From a World Can’t Wait Organizer:
August 16th: We arrive in New Orleans. Tonight Spike Lee will premiere
his film “When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts” in the New Orleans arena for approximately
11,000 people free of charge. We meet earlier in the day to discuss tactics and
make plans to get materials out as well as discussion points to emphasize when
talking to people. There is importance placed on exposing the criminality of
the administration in relation to Hurricane Katrina and that we have a plan for
a new kind of humane and just future for
the people.
I begin to feel anxious and excited at the same time. Three
of us drive around the city running errands and making copies of the Oct. 5th
flyer. The city is a virtual ghost town. I have never been to New Orleans before and although I was well
aware of what happened there, I wasn’t prepared for what I saw. I had assumed
with it being almost a year that passed, the city would be up and running and I
would see the New Orleans
I had always heard about. The music, energy and people that made this place a
favorite city to so many people who had the privilege to visit. What we saw
instead was a city with barely any residents, neighborhoods that stretch far
and wide of empty, water damaged, destroyed homes, and strip malls of vacant,
boarded up businesses.
As we shake our heads in disbelief, we see something that
catches our attention and leaves our mouths wide open. The sight of brand new
palm trees planted along one of the main streets. This street is completely
void of businesses and people, but these brand new palm trees are there. Our
shock turns to anger as we consider the fact that these trees cost thousands of
dollars a piece and the city hasn’t even touched whole neighborhoods. What a slap
in the face to the people of New Orleans who haven’t been able to come home or
who are back in the city but living in FEMA trailers in their front yards. And
then there is the waitress we met who lives in a FEMA camp and has to travel
two hours each way just to get to work everyday and then has to show ID to
prove she lives in the trailer camp that is her temporary home.
We arrive at the arena that night about 2 hours before the
movie starts. I am prepared with Oct. 5th flyers and the “Wanted for Mass
Murder” t-shirts. I am prepared for the New
York attitude of people “already knowing what’s up”
or being too busy to hear what we have to say. The cops immediately tell us where
we can stand which is quite far from where the majority of the foot traffic to
the arena takes place. Some of us break off from the rest of the group and decide
to go into the parking lots and catch people as they are parking their cars.
I begin handing out flyers and talking to people about World
Can’t Wait. Many people are in a rush to get inside the arena and don’t stop to
talk, but I notice their eagerness to take what I am handing out. My fear of
rejection fades quickly. I see something I have never seen before. Hunger for
answers. The people here are desperately looking for a solution and are eager
to take literature. Car loads of people have their hands out to take flyers. As
they drive away I hear from their cars as they read Drive Out the Bush Regime,
a few “hell yeah’s”, “get rid of all their asses”, “Fuck Bush”.
I then realize I haven’t sold any t-shirts. I start to put together
my pitch. Since I am wearing one of the shirts at the time, I throw my arms
open to show it to people and I tell them that they need one of these shirts
and how they really should walk into the movie wearing one of them. I only sell
one shirt to a couple who have a local cable show. The have a video camera and
they do close ups of the front and back of the shirt. The guy is amped and buys
one to wear into the movie. I am happy to hear that but upset that more people
don’t want to do the same.
I am almost out of flyers and the movie is about to start.
We go inside and although we have missed some of the beginning, we quickly
realize it doesn’t really matter because each moment is significant. The
audience is engrossed. People are commenting along with film. They nod and
“mhmm” when people comment on how the U.S.
can be in other countries in a day and a half, but don’t come to New Orleans for 5 days.
They laugh when the characters in the film tell Bush to kiss their asses or
when the guy in Mississippi
tells Cheney to go fuck himself at a press conference. They boo, hiss and yell
at the screen at the sight of Bush, Cheney, Condoleezza, and Chertoff. The
anger towards the administration is clear and people did not hold back from
expressing it.
We leave after part 3 to make sure we don’t miss the crowd
when the film ends. There is a different energy in the air as people leave the
arena. They have been through a long emotional journey and the mood seems more
somber as they trickle out. But as they come out more in crowds, the energy
picks back up. People are again reaching out for literature. I once again throw
my arms open to show off my shirt, but I change my rap. I proclaim “Look at
these people on the shirt! Do you recognize them from the movie? These are the criminals
that Spike exposes in the film”.
People stop, look at the shirt closely, and then they want
one. One young woman buys one and tells me she knows her grandmother will want
to wear the shirt to all of her community board meetings. And then she buys one
for herself which triggers all of her girlfriends to say “I want one too!” and
they decide to buy the shirt as well.
Immediately after that an intense 14 year old girl begs her
mom and aunt to buy her one and the look in her eye says she needs to wear this
shirt. She wants people to know who is responsible for what happened to her
family, friends, and neighbors. People are feeling the shirts big time. One
woman says with anger- “What can we do to them, how can we put them on trial,
they must pay for this!” The people of New
Orleans are screaming for justice and I am excited to
engage with them and tell them about World Can’t Wait.
These people need us as much as we need them. . The
experience of watching this film with the people of New Orleans is something I will never forget.
And feeling their pain while watching how they were treated as less than human
by the U.S.
government further reminds me why our mission of driving out the Bush regime is
so important. What happened and is still happening in New Orleans is reason alone to Drive Out the
Bush Regime. This regime has facilitated one of the most horrific crimes on the
people of New Orleans
and on top of it all seeks to criminalize the victims of Katrina. This must
stop now! We owe it to the people of New
Orleans to build a powerful movement of millions
united in driving this murderous and inhumane administration out. Let’s make
October 5th what it needs to be and let the Bush regime and the rest of the
world know we will not let them continue to perpetrate crimes against the
people here and abroad!