I am struck by this announcement yesterday from the Louisiana NAACP
-- calling for bottom-up grassroots organizing by evacuees from the
state (found via
http://www.swingstateproject.com/louisiana/index.php).
I mean -- NAACP is asking for info to be postal-mailed to them in
Baton Rouge! (While Dina Mehta is facilitating SkypeIn emergency
calls from the Gulf in her Mumbai living room...)
If the La. NAACP can be approached, this strikes me as a real
opportunity to harness networks towards bridging the economic, social
and geographic divides faced by evacuees.
It might be a job for the local and regional CTC folks who are
already on the ground in the shelters -- except that they are
probably already doing their all and perhaps edging towards burnout.
But wanted to throw this out here all the same -- I'm in Brooklyn,
not Baton Rouge, but if others are interested I can at the very least
facilitate communications.
cheers,
Emily Gertz
LOUISIANA NAACP PRESIDENT
CALLS FOR EVACUEES TO TAKE CONTROL
OF THEIR OWN DESTINY AND FORM
"SHELTER COMMITTEES"
Ernest L. Johnson, President of the Louisiana NAACP called today for
Katrina evacuees in shelters to take control of their own destinies
by forming SHELTER COMMITTEES.
"Each SHELTER COMMITTEE should elect a Chairperson and a Secretary
and begin holding meetings, organizing, and working as a team for
better treatment," Johnson said. "In unity there is strength."
Johnson called for each committee to begin writing down the name,
telephone number, and next of kin of every shelter resident.
This contact information must be put into the FEMA database for
evacuees to receive financial assistance.
Johnson urged each SHELTER COMMITTEE to send this information to 1755
Nicholson Drive, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70802, or to fax it to (225)
334-7491.
The Louisiana NAACP is airing public service announcements on radio
stations that explain the process for bringing participatory
democracy to the shelter system.
"The Louisiana NAACP is with you in solidarity," Johnson said. "The
NAACP will stand with all displaced people until each and every one
return to a brand-new New Orleans."
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