"We ought to come in mule
carts, in old trucks, any kind of transportation people can
get their hands on. People ought to come...and say, 'We are
here, we are poor; we don't have any money; you made us this
way; you keep us down this way; and we've come to stay until
you do something about it."
-
Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr.
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 January 14—20, 2007
In 1964, 800 college students from around the
country came to Mississippi to register African American voters
who were being denied this constitutional right. In that spirit
of democracy, we call upon students to travel to the Gulf Coast
to participate this January in “Louisiana
Winter.”
The goals of
Louisiana Winter
are: to turn the nation’s attention to the Gulf Coast; to have
students witness first-hand the social suffering that is
occurring; and to promote the immediate passage of federal
legislation to implement the Gulf Coast Civic Works Project.
If passed by Congress, the Gulf Coast Civic Works
Project would hire 100,000 Gulf Coast residents to rebuild New
Orleans and the surrounding region. The residents, who will be
given subsidized tickets back to their neighborhoods, will set
up temporary housing for themselves, and then rebuild and repair
houses, schools, levees, parks, and other civic buildings.
Responding to the Call: Students
If you are a student, and want to participate in
Louisiana Winter,
plan on being in the Gulf Coast region from January 14-20,
2007. Students can participate for just one day (e.g., on
Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday, Monday, January 15), for two
or three days (e.g., on Thursday or Friday and then participate
in the mass rally on Saturday, January 20th), or for the entire
six days. (Detailed Schedule)
Teams of 20-40 students will spend Monday through Friday
in a different town throughout the Gulf Coast. Each
student team will arrive in a town between 7 and 9 am;
then, from 9 am-10:30 am, the local residents will tell their
stories of the social suffering that has occurred and still is
occurring. The students will then go from door to door and
store to store between 10:30 am and 5 pm, handing out flyers and
educating citizens about the Gulf Coast Civic Works Project, and
the need to pass immediate Congressional legislation to
implement it.
Each night, there will be a town hall meeting
from 7-9 pm. All of the citizens that the students have met
with throughout the day will be invited in order to have a more
in-depth conversation about the Gulf Coast Civic Works Project,
and to see what actions we can take together to implement it in
Congress. In each town hall meeting, the residents will be invited to
attend a mass rally on Saturday, January 20
in either New Orleans or Baton Rouge.
To register your participation, please go to
the on-line registration form. After you
complete the form, we will contact you with information about
your student team and where you will need to be at 3 pm, on
Sunday, January 14. If you have any questions, contact Seychelle Martinez at
gulfcoastcivicworks@gmail.com.
Responding to the Call: Gulf Coast Towns
and Neighborhoods
If you are a community group or a citizen in the Gulf Coast, and
would like to
invite a student team of 20-40 to your town or
neighborhood for one day, please go to registration
page and fill out the on-line community
registration form.
Here are a list of things we need for each
town or neighborhood that is interested in hosting a student team:
(a)
a place for the students to sleep for 1 night,
(b) breakfast,
lunch, and dinner for 1 day,
(c) a community center that can
host the morning discussion and the
evening town meeting,
(d) 4
or 5 community members to talk to the students in the morning,
(e) assistance on where the students should go door to door and
store
to store, and
(f) help with transportation to the next
town.
If you have any questions, contact Dr. Scott Myers-Lipton
at smlipton@sjsu.edu.
Responding to the Call: American Citizens
If you are an American citizen and you want to support
Louisiana Winter,
you can do two things: first, join us at the rally on
January 20, 2007. You can also make a financial contribution
to support the logistical costs.
Click here for more details.
Media Kick-Off:
A national press conference to announce
Louisiana
Winter
will be held on Thursday, December 14th, one
month to the day before students arrive in the Gulf Coast, at
3pm at the Federal Building in New Orleans, Louisiana and at 1
pm at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library in San Jose,
California. Dignitaries and students will be in
attendance.
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