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African American News
"Black Women Survivors Along Gulf Coast Speak Out On Hopes and Fears One Year After Katrina Disaster"
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National Coalition on Black Civic Participation’s Gulf South Tour Uncovers Unmet Needs of Black Women during “Hear Me Now!” Listening Sessions
Baton Rouge – August 28, 2006 – Concluding their Gulf Coast Listening Sessions, the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation (NCBCP), sponsor of the three-state Gulf Listening Sessions, has sensitively and painstakingly documented the unheard hopes, and unanswered calls for post-Katrina assistance from Black women throughout Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. The common theme running throughout each session focused on the women’s determination to rebuild their families, restore their homes, and revitalize their communities.
“Women throughout the Gulf South region are asking for a hand up; not a hand out,” said Melanie Campbell, Executive Director and CEO of 80-organization member National Coalition on Black Civic Participation. The seven-city Listening Sessions Bus Tour kicked off in New Orleans on August 23rd followed by a whistle-stop tour of the city’s still unrestored Lower 9th Ward and neighborhoods in the New Orleans East section. Listening Sessions in Mobile/Pritchard, AL; Gulfport, LA with whistle stops in Pascagoula and Pas Christian, set the tone for community meetings and Listening Sessions in Lafayette, LA, Baton Rouge, LA and ending in Jackson, MS.
“The Coalition’s goal is to bring the story and the frustration we witnessed at each stop, to policy makers in Washington, DC to make sure that America lives up to its promise of relief for Black women and their families. The backbone of the Black community, Black women’s strength, is being tested beyond anyone’s expectation,” Campbell stated.
Plans call for the release of a report and a Congressional briefing scheduled for Washington, DC this fall augmented by testimony from Black women working to rebuild their lives with little or no government assistance, and stretched community resources where they are available. “The shame of this post-Katrina period can be captured in one survivor’s comment that ‘we’re no better off than we were 48 hours after the storm,’” Campbell noted.
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