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VIEW FROM THE HILL - #2; September 12, 2005
Special Edition on the Katrina Tragedy

Highlander Research and Education Center
www.highlandercenter.org

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"We can hustle up planes in a hurry to go kill people but not to
rescue them." 
    - Tami Newman, Highlander Development Coordinator

"It is frustrating how little the public knows about the lives of
low-income people when there aren't hurricanes." 
    - Neil McBride, Highlander Board Member

"The white-washing has begun already. We need to make sure those
voices affected are not forgotten." 
    - Roberto Tijerina, Highlander Multilingual Capacity Building
      Program

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Our hearts go out to our sisters and brothers along the Gulf
Coast whose lives are so uprooted by the Katrina tragedies, some
caused by nature, most by man. 

As residents of New Orleans scatter across the country and people
all along the coast absorb the shock of flooded, flattened homes
and wiped out communities, as people mourn their dead, search for
loved ones, and start rebuilding their lives in new communities,
we join with others in lifting our thoughts and prayers for
safety, shelter, food, and rest.

And while those immediate survival needs are being met, we also
join the vast majority of people and communities in this country
and around the world who are infuriated about the yet unknown
number of lives unnecessarily lost, and the reckless disregard
for the humanity and dignity of those who survived Katrina. For
countless people this tragedy has unveiled what so many poor
people and people of color have experienced first hand: that in
the United States race and class still play leading roles in
shaping peoples lives, and that the values of justice, equality,
and democracy are all too often empty promises used by our
leaders for their own political gain and to keep Americans from
seeing the hypocrisy and incongruity between who we say we are
and who we really are. 

It was largely African Americans left stranded in New Orleans
when a mandatory evacuation offered no plan for helping people
without cars. It was largely African Americans left huddled in
attics and on roofs as the flood rose beneath them. It was
largely African Americans left for days at the Superdome and the
Convention Center without food and water.

As the veil of American racism is lifted, we are at a critical
juncture that must be seized before television cameras leave and
the veil falls again. We have a moral imperative to revitalize a
broad-based movement for justice and equality that declares this
will not be our way of life, that does not let our society throw
people away, that stops the skyrocketing accumulation of wealth
in the hands of a few off the backs and lives of people of color
and poor people, and that takes on the interlocking evils of
structural racism, global warming, environmental degradation,
corporate greed, and poverty. 

FORMER HIGHLANDER STAFF MEMBERS AFFECTED

It was a tender group who gathered at Highlander Labor Day
weekend for the "We Shall Overcome" Fund Cultural Workers
Workshop, followed by our annual Homecoming celebration.

Former Highlander staff member and New Orleans resident Lisa
McCarthy came by Highlander and stayed a couple of days on her
way to her family, since her home was in the 80% of New Orleans
covered by water. She has now joined her sister in Maryland.

Former staff Wendi O'Neal was planning to be here for Homecoming
and the meeting of the "We Shall Overcome" Fund Committee. She
went to Houston instead to be with her mother, brother, sister-
in-law, and their three children who had evacuated from New
Orleans only to be hurt in a car wreck in Houston. Wendi's mother
is now is in the DC area recuperating from a broken back. Her
brother and his family are still in Houston following surgery on
their 7 year old son.

KATRINA'S IMPACT ON IMMIGRANTS

One issue that has received little media attention is Katrina's
impact on the immigrant community. Over two hundred and fifty
thousand Latinos were living and working along the gulf coast.
Many of these immigrants were already living underground in
constant fear and so are invisible when it comes to accessing
services. For this reason, aid is not likely to ever reach them.
It will be difficult or impossible for them to receive help in
rebuilding their lives or for families in their home countries to
locate missing loved ones. 

For these reasons, we need to be mindful of Katrina's impact on
the immigrant community and be sure to include immigrants and
immigrant organizations in our work on these issues.

PROGRESSIVE RELIEF EFFORTS

We put out donation jars for hurricane relief at Homecoming, and
people gave $350. We are sending that money to the Southern
Partners Fund (SPF), a grassroots-led public foundation created to
serve Southern communities and organizations seeking social,
economic, and environmental justice. SPF funds numerous
organizations along the Gulf Coast, and in the wake of Katrina,
has established a Justice Fund for Katrina Relief and Renewal to
support the rebuilding of grassroots community organizations in
the affected areas of Louisiana and Mississippi. Information
about the fund will soon be available on the SPF Web site:
www.spfund.org. 

For links to other information about contributing to grassroots
groups affected by Katrina, see the Highlander Web site:
www.highlandercenter.org

LONG-TERM RESPONSE

Our southern region, already facing dramatic social and economic
changes, is faced with both opportunity and challenge. As
communities welcome those in need, hearts are now open, but
conversations are already turning to "they're going to stay here
and live on welfare." 

Some of these fears are the result of successful right wing
strategies to divide and conquer, scapegoating immigrants and
people of color for job loss in the south and the country. Real
tensions also exist as people in poverty and the working poor
struggle for pieces of a smaller and smaller pie, created by the
shredding of the social safety net, tax cuts for the rich,
unbridled corporate greed, economic decline, the cost of immoral
wars, and the homeland security swindle.

Social change activists have been working for decades on race and
class, and the lid is now off in broader and deeper ways. While
social change organizations along the gulf coast rebuild, it is
time for the rest of us to roll up our sleeves and come together
to plan for shifting and escalated work. 

Among other efforts, Highlander is working with local and
regional organizations to help host a regional meeting to bring
people together to discuss how we can best respond to immediate
needs and build a strategic and energized movement to take on the
larger issues of racism, poverty and environmental degradation.
We will keep you informed about this and other initiatives as
they develop.

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Highlander Research and Education Center 
1959 Highlander Way 
New Market, TN 37820
Phone: (865)-933-3443 
Fax: (865) 933-3424
www.highlandercenter.org