An aspiring vision of the Gulf Coast exists and it’s beautiful
by Marissa Knodel, climate change campaigner
It’s been 11 years since Hurricane Katrina ripped through the Gulf Coast, but its legacy lives on in the neighborhoods that have yet to rebuild, and in the minds and bodies of residents suffering from years of exposure to mold and decay. Following the recent devastating flooding in Baton Rouge and other communities in southern Louisiana, residents once again find themselves in the all-too-familiar situation of cleaning and airing out flooded homes, and applying to the state and federal governments for aid.
Amidst this backdrop, local, grassroots organizations, national groups, and individual activists gathered in New Orleans from August 20–24 for a series of events to display unity for social, racial, economic and climate justice, under the title “Another Gulf is Possible: A Week of Resistance, Solidarity & Love.”
The events kicked off on Saturday, August 20 when nearly 200 Gulf Coast residents and allies marched through New Orleans, led by the Hot 8 Brass Band, with banners declaring an aspiring vision for the Gulf South, including “Black Lives Matter,” “Migracion Sin Miedo” (Migration without Fear), “Water Is a Human Right” and “Indigenous Rising.” The march represented an historic coming together of groups working on issues including immigrant rights, LGBTQ justice, indigenous land sovereignty, the movement for black lives and climate justice, all united in demanding a just transition for the Gulf away from an economy that relies on the extraction of natural and human resources.
Following the march, the “Just Transition Solidarity Summit” from August 21–22 brought together residents from all across the Gulf Coast and local and national environmental groups to work towards bridging racial divides specifically in the environmental and climate justice movement.
Two direct actions occurred on August 23: a flood relief service to gut the flooded home of an elderly cancer patient in North Baton Rouge, and a petition delivery to the federal agency in charge of the lease sale, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management office in New Orleans, requesting the cancellation of a Gulf of Mexico oil and gas lease sale. Four activists were arrested when they dumped debris from flood-damaged homes in Baton Rouge on the Bureau’s doorsteps, and refused to leave until President Obama cancelled the lease sale.
Sign the petition: Tell Obama and FEMA to send emergency disaster relief to rural Louisiana
The lease sale was approved by the Obama administration and included 23.5 million acres — the size of Virginia — of public water to private companies for oil and gas drilling. For the first time, the auction was live streamed from the iconic New Orleans Superdome on August 24. The outcome represented a new low for fossil fuel industry interests in the Gulf of Mexico: three companies submitted bids for 138,240 acres, totaling $18 million. Outside of the Superdome, dozens gathered to protest the lease sale, and raised a giant “balloon banner” declaring “Another Gulf Is Possible.” Abigail Hopper, the director of the BOEM was in the Superdome but refused to meet with the activists.
In a press release following these events, Cherri Foytlin, mother of five and state director of BOLD Louisiana, whose home was amongst the 40,000 impacted by the extreme flooding, said:
The Gulf Coast has long suffered disproportionate impacts from the country’s over-reliance on fossil fuels, from poor health in communities of color near oil refineries to pipeline dredging that has eroded wetlands and made the region more vulnerable to hurricanes to regular oil spills that pollute the water, to rising sea levels fueled by climate change…At a time when communities in Louisiana, including my own, are once again living through a climate-driven disaster, we must reckon with ourselves to come together and call for a more equitable future…For too long, we have been used and abused in the name of profit and suffered from so many types of violence in our communities. We will no longer stand to be a sacrifice zone for this country, we demand justice.
Take action: Donate to relief efforts in the Gulf.
