this email is from an organizer drewchristopher in philadelphia, who has done a lot of support work for new orleans and the south. gustav has been downgraded and now everyone is waiting with held breath to see what will happen, what will be left when it lifts. but again we have to do more than wait. below are emails about different affected populations that don't get talked about. we have to remember poor people, immigrant folks who don't speak the language and who didn't even know there was an evacuation the first time because it wasn't translated, indigenous communities that have never gotten the type of support they have needed after any disaster (the first being columbus stepping foot here). i sent out an email earlier and drewchristopher mentions it here about prisoners who were shipped around. it took months before for family members to find their loved ones who were incarcerated. some are still unaccounted for. and more will be arrested with nagin's orders to arrest anyone on the street in new orleans as looters, including if you are there trying to do relief work and support people.

even if the levees hold which i know we are all hoping with our hearts they do, there is still so much work to do.



Friends,

For the past few days I have been glued to my computer and cell phone keep up on the developments around Hurricane Gustav and waiting to hear from loved ones who are evacuating. Over the past 24 hours I have moved through so many emotions and tried so hard to find ways to feel useful. It has been a struggle. This morning I feel more hopeful. Gustav has been downgraded to a category 2 storm and officials are saying that the levees on the west bank of New Orleans should hold (this is where the worst of the flooding had been expected, and the part of the city that was least damaged in Katrina). So, I have hope. On the other hand, the water has begun "lap" over the industrial canal which means the lower 9th may flood again. And if New Orleans is sparred it is possible that the much of the surrounding area could still get severe damage, including the homeland of the Houma Nation, who are still recovering from hurricane Rita. It is so hard to sit in this space of not knowing what will happen to the city I love, the homes for my friends, and the people of the Gulf Coast.

Also what is hopeful is that organizers in New Orleans are more prepared this time around. People have been able to stay more in touch and know where folks have evacuated to. INCITE, Critical Resistance and the Workers Center For Racial Justice were all able to put out calls for action or to make demands of authorities before the storm hits. I've included those postings below. And we as allies, activists, believers in social, racial and economic justice have also been able to tap into established networks and infrastructure to begin to respond days before landfall.

In this time while we are still waiting to see what will happen in the gulf coast, and what actions we will need to take, I urge folks to think about what they have to offer. Even if we do not get the "storm of the century" that was promised yesterday, the gulf coast, still reeling from Katrina and Rita will need our help. The process of getting folks home will be complicated and lengthy. Prisoners who were evacuated to Angola will need to be located and helped through a system that is bound to keep people incarcerated well beyond their release dates. Damage from wind and rain will need to be repaired in a city with few resources and a tapped budget. So, even before we know what exactly the needs will be and how organizations will be asking for support, I hope that we can all take a moment to think about what we have to give in terms or financial support, ability to travel to the area and volunteer, skills that can be used to help folks out (media connections, web design, legal help, networks to spread information through, etc). And please also stay informed, the situation is changing rapidly.

Feel free to be in touch with me if you have questions, want more information, or whatever. Feel free to forward this on if the resources below are useful.

So much love and solidarity,

DrewChristopher

Resources:

http://gustavsolidarity.org/category/frontpage/

-- Volunteer, discuss, get updates: http://gustav08.ning.com/ (Please join us!)
-- Gustav info wiki (what I'm coordinating, fyi): http://gustavwiki.com/
-- Andy's blog post: http://tinyurl.com/6oqh8d

Media:

http://www.blackcommentator.com/288/288_extra_jw_waiting_for_bus_no.html

this is where to get the news from a mainstream prospective, but also storm tracking: nola.com

Below are statements from INCITE, The worker's Center for Racial Justice and the Houma Nation


drewchristopherjoy@gmail.com

Incite! New Orleans Needs Your Help
http://brownfemipower.com/archives/2869

brownfemipower August 30th, 2008

Please please PLEASE forward widely.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

Dear INCITE! friends and supporters,

On the eve of the 3 year anniversary of the devastation wrought by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and subsequent government criminal negligence and assaults on the low income people of color on the Gulf Coast, our sisters from INCITE! projects in New Orleans (including the local chapter, the Women's Health and Justice Initiative, and the New Orleans Women's Health Clinic) are bracing for the potential landfall of Hurricane Gustav, which is currently projected to hit the Louisiana coast on Monday or Tuesday at a category 4 or 5. Voluntary evacuation of New Orleans has already begun, and mandatory evacuation could be declared as early as today. INCITE! organizers in New Orleans have made over 700 phone calls to women of color and their families that make up the constituency of the New Orleans Women's Health Clinic, working to prepare and implement evacuation and safety plans.

Your assistance is urgently needed to help low-income women of color and their families evacuate safely if need be, stay safe for the duration of the evacuation, and return to the city as soon as possible so as not to fall prey to the pushout that has kept so many folks from being able to return to New Orleans since Katrina. Local organizers are using whatever resources and funds at their disposal to help women and their families evacuate, bond people being held in Orleans Parish Prison out, and support those who make the choice to stay in whatever way they can.

Your support is urgently needed: financial donations of any size are needed and would be greatly appreciated.

Donations online are preferred because we can more quickly send the funds to our folks in New Orleans.

You can send your donation to INCITE online by clicking the button below and putting "New Orleans" in the "Purpose" line:

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

Or you can write a check directly to WHJI and send it to:
PO Box 51325
New Orleans, LA 70151

This money will go directly to supporting the hundreds of low income women of color that are the constituency of the New Orleans Women's Health Clinic.

Once again, the particular vulnerability of low-income women of color and single female-headed households (including folks with disabilities, seniors, undocumented immigrant women, and incarcerated women) has been erased in the face of disaster and overlooked in the days leading up to the storm. With few resources, facing challenges and concerns for their families of their own, INCITE! New Orleans and WHJI have stepped in to fill the gap. Please send all your support, solidarity, sisterhood and strength their way, and join us in hoping for the safety and well-being of the people who are already suffering from Gustav in Cuba, Jamaica, and Haiti, and willing the storm to subside or veer off safely before it strikes the Gulf Coast.

We will keep you posted as things develop.

peace,
INCITE!


New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice

Contact Saket Soni at 504-881-6610 or 773-550-9339



IMMIGRANT WORKERS GAIN KEY ASSURANCE FROM HOMELAND SECURITY;

NO CHECKPOINTS ALONG EVACUATION ROUTES FROM GUSTAV

Immigrant workers demanding a safe evacuation from the path of Hurricane Gustav received key assurances from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that no immigration enforcement actions or checkpoints would occur in the evacuation process or along evacuation routes. The New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice gained the assurances for safe passage of immigrant workers just as mandatory evacuations began across the Gulf Coast. The exact agreement is below.

As Gustav approached, immigrant workers and their families feared evacuation due to anticipation over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Border Patrol checkpoints. Of the over 200 surveys of day laborers which the Workers' Center conducted as Hurricane Gustav approached, the fear of detention and deportation by DHS was identified as the single greatest obstacle to accessing humanitarian relief. "We want to take our families to safety. We should not have to face deportation as we escape from the storm" said Dennis Soriano, an organizer with the Congress of Day Laborers.

Hundreds of thousands of immigrant workers arrived in the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to assist in the reconstruction of New Orleans and other cities. However, even as they were contributing to the rebuilding efforts, they faced extraordinary abuse, including high levels of wage theft, police brutality and massive immigration raids.

"This agreement would be the first clear assurance of safety from the federal government to immigrant workers who came to the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of Katrina" said Saket Soni, Director of the Workers' Center. "It's a small victory on the path to a humane and just relief effort."

Despite these assurances, immigrant workers and their advocates expressed concern about the treatment immigrants would receive in the relief effort. "Once we have evacuated safely, will DHS come to the shelters?" asked Soriano; "When we are returning home to rebuild the city, will we face DHS checkpoints on our way back?"

"We hope that these public assurances from DHS will be the first step towards a Memorandum of Understanding that clearly establishes what we all know: there's no place for immigration enforcement in humanitarian relief" said Jennifer Rosenbaum, Counsel to the Workers' Center. Ms. Rosenbaum has represented hundreds of immigrant workers in post-Katrina New Orleans efforts.

Soni said immigrant workers would continue to fight for access to the relief. "Just like everyone else who was forced to leave, immigrant workers and their families want to stay safe in the shelters, and they want to come home to New Orleans and help rebuild their city."

The New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice is a membership based organization that works with African-American and immigrant workers in the post-Katrina landscape.



###
AUGUST 31, 2008
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
OFFICE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS AND CIVIL LIBERTIES


Gustav

· All residents of the Gulf Coast region need to evacuate.

· There are no immigration enforcement operations, and there are no

immigration enforcement checkpoints associated with the evacuations.

· The Department of Homeland Security's top priorities in any emergency are life-saving and life-sustaining activities, preventing the loss of property to the extent possible, and assisting with a speedy recovery of the affected region.

Gustav

· Todos los residentes del la región de la Costa del Golfo deben evacuar.

· No hay operacions de inmigración, y no hay puntos de inmigración asociados con las evacuaciones.
· Las prioridades mas altas del Departamento de Seguridad Nacional (DHS por sus siglas en Ingles) en cualquier emergencia son las de salvar y sostener la vida, preevenir la pérdida de propiedad lo tanto posible, y asistir con la recuperación de la región afectada.

Message from the Principal Chief

Message from the Principal Chief
Brenda Dardar Robichaux

It's difficult to imagine that on the third anniversary of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, we are threatened with the possibility of being in the same position that we were three years ago. But please be assured we have learned many lessons, and we are better prepared than we were then.

We are all keeping a watchful eye on Gustav and are aware of the impact he could have on our communities. We would urge each and everyone of you in the threat zone to evacuate if you are able to on your own or contact your local officials immediately if you need assistance. We have reached out and are coordinating with the local offices of emergency preparedness in all of our communities to ensure that they are aware of your needs. We are four days from expected landfall and realize that Hurricane Gustav's track can change many times. Please continue to check the web site. We will do our best to keep you updated and provide you with information as thing progress.

I pray the Creator blesses us with strength and courage during these difficult times.

United Houma Nation Relief Fund
4400 Hwy. 1
Raceland, LA 70394
Office: (985) 537-8867
Fax: (985) 537-8812
Contacts: Charlene Soares, Administrative Assistant or Samantha Shaffstall, Program Manager

The purpose of the United Houma Nation Relief Office is to assist tribal citizens impacted by natural disasters and to assist in the coordination of the United Houma Nation disaster preparedness plans.

Your donations are tax deductible as the UHN has 501c3 status.

It's seriously getting to the point where I am bracing myself when I'm opening up my email now. I just received this forward, Democracy Now journalist Amy Goodman was arrested at the RNC. I'm guessing they have no idea of the shitstorm they have unleashed. I want to sit down and write a coherent thoughtful heartfelt entry about everything that's been happening politically that's touched my soul this week, from Gustav to Bashir Hameed passing, to the anniversary of Hasan Shakur's murder, to all of the ongoing carnage around the world in every corner... But right now, I think I'll just leave it with this. Call and support independent journalists, they are far too few, and clearly they are under attack.

ST. PAUL, MN—Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman was unlawfully arrested in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota at approximately 5 p.m. local time. Police violently manhandled Goodman, yanking her arm, as they arrested her. Video of her arrest can be seen here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYjyvkR0bGQ

Goodman was arrested while attempting to free two Democracy Now! producers who were being unlawfuly detained. They are Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar. Kouddous and Salazar were arrested while they carried out their journalistic duties in covering street demonstrations at the Republican National Convention. Goodman’s crime appears to have been defending her colleagues and the freedom of the press.

Ramsey County Sherrif Bob Fletcher told Democracy Now! that Kouddous and Salazar were being arrested on suspicion of rioting. They are currently being held at the Ramsey County jail in St. Paul.

Democracy Now! is calling on all journalists and concerned citizens to call the office of Mayor Chris Coleman and the Ramsey County Jail and demand the immediate release of Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar. These calls can be directed to: Chris Rider from Mayor Coleman’s office at 651-266-8535 and the Ramsey County Jail at 651-266-9350 (press extension 0).

Democracy Now! stands by Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar and condemns this action by Twin Cities law enforcement as a clear violation of the freedom of the press and the First Amenmdent rights of these journalists.

During the demonstration in which they were arrested law enforcement officers used pepper spray, rubber bullets, concussion grenades and excessive force. Several dozen others were also arrested during this action.

Amy Goodman is one of the most well-known and well-respected journalists in the United States. She has received journalism’s top honors for her reporting and has a distinguished reputation of bravery and courage. The arrest of Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar is a transparent attempt to intimidate journalists from the nation’s leading independent news outlet.

Democracy Now! is a nationally-syndicated public TV and radio program that airs on over 700 radio and TV stations across the US and the globe.

common ground relief and independent journalists are working to do regular updates from the ground, letting folks know what is going on:

http://www.commongroundrelief.org/gustav

as they said in update, the danger isn't done yet. it was 24 hours after katrina hit that the levees broke in new orleans, and as these reports show there are leakages in the levees.