We Are the 99%



Day 1 of Occupy New Orleans. Solidarity protest and march with Occupy Wall Street.



Multiple Lines of Defense

Last Friday I had the opportunity to go on a boat tour with the Holy Cross Neighborhood Association, the Lower Ninth Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development (CSED), the Gulf Restoration Network, and other local community leaders.

It was my first time ever on a boat. At first it was a little scary, but I had a great time.

CLICK HERE for more pictures of Bayou Bienvenue, the Mississippi
River Gulf Outlet (MR-GO) and Lake Borgne from the Multiple Lines
of Defense Boat Tour. Photos courtesy of Sarah DeBacher.

The purpose of the trip was to highlight the Multiple Lines of Defense Strategy... not just relying on the levees to protect us. The strategy works on the premise that coastal Louisiana must be protected from storms and flooding by both man-made features, such as levees, and by the natural coastal wetland buffer along the Louisiana coast. Levees alone will not work.

Save Our Schools

Some clips of me speaking at the Save Our Schools conference in Washington D.C.

CLICK HERE for more about our trip to Washington D.C., Freedom Rides for Justice in Education and the Save Our Schools March and National Call to Action.

"Keep that fire burning, because if we do they can't touch us. We're too hot!"

"The future belongs to those who prepare for it today" - Malcolm X

On May 19th 2011, Malcolm X’s birthday my teachers and I went to an event hosted by Neighborhood Unity. We arrived kind of late, but made it just in time to watch a documentary on the life of Malcolm X. The documentary talked about the key points in Malcolm’s life, but left out some other points (important ones).  The documentary was about an hour long. After we watched the documentary the host gave us the opportunity to speak about the film we just viewed. 

The conversation went from being about Malcolm X to white people to education in New Orleans and back to Malcolm X.  I enjoyed hearing the open discussion on the educational topic being a 16 year old teenager living in the Lower 9th Ward where there is only one school.  I felt like I had a part in this meeting.

The small room was so emotional I felt empowered by hearing the stories others had to share. Two speakers stood out the most to me.  First, this young lady who had so much passion and almost broke down and cried talking about the state of public schools in New Orleans, but she didn’t.  The second one that stood out to me was my teacher Qasim who got up toward the end of the open discussion and spoke on the need for solidarity and unity in struggle.  I was the last to speak, which meant I didn’t have that much time and I spoke for less then two minutes, and was then cut off because lack of time.

After sitting down some guy walked in I heard a lot of noises and look over by the door some random guy for no reason what so ever (hint hint) came in the room and jump on the host and beat him up. His mission was to disempower us but he only made us more empowered to continue the event.

After we settled down another speaker got up and spoke some poetry.  The last speaker got up with his students and he talked about the school he has started on the West Bank of New Orleans, in Algiers. He spoke for about an hour, then it was over.  

I went back home feeling both mad and empowered because of the turns of events that had happened and the fact that most of the older men was constantly pointing fingers at white people for disempowering them which may or may not be true, but personally I feel that the only person who can disempowered you is yourself after awhile.

Street Library Reflections

On May 7th I had the opportunity to volunteer at the Street Library in the 7th Ward. The Street Library is a program of the Fourth World Movement.  Me, my teacher Kyle, and his son Jonah engaged in reading and fun activities with youth from 3-7 years old.  First we introduced ourselves, then the fun began.  I won’t lie, at first I was a little afraid to interact with them. I was more afraid of them then they were of me. But after a few minutes I made an effort and started looking for Waldo in a Where’s Waldo book with a little girl. We spotted the funny pictures of charters who look like Waldo, but wasn’t him. Then we made Mother’s Day candles with vivid colorful sand. After a while I was having fun too.  I let my inner kid show.  We made Mother’s Day cards that were pretty with stickers, glitter and other stuff as we waited for the candle wax to dry.  We  played tag for like 15 minutes and after they were good and tired we took them home to show their mothers their presents.

Looking back on my experience with the Street Library I found out that I’m good with kids and can be a good role model.  I didn’t like being around kids before.  I was always afraid of saying or doing the wrong thing and being a bad role model to them. Having a Street Library can benefit the community because it allows space and opportunity for diversity and different perspectives that can lead to what is most beneficial for the community.  Watching the kids interact with each other showed me that kids can teach and learn from one another in this type of environment.  On the other hand, in a regular school setting student aren’t empowered to teach and learn from each other because it usually assumed that teachers have all the knowledge and information and students have none.  The Street Library changes that.  My day volunteering at the Street Library was an amazing experience.

I hope to get one started in the Lower 9th Ward soon.

Film Review: Bury the Hatchet

Bury the Hatchet a film by Aaron Walker.




Review coming soon!

Book Review: No Homework and Recess All Day

No Homework and Recess All Day: How to Have Freedom and Democracy in Education By Jerry Mintz (2003)

Jerry Mintz been involved in the freedom democracy education movement for over 30 years now and started AERO (Alternative Education Resource Organization) for kids like me who seek more opportunities for real learning and a break away from the traditional educational system that is outdated and doesn’t work for so many.

No Homework and Recess All Day can be looked at as a guide to starting and maintaining a freedom school. In this book the author lists some helpful tips on maintaining a freedom school like having meetings with the students on issues that affect their education. These meetings often involve issues that might not have caught the teacher’s attention and the decisions often involve voting. For example, bullying that might be going on at the school for a period of time might cause the students to call a meeting and vote to set rules to prevent future bullying and to determine the punishment. In these schools, the students are involved in making every important decision.

This book also mentions resources and other schools that can be taken as model schools like Shaker Mountain, the Albany Free School and many more schools the author helped establish. Jerry Mintz uses personal experience to give the reader a better understanding of these schools and his theory that students deserve an education that is worthwhile in any subject of interest, not just math, reading, English, etc.

I like this book because it tells of personal encounters that Jerry Mintz had in starting his freedom school and helping start many other freedom schools. He tells of his trip to Soviet Union for the first schools festival of the Soviet Union in 1991. This opportunity allowed him to see other alternative schools and begin making connections around the world.

I recommend this book to anyone who wants to break away from the normal main stream of education that is stripping our youth of their right to be educated and more successful in life. Personally I am a 16 year old who has broken away from the public educational system and now being home schooled by several teachers and I know the problems my friends continue to face.  I am committed to being a part of making a changes in education.  No Homework and Recess All Day will be a great resource to us in making our own school in the Lower 9^th Ward of New Orleans.  

Letter to My Younger Self

Dear Anthony,

If I were to tell you that life would get better you wouldn’t believe me. But life is better you remember those nights when we use to stay up all night and cry it wasn’t to long ago was it. Those days we use to struggle finding ourselves. Being hurt so much and giving up. I know this is hard bringing this up but remember I said life is better. After moving to New Orleans I felled into a serious state of depression and if that wasn’t horrible enough I went to carver it was fun but wasn’t my type of fun. Remember when we thought that we were a mistake because every thing we did was so called wrong when deep inside that small voice said we were right. Well my friend we was right 90% of the time. It wasn’t our nor our parents faults we were outcastes but the system’s fault the way we was so called to live our life. Full of dictatorship and the border line abuse physically and emotionally. I know I said this before and I say it again life is better. I don’t know if you remember or not when we were younger and we kelp saying life would get better. Thanks to you going thru the shit and abuse you went thru made me soft and allowed a group of friends in my life that empowers me. the support  we didn’t get from our parents then well now we got it. Remember our dream to travel it’s slowly but surely coming true I been to other cities and states seen many different things. I even drop out of school now being home schooled wow I know home schooled crazy but it’s great thrust me our future is very bright and again thanks for the shit you put up with to gain the life experience we have right now because with out you I would have lost myself along time ago and wouldn’t be the person I am now.

Love your older self.

Youth Advisory Board Application

I applied to the Youth Advisory Board for the Alliance for a Healthier Generation. This is my application.

Extracurricular Activities:

1. We want to know a little bit about you. Give us the “Top 6” list that best describes who you are and what you’re all about (organizations, interests, talents, goals, causes, etc.)

Example: I care about my family’s health, so I got my parents to buy more fruits and vegetables and less chips or I really like soccer and I am captain of my soccer team.

- I really care about my community so I work on an urban farm in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward to help provide healthier food choices to my family and neighbors.

- I want others to learn what I have learned about food and farming so I help teach composting and farming workshops to youth and adults and am a team leader and co-teacher in my school's after-school programs.

- I care about community development, so I wrote a petition to help get an educational variance for my organization so that we could expand our facility and work we are able to do for the community.

- I enjoy public speaking, so I talk about public heath to inform the community about the dangers of unhealthy food and how we can build local solutions.

- I think about and work on new ways to improve education and keep youth in school, so I participate in community and city-wide discussions, panels and conferences on high school reform.

- I know that it will take a national movement to make the changes we need in all of our communities so I make connections with youth leaders from around the country.

2. Listed below are skills that may be beneficial to the Youth Advisory Board. In what skill areas have you had experience? You'll need to check all that apply.

    Video Production

X  Photography

X  Community Service/Service Learning

X  Public Speaking

X  Blogging/Podcasting Texting

X  Recruitment/Community Organizing

    Mentoring

    Web Design/HTML

    Tutoring

X  Fundraising/Grant Writing

    Writing/Editing

X  Advocacy/Activism

    Government

X  Other (please specify)

     - Innovative urban farming

     - Healthy food advocacy

     - Workshop facilitation

3. Please list any honors, awards or recognition for community, academic or school activities that you've received. (If none, please put N/A for none applicable)

I am a youth member of the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group whose mission it is to empower and inspire farmers, individuals, and communities in the South to create an agricultural system that is ecologically sound, economically viable, socially just, and humane. Last fall I was invited to participate in the Kellogg Foundation's New Orleans Convergence which brought together all of the foundation's grantees throughout the region to develop solutions to the problems facing New Orleans youth and communities. For my work in urban farming I received the Community Gardens as Apple seeds Award and in March I was a youth panelist discussing how to empower youth to make New Orleans "the city that ended hunger" through innovative practices in urban farming and sustainable community food systems. Other panelists included Macarthur Genius award winner Will Allen from Growing Power, Brian Geutreax of Geutreax family farms, Liz Tuckermany of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and New Orleans celebrity chef, John Besh.

Short Answer Essays

3 Essay Questions:

1. Why do you want to be a part of the Youth Advisory Board?

The reason I want to be on the Youth Advisory Board is because it will give me the opportunity to influence national and local policy affecting healthy youth and communities while bringing attention to the ongoing struggles in New Orleans’s Lower Ninth Ward concerning unhealthy eating and limited food access. Through this experience I hope to gain new perspectives and meet new people with the same interest and goals as me: creating a better school system, decreasing violence, and providing meaningful healthy opportunities and experiences for youth in my community and others around the country. This will be an educational experience that will test what I know, the chance to learn more, and will ultimately benefit me in the long run. Also through this experience I hope to travel and experience new things, gain valuable perspectives. I appreciate the opportunities I have had to meet new people from all over the country who have visited New Orleans to support the redevelopment in our neighborhood, and I think this will be an opportunity to share my story and learn from others even more. The Youth Advisory Board will also give me the opportunity to provide needed exposure to my work in New Orleans.

2. What do you do to try to stay healthy? Have you faced any problems or hurdles to being healthy and what have you done to overcome them?

Access to healthy food was limited to the community I live in. The Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans is a food desert. Food access is limited to two corner stores which sell mostly alcohol, cigarettes and junk food. The closest grocery store is 2.5 miles away in the next parish. While living in Griffin, GA the closest store to my house was a corner store almost 2 miles away. Being surrounded by unhealthy food most of my life has contributed to my weight issues. Now that I have been learning about healthy foods and growing my own food with my friends and neighbors on our urban farm, I have been eating healthier, getting exercise composting and working on the farm, and feel much more healthy and better about myself.

3. If your future job was to design ways to help other youth become healthier: What creative and new ideas would you include in schools to help kids eat healthier and be more physically active? What would you do in other places within the community?

I want to make youth healthier through school gardens that provide opportunities for youth to learn how to grow good food, cook healthy food and eat out of the school garden.  In other places throughout my community, I want to transform abandoned lots into more community gardens, engaging other youth growing food for neighborhoods with limited access to healthy food, making this a safe, resource-rich environment.  School and community gardens can increase student engagement, decrease school dropout rates and in the long-run we’ll have kids who are not only physical healthy but mentally healthy and with a higher confidence because they’ve been contributing to making their communities stronger and more healthy.  Since Hurricane Katrina, youth from around the country have visited New Orleans and the Lower Ninth Ward learning and working with our communities. I want to develop a program that creates opportunities for teenagers from New Orleans to travel and connect with other youth and community empowerment organizations around the country, teaching and learning from workshops and experiences with each other, and preparing them to come back to New Orleans and build on what they have learned making their communities a stronger, better healthier place.

"I Am"

I am a black man with special wants

I wonder when my people going to wake up and see the world for what it is.

I hear sirens thru my neighborhood.

 I see my family being lost in the world.

I want to put an end to this madness.

I am a black man with special wants.

I pretend that I live in a pure and perfect world.

I feel the tears of men kind as they drop to the ground.

I touch the hearts of people nearest to me.

I worry that one day I would be alone.

I see my parents trying to give me and my sibling something they never had.

I am a black man with special wants.

I understand one man can’t save this world because the problems grow too large.

I say that if we work together as a unit that we can change the world.
I dream of random stuff.

I try to not to fall back into old habits and lifestyles.

I hope we will come to realize the wickedness in the world.

I am a black man with special wants.