Legacies: Racism and Resistance in New Orleans Before and After Katrina

A Reader for Katrina solidarity classes and reading groups

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Legacies Table of Contents
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SOME HISTORY OF RACISM AND RESISTANCE IN NEW ORLEANS BEFORE KATRINA
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"THEY LEFT US HERE TO DIE"
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WHERE THERE IS OPPRESSION, THERE IS RESISTANCE
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SOME EXAMPLES OF GRASSROOTS RACIAL JUSTICE ORGANIZING IN NEW ORLEANS AFTER KATRINA
ANTI-RACIST SOLIDARITY: SOME PERSPECTIVES AND TOOLS (primarily for white activists)
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SOME RESOURCES AND LINKS

Section I: SOME HISTORY OF RACISM AND RESISTANCE IN NEW ORLEANS BEFORE KATRINA

A. Prelude

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B. A Bit of History

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C. Some Examples of Resistance since the 1970's

 

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Section II: "THEY LEFT US HERE TO DIE"

“They left us here to die, and when we didn’t die, they tried to drive us out of our homes, and when we didn’t leave, they said they would knock our houses down,” said Mama Dee. Mama Dee is a community activist and elder who has lived her entire life in New Orleans’ Seventh Ward.

(From ‘Fighting for the right to rebuild New Orleans,’ by Karen Shain. SAN FRANCISCO BAY VIEW. Oct. 12, 2005.)

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WHERE THERE IS OPPRESSION, THERE IS RESISTANCE

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SOME EXAMPLES OF GRASSROOTS RACIAL JUSTICE ORGANIZING IN NEW ORLEANS AFTER KATRINA

(This list is by no means exhaustive!!!)

(Editorial note: This material is taken mostly from the organizations’ websites in September, 2007. Please help us update it! Click on Contact Us to get in touch. The information here focuses on the organizations’ mission and vision statements, and often appears in the ‘About Us’ sections of their websites. To learn more about their histories, philosophies of organizing, past and current campaigns, and actions you can take to support their work, please check their websites often! Hopefully, you will be inspired by all the work they are doing to ensure the Right of Return of all Katrina ‘internally displaced persons’ and the Right to Rebuild their communities with justice and self-determination.)

Some Perspectives on Grassroots Racial Justice Resistance

  1. Democracy Now
    August 31st, 2007: ‘Jailed in New Orleans Two Weeks Before Katrina;’ ‘The Danziger Bridge Killings: How New Orleans Police Gunned Down Civilians Fleeing the Flood;’ and ‘The Resilience of the People is What Carries This City Forward: Poet Sunni Patterson & Hip Hop Artist Truth Universal Reflect on New Orleans Two Years after Katrina.’
    August, 30, 2007: ‘New Orleans Hit by Another ‘Hurricane of Racism, Greed and Corruption’ -Community Activist Malik Rahim;’ ‘The Red Cross has basically stolen money from victims in New Orleans’ -People’s Hurricane Relief Fund blasts Katrina Aid Program;’ and ‘The Privatization of Education: How New Orleans went from a public school system to a charter-school city.’
  2. Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch
    Blueprint for Gulf Renewal: The Katrina Crisis and a Community Agenda for Action. August/September, 2007. (The report includes interviews with organizers in 15 grassroots racial justice organizations in New Orleans, other regions in Louisiana, and in Mississippi.) A Project of the Institute for Southern Studies/Southern Exposure.
  3. Catherine Jones, excerpts from ‘Floodlines,’ her on line journal, from April 4 through May 25, 2007.
    http://floodlines.blogspot.com
  4. Jordan Flaherty, ‘Rebuilding Resistance: Organizing Lessons From One Year After the Devastation of New Orleans,’ LEFT TURN MAGAZINE, Issue #22. Oct/Nov. 2006. http://www.leftturn.org

Some Grassroots Racial Justice Organizations in New Orleans:

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Section IV: ANTI-RACIST SOLIDARITY: SOME PERSPECTIVES AND TOOLS

Organized alphabetically by organization and author:

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Section V: SOME RESOURCES AND LINKS