Tomorrow, the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation will kick off a seven-city listening tour of the Gulf Coast, “Hear Me Now! Reflections One Year After Katrina-Rita,” with a prayer breakfast and press conference in New Orleans featuring “Judge Mablean” Ephriam, and women leaders from Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi.
My sister-friend Melanie L. Campbell, executive director & CEO of the National Coalition, said:
Women, the black community’s traditional care- givers, experienced untold devastation and family disruption following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Women are traditionally the last to ask for help for themselves, as they tend to their families and communities. A year later their cries for help, for the most part, have gone unanswered.
Thousands of black women who were left stranded at the Superdome and the New Orleans Convention Center are still waiting for justice for their children, their families (and here), their communities, and indeed for themselves.
As reported by the Washington Post, a Kaiser Family Foundation survey found:
Eighty-four percent of black respondents said most people affected by Katrina had not gotten the help they need to move on with their lives, and 75 percent said the federal government had not done enough to help state and local officials.
For more info on the listening tour, click here.
