Tag: new orleans

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Repost – The Easy Death of Human Beings

Until the killing of Black men, Black mother’s sons

Is as important as the killing of White men, White mother’s sons…

…We who believe in freedom cannot rest

We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes

— Ella’s Song, Bernice Johnson Reagon

The following post was written by my friend Shana Turner, a resident New Orleans.

The strategy of gun safety advocates has lately turned upon using the shock and awe of mass murders of those who we don’t expect to see listed on police blotters to win tighter gun safety regulations. I agree that we ought … Read more “Repost – The Easy Death of Human Beings”

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A Rising Tide or a Flood?

Visiting New Orleans has me thinking a lot about cross-racial solidarity among people of color. New Orleans, one of the Blackest cities in the country, is also home to one of the largest Vietnamese-American communities in the U.S.  That the mainly working class Asian immigrant communities here are increasingly well organized gives me hope. But the color line in the Deep South is so brightly drawn, and the penalty for being on the down side of unjust racial power relations is so steep, that I find myself struggling to remain optimistic.

My worry brings to mind that old saying, “a … Read more “A Rising Tide or a Flood?”

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Strength in Our Diversity

I landed in New Orleans last week to visit with racial justice activists, looking for inspiration and innovation. I’ve always believed that where there is unusual adversity there is also extraordinary strength, and that belief holds true in New Orleans.

New Orleans faced two floods in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The first took about 1,500 lives when the levies broke. That flood also displaced a significant percentage of New Orleans’ Black community. In 2003, New Orleans was a city of about 470 thousand people of whom 67.3% were Black and 28.1% were white. Today, the city is home to … Read more “Strength in Our Diversity”