ASB minus 17 minutes!

Me - and my four bags - are at Kimmel, waiting for the rest of the team and the vans so we can hit the road. I've managed not to forget anything crucial (at least I hope that's true!), and now that all the administrative preparation stuff is (mostly) out of the way, I've had a chance to really think about what this trip means to me and to get pretty excited about it. I feel very proud just to have made it to this point - we're ready to go, with a great team, a great project, and lots to look forward to. I feel like the actual work is going to be a test of different abilities than the ones I've used so far, so getting us to this point definitely feels like an achievement in itself.

The vans are here now, along with Bryan and Bea, so I'm going to sign off now - I may manage an update from the road somewhere, but if not, I'll be posting next from the French Quarter at some point tomorrow. I can't believe we're finally actually leaving!

From Manuel:

Molly McClure spent three weeks working at the Common Ground Relief
Clinic in New Orleans. In an article about white outsiders (she is a
white outsider herself) coming to assist in New Orleans she writes:

So I have some questions for white folks thinking about going down,
questions I am still asking myself: first of all, why you? Why are you
going? Could our resources and energy be better used supporting survivor
organizing at home or fundraising, rather than spent traveling to the
South? Are we committed to doing support work that may not feel as
''exciting'' as going down ourselves? How did it come to be that we are
able to travel to and around New Orleans, while many survivors still
can't go home? What are we bringing with us, what will we take back?
What has been the role of white people and white institutions in the
destruction and reshaping of communities of color in the US, in the
history of New Orleans? When we go down, are we expecting to be thanked,
to be welcomed, what is our real motivation for going? What will be the
long-term impact of our work on the Gulf Coast communities with whom
we're supposedly standing in solidarity? How are we going to be
accountable to what we saw and heard and did when we come back, and to
whom do we feel accountable? How are we going to make meaningful
connections to the same kind of injustices back home? Do we know about
the issues facing poor communities and communities of color in our
hometown, and are we as motivated, as committed to dealing with those
issues where we live, which could bear a striking resemblance to what's
going on in New Orleans? Are we seeing survivors of Katrina as
''worthy'' poor, deserving of resources and relief work, without
recognizing that the poverty back home is equally a result of systemic
racism, and equally crucial to address?

I find McClure’s questions challenging because they make me confront
issues that aren’t easy to confront. She writes from the perspective of
a white outsider going to help in New Orleans. Not everyone in our group
is white, but I think she raises important questions for anyone going to
New Orleans.

Personally, my biggest incentive for going to New Orleans is to learn. I
want to see first hand, how residents of New Orleans (those who are
still there) are coping with the devastation and to hear the
perspectives of those working on the reconstruction efforts.

I believe that what happened in New Orleans in not only a natural
disaster, but a political disaster. Poor people and people of color were
disproportionately effected and today are being disenfranchised in the
reconstruction process. This political disaster is not contained to New
Orleans, it exists across the country and world.

I realize that I might be able to provide more help by staying in New
York and spending a week doing “less exciting” work like fundraising,
but I think I can learn more by going to New Orleans—and it will be more
exciting. However, I feel I have a responsibility to not just to learn
from what I see in New Orleans, but to use that learning to create a
real life impact. One of the ways I can do this is by taking action to
fight for social justice in my own community.

I have more thoughts on this, but I have to get going or I’ll miss the
van!...