VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 8/30/06)-As our nation marks the passage of one year since Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast, National Ministries reminds American Baptists that the storm's winds and water left behind not only devastation, but important lessons as well.
To assure those lessons are not forgotten, National Ministries supported and participated in the Katrina National Justice Commission convened by the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference. The commission - the first national and independent body of African-American clergy and community activists to investigate events preceding and following the Katrina disaster - conducted public hearings in June and July.
"Katrina uncovered the ugly underbelly of America," says National Ministries' Executive Director Dr. Aidsand F. Wright-Riggins III - one of more than two dozen national faith leaders from the African American church serving as commissioners. "This disaster disproportionately affected poor people of color. We want to provide healing. We want to provide counsel to leaders about an ethical response. We want to make sure this doesn't happen again."
American Baptist Churches USA had significant representation on the commission, since more than one fifth of the commissioners were connected to the denomination in one way or another. Those who served, in addition to Wright-Riggins, included:
* Mr. Cody Anderson; CEO, ACG Associates; President, WURD 900 AM; and member, Canaan Baptist Church, Philadelphia, Pa.;
* Rev. Dr. Marcus D. Cosby; Senior Pastor, Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, Houston, Texas;
* Rev. Dr. Cheryl Townsend Gilkes; Professor, Colby College, Waterville, Maine; and assistant pastor, Union Baptist Church, Cambridge, Mass.;
* Atty. Edward A. Hailes Jr.; Senior Attorney, Advancement Project, Washington, D.C.; and associate pastor, Mount Moriah Baptist Church, Washington, D.C.;
* Rev. Derrick Harkins; Senior Pastor, Nineteenth Street Baptist Church, Washington, D.C.;
* Rev. Portia Wills Lee; Senior Pastor and Founder, Trinity Tabernacle Baptist Church, Mableton, Ga.;
* Rev. Dr. J. Alfred Smith Sr.; Senior Pastor, Allen Temple Baptist Church, Oakland, Calif.
* Rev. John H. Vaughn; Program Director, The Twenty-first Century Foundation, New York, N.Y.
Commissioners heard testimony from Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D., N.Y.), as well as representatives from the Red Cross, America's Second Harvest, the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund and the Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA), among others, including survivors of the storm.
Clinton commended the Proctor Conference for establishing a "truly objective commission." With almost two million people displaced following the storm, she said, "it's easy for us in Washington to see disasters as numbers, rather than faces. ...What we saw along our Gulf Coast was shameful. It was a great indictment of our government. ...The government's reactions were a disaster in itself."
Even a year later, the need for healing and recovery is great. A New Orleans' evacuee, Karla Vance Weaver, told commissioners "there are lots of evacuees still just trying to survive."
Weaver, a correctional facilities worker, was evacuated when water in the facility was chest high. After several days living on a bridge, she went to Baton Rouge where she and her husband, with their baby, tried to start over.
"If you find a job in Baton Rouge making $9 an hour, you are doing good," Weaver said. In April, her 36-year-old husband "took a gun to his head, because he could no longer take the pain of not being able to take care of his family." Programs need to be developed, she said, that address the emotional needs of people who survive disasters like this: "I have nightmares of just being surrounded by water."
Baton Rouge resident Sibal Holt, former president of the Louisiana AFL-CIO, testified that she had 39 evacuees - family and friends - living in her house for months following Katrina. Within her family, a dozen primary homes and five businesses were lost. Stress-related health problems developed: A sister had a heart attack, and another family member experienced an aneurysm.
"America needs to look at what is happening here," Holt said. "Every city in America has to be prepared to take care of its citizens, its residents. Emergency preparation is not just about evacuation; it's about taking care of the people who cannot leave," she said.
In its final report, expected in September, the Katrina National Justice commission will recommend: 1. critical next steps for long-term reconstruction and restoration, 2. plans to ensure improved preparedness for disasters and emergencies across the nation, and 3. long-term public policies to eradicate racial and economic disparities evidenced by the disaster.
The Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Chicago, Ill., provides a forum for leadership development and strategic planning for leaders of the African American faith community.
Andrew C. Jayne American Baptist Churches, USA Mission Resource Development http://www.abc-usa.org/