SSSP Members Thoughts and Comments
9 Sept. 05
from Project South …
Abandonment
“If I were in the situation like our brothers and sisters suffering with the aftermath of Katrina, I would certainly be in some store to change my wet, fecal-soaked clothes, getting water and food, and if a cop came up to me to tell me to halt and throw away, I would tell him to go ahead and shoot me as I open the bottle of water and begin to drink it!”
Dr. Gwen Patton, Movement Activist and Project South Board Member
Our hearts and minds are with all of our members and Southerners that have been affected by the disaster that is both nature-made and man-made. “Man”local and national officialsknew that this level of devastation would result if a hurricane of this magnitude ever hit New Orleans; even down to the number of people (100,000 low-income New Orleanians) who would be stranded without resources to evacuate.
It was hard enough to watch the disaster that was Hurricane Katrina, but it is even more challenging to watch the overwhelming disregard for those who have been left behind by poverty and racial injustice. The crisis in the watery soul of the South didn't start when the levees broke in New Orleans. But it does brutally unmask a system unfit to lead, organize, or make any decisions about our country's future. Needs must be met today. Institutions must be bent to serve. The vision of tomorrow - a place where we know this could have been avoided and no one left to the elements for days/weeks - becomes not a future hope but an imminent necessity, up to us to secure.
Project South offers its unending commitment to fight today and secure tomorrow a world where human needs are met and the future is not empty with desperation but bright with promise.
As we witness this catastrophe, Project South offers these critical questions:
1. What are the historical root causes of poverty, of land management, and disaster relief efforts that have led to this moment?
2. How do we remember and hold closer the humanity of folks who have been left behind while critiquing the broader political system for its racism and classism?
3. How do we look forward and build the capacity of our communities in the South so that we are prepared to stand with all that are affected by systems of oppression in times of crisis?
Project South is discussing and planning how to offer appropriate short-term and long-term relief to our fellow and sister Southerners.
September 2, 2005
Project South: Institute for the Elimination of Poverty & Genocide
http://www.projectsouth.org/ *
9 Sept. 05
from Project South …
Abandonment
“If I were in the situation like our brothers and sisters suffering with the aftermath of Katrina, I would certainly be in some store to change my wet, fecal-soaked clothes, getting water and food, and if a cop came up to me to tell me to halt and throw away, I would tell him to go ahead and shoot me as I open the bottle of water and begin to drink it!”
Dr. Gwen Patton, Movement Activist and Project South Board Member
Our hearts and minds are with all of our members and Southerners that have been affected by the disaster that is both nature-made and man-made. “Man”local and national officialsknew that this level of devastation would result if a hurricane of this magnitude ever hit New Orleans; even down to the number of people (100,000 low-income New Orleanians) who would be stranded without resources to evacuate.
It was hard enough to watch the disaster that was Hurricane Katrina, but it is even more challenging to watch the overwhelming disregard for those who have been left behind by poverty and racial injustice. The crisis in the watery soul of the South didn't start when the levees broke in New Orleans. But it does brutally unmask a system unfit to lead, organize, or make any decisions about our country's future. Needs must be met today. Institutions must be bent to serve. The vision of tomorrow - a place where we know this could have been avoided and no one left to the elements for days/weeks - becomes not a future hope but an imminent necessity, up to us to secure.
Project South offers its unending commitment to fight today and secure tomorrow a world where human needs are met and the future is not empty with desperation but bright with promise.
As we witness this catastrophe, Project South offers these critical questions:
1. What are the historical root causes of poverty, of land management, and disaster relief efforts that have led to this moment?
2. How do we remember and hold closer the humanity of folks who have been left behind while critiquing the broader political system for its racism and classism?
3. How do we look forward and build the capacity of our communities in the South so that we are prepared to stand with all that are affected by systems of oppression in times of crisis?
Project South is discussing and planning how to offer appropriate short-term and long-term relief to our fellow and sister Southerners.
September 2, 2005
Project South: Institute for the Elimination of Poverty & Genocide
http://www.projectsouth.org/ * general-info@projectsouth.org * 404.622.0602
Project South sends the Correct Link for donations - another trusted fund
To contribute to collective grassroots action and organizing around the disaster in the Gulf:
Southern Partners Fund: www.spfund.org
We work with them on the ground & their plan is to do relief but also rebuilding for the community!
8 Sept. 05
"I sit, captivated, glued to the television. I am a spectator of yet another human disaster. This one is more natural than nurtured (I think) but it feels different. It is unlike the uncertainties of civil unrest, or the trepidations of terrorist attacks, or the helplessness felt from a tsunami conquest. For me, it is emotionally overpowering. The culprit in the pit of my stomach feels both familiar and foreign. For days, I cannot figure out what it is that I am experiencing.
The Federal government has arrived, today. It is Day 5! I feel my eyelashes blink. I feel moisture welling near my tear ducts. I ever so slightly heave a sigh of relief. I am hopeful. Help will console wailing mothers. Help will calm angry men. Help will comfort frightened children. I return to my self-interrogation. Why does this disaster feel so different?
I solicit answers from my academic training. I ponder my life's experiences. I recognize that I personally occupy a subordinated intersection. I am black. I am dubiously working class. I am a mother. My communal thoughts respond, "I can relate for only but for the grace of God, there go I!"
I return to the gripping images of human suffering and carnage. I wait. I then witness the inevitable, whites in shining armor rescuing black bodies in distress. I can only whisper, "Thank you!"
Carla H.K. Vaughn
USC Doctoral Candidate