On the first anniversaries of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the Ms. Foundation for Women published a series of compelling case studies of women who, while facing immense personal challenges as a result of the storms, choose to stay in the region to provide leadership to community-based organizations. Their vision: Creating a just and equitable recovery across the Gulf Coast. We invite you to read their inspirational stories below.
Interviews and stories by Tamara Kreinin
Nsombi Lambright, Executive Director
American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi (ACLU of MS)
Jackson, Mississippi
Photo credit: Leslie Parr, Loyola University, New Orleans, LA
“As a black woman, it’s very personal to me. I don’t separate myself from my community. I see my aunts and cousins and grandparents in these people’s faces. I take it very personally. It angers me when I see the lack of accountability.”
Nsombi Lambright
More about Nsombi and the ACLU of MS
Sharon Hanshaw, Executive Director
Coastal Women for Change
Biloxi, Mississippi
Photo credit: Leslie Parr, Loyola University, New Orleans, LA
“People are trying to take away your community while you are sleeping.”
Sharon Hanshaw
More about Sharon and Coastal Women for Change
Una Anderson, Executive Director
New Orleans Neighborhood Development Collaborative
New Orleans, Louisiana
Photo credit: Leslie Parr, Loyola University, New Orleans, LA
“The home is a way to move a trapped segment of the population out of poverty. The home is a way to move ahead post Katrina.”
Una Anderson
More on Una Anderson and New Orleans Neighborhood Development Collaborative
Mary Troupe, Executive Director Coalition for Citizens with Disabilities
Jackson, MS Photo credit: Leslie Parr, Loyola University, New Orleans, LA
"I looked at what these people had to endure in the shelters, and I know I couldn't have done it," Troupe says. "I saw the cots on the floor and I knew I couldn't get down there out of my wheelchair. And if I did, I couldn't get back up."
Mary Troupe
More on Mary and the Coalition for Citizens with Disabilities
Carol Burnett, Executive Director
Mississippi Low Income Childcare Initiative
Biloxi, Mississippi Photo credit: Leslie Parr, Loyola University, New Orleans, LA
“My work doesn’t look anything like pre-Katrina. Now I am participating with local coalitions to strengthen voices not often listened to – low income families, marginalized communities, rather than providing care.”
Carol Burnett
More about Carol and MLICI
Almetra Franklin, CEO
Louisiana Housing Alliance/ St. Mary’s Community Agency
Franklin, Louisiana Photo credit: Leslie Parr, Loyola University, New Orleans, LA
“It is a disgrace for the nation that we’re here… Sometimes it is frustrating for me, because I think if I wasn’t just so black I would be further.”
Almetra Franklin
More about Almetra and the Louisiana Housing Alliance/ St. Mary’s Community Agency
Mary Croom-Fontenot, Executive Director
All Congregations Act Together (ACT)
New Orleans, Louisiana
Photo credit: Leslie Parr, Loyola University, New Orleans, LA
“We cannot wait for the government to re-build our community. Remember: we waited on Convention Boulevard.”
Mary Croom-Fontenot
More on Mary and All Congregations Together
Brenda Dardar Robichaux, Principal Chief of the United Houma Nation and Founder
United Houma Nation Relief Fund
Lower Plaquemines, St Bernard, Jefferson Parishes, Louisiana Photo credit: Leslie Parr, Loyola University, New Orleans, LA
"We like to think Houma women are very strong - they feel they must be the strong ones. I had to tell people they had a right to feel bad." Brenda Dardar Robichaux
More on Brenda and the United Houma Nation Relief Fund
Donna Banks, Common Ground Women’s Center Coordinator
Common Ground Collective
New Orleans, Louisiana Photo credit: Diane Greene Lent
“I want the Big Easy to become the Big Better.”
Donna Banks
More on Donna Banks and the Common Ground Women’s Collective
Gina Womack & Xochitl Bervera, Co-Executive Directors
Families & Friends of Louisiana’s Incarcerated Children (FFLIC)
New Orleans & Lake Charles, Louisiana Photo credit: Leslie Parr, Loyola University, New Orleans, LA
“People need to hear that it’s not ‘ok’ down here. A lot needs to happen: funders need to invest; academics and organizers are all needed. It is an ongoing disaster, a national disaster. You can’t have the largest displacement of black people and not have it have an effect. The most profound trauma was that the world could see and recognize that kind of racism and poverty and do nothing.”
Gina Womack & Xochitl Bervera
More on Gina, Xochitl and FFLIC
Merni Carter, Executive Director
The Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence
Baton Rouge, Louisiana Photo credit: Leslie Parr, Loyola University, New Orleans, LA
“What most of us went through during the storm is what battered women go through daily. It is a ‘Katrina’ in her life when she has to leave and lose everything.”
Merni Carter
More on Merni and LCADV
Soukphaphone Chanthapaseuth, Case Manager
Boat People SOS
Bayou LaBatre, Alabama Photo credit: Leslie Parr, Loyola University, New Orleans, LA
"Ok, let’s barbeque at my house, bring your hammers, then we’ll move on to the next house,’ is the attitude of this community.”
Soukphaphone Chanthapaseuth
More on Soukphaphone and Boat People SOS
Mary Joseph, Director
Southern Rural Black Women’s Initiative, Children’s Defense Fund
New Orleans, Louisiana & Jackson, Mississippi (regional offices) “We have got poverty stacked on poverty—and now it’s worse.”
Mary Joseph
More on Mary and the CDF
Jaribu Hill, Executive Director
Mississippi Workers’ Center For Human Rights
Greenville, Mississippi Photo credit: Diane Greene Lent
“We think of Katrina everyday. It is only the media who think of the anniversary.”
Jaribu Hill
More on Jaribu and MWCHR
Rose Johnson, Founder
The North Gulfport Community Land Trust
North Gulfport, Mississippi
“I remember the land where I ran and played and picked flowers. We fished and picked blackberries, we played soft-ball--all on the Turkey Creek. You see, African Americans couldn’t swim in the Gulf of Mexico, so we played in the Turkey Creek. We also used it for baptizing and fishing. We must save the Turkey Creek--it saved us.”
Rose Johnson
More on Rose and the North Gulfport Community Land Trust
Victoria Cintra, Organizing Coordinator
Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance (MIRA)
Jackson & Biloxi, Mississippi Photo credit: Diane Greene Lent
“They didn’t say anything when [the immigrants] were cleaning up the waste, depress, asbestos, arsenic poisoning, formaldehyde, human cadavers, human waste, mud, mold and rotten food, about them being undocumented workers—they even cleaned the immigration and customs enforcement building. The same people are now concerned about undocumented citizens.”
Victoria Cintra
More on Victoria and MIRA
Mayaba Liebenthal, Volunteer
Critical Resistance
New Orleans, Louisiana
“We went into Orleans Parish Prison; we could see the water lines, the sludge, the mud. They didn’t evacuate the prison and now they are denying it.”
Mayaba Liebenthal
More on Mayaba and Critical Resistance
Isonel Brown, CEO
YWCA of Baton Rouge
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
“For every one act of fraud, you have thousands of need. There is really a need here-- I don’t want the misdeeds of one or two people to discourage people from giving. We are accountable and trustworthy. People’s money is well spent. We at the YWCA are here to stay in the community. I don’t want people to give up on Louisiana.”
Isonel Brown
More about Isonel and the YWCA of Baton Rouge
Jackie Jones, Lead Organizer
Jeremiah Group
Harvey, Louisiana “At the center of the work we do are relationships. If we can get the right people talking to each other and working together, we can rebuild.”
Jackie Jones
More on Jackie Jones and the Jeremiah Group
Bishop Williams, CEO
Lafayette Restoration Center
Lafayette, LA Photo credit: Leslie Parr, Loyola University, New Orleans, LA
“To women around the country, we are all mothers or surrogates. When you look into the faces of those throughout the Gulf Coast region, it could be your kids. We have to stand up for the injustice, to be their voices.”
Bishop Williams
More on Bishop Williams and the Lafayette Restoration Center
Del.icio.us
Digg
Google
Yahoo
Facebook
Twitter