FUSsa-talk Mailing List: Fw: [Allies-L] ''A Katrina Reader' online: a free resource for anti-racist activists

Interesting info in general, and especially if we organize FUS/UU adults
and youth to go to New Orleans.   

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Betty Jeanne Rueters-Ward <justbeej [at] yahoo.com>
To: allies-l [at] druumm.org
Date: Thu, 5 Jun 2008 16:59:33 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [Allies-L] ''A Katrina Reader' online: a free resource for
anti-racist activists
Message-ID: <646236.56549.qm [at] web32506.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

Dear UU White Anti-Racist Allies,

Please take a moment to learn about an online reader about the ongoing
effects of Hurricane Katrina and the displacement of communities of color
in New Orleans. It's an excellent resource for folks seeking to volunteer
in NOLA, or just to better understand the present situation and the role
of white anti-racists in supporting a just reconstructruction in the
Gulf.

Thanks,
Betty Jeanne

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Sharon Martinas cws [at] igc.org

 My name is Sharon Martinas, and I'm one of the people who was honored to
be able to speak on the panel at the WACAN (White Anti-Racist Community
Action Network) Summit.  I've been doing anti-racist solidarity
organizing since about 1966, though back in the day we had no name for
it; it's just what we did. In 1993, Mickey Ellinger and I co-founded the
San Francisco based Challenging White Supremacy workshop, which I
coordinated until Spring of 2005.

Since Katrina and the federal government devastated New Orleans in
August, 2005, I've been doing Katrina Solidarity work, mainly recruiting
and providing anti-racist political education for (mostly) white social
justice activists who want to go to New Orleans to volunteer with a local
grassroots racial justice organization.

So, I'm writing to all of you in the hope that someone/s might get
interested in spending part of your summer, or longer, in New Orleans
working with a grassroots organization struggling for racial, economic,
gender and environmental justice. 

 New Orleans is a city in which the federal, state and local governments,
real estate developers and multi-national corporations are collaborating
to transform a formerly Black working class majority city into a white
gentrified, privatized, and militarized Disney land.  Black residents,
migrant Latino workers, multi-racial groups of women, long term
organizers -- are fighting back against this racial cleansing and trying
to build a new world of justice, dignity and self determination for all
New Orleanians. 

 Thousands of volunteers have come for brief periods of time to support
these local efforts.  Some volunteers have had their lives transformed by
the courage, commitment and organizing brilliance of the many grassroots
organizations.  But many have also come bringing our traditional 'white
savior mentality'
packed in our 'invisible knapsacks.'  

To try to begin to address this problem, a few anti-racist cyber savvy
folx in the Bay Area have put a free solidarity resource on line.  It's
called A KATRINA READER.  You can see it at
www.cwsworkshop.org/katrinareader. Below is a psa we're distributing
about it.:

If any of you might be interested in spending some time in New Orleans,
or just hearing a little more about some of the fabulous racial justice
organizing going on there, please email me at cws [at] igc.org or phone me at
415-647-0921.

With love 'n solidarity,  Sharon

  ****

We would like to introduce you to  A Katrina Reader:
www.cwsworkshop.org/katrinareader, 

A Katrina Reader is a free online resource of articles, poems, and
stories, by and for anti-racist educators and organizers. It has four
main goals:
To highlight the inspiring tradition of resistance to racism by New
Orleans grassroots organizations, before and after Katrina; 
To provide basic information about many New Orleans racial justice
organizations working for the right of return of all New Orleanians; 
To facilitate the efforts of students and educators who want to learn
more about grassroots racial justice organizing in New Orleans, with the
purpose of strengthening their volunteer solidarity activities, in New
Orleans and on their university campuses; 
To suggest some perspectives and tools for anti-racist solidarity
organizers (especially for white activists) wanting to work in solidarity
with grassroots racial justice organizations, both in New Orleans and in
their home communities.

A Katrina Reader is compiled by anti-racist solidarity organizers who do
not live in New Orleans.  We are inspired by, and strive to hold
ourselves accountable to, the New Orleans-based movement for the right of
return of all internally displaced persons. We welcome your feedback
about this reader! Please e-mail us at CWS [at] IGC.ORG.

If you find this resource useful, we hope you might help spread the word
by putting up a link on your organization's website, and mentioning it on
your listservs. 

In solidarity,

A Katrina Reader Team:

Rebecca Gordon, Jaimie Harrow, Sharon Martinas, Rob McBride, Tev Monnin,
Ryan Wadsworth 

www.cwsworkshop.org/katrinareader
Contact us at: cws [at] igc.org

" A Katrina Reader is dedicated to all the Katrina Survivors and
Grassroots Racial Justice Organizations of New Orleans, who are fighting
for the Right of Return of all 'Internally Displaced Persons,' and the
Right to Rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast with justice, dignity and
self-determination."
____________________________________________________________
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Fw: [Allies-L] ''A Katrina Reader' online: a free resource for anti-racist activists	<– Date –> <– Thread –>
From: jojane (jojanejuno.com)
Date: Fri, 6 Jun 2008 05:35:22 -0700 (PDT)