As we come together to celebrate New Orleans’ 300 th anniversary, we need to decide as a community: what do we want the next 300 years to look like?
New Orleans has many accomplishments to be proud of, but we also have many problems we need to address. On the top of this list is our dismal record of racial inequality, exploitation, and oppression. A little over 150 years ago, we were the heart of the domestic slave trade. Less than 60 years ago, young Ruby Bridges endured the taunting of white mobs to begin the de jure desegregation of the New Orleans school system. It was less than 30 years ago that the Mardi Gras krewes finally desegregated. And it was only last year that we removed a statue of Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, from a main thoroughfare.
We should celebrate our accomplishments, especially those that have promoted justice and freedom for all people. But we also need to look at the state of our city: the schools that continue to provide unequal and segregated education, the incarceration system that targets poor people of color, the struggle families face looking for safe and affordable housing, and the unemployment crisis that plagues our poorest neighborhoods.
Together, we can work to make this a city that we are all proud of; a city that has overcome the legacy of slavery and racism upon which it was founded. We are not there yet. As the city sponsors tricentennial galas and parades we want to offer you another possibility: donate $10 to Ubuntu Village as a symbol of the alternate city we can imagine and work to create together.What would you do to improve New Orleans?Ubuntu would mentor youth, fight incarceration, and create community leaders.Please considering donating today!
- $10 shows that you support an alternate vision for the next 300 years
- $25 provides snacks for the young people we mentor at Bridge City Center for Youth
- $50 pays a parent stipend for one evening of participatory research
- $100 pays for transportation and a hotel for a parent to visit their incarcerated child
- $200 funds one of our parent engagement classes
- $400 allows us to host a family meal at the Youth Study Center
- $1,000 keeps a roof over our head and the lights on!
Click here to support us