the 20th century. Telling people that they have to (well had to, considering that the deadline for registration was March 22 (click here and go to the middle of the page)) come to New Orleans to register to vote (if they are not registered or 1st time voters) and then return to vote on April 22 is a sinister way of saying, “You can vote if an only if you can afford 2 trips. If not, oh well, sucks to be you.”
Since this is turning out to be much longer than anticipated (some people said my stuff is too long!!!), I will put my chronicles of different conversations I had in a separate post. Pictures from the rally are forthcoming, along with hopefully some scanned versions of some of the handouts I received.
One Love. One II.
The SuperSpade in New Orleans
April 1, 2006
Brothers and Sisters,
I am in New Orleans this weekend celebrating the life a family member and the father of my closest mentor.
While I am here, I will chronicle my time in NO with pictures and commentary on the happenings in the city and the status of the recovery, first hand, from NO residents. I encourage you to respond and react to what I see and hear.
One Love. One II.
–
Garlin Gilchrist II
http://www.TheSuperSpade.com
Sent using Windows Mobile 5.0
