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“This should have never happened! This should have never happened! Is this
America or what?” said one survivor in the upcoming documentary Survivor Stories
about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Survivor Stories, airing on TV One Cable Network on Sunday, August 27, 2006
at 5 PM Eastern Daylight Time chronicles the stories of men and women who survived
the trauma of wind, rain, water and the breaking of the levees. People and whole
communities fell through the cracks of the local, state and federal bureaucracies of
seeming indifference and it was the Black church that stepped up to provide services
above and beyond the call of duty.
“Heroic acts of kindness were rendered by the African American community to
all ethnic groups. Compassion had a black face but this story rarely makes the front pages
of major newspapers and prime-time network programs,” said Bishop Vashti Murphy
McKenzie, presiding bishop of the 13th Episcopal District, African Methodist Episcopal
Church and executive producer of Survivor Stories.
Survivor Stories preserves an accurate account of men, women and children
displaced, separated from family members grappling with loosing everything and ravaged
by two storms. It also depicts how churches took hurricane victims into their churches,
fed thousands, provided food and other necessities. Many areas in Gulf Port and Biloxi,
Mississippi; New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Lake Charles, Louisiana were still without
electricity, water and assistance when the cameras were rolling.
Shown during the 30-minuet special are former ambassador Andrew Young,
Biblical scholar Dr. Renita Weems Espinoza, ninety students and adults from California
who helped with the massive clean up effort and many Katrina survivors telling their own
story. Stevie Wonder and his Los Angeles radio station donated $40,000 to them, which
was given to survivors. Donors from the Jewish community gave $50,000 to support the
students traveling by bus from Irvine, California.
Revealed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is a seemingly bitter reality that
many still view African Americans as America’s “refugees”. In spite of having shared the
North American continent for hundred of years with others from around the world, we
now know that we are still perceived as being less than full citizens – outsiders striving to
belong in a place that does not accept us; feared as troublemakers, lawless and
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unproductive. We are “looters” while others are “ingenious survivors. But this is not who
we are.
“Human triumphs of the African American community in the face of adversity
were missing in many media outlets,” said Bishop McKenzie. ”If we are to correct
stereotypes and fallacies of our community and reclaim ourselves as a prosperous people
with a rich enduring legacy and heritage, we must tell our own story in our own words
and show the truth.”
Sponsors of this historic film include Kerygma, Inc., the African Methodist
Episcopal Church, Bishop Phillip R. Cousin, Senior Bishop and Bishop Preston W.
Williams, president of the Council of Bishops; National Council of Churches,
Empowerment Temple AME Church, Dr. Jamal Bryant; AFSME, Mr. William Lucy,
First Iconium Baptist Church, Rev. Timothy McDonald III, United Church of Christ,
Justice and Witness Ministries, Rev Ron Stief; Vashti and Stan McKenzie and Friendship
West Baptist Church, Dr. Frederick Haynes. Reggie Mitchell Sr., Mitch Media is the
producer.
Bishop C. Garnett Henning, 8th Episcopal District of the A.M.E. Church, which
includes the states of Louisiana and Mississippi, provided local support during the 12
days of filming during the weeks following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
“Survivor Stories” was also produced in conjunction with The Afro American
Newspaper, Mr. Jake Oliver Chairman and publisher and the National Newspapers
Association. Reporters from these news organizations traveled with the film crew to
Mississippi and Louisiana in the weeks following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. An eight
part feature series appeared initially in the Baltimore Afro American Newspapers and in
the 150 African American newspapers nationwide between January and February of this
year.
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