AMC2012: New Orleans Delegation
Organizers in New Orleans coordinated to bring a delegation of a dozen representatives from a diverse spectrum of organizations to AMC2012. These included Neighborhood Partnerships Network, 2-Cent TV, New Orleans Youth BreakOUT!, and Kids ReThink New Orleans Schools. This was one of the most exciting delegations of the AMC, connecting New Orleans and Detroit, two cities with much in common and much to learn from one another.
New Orleans and Detroit have a special synergy. Both cities have made profound contributions to the cultural, political and economic identity of this country and both have experienced "unnatural disasters": the fatally negligent response to Hurricane Katrina, and Detroit’s "Katrina in slow motion" of disinvestment and deindustrialization.
"While urban revitalization is more than welcome in both of these cities," explained Tara Foster of the Neighborhood Partnerships Network, "It is becoming increasingly important for communities in these locales to have a deep, broad analysis of the racial and class-based injustices that have paved the way for current changes."
The NOLA caravan to Detroit was organized by Jocelyne Ninneman and Gia Hamilton of the Gris Gris Lab. (Jocelyne was miraculously multitasking, as she also co-managed the AMC’s nighttime music events and the Detroit Sound Conservancy Tour.)
The delegation was supported with funding from the Open Society Foundations and Common Counsel's Grassroots Exchange Fund.