Forced Removal: How the People and the Media fight for their "right to return" to the Gulf Region and NYC

Submitted by Pacebelle on Tue, 01/22/2008 - 1:42pm
Short Description: 

Mainstream media casts a shadow over the housing crisis in the United States, while grassroots media attempts to reveal what we do not see: the struggle communities confront nationally. Who is responsible for the housing crisis in the U.S.? What is causing the forced and unjust removal of people from their homes? Our workshop examines the fundamental differences in the ways that mainstream and grassroots media portray forced removal in the Gulf Region and New York City. The people designing this workshop represent various communities including Sarah Lawrence College and the New York Solidarity Coalition for Katrina/Rita Survivors. Workshop attendees will discuss the housing crisis through an ‘interactive media map’ featuring short film viewings, photo slides, and audio recordings from both corporate and local media sources. With these samples as guides we will investigate themes and discrepancies in media, and the cultural filters that shape our impressions.

Presenters
Presenter One Name: 
Kristina Loring
Presenter One Info: 

Kristina Loring is a Sarah Lawrence College student, intern for the New York Solidarity Coalition for Katrina-Rita survivors, and co-chairs an affiliated campus group. She worked as a summer intern for Story Corps: the Griot Initiative in Brooklyn, which works to document the African - American experience through radio testimonies.

Presenter Two Name: 
Johnnie Stevens
Presenter Two Info: 

Johnnie Stevens heads the media committee for the New York Solidarity Coalition for Katrina-Rita Survivors, and is an independent filmmaker currently working on 'Which Gulf is the War Zone?' He recently filmed the New Orleans City Council meeting to discuss public housing demolitions, and the police brutality against demonstrators.

Presenter Three Name: 
Laura Ayers
Presenter Three Info: 

Laura Ayers is a photographer who spent several months of 2006 and 2007 engaged in relief efforts and struggles in and around New Orleans. Although currently residing in NY, she spent most of the past decade traveling nationally and internationally.

Presenter Four Name: 
Ricky Mcghee
Presenter Four Info: 

Ricky McGhee is a Sarah Lawrence college student working with the New York Solidarity Coalition for Katrina-Rita Survivors, affiliated campus groups, and the Black Student Union. He is a poet and survivor from New Orleans making a poetry anthology about New Orleans and 'urban' issues, to fundraise for other survivors.