Monday, February 18, 2019

Today we woke up at our usual time of 7:30 and had cereal and bagels for breakfast. We went on a driving tour of New Orleans at around 9, and saw areas affected by Katrina and the flooding including many historic sites.   We stopped at the location of Homer Plessy’s arrest. 

Site of Homer Plessy's arrest 

We saw much of the Upper and Lower 9^th Wards, as well as the McDonogh elementary school, site of the first black students integrating an all-white school (on the same day Ruby Bridges integrated another New Orleans public school).  During our tour, we made a short stop at Bayou Bienvenue and met up with John Taylor, a native of the Lower 9^th Ward. From Taylor, we learned much about his experience of Hurricane Katrina, as well as its effects on the Lower 9th.

With John Taylor at Bayou Bienvenue  

After the driving tour, we headed to Loyola University and met with Father Fred Kammer. Father Kammer taught us much about the hurricane and many of its statistical effects on the city. He drew us a nice map of the city and showed in detail how the flood waters entered the city. We also discussed the emergence of charter schools in the city after the flood. Every public school in New Orleans became a charter school after the flood, which is unprecedented in any city of the United States.

Fr. Kammer with our group

Back at the CELSJR, we met with Ruth Idakula who led us in the race dialogue. We discussed racism, and what race prejudice meant. We also discussed how power structures and institutions are related to racism. After reflecting upon our experience, many of us had felt that we were out of our comfort zone during the talk. However, we were very glad to have the experience and had much to take away.

After the dialogue, we traveled to Café Istanbul to listen in on a community meeting, held by Justice and Beyond. The topic of today was the selling of the radio station WBOK, which has been a platform for African American voices for decades. The people of WBOK had been assured that their mission to give African American people a platform to have their voice heard regardless of the owner of the station will continue.

Justice and Beyond Meeting

Finally, we packed up our bags and moved away from CELSJR and drove 45 minutes to the North Shore Unitarian Universalists’ house, where we enjoyed leftover pizza from the night before and some basketball.

Justin Tran and Patrick Dromey