Good People-
As you all know, the city of New Orleans, one of our major Southern
homelands has been devastated by Hurricane Katrina, and even more so by
the lack of preparedness and/or concern on the part of the federal,
state and local governments. Now it has escalated into human chaos on
a level we rarely get to witness here, within our own national
boundaries.
As a result neighboring Southern Cities in Louisiana and Texas are
being overwhelmed by a devastated, confused & displaced New Orleans
population, to the point now that places like Houston are now forced to
turn people away. But, as in all things, there is always an opportunity
for the positive.
Over the past couple of years I have been laying some serious ground
work to reconnect the Black population of Oakland with New Orleans. I
recently purchased some properties there to set up headquarters for
Black Folks in Oakland who want to get reacquainted with the place that
has been called "America's most African city".
This summer I hosted a group of Oakland artists in New Orleans to bear
witness to the second line "jazz" funeral parade of Big Chief Tootie
Montana of the Mardi Gras Indians. And have been there basically the
entire summer making inroads and setting up the situation for the
population exchange to happen. On the flip side I have also been been
helping some of New Orleans most dedicated cultural workers buy
property in Oakland so that they could build Oakland Equity to buy New
Orleans property and protect the historically Black neighborhoods there
from the gentrification that is happening to our neighborhoods across
the nation.
Yet in this time of crisis, I haven't been able to contact or even
locate my folks there to let them know that their property here in
Oakland is closing escrow today, and that they are the new owners of a
West Oakland Victorian. I know that they were out of town performing
at a festival up north when the hurricane hit, but they most likely
attempted to go back into New Orleans to see about family. I have
dozens of friends, folks and family members in the New Orleans Area
that I am in contact with though, and they really need our assistance.
They are there and have taken refuge in surrounding communities like
Opelousas, Monore, Shrevport, Lake Charles, Baton Rouge, Houston,
Beaumont etc.. where they are in most cases without any means to
support themselves.
To many of us here in the Bay Area, this is not simply news that we are
witnessing on TV about some far off land. THIS IS A PLACE THAT WE ARE
STILL DEEPLY CONNECTED TO, AND THAT EFFECTS US DEEPLY, SO IT'S TIME FOR
SOME REAL ACTION.
I am in the process of putting together a serious relocation plan and
raising the funds to bring at least 100 folks from my New Orleans
community of cultural workers, artists, entrepreneurs, professionals,
craftspeople and their families to Oakland. What I have in mind is
this:
We bring a critical mass of at least 100 folks here from New Orleans,
help them get back on their feet and even better, by opening our homes
to them and hooking them into our network of employment and independent
contracts. When they get here we can then begin the work of
cooperatively raising the capitial to go back into New Orleans and
rebuild our neighborhoods there, before the gentrification squads buy
the whole city wholesale.
What they are not saying on the news is that the "Lower 9th Ward" that
flooded when the levee broke was the next neighborhood slated for
gentrification, due to a city plan to build a River Walk and Cruise
Ship dock complex along the Mississippi to expand the tourist from the
French Quarter.
White artsy folks had been "slumming" there for years living along side
the Black long time residents of the "Lower Nine" that by most accounts
are "resilient in their ablity to not be displaced in the face of
gentrification". The Lower Garden District fell to White people five
years ago, The Marigny (which borders the lower nine to the west) over
ten years ago fell to the white gay population and even the parts of
The Tremé ( America's oldest Black neighborhood) that are closest to
the French Quarter have been lost to a growing White urban population.
All this said, it would be a shame to allow the excuse of a levee
breaking and the relocation of most of the Black people of the
neighborhood to Houston to be the reason that a white developer just
walks in a buys the whole neighborhood for a song and quicken the plan
to gentrify.
We must be ready to rebuild our own communities!!!! And by bringing our
folks out here for a while to get back on our feet and get our
collective head straight for about a year, I sincerely believe we will
be ready to meet any challenge head on, and do just that.
What we need:
1. Housing- extra rooms, houses and apartments... please let us know
what you have
2. Employment- If anyone has any leads to job opportunities, gigs,
grants for cultural & performing arts please let us know
3. Emergency Funds- For immediate transportation, and survival for
folks that are calling me for help every other hour. There are folks
who are driving back and forth between Houston, Monroe, Shevport and
the areas close to New Orleans as possible rescuing people and bringing
them to safety. The problem is that they are running out of money, due
to inflated gas and hotel prices. As we speak I am attempting to work
out a method of getting money to these folks thru a reliable wire. If
you would like to make a tax deductible donation you can make a check
payable to:
" Oakland 2 New Orleans Relief & Relocation Fund".
We are a non-profit 501c3 and will send you the info you need
to write it off on your taxes per your request.
To reply to this message email me at
diallo@blackdotcafe.com
Marcel Diallo
The Village Bottoms
Building Community From The Bottom Up
