media collective

Common Ground Relief stands in solidarity with historically neglected commmunities, and stands firmly against racism in all forms. We must stand together with people in Jena, Louisiana. Please check out their website at freethejena6.org and get involved.

Together, we can unravel institutional racism that plagues Louisiana and our world.

by Kate Marvin
Photography by Mavis Yorks

On the eve of July 5th, the first night of the Essence Festival concert series, I had trouble getting to the Superdome. I had tickets, but no car, and when I walked to Canal St. to hail a cab, I couldn’t find one. At 10pm, after a long trial with public transportation, I finally made it to the concert. I might have given up, if I hadn’t known that Senator Barack Obama was going to speak there. I wanted to see him in person. I wanted to hear what he had to say to the thousands of primarily African American people who came to celebrate at the Essence Festival. I wanted to know what he would say about New Orleans.

Breaking Ground 3 is now ready. Click here to read.

Featuring:
The Long Slow Road Home • by John Briggs
Fresh Produce to the People • by Frank Sherlock
Street Rites • by Sean Hobbs
Kids and Cameras • by Zeph Fishlyn
Uneven Justice • by Thaddeus Delay
False Arrest • by Sean Hobbs
Resilient as Brick: Months of Covering Public Housing -various authors

Includes interviews with:

-Brenda Mitchell, President of United Teachers for New Orleans
-Scott Crow, a Katrina First Responder

by Andrew Buncombe

As published in The Independent

NEW ORLEANS--Less than three miles from the bustling bars of the French Quarter and the casinos of Canal Street, lie block after block of ruined homes, shattered lives and broken promises. Eighteen months after Katrina struck, New Orleans has barely begun to recover. Andrew Buncombe reports from the city that America forgot
Published: 09 March 2007

Jennifer Johansen's belongings have been safely packed up by the movers. She has said goodbye to her friends. This morning she will close the door on her yellow-painted house, take a taxi to the airport, and leave New Orleans for ever for a new life in Seattle.

At Last!
It's finally available!

The Post-Katrina Portraits - Written and Narrated by Hundreds is perhaps the most beautiful, socially inclusive and comprehensive collection of first-hand accounts of the Gulf region's disasters as they happened naturally and unnaturally:

The conditions of evacuation, survival and rescue, during and in the immediate aftermaths of Katrina and Rita, And the year of struggle for community empowerment, recovery and reconstruction which followed and set a new grassroots precedent for disaster relief.