Hate Crime in Selma, AL

We are in a motel in Selma, AL. In less than 6 hours we're getting back on the bus - bound for Atlanta. Today we visited a school established for the Black community that was severely vandalized in a brutal and malicious way. I'll have photos and video maybe later. We also heard from a State Senator on the daily blatant ways that racism affects people every day. It's very direct here and obviously they are making great strides here as they are continuing to threaten the white power base and elicit drastic responses. Young Black children have to go to schools named in honor of KKK founders. Imagine Jewish children going to Hitler Elementary School.

Bukas ang Atlanta!
Atlanta tomorrow!
Jason

NOLA Playback Theatre "People's Freedom Caravan" Show

This morning I performed with NOLA Playback Theatre. We were part of an event welcoming the People's Freedom Caravan that started in Albuquerque, NM on the way to the US Social Forum. The original Freedom Rides happened in 1961 and were an effort to take direct action fighting racial segregation.


In this incarnation, the People's Freedom Caravan has a broad focus...

"By bringing together indigenous nations, displaced peoples of New Orleans, migrant workers along the border, and youth and civil rights veterans in Mississippi, the People’s Freedom Caravan will break down the geographic, political, racial and cultural barriers that have been used to marginalize our communities. Starting in Albuquerque, the caravan will weave its way across the country, converging at cities to highlight local struggles for justice, share cultures and hold media events. The Caravan will arrive marching into Atlanta, where participants will be met by thousands of delegates at the first U.S. Social Forum."




Our show this morning was mixed with the Story Circle format from John O'Neal's Free Southern Theater\. It was great to play back people's stories as part of the day's many events (tours included).
















I'm on the BUS!

There was a change with my transportation to the US Social Forum and tomorrow morning at 8am I'm boarding the bus also. We'll be headed to Selma, Alabama tomorrow night, arriving at the social forum on Weds at noon. I'm excited to see something of Selma, where so much happened in the 1960's and beyond around civil rights.


By the way, it rains a lot here. Big DROPS!

Levees

This area is the river side of the levee.

I'm riding my bike over the bridge in the picture above and it's a long way down.































To the left is the river. To the right are the lots where houses used to be. The fact that the levees are not built any stronger than before Hurricane Katrina has to be a big psycological barrier to rebuilding also. A major strategy in the rebuilding of the city has been to focus on and subsidize business's first as a means to rebuild the economy. At the same time, the value of profit ahead of people means that there is an enormous land grab being attempted here.

In 1965, during Hurricane Betsy, these same levees were dynamited and many of the same neighborhoods destroyed in order to keep the richer and white areas - like the French Quarter from flooding. This is a familiar routine for poor and black people here.

Lower 9th Ward Photos

Have tools, will travel

One thing I haven't mentioned yet has to do with some of the culture that I've experienced here. It's difficult to be in New Orleans. Chances are, if you aren't fighting for your home or to stay or for a better world, then you're not here. There's a energy here that says "put up" and start doing something or get out. I've me so many committed, intelligent, passionate and skilled people here doing all different kinds of work. It's exciting. It's a great reminder that humanity is capable of much more than we often think it is. Thousands and thousands of people have come to this place to try and make a contribution.
There are many young people in their 20's who are taking on big issues, finding solutions and moving forward through different struggles they've encountered.

Tools for the making change (the minimalist utility belt: cell Phone, folding knife, blue sharpie marker for meetings and more, keys, bottle opener. Not pictured, but present: Background work on understanding privilege, social skills, compassion, love, dedication, creativity/ability to improvise, tolerance for harsh situations, blinding intelligence and sense of humor.





Here's some graffiti from the bathroom at the Common Ground headquarters in the Upper 9th ward, where RUBARB bikes is located.

More RUBARB photos

Co-Founder Liz from RUBARB

Co-Founder Lani from RUBARB

Michelle and Jen working on Michelle's bike

RUBARB crew
"Mr. Smiles (far left) and I worked on several projects."

Me

Onward to the US Social Forum

A couple of days ago I decided to extend my trip and try to make it to the US Social Forum in Atlanta , GA (6/27/07 - 7/1/07). The question I think that we need to keep asking ourselves is "What would we like to see?" in the future for ourselves, for others and expanding to include more and more. We are going to have to deal with the consistent assaults on ours and others humanity that our present economic and class situation inflicts. That is the world we have inherited and created so far. However, it's easy to forget to visualize our direction and or the questions to ask just to start to visualize our direction with so much going on. It's hard to reclaim our ability to dream amidst, the chaos and violence of this world. I do take consolation in that as humans we've figured out a great deal so far and we can go much further in our evolution. There is a reality out there and no amount of denial will keep it from being there for a million tomorrow either just outside our door, in the room or inside of our heads. That is until we deal with it. A little at a time and with time to recharge and have great lives in the process. In the Philippines there were 81 documented revolutions in 323 years against Spanish colonization. Those folks were prepared to fight for something bigger than themselves that might never see the resolution of. If you are facing that I think you develop long range expectations, patience and endurance to see something through as much as you can in your own lifetime.

So, I'm headed to Atlanta with that question in my mind. I'm joining a Playback Theatre delegation from New Orleans, Asheville, NC with folks from the Bay Area and Canada also. We'll improvisationally reflect back the stories that we hear at the Forum and give a training workshop there.

Here's a picture our Pinoy (Filipino) Playback Theatre, my troupe/ project in San Francisco.

Bike Projects

I'm volunteering with 2 Bike Projects here. One is the Rusted Up Beyond All Recognition Bikes
RUBARB bike project. A part of the Common Ground Collective.
Below is an earn a bike participant/ young bike mechanic.


This is the RUBARB Building.













Below are their rules. I like the one about cursing.




















I''ve also been volunteering with Plan B, a community bike shop here where adults learn bike mechanics and can come away with a new bike that they learned to assemble with help from volunteer staff for an average cost of $35.00.
One of my highlights from yesterday was working with 2 Egyptian exchange students, Aman and Amad who were all smiles after making substantial progress on their project bikes. I'll see them again on Saturday and hopefully they'll be able to finish their bikes and teach me another Arabic word. "Masalam!" (Hi and Bye)

Donated bikes from Chicago being unloaded.

Part of the inventory of bikes waiting to be built up.

Plan B is next door to the Anarchist Book Library where someone there had discovered the best stapler for social change.

First Glimpses - part 2

Being here, this place, it's a kind of post apocalyptic frontier lite. I'm staying in the Lower 9th ward where about 1 in 20 houses are occupied. Military helicopters fly overhead and Humvees patrol on occasion. The architecture is similar to the that of Oakland and Berkeley and it's not hard to imagine this happening there.Here are some of the surrounding houses. I'm in a house with one small solar panel on the roof with a do it yourself water flushing toilet and we use the unoccupied neighbors hose and backyard (with permission) for showers and non-potable water. It's not recommended to drink the tap water here. I hear that in the Upper 9th ward there are only foundations of houses with front and rear steps. The rest was washed away.


The difference between those who have and those who don't is startling.






One of the many beautiful things about this place is that so many of the people I've met here are here because they have a contribution they want to make, if only for a short time and off and on again. People say that they decided to stay for a week and ended up being here for 2 months or 2 years. There's so much organizing happening here and that's been the case for a long long time. I've seen so much active and young postive energy and young people in their 20's dealing with multitudes of issues and finding solutions each step of the way.

Rewind- First Glimpse of New Orleans

First glimpses - part 1


On the way into New Orleans on the Greyhound I looked for signs of what had happened almost 2 years back. I saw the Superdome. I remember that. Next was a fenced off and unoccupied office building and a street sign bent at a strange angle. Little clues in an area that got about a foot of water I was told. It rains a lot here off and on, big raindrops with lightning and thunder.






Then next welcome was our arrival at the Greyhound Station. It was a familiar scene from Walidah’s Documentary “Finding Common Ground” that moved me to think of coming on the trip. When I saw the Amtrak train behind it, I realized that I had arrived at what was the makeshift prison for the New Orleans after Katrina.

Being inside the station listening to Frank Sinatra and his friends as background on the PA system was such a strange experience. Then and now.














I stopped into a small café and tried to get a New Orleans breakfast. It was pretty standard bacon with eggs scene except for the big pile of grits. The Vietnamese shop owner warned me about riding my bike on smaller streets because he thought I would get jumped and my bike stolen. Since then individuals have been fascinated by my folding bike, but not as motivated as the shop owner warned. I was riding last night about midnight on quiet and calm streets and one man called out “Hey, give me your bike!” in a commanding voice and with a big smile. I smiled back, waved and said “Hey Man! (Hello) and kept riding. Unlike what I had feared, it was an absolutely friendly interaction.

Smiling on Offense

Thoughts continued. June 20th - 21st 2007

At my temporary home in the squat.

I went to a potluck with many members from the Anti-Racism Working Group tonight. I was waiting for a break in the torrential downpour and then rode to the address listed in a steady downpour. On the way I picked up 3 more bags of Zap’s chips and a box of plastic garbage bags. I donned my first garbage bag rain suit in years. It also doubles as a California Raisin costume that covers both myself and my backpack.
At the potluck there were beans, rice and very spicy and salty crayfish. It seemed like black and or red beans to go with the rice, but it was dark in the kitchen and I couldn’t tell the difference

We had introductions and paired off to think about what “accountability” means in our different activities and as outsiders here in New Orleans.
For me that means looking at my assumptions and initial thoughts about working class Black folks and also being very clear on why I'm here. People are genuinely friendly and I appreciate that. Figuring out where my fear comes from is a great opportunity on this trip. There's so much junk in my brain. A high water mark from a racist tide of misinformation that has to be reconciled, one piece of misinformation at at a time. I have a racially mixed heritage and that means that sometimes I pass and sometimes strange stuff is said or done in my direction. We all get the hurricane though. The were other great conversations and threads of thought at the potluck. Some things that I took away from the evening were:

In my mind the debate around public safety usually gets framed as either having unsafe streets or more police. I watched that happen last year in the Excelsior District of San Francisco after a surge in youth violence. There are other options that we don’t think about that exist between nothing and more militarism. On the way home I saw my first Humvee out front of our place, just as we were arriving home. I was friendly and cooperative, smiling like an idiot to the 18 year olds with guns looking somewhere for a college degree, opportunity or job training. They had guns.

When I was in Eugene, Oregon I used to compulsively smile at people. One day I found myself doing it while I was in the worst mood and late somewhere. The contradiction of it felt awful. What was worst was that my face was doing something beyond my conscious control. A few days ago in Austin I rode past some houseless folks under a tree partying and they were superfriendly. I mean spooky friendly, like it was an offense tactic in a football game. "Break right, be friendly (through them off) and sneak on past, to the 20, the 10 and Touchdown!" I knew they were up to something. I was on offense with the compliant smile to the Military Police, just like back on the river bike path in Eugene, OR. Compliance worked for me this time.

I hear a lot about the police in this town. The unanimous consensus is to avoid them. I heard that there was a midnight capture the flag game going in a public square and that someone ran past a police officer and then was tackled and taken to jail. Running is against the law here. It's called disturbing the peace. I asked if it was a white or black person and had to laugh at myself. Who else would be out in the middle of this city at night thinking that they could play sports at midnight and not be hassled. Of course they were white. It's not anyone is going to put on a midnight Arab or Black rugby league tournament in a public square or near a city or government office anytime soon. That being said, I do sincerely hope that 20 something clean cut middle class white male gets out of the jail soon.


I have this image in my mind of dancing and partying New Orleaneans who really know how to have fun, especially after sunset. I have news for you folks, they're not really so good at having fun. It really about the mosquitoes here. Really it is.


More photos to follow.

Ingat Ka,
Take Care/Go Carefully - in Tagalog/Filipino

Jason

Longhorns & Goat in Austin. Rain in New Orleans

When I flew into Austin I had it in my mind that every place in Texas has tumbleweeds blowing across dusty highways between oil wells eventually leading to modern skycrapers. Why is Austin so green? Another perception shattered...
I went there to present at a the national bicycle education conference. A couple of days laterI was sitting in a workshop and the presenter said "start you Blog now! You all are intelligent and passionate people and I need you to put your voices out there." It was on the topic of bicycle education, but I realized that I am indeed a passionate person and am often putting out my ideas, and indeed it is time.

We were staying close the University of Texas. GO LONGHORNS! I really liked seeing this statue and thinking of this statue at a heavy metal concert. ROCK ON TEXAS!

I presented a tool for teaching bicycle and pedestrian safety concepts at the conference, got people of color together to begin conversations and visualize moving forward in the generally white field of Transportation Advocacy. Being a minority within a minority movement is an interesting position. I think that as cyclists what we are asking of the world is our share of space on the road and yes this involves following the common language of traffic laws. When we face drivers who are livid and upset because of our request, sometimes dangerously so we are facing their discomfort in giving something up that they take for granted. The privilege of driving with all of its assumed benefits are like a lot of other forms of privilege. Going where ever you want to in your vehicle whenever you want to may seem like freedom, but it's supposed benefits are the leading cause of death in the US for people after surviving infancy and before heart attack or cancer comes on the scene. The "benefits" are obesity, lack global climate change, war, destruction and so much more. I think that automobiles are a good option at times, but currently we aren't given much access to other options. That's a thought for later. It's the same from other types of privilege where the supposed benefit is harmful all around. I want folks to take on the work of examining what we have over others and what they have over us. Being the in group is a very fluid thing. Class, race, gender, age, sexual orientation, immigration status can affect who has the high or low hand in each given moment.
I think that if folks in the cycling and Transportation Advocacy world kept moving to understand this and step out of the perceived privilege of not working on race then they would join folks on the cutting edge that are rapidly building "the world we could have" vs. settling for a world that values profit over our one lives as a survival strategy. Paraphrasing my friend Art, "We haven't been around as humans for all that time and I'd like to think that we're gradually figuring all this out." I agree with Art. I think we are.
We all have an interest in transportation and it will be around for a long long time. Transportation is more ordinary and inevitable than death or taxes.


Currently I'm in a New Orleans coffee shop and it's raining much more than I'm used to as a west coastie. It's raining ALOT. Hurricane season in upon the Gulf and I'm getting an introduction to the Creole version of normal precipitation.

Before my 12 hour Greyhound trip down here I visited with a bike artist and activist I knew in Eugene, OR when I lived there. She had a pygmie goat with a wicked vertical jump, that liked to steal food and liked to head butt your knees, all in the name of fun. It was so darn cute when sleeping. It tried to eat everything including the wheels of my suitcase trailer.

In Austin, I had a conversation with a man who had been in the military for 12 years and over the course of the evening and many beers told me he had killed 2600 people personally. He repeated that the US public didn't want to know what he was doing in the name of our national interests. Personally, I think we do need to know and that the people who are in his position need a place to tell their stories.


Today in this coffee shop I rolled my eyes at a sensationalist statement about the Iraq war and was invited to join a conversation with a self defined "liberal" Jewish woman about the legitimacy of preemptive war and Israel's treatment of Palestinians the middle east. It was a good conversation, hard to keep my mind clear at times, but a good dialog. My family is Arab heritage and I have relatives in Beirut.

I'm volunteering here in New Orleans doing bike work and some bike work with youth.
I found a place to stay in a 6 person squat and it's like camping in an urban/frontier setting.
It's pushing my comfort zone, but even after just one day it seems more normal.

I'm off to an anti racism gathering /Potluck. I didn't read the Common Ground Anti-Racism reader, but I will later.

There are excellent potato chips here called Zap's and they come in many different flavors.

That's all for now,

Jason