From June 3, 2007

For me, the “mega church” we visited on Sunday wasn’t really exceptionally “mega” at all. Coming from a church with a congregation of at least four times that size, the experience was not overwhelming at all. I was expecting a much larger and more technologically advanced building with at least a few jumbo television monitors, an assortment of bibles, elaborate walkways, and a band with numerous musicians. When we arrived, the location of the church was surprising to say the least; it is located in the middle of a rough neighborhood and as a result has bars on the front windows. The location of the church puts them in a very interesting social position, they more than likely feel a responsibility to the surrounding community to give back to those around them who are in need.

In terms of the service, I feel that it was a very open and thoughtful sermon that was geared towards not only the adults in the audience but also all of the youth. The message of not looking to Michael Jordan, or basically any worldly person, but instead to biblical figures like Daniel, was very effective and eye-opening. This message was more universal while the one from 16th Street Baptist Church was more specific. Seeing a black woman preach was nothing incredibly groundbreaking for me as that is a relatively common practice at my church. For many of my classmates, however, it is apparently very unusual and perhaps even prohibited to allow women to preach to the congregation. I feel like this is something that puts a lot of perspective on my views of women’s status in religion. I used to feel that women were sometimes put down in my church and considered second-class to men. However much that perception may be presented in my congregation, it seems that this patriarchic view is carried out more so in other religions. I think that is an issue that should be addressed in all religions as it clearly identifies some of the few inequalities that can develop based on religion.

We checked out today and went to church and unlike the church on 16^th street Baptist in Birmingham Alabama I really think that if was living in New Orleans I would attend that church. We arrived into the Delta of Mississippi

We went to the 9^th ward today and the 9^th ward is like the poverty of New Orleans. It was striking to see the debris that was still left from the hurricane years later and everything just looked like  hell had ran through the city. I was touched by what I still seen and I feel like there is not enough help in New Orleans for the kind of population that they have. I feel like more people can reach out besides the people of ACORN.

Today had to be a different encounter to what really happened to the people of New Orleans and to what is really going on. I was not aware of the great devastation that the people of New Orleans went through and is still suffering from today. It is a person that really needs help there and it is a lot of people that died. It is sad and mind bothering to see that the government is not helping the people to feel like citizens and to let them know that it is ok and New Orleans is a great place to live. I left today with a lot of questions as to where who were the people that is and has reached out to the people of New Orleans because they really do need the help

Today was a wrap up day from Bay St. Louis and I was not involved in the wrap up but from what my classmates told me I wish I was their. We did laundry today and took an hour in a half ride to New Orleans. Today is like a cool down day for us because we have been working real hard. We arrived to New Orleans and while on the way to New Orleans we had to cross this long bridge which was the main cause of the flooding in New Orleans. While crossing the bridge I think that everybody on the bus was aware of the after affects of hurricane Katrina which took place almost 2 years ago.

As soon as you crossed that bridge and entered into the town you could still see the devastation that the hurricane had done and all the rumors that you about how the people of New Orleans has no help and that Busch is not doing anything for them, you could see that once you crossed that bridge. We checked into the hotel room and roamed around town a little bit in small groups but today for the most part was a rest day.

This morning we went to a mega church in New Orleans. Going in, I expected lots of fancy technology, flash displays of church wealth, and a new, modern structure. While the commercialization of the church was abundantly clear, I would not say that the other aspects were necessarily present. When we came in, someone handed us several pieces of paper and brochures…none of which contained an order of worship. Several times during the service, the speakers made announcements, referring to different causes or occasions to give money. I’m certain that I had never heard “and you can make your check out to…and if you want to pay with a credit card” so many times in a CHURCH service. In fact, I’ve never been to a service where money plays such a large role. They took up three different offerings. The first one was for tithing, the second was for some special offering, and the third was for the pastor’s birthday. It was all I could do not to sit open-mouthed for the entirety of this proceeding. This is so radically different from the church where I was raised. In my church, which is United Methodist, they take up the offering once. Sometimes there is a special offering, but it is part of the regular tithe collection. No differentiation is made. And there would most certainly never be a collection taken up for the preacher’s birthday. I found this deeply offensive and even an irresponsible action on the part of a church, located in such a poor community.

After church, we had a lively discussion about this on the bus. When I pointed out how I did not like the idea of taking up a birthday offering, many of the boys acted like this was normal operating procedure, or at least like it was not outside the realm of acceptable actions. They pointed out that the money probably would not go directly to the preacher and that it’s the same as buying her a birthday present. I just feel as if there is a better ways to accomplish the same thing…especially given the neighborhood where this church is located. It is right around the corner from where we stayed over spring break. When we were here then, the people running the organization we were working with said this was one of the poorest areas, with a shockingly high crime rate. It would seem to me that making your church members, who likely live in the area close to the church, feel obligated to give so much money is not an economically responsible decision on the part of the church…at least with respect to supporting its members. I think it is one thing to have church members tithe in support of the church. This is a Biblically rooted exercise that is expected of those who believe. People who support the church can generally turn to the church for support in their times of need, making tithing helpful for allowing the church to give back to you. And this is the entire point of tithing. The idea behind it is to give to God what He deserves because of how good He has been to you…and He will bless you in return. Having a church family to turn to in times of desperate need can be one form of such blessing.

Visiting this church was most definitely a great experience. As I have never been to a church anything like this, it was quite eye opening. However, the extreme commercialization of this church is deeply distressing to me because it takes away from the message of Christianity by giving people the perception that they must or can buy their ways into salvation.

Today (Day was a pretty low key day. We got up and a few people went to the library. The rest of us went to breakfast and the laundromat. After everyone had finished up with laundry and the last oral history at the library, we headed to New Orleans. I was really excited to come back and see the city, after having been here for spring break. Coming into the city, I was again impacted by the massive destruction that is still present. While the damage is not quite so severe here as it is in Bay Saint Louis, I think there will always a special place in my heart for the people of this city. We had a low key afternoon pretty much to spend however we would like. Lauren, Tania and I walked around the area by our hotel for a little while, before heading over to Bourbon Street to meet up with the other girls for dinner. It’s like entering a different world, walking from Canal Street onto Bourbon. I guess I never really walked down much of it the night we came downtown while we were here on spring break. Even at like 6, there were people walking around with drinks, some stumbling, and girls with very little clothing on, walking to work. Never in my life have I seen so many bars and flashy lights. It was quite a culture shock, to say the least.

Today (Day 9) we went to visit ACORN, an agency who works with city development, helps educate people about their rights, and fights those government agencies trying to infringe on those rights. It was shocking to hear what the woman who worked there had to say about how the poor were being taken advantage of. I think it’s despicable that the government and its agencies consider it acceptable to take from those who don’t have the knowledge to realize that they’re being taken advantage of. I think the thing that really inspired me the most about what this woman was saying was that it sounds a lot like what I want to do. The idea that someone can have their voting rights restricted or their home taken away just because someone can get away with it is completely unacceptable.

After talking to this woman, we went to look at some of the homes that they have been rebuilding in the Lower 9^th ward. I was again pained to look at all the destruction. As I noticed when working in this neighborhood over spring break, there are NO people around. We got out and walked around for a few minutes. Other than a group of workers, there was no one else there. It concerns me, especially after what the ACORN woman said about the government seizing property. If these people are not here rebuilding, it makes me think that this whole area will be demolished and transformed into some other type of housing…not of a low income variety.

After a long night and an early morning we loaded the bus and went to ACORN. I had never heard of the organization, but after our group conversation I had an understanding to what the organization was about. ACORN stands for Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. It is the nation’s largest community organization of low income families, working together for social justice and stronger communities. For a community that has been destroyed to have so much unity and faith to continue to move forward is very inspiring. I cannot imagine how I would feel to lose my home to something I was totally unable to control and on top of the trauma with the hurricane, afterwards feel like I am not wanted back into my community or my city. I was very disappointed after learning more on the situation of the 9^th ward.

We were able to tour the 9^th ward, which is one of the lower income neighborhoods. It was like riding through a ghost town. There were many homes that still needed to be taken down and one particular house had these word spray-painted on it, “1600 people died for you to take this picture.” I was confused about the meaning of this quote, but I came up with two possible meanings 1) it was a request to let the story of the residents of the 9^th ward not be forgotten; 2) it was a request to not treat that community as a tourist area.

We had the opportunity to fellowship with Co-Pastor Debra B. Morton at her church, Greater St. Stevens Full Baptist Church. The worship experience was phenomenal. They had a broad array of worship styles incorporated into the service; which included but was not limited to praise dancing. The title of the message was “I wanna be like Mike.” In the message Morton drew connections; which ultimately led to the message “Why not be like Daniel.” One important thing to note about this congregation was how diverse it was in comparison to 16^th St. Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.

Immediately after service left New Orleans for Cleveland, Mississippi - and, we are all anticipating what Cleveland has in store for us all. We have already heard about an awesome jook joint, Po’ Monkeys.

To be continued ….

Day 7: Bay St. Louis

Wow, what a day this was!  We got up really early to go back to the library and setup for our long awaited oral histories.  After some of our reflection time on all the information we had heard in regards to Hurricane Katrina from the day before, and all the horrific images we had seen, I was excited to get to actually hear in depth stories from people who had lived through it.  At the same time, I feel like I went into the day somewhat skeptical, and with somewhat mixed emotions.  It’s hard to go out and see the massacred homes with no remains left but the stairs or the mailbox, and then imagine approaching a way to help through simply talking to people rather than getting out and building homes or something involving more physical work.  Also, all the talk about the money spent to refurbish statues in the library, as well as seeing some people who are relatively speaking, doing well as compared to some who are still in FEMA trailers or without even that, was a complex model to piece together.  I can say after doing the interviews, I can totally understand why that was the task that we were chosen to do, as it forced us to step a little out of our comfort zone to do interviews, but in a way that helped us to grow and learn, all while providing the victims with almost a form of therapy and rejuvenation.

Without getting in to any specifics about my particular oral histories, I can say overall that it was touching to see how we as the interviewers gradually gained the respect of the interviewee, and how as this occurred, their willingness to open up and not fear that they will be judged or rejected.  It really renewed my sense of how important it is just to be a good listener, and show you care about other people, even if you can’t provide them with money or a physical way to make it better, just listening goes a long way.

Though stratification is far from absent in the different levels of recovery from the hurricane, it is an institution in society that simply exists, and there isn’t any way I see to make that change.  At the same time, it is true that we do need people to recover at different times and in different manners in order for more people to be available to help others and resources to be available.  The more affluent people as a general rule did same to fare better in some circumstances, be it access to help, a trailer, medical attention, etc.  Yet, this is just kind of the way it is, and we can’t expect everyone to wait for the very last person to get back on their feet and try to move together all at the same time because it is just not reasonable.  It is not fair to wish the worst on people of higher socioeconomic status in order for them to experience what some of the most underprivileged go through, we must try to identify with everyone and remember how much more horrible this is than any of us can really begin to comprehend.  The oral histories really opened my eyes a lot more to how resilient these people are who returned, how much lending a helping hand makes a difference, and helped to put the city of Bay St. Louis in perspective for me.

We later had the opportunity to watch a Finnish movie with English sub titles called “Mother of Mine.”  It was by far one of my favorite movies I’ve ever seen; it even brought me to tears.  I definitely want to try and find this movie to buy.  This was a neat cultural activity to get a glimpse of some of the library activities, and the people in the area.

Day 8 & 9: New Orleans

We traveled to New Orleans today after a trip to the Laundromat, and conducting the last oral history at the library.  We had a good discussion on the bus about what the individual oral histories meant to us, and how we felt about our time at the library.  I feel like it was a general consensus that people got much more out of it than they expected to when they went in.  This was definitely a major eye opening experience for me.

After checking in, we walked around and went shopping and got dinner.  I can’t say we had the most pleasant dinner ever, but we definitely got to experience the culture of New Orleans.  A walk down Bourbon Street, lined with tons of restaurants, bars, clubs, and souvenior stores, is unlike anything I have ever experienced, and definitely gives new meaning to why they call it “The Big Easy.”  I have never seen anything like some of the hair styles, clothing, and PDA that I witnessed while visiting this street.  Quite a culture shock from the seemingly a little more conservative and smaller town atmosphere of Bay St. Louis.  We also learned to be very careful due to the rising levels of crime in the city, particularly after the hurricane, so we made sure to travel in groups, and hide all personal belongings.

The next day we visited the organization called ACORN, and heard a very different account of the hurricane.  It was much more of a geographical and more city overview, and less personal hard times such as we experienced in Bay St. Louis, so the combination really rounded out our experience learning about the hurricane.  Despite all the news reports, I really had failed to realize that the levies were what really had caused all the damage to New Orleans.  Between Bay St. Louis and New Orleans, it was two very different sites due to the water vs. wind damage, as well as the types of houses and attention that the places had received.  Though we heard much more information regarding New Orleans, the help didn’t seem to have filtered down to them as Bay St. Louis received, but also there may have just been such an extreme number of houses destroyed in New Orleans that it was just taking that much longer.  It’s hard to decipher exactly why some areas have recovered faster, and how their ability to access resources and receive outside help may have modified their recovery.

For lunch, a few of us went to an amazing restaurant called mothers with the best po’ boy sandwiches I’ve ever had.  It was definitely a favorite spot in the city, and seemed to be a good representation of where the locals go to eat.

Today we visited the 9th Ward of New Orleans and a social group entitled ACORN. ACORN is the nation’s largest community organization of low and moderate income families, striving for social justice and stronger communities. It seems that ACORN works for the downtrodden and poor in the midst of a city that is trying to disenfranchise them. While listening to the representative from ACORN, the concept of gentrification popped into my mind. Although the formal definition of gentrification involves physical renovation that brings about raised property values and an influx of upper-class citizens who prevent the former, lower class dwellers, from returning to their homes, there seem to be many parallels. While the major “renovations” obviously came from the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina, the fact still remains that the upper-class inhabitants of New Orleans seem to be preventing the flow of minorities and the underprivileged from coming back into their homes.

Again, we can see the perfect example of how people with means and power can control and manipulate the system to make it work in their favor. These rich people stand to gain millions of dollars by disenfranchising the people who are now viewed as refugees throughout the country. The fact that some people are being turned away from their homes is very disturbing to say the least. It is ridiculous to me that some people are more concerned with profiting from the tragedies of Katrina rather than showing compassion enough to try to find ways to make things better for everyone. ACORN seems to work against such disenfranchisements and I honor their efforts.

While traveling through the 9th ward, it became quite apparent just how much damage New Orleans has endured in certain areas. The major problems, as we have all talked about to great extent, came when the levees broke. Apparently, New Orleans did dodge the bullet in terms of the storm, however, the water that accumulated behind the levee surged so strongly that water flooded the entire city and created more problems than many other areas victim to the storm. This mistake was avoidable and manmade, not a product of a natural disaster. ACORN representatives explained that the politics behind accountability are entirely frustrating and the end is no where in sight at the moment. I feel that politicians and government officials have a responsibility to protect its citizens and not treat people like second class citizens in their country. All of the people displaced from Katrina have homes and they deserve to be in them like everyone else. The practices occurring in terms of Katrina business seem to only facilitate the disenfranchisement of minorities and the poor while perpetuating the vicious cycle government failures at the present time.