5 things you should be talking about
June 1, 2008
What’s up fam,
I wanted to hit a variety of topics today.
1) First off, why is there not more coverage of the relief efforts of people impacted by the earthquakes in China and Myanmar? In case you hadn’t read, nearly 70,000 people died in this earthquake and millions more are now homeless. To help put it in context, imagine instantly losing 7 people in your life without being able to say goodbye and multiply that grief by 100,000. I guess coverage of the earthquake is worth far less than what the DNC RBC planned to do with the Michigan and Florida delegates. Read more
The myth of the lazy Katrina survivor
October 17, 2007
Cross-posted on the Brave New Films blog.
Nearly 70 percent of those surveyed were employed before the storm, with half of respondents holding full-time jobs. And 60 percent of evacuees polled were looking for jobs at the time of the survey.
"…lazy and reliant on government aid…" That's the same thing ignorant people think about poor Black folks in general, isn't it? I guess I should start believing in coincidences.
One Love. One II.
HUD reduces rental assistance to Katrina survivors
October 15, 2007
Dr. Calvin Mackie responded on behalf of the Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA) late last week regarding the announcement by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to begin reducing the level of rental assistance that will be provided to hurricane victims through the Disaster Housing Assistance Program (DHAP).
An excerpt:
While the Road Home is expected to deliver more than 90,000 grants to Louisiana homeowners by the end of the year and our programs to restore more than 30,000 rental units are in full swing, the bottom line is that not all of these units will be available before March, and we are still experiencing a severe housing shortage at every level.
When you have “severe housing shortages,” bad things happen: people get sick, crime increases, kids are left homeless and hungry. I thought Republicans were the party with the moral high ground; this sure doesn’t help promote families.
One Love. One II.
In search of justice for the New Orleans 200,000
September 21, 2007
A note from Dr. Calvin Mackie from the day before the Jena 6 rally.
One Love. One II.
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Brothers and Sisters,
When you get to Jena please tell all those Black people that when they leave Jena, come to New Orleans in support of the injustice towards the New Orleans 200,000! Tell them that Charles Rangel (D) from NY still hasn’t visited New Orleans and that over 200,000 citizens, mostly Black, are still displaced to over 5500 cities in America. Where is our justice? Where is the outcry over a government who damaged and destroyed generations of Black fiscal, cultural and historical wealth via political and engineering neglect?
Okay, I have just awakened and realized that i dreamed that people, especially Black people, gave a damn about the greatest catastrophe in the history of the country. I guess racism and levees don’t mix, or we just can’t put it together. I guess we don’t see that civil rights is tied to equal protection, protection in the judicial system as well as in infrastructure. I’m awake now and I apologize for thinking and questioning, because I know a Black man is not suppose to do that.
Until the Lions have their historians
September 18, 2007
I used to have a quote that I used in my signature that said, “Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunters.” Fortunately, the people of
The tribunal was formed to hear testimony by experts and survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. After 30 hours of testimony, the preliminary findings are unfortunately not surprising.
Jill Soffiyah Elijah, the Deputy Director of the Criminal Justice Institute at Harvard Law School and Chief Judge for the International Tribunal on Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, announced the Tribunal’s preliminary findings “It is our view that the U.S. government has committed crimes against humanity particularly in relation to its failure to maintain functional levees that should have protected the City of New Orleans from flooding; … it was the reckless disregard and, in some instances, negligence of the U.S. government, the state of Louisiana and the city of New Orleans that created the devastation we continue to see today.”
FEMA to provide relocation assistance to Louisiana residents
September 14, 2007
Dr. Calvin Mackie responded on behalf of the Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA) to FEMA’s decision to provide relocation assistance to Louisiana residents.
An excerpt:
Today’s announcement gives new hope to many of our citizens that have been longing to return, and we look forward to the coming days and weeks as they begin to access these much needed funds and begin making their way back home.
This is good, but sadly, I have about as much confidence in FEMA’s capacity to help people as I do in G. W. Bush’s capacity to tell the truth.
One Love. One II.
Why the gentrification hurts New Orleans’ future for Black people
September 13, 2007
Anyone who's been there wouldn't find this surprising. The places that are the focus of redevelopment areas are the ones that either Black folks never resided in in the first place or that poorer Black folks have been priced out of residing in now. Oh, the wonderful world of gentrification.
Katrina: Two tough years later
September 5, 2007
This is a piece by Dr. Mackie written in The Washington Afro-American, and posted here in its entirety.
One Love. One II.
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Louisiana and the city of New Orleans are participating and rebounding in the most complex reconstruction effort in American history. As you know, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita wreaked unprecedented havoc upon South Louisiana in the fall of 2005, creating the first and third most expensive natural disasters in United States history. Presently, schools are reopening. Homes are being rebuilt. Life as we knew it is gradually returning. But this was an unprecedented catastrophe. Pushing the recovery forward will take an extraordinary effort and a commitment to do what it takes for the people of this state, especially the residents of New Orleans.
The New Orleans Fetish: The Real Reason New Orleans got no help after Katrina
September 4, 2007
I like it when people list reasons to save New Orleans:
- It’s morally the right thing to do
- It’s the government’s obligation to protect it’s cities and citizens
- Because New Orleans is so special
The third reason, perhaps the most compelling argument to some, is actually what is hurting the systemic relief effort the most.
1 Year, 364 days
August 28, 2007
Hurricane Katrina hit two years ago tomorrow.
What do we do?
I read somewhere that only people with options ask, what do we do? People who don’t have a choice know what needs to be done and don’t hesitate to do that and more. The time has passed to stop thinking, stop accussing, and start doing.
One Love. One II.
