Do you want to show solidarity with the people of New Orleans? Next week, all eyes will be on the city as it celebrates Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras, on Tuesday the 28th. It's the perfect day to do something to celebrate one of our national treasures and support a better future for the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast.Last month, New Orleans native Michael Tisserand -- former editor of Gambit Weekly and a member of the Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch team -- issued a call for a National Mardi Gras. You can read Michael's Mardi Gras manifesto here. He said he got lots of responses, but the logistical task of pulling together a national event was just too much.
Instead, we're asking people to honor the occasion in their own way at the local level. There are countless things you can do:
- Throw a house party.
- Have a moment of silence.
- Send some money to one of the great groups working in New Orleans for a "just reconstruction" (later this week, we'll be posting a list of groups we've met with that are doing great work).
- Find hurricane survivors in your area and support their efforts to get the help they need and be heard.
- Call your Congressional delegation and demand that, at a bare minimum, they carry out the platform in Tisserand's statement.
Just do SOMETHING. The people of New Orleans need to know the nation hasn't forgotten about them. And this is the perfect way to show solidarity, and have some fun.
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