Hurricane Relief Information Network: Resources for Katrina Survivors

NEWS

Housing advocates protest HUD: Public housing residents in New Orleans protested outside Guste Homes Monday while HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson met inside the housing complex with select public housing residents about the proposed demolition and redevelopment of Lafitte Housing Development. Lafitte resident Patricia Thomas protested outside: “If you’re going to have a meeting about demolishing the Lafitte Projects, then the people from Lafitte should be allowed to participate.” Over 15,000 residents remain in diaspora because HUD has not reopened the thousands of viable units and prevents residents from participating democratically in deciding what happens to their housing. Survivors Village, NO HEAT, and C3/Hands Off Iberville, and Common Ground participated in the protest.

Nation of Islam’s Katrina documentary: On the eve of the one-year anniversary of the worst natural disaster in U.S. history, the provocative new documentary “The Unmasking of New Orleans,” produced by Final Call Inc. Broadcasting, was released on DVD. It includes exclusive, never-before-seen coverage and reports revealing the true nature of events in New Orleans before and after Hurricane Katrina. The ongoing struggle of the survivors of Hurricane Katrina is being swept away from the minds of the public as swiftly as the floodwaters washed away properties and lives when the levees breached. Who is going to tell the story of the heroic acts of the young men and women portrayed as senseless looters by the mainstream media? Included are insightful perspectives from author Michael Eric Dyson, community activist “Mama D,” and a visual tour of the Lower 9th Ward featuring a conversation between Minister Farrakhan and New Orleanshttp://www.finalcall.com/katrina.

Hold 2008 conventions in storm-torn New Orleans: National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial called upon leaders of the nation’s major political parties to hold their 2008 conventions in New Orleans and to limit convention expenditures to 50 percent of 2004 levels and contribute the rest to Gulf Coast rebuilding. In 2004, the Republican Convention injected $255 million into New York City’s economy to help the City recover from 9/11, and the Democratic Convention injected $154.2 million into Boston’s economy.

EVENTS

Wednesday, Aug. 23: National Coalition on Black Civic Participation kicks off “Hear Me Now! Reflections One Year After Katrina-Rita,” a seven-city Gulf South Listening Sessions Bus Tour to give voice to women still displaced one year later. “Women, the Black community’s traditional caregivers, experienced untold devastation and family disruption following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Women are traditionally the last to ask for help for themselves, as they tend to their families and communities. A year later, their cries for help, for the most part, have gone unanswered,” said Melanie L. Campbell, who heads the 80-organization coalition. Two- to three-hour listening sessions have been arranged in Mobile on Aug. 24, Gulfport on Aug. 25, New Orleans on Aug. 26, Lafayette on Aug. 27, Baton Rouge on Aug. 28 and Jackson on Aug. 29. (202) 659-4929. www.ncbcp.org.

Wednesday-Wednesday, Aug. 23-30: Hurricane Katrina Media Center, 321 Main St., Biloxi, Miss., will conduct twice-daily “reality tours” of Biloxi and surrounding communities; hold daily briefings with community and religious leaders, small business owners and residents; and produce fact sheets, reports and other materials useful for journalists covering the Katrina anniversary. The center is co-sponsored by the U.S. Human Rights Network, the Mississippi Workers’ Center for Human Rights, Saving Ourselves (SOS), the ACLU of Mississippi, the Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance (MIRA), Mississippi Legal Advocacy Network (MLAN) and the Magnolia Bar Association. Contact Janvieve Williams at (404) 610-2807 or Richard Muhammad at (773) 616-5058 or straightwords@sbcglobal.net.

Friday, Aug. 25: Critical Mass SF is all about Katrina, a mass of bicyclists going to the San Francisco FEMA office with accompanying fliers. 5:30 p.m. at Justin Herman Plaza, the Embarcadero at the foot of Market Street, San Francisco.

Friday-Sunday, Aug. 25-27: “Remembering Katrina Observance,” organized by the African American Leadership Project and its supporting organizations, the New Orleans City Council and the City of New Orleans. Contact (504) 242-8353, wazuri@aol.com or www.theneworleansagenda.com.

Friday, Aug. 25: “National Dialogue: Katrina and Its Meaning for Black Americans and the Nation” featuring Marc H. Morial, Julianne Malveaux, Ron Daniels, Cynthia Willard-Lewis, Minister Robert Muhammad, Melanie Campbell, William “Bill” Lucy, Mtangulizi Sanyika. 7-9:30 p.m. McDonough 35 High School Auditorium, 1331 Kerlerec St., New Orleans.

· Saturday, Aug. 26: “Hands Around the Dome,” Umoja Circle around the Superdome and March to the Convention Center in memory of the lives lost to Katrina and a tribute to the many who risked their lives to save others. Ceremony 12-2:30 p.m. Solemn March and Rally 2:30-4 p.m. Children’s Village of Healing 2-5 p.m.

· Sunday, Aug 27: “Lower 9th Ward Memorial Tribute to the Victims of Hurricane Katrina,” Claiborne Avenue and Tennessee Street, 1 p.m. NAACP President Bruce Gordon will talk with families starting at 11:45 a.m. Gospel Concert with One New Orleans Mass Choir, Morial Convention Center, 2nd Floor, Hall H, 3 p.m. “What Happened to the Levees,” with Dr. Alan Colon, Dr. Michael Eric Dyson and Dr. Ivan Van Heerden, Xavier University, Science Lecture Hall, Room 105, 1 Drexel Drive, 7-9:30 p.m.

Saturday-Sunday, Aug. 26-27: NAACP Town Hall Meetings in Mississippi and Louisiana on solving the housing crisis. Forum discussions with elected officials and policy-makers will ensure that the voices of residents are heard and receive a meaningful response from the people who are empowered to make a difference. NAACP Gulf Coast Advocacy Center, (504) 299-3430; Katrina information, www.naacp.org/advocacy/gcac/.

· Saturday, Policy Convening, 8:30 a.m.–3:30 p.m., Magnolia Plantation Hotel, 16391 Robinson Road, Gulfport, Miss., and Town Hall Meeting, 6–8 p.m., Good Deeds Community Center, 15101 Madison St., Gulfport.

· Sunday, Town Hall Meeting, with panelists Rev. Michael Eric Dyson, moderator, NAACP President/CEO Bruce Gordon, America’s Second Harvest President/CEO Vicki B. Escarra, New Orleans Council President Oliver Thomas, State Sen. Diana Bajoie, Xavier University President Dr. Norman Francis, Loyola University Professor Bill Quigley, and others, 6–8:30 p.m., Xavier University Student Center Grand Ballroom, 1 Drexel Drive, New Orleans.

Sunday, Aug. 27: “Remembrance, Thanksgiving and Hope” Baton Rouge Community Worship, a community gathering to remember those who have suffered and express our unity with all those in need. 4 p.m. at First United Methodist Church, 930 North Blvd. in Downtown Baton Rouge. Come at 2 p.m. for “Best Practices Used in Disasters,” a community training event, at the same location. (225) 343-8270. www.volunteerbatonrouge.org.

Sunday, Aug. 27, and Tuesday, Aug. 29: TV One will air full evenings of Katrina-related programs: Sunday at 5:00 “Survivor Stories”; 5:30 “Hope and Recovery: After the Storm”; 6:00 “America’s Black Forum”; 6:30 “Sharp Talk with Al Sharpton”; 7:00 “TV One Access” including an interview with Spike Lee; 8:00 “State of the Black Union” with Tavis Smiley; 9:00 “TV One on One” with Cathy Hughes; 10:00 “New Orleans: My Home, My Life, My Love.” Tuesday at 9:00 “Song for New Orleans”; 10:00 “New Orleans: My Home, My Life, My Love”; 11:00 “State of the Black Union” with Tavis Smiley; 12:00 midnight “TV One on One” with Cathy Hughes.

Sunday-Tuesday, Aug. 27-29: Stop the Ethnic Cleansing of New Orleans: Join the fight for the Right of Return, a Just Reconstruction and Black Self-Determination in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. Organized by Survivors for Survivors and the Bay Area Katrina Solidarity Committee, (510) 655-7342 or mxgmoakland@hotmail.com.

· Sunday, Katrina Commemorative Film Festival, featuring “I Won’t Drown on that Levee and You Ain’t Gonna Break My Back” by Critical Resistance, “Flood of Betrayal” by Just Cause Oakland, “Heaven Come Down” by Estée Blancher and “The Lower Ninth: Ground Zero for Reparations and Education” by Kofi-Charu Nat Turner, 6 p.m., 522 Valencia St., San Francisco.

· Monday, Press Conference, 12 noon, FEMA Headquarters, 1111 Broadway, Oakland, and Katrina Commemoration Vigil, 8 p.m., Oakland City Hall.

· Tuesday, Katrina Community Commemoration Event, 6 p.m., First Unitarian Church, 685 14th St., Oakland.

Wednesday Aug. 28: Survivors Village, a tent city pitched outside of New Orleans’ St. Bernard Public Housing Development since June 2006 in protest of the continued closure of public housing and plans to destroy 5,000 units in the housing-strapped city of New Orleans, will host “Reality Check,” a media exclusive tour which will take reporters to various housing developments to speak with residents who have moved back into public housing and those who are still in exile, still denied access to their undamaged apartments for the past year. 11 a.m.-1 p.m. That night supporters will hold an overnight vigil. www.survivorsvillage.com and www.katrinainfonet.net.

Wednesday, Aug. 28: Hands Off Iberville will hold a press conference to demand that the city preserve Iberville as a site of affordable and quality public housing for generations to come. Public housing tenants – 15,000 still in diaspora – are fighting for their right to return to their homes. 5 p.m. on the 1500 block of Bienville Street in New Orleans. www.no-heat.org.

Wednesday, Aug. 28: Motivated by Katrina, the California Nurses Association and its National Nurses Organizing Committee will announce a national RN Response Network, appealing to RNs nationwide to join a coordinated effort to quickly move nurses into areas like those devastated last year by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. CNA/NNOC sent more than 300 nurses to 25 hospitals, clinics and mobile units in Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi in response to the 2005 storms, many working out of tents for weeks, some staying to volunteer with Common Ground. Press conference 10:30 a.m., CNA, 2000 Franklin St., Oakland. www.calnurses.org.

Wednesday, Aug. 28: The Gulf Coast Reconstruction & Hurricane Preparedness Summit, featuring federal officials discussing the $100 billion reconstruction program and new federal programs and funding to prepare against future catastrophes; state and local officials providing details on reconstruction and preparedness contracts; and major contractors seeking subcontractors. Free of charge. Pontchartrain Center, 4545 Williams Blvd, Kenner, LA. Contact William Loiry, wloiry@equityintl.us, www.katrinareconstruction.org/summit.asp.

Tuesday, Aug. 29: Great Flood Commemoration March from the Lower 9th Ward to Congo Square; assemble at Jourdan and North Galvez Street 10 a.m. for memorial ceremony, march 11 a.m., program Congo Square 1 p.m. Free buses coming from Houston, Jackson, Baton Rouge and Atlanta. Details are in front page story, “Great Flood Commemoration Aug. 29.” United Front to Commemorate the Great Flood: (504) 301-0215, kali@peopleshurricane.org, www.peopleshurricane.org.

Tuesday, Aug. 29: Spike Lee’s “When the Levees Broke” will be broadcast in its 4-hour entirety on HBO. Organize friends, family and colleagues to watch and afterwards to discuss practical actions that will make a difference. Put pressure on your state and federal officials to act now; email comments@whitehouse.gov and call Congress at (202) 224-3121. Call your local news, radio talk shows and write letters to the editor to tell the media to tell the real story; see www.fair.org/index.php?page=119. Even Spike’s truth telling is being cut; see www.alternet.org/blogs/video/40592/.

Tuesday, Aug. 29, in New Orleans and Friday, Sept. 8, in Los Angeles: Giant screen film “Hurricane on the Bayou” opens, Produced by Audubon Nature Institute and focusing on Louisiana’s rapidly eroding wetlands, the film stars legendary New Orleans music producer Allen Toussaint, blues singer Tab Benoit, fiddling prodigy Amanda Shaw, 14, zydeco accordion master Chubby Carrier and Queen of Gospel Marva Wright.

Wednesday, Aug. 30: Rededication rally at Survivors Village, 3800 block St. Bernard Ave., New Orleans, features speakers, dynamic action and dramatic political theater denouncing HUD’s proposal to demolish public housing. 2 p.m. www.hic-net.org.

Thursday, Aug. 31: “I Won’t Drown on That Levee and You Ain’t Gonna Break My Back,” a new film on the evacuation of Orleans Parish Prison, covering the building of the “Greyhound Jail” behind New Orleans’ Greyhound Station, and their role in criminalizing survivors of Hurricane Katrina, placing overwhelming stress on families and loved ones and hindering their “right to return.” Speakers are Rose Braz, campaign director at Critical Resistance, speaking about the organization’s Amnesty Campaign, and representatives from Hurricane Evacuees Council of the Bay Area speaking about their campaign to hold the government accountable for its negligence. Olis Simmons will present a brief slideshow entitled “Modeling Love: Correlating Community Service and Katrina Work.” This event commemorates the one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and educates about the struggle that survivors continue to face today. 6-7:30 p.m. at Youth Uprising, 8711 MacArthur Blvd. Oakland. (510) 444-0484.

Wednesday, Sept. 13: Maafa 2006: Hurricane Katrina Report-back and Poetry Reading. Artists and poets who contributed to the collection “Words Upon the Waters” will read at this fundraising event for Common Ground Health Clinic and LIFE Mississippi, the Biloxi site. So far poets reading are Avotcja, Raymond Nat Turner, Karla Brundage, Kim Shuck, Far I, Javier of Colored Ink, Wanda Sabir and, from New Orleans, Greg Griffith. The donation is $5-$20, though no one turned away. 7-10 p.m., at La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. wandasabir@gmail.com. www.lapena.org.

The Hurricane Information Relief Network is the Bay View newspaper’s nonprofit 501(c)(3) arm to provide information and news coverage by, for and about the Katrina survivors who remain stranded across the U.S. and those who want to return home to rebuild their lives and communities. Send news and financial contributions to HRIN, EIN 20-4324012, 4917 Third St., San Francisco CA 94124 residents. To view a trailer, go to , (415) 671-0789 or toll free 1 (877) 226-8100, fax (415) 671-0316 or hrin@sfbayview.com.