2/21/08

Polite politics and polite conversation in the south determine that much of the gritty day to day social justice issues are not discussed in polite company but only “off the record”. If discussed without permission of the self appointed political elite - the messengers are punitively dealt with by minimizing, banishment, and shunning further propagating what is referred to around the Gulf as the “Plantation mentality”.

The blunt conversation at the Steps Coalition meeting yesterday in Biloxi served to reinforce those attending that they have an unalienable right to serve the disenfranchised communities and that the label of “white privilege” and “home owner privilege” were acceptable labels when trying to discern what the issues are in socio economic cleansing – as is the case in the aftermath of Katrina.

Those speaking at the meeting echoed the same mantra over and over – there needs to be an engine to augment the non-profits working in a variety of communities. The Storm  is long gone – but an even bigger storm is looming on the horizon and that is the deferred maintenance on age old issues in Mississippi – prejudice with a scope that is beyond skin color. It has become subtle and sophisticated but blatantly still here going on since the early days of Mississippi where the Yazoo land scandal was the foundation for some of today’s continuing politics – the latter fact pointed out quite aptly by the treasurer for the Steps Coalition.

Steps Coalition

The Steps Coalition is composed of 52 non-profit organizations whose collective mission is to promote the recovery of healthy, just and sustainable communities in South Mississippi. Coalition members believe that creating livable communities requires a commitment to five essential values: affordable housing, community preservation, economic justice, environmental justice, and human rights. Their  goals include identifying solutions that address the big picture and advocating for their implementation.

The coalition is struggling fiscally as all organizations on the Coast are seeing the downward trend in funding as the storm fades from the national limelight.

Diversification and a new type of prejudice

And thrust into the mix of the storm debris  is the influx of volunteers and agencies that bring to the table diversification and  a dialogue with new concepts and new ideas that are tangential to the Plantation prospectus. This new dialogue has brought on a politics of its own – the new tussle between the “insiders” and the “outsiders”.  Conversations are started with “are you from here”? And a new question arises – what constitutes you as a citizen of the town you are in here in the “south”? Time and time again I hear “They are not from here – what do they know” ?  I see job placements and Board placements justified  on perceived  “local citizenship” rights without consideration of  qualifications.  This disempowerment of “outsiders” is crippling the relief effort and it is thriving on an age old tool from the south itself – sustained situational privilege propelled by  age old prejudice and left over vestages of resentment of the Civil war itself - the proudly displayed Confederate flag stands testimony to that.

Marketing a platform

Interesting outcome of the meeting yesterday in Biloxi was the criticism that the Steps Coalition was an unknown entity for many of the residents in Mississippi. While some of the media maybe in tune to who the Steps Coalition are mainly thru the notoriety gleaned from reporting such as the Bill Moyers   report – it is true that the reach into the community itself has been minimal.  Item 4 of the “The Five Barriers to Rebuilding an Equitable Gulf Coast”, written by the Steps Coalition, lists lack of effective communication as one of the barriers.  Marketing of the Coalition itself has been done at an elite level and many have been left out of the process over the past year or so. And by limiting membership to only the  non-profits this has cut access to many of those working in social justice causes. The coalition itself is guilty of carpmentalization.

The new thrust, in the aftermath of Katrina, is to run the entire engine of recovery on the “non profit” – which, in Mississippi,  allows an organization to run under the wire as they are not mandated to be open, transparent, equitable or democratic which is appositional to the very thrust of the Steps mission statement. The ACLU is currently working on the issue of the non profit in the recovery effort.

The Secret Mississippi

Non profits have proliferated since the storm – it’s a banking entity like no other inclusive of a  strong very biased political arm. The non-profits are running under the wire with the protective “private” clause in "Secret Mississippi" and is causing quite a bit of discern for many of those working in the recovery effort.  It has also come under the watchful eye and scrutiny of the State and Federal authorities that are looking very closely at the problems and issues.

The Hancock Long Term Recovery Committee, now morphed into the Housing Resource Center,  has long held this stance and its minutes and Board of Directors are kept “secret”. Banishment and banning for such things as “Talking about the Governor’s policies” and “Writing a Blog” hold enough sustenance to ban Case Managers from presenting grants without  due process what-so-ever. When questioned on these issues – the Long Term Recovery Committee  explanations change and a new accent to the issue is added. The latest, presented to a Steps Coalition Board member, was  that the charge was  “Talking about the Governor’s policies”. Which was an interesting argument considering the mission of the Steps Coalition itself and the notion that, in the rest of the United States, there is the  right to “Freedom of Speech”. The Red Cross sits on the Hancock Housing Long Term Recovery Committee with eight National board members who are appointed by the President of the United States. Is the Red Cross approving this “Closed” community with all that Federal Representation?  What happened to public information? The eight Board Members appointed by the President of the United States, which are Congressional appointments, for a three year term in 2005 and then renewed for another three years are:

Hon. Michael Chertoff

Secretary

US Department of Homeland Security

Appointed: April 2005

Hon. Carlos M. Gutierrez

Secretary

US Department of Commerce

Appointed: April 2005

Hon. Michael O. Leavitt

Secretary

US Department of Health and Human Services

Appointed: April 2005

Hon. R. James Nicholson

Secretary

US Department of Veterans Affairs

Appointed: April 2005

Gen. Peter Page

Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff

The Pentagon

(Serving Second Term)

Appointed: 2005

Bonnie McElveen-Hunter (Chairman)

CEO Pace Communications

Greensboro, North Carolina

Appointed: June 2004

Hon. Condoleezza Rice

Secretary

US Department of State

Appointed: April 2005

Hon. Margaret Spellings

Secretary

US Department of Education

Appointed: April 2005

So who is in charge of watching the ethics of the recovery?

And when a Mayor asks you to come to his office and explains to you that you are spending too much time in "Middletown" - a justified statement because the rest of the citizens feel they are not getting the same attention or a Pastor promotes his own personal brand of racism by telling you the same "You are spending too much time in Middletown and those shiftless N do not deserve that attention" - you have very few places to turn for reinforcement of your personal values excepting organizations such as the Steps Coalition, the Amos Network and others similar. This is the South and this type of event happens everyday here. The elite are in denial - but it is a way of life.

2.5 years after the storm and the tapestry is still being built for recovery and here, deep in Mississippi , it is mired in a tangled maze of polite conversation and cultural nuances that are extremely difficult to navigate - the very least being historical memory.  What has turned out to be the ethical watchdog are the various social justice organizations bolstered by the bravest of the media who dare to stand up and tell the whole  story. Much of that has transpired from those internet blogs (minimized by the largest newspaper, The Sun Herald, in a recent article) and from the meeting halls of the smaller social justice organizations that continue to thrive because the heart of the matter is the soul of the South – it is those brave souls, driven by integrity, who lay no claim to rights based on their origins but by a promise of equality for all.

The vote yesterday as to whether the Steps coalition should continue was a resounding “Yes”.