[Oe List ...] katrina

[Colleen Smith]

Denver accepted 100 survivors of  katrina and are housing them at an 
empty  university dorm.  We were told to except more planes today, the 
dorm can accept up to 1,000 people.  I don't know who organized the 
reception here in Denver, but I am very proud of my city and state.  The 
next step for us is to contact the PTB and offer to do some work with 
the survivors.  Something along the line of what Burna Dunn and others 
did in New York City after 9/11.   Relief is happening, about time, but 
in my mind, there are several questions, not incl.uding the political 
ones.   How do we get beyond the "turf wars" and get some overall 
planning and coordination ?  How is the image changed from "refugee" to 
"survivor"?  How are the survivors enabled to take charge of their own 
lives and future?  (My understanding, is that except for those lucky 
ones going to friends and relatives, the rest are tossed willy nilly by 
whoever picks them up.)

I know that I can't do any of the worshipping, I've always been a foot 
soldier, or  the gun for practics.  I do know that there are many among 
us who have reputations and credentials on  state, national and 
international levels.  Perhaps they could call in some chips or use 
their clout or whatever.   I myself  will volunteer to re-up and be goffer.

Colleen  Smith in Denver  where some incredible people  have gone from 
below sea level to a mile above.

-- 
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
President Dwight D. Eisenhower
April 16, 1953