Minicine/TAMS art exhibit featuring original art produced by Nadine Charity, Kathryn Usher & Debbie Hollis Buchanan Engle - the artists of TAMS.

Nadine Charity and Kathryn Usher (photo:  DBE)

Buddy and Tim

Buddy and Tim, a photo by Nadine Charity on Flickr.

At the Leadbelly Memorial in Longwood, October 22, 2011.

Herby K's

P1020177, a photo by Nadine Charity on Flickr.

Herby K's 75th Anniversary Celebration.

A 1921 cartoon, courtesy of Duke University, shows a displaced artist walking past Vincent Pepe, an Italian-born real estate entrepreneur, and two rich clients in search of a Village home.

Shotgun Houses

Shotgun Houses, a photo by Nadine Charity on Flickr.

These are some of the last of the occupied Shotgun houses in the Heights. They are across the street from the Salas Mural. See more at MiniCine tonight (Saturday, October 8).

Choice Neighborhood Transformation Plan

Choice Neighborhood Transformation Plan, a photo by Kathryn Usher on Flickr.

With its eight points, the new Choice Neighborhood Transformation Plan for the Shreveport neighborhoods of Allendale and Ledbetter Heights puts me in mind of the ten-point program by The Black Panther Party and the eight elements of the Community Renewal International Plan.

Back in early 2010 I wrote an essay about the similarities of The Black Panther Party and their ten-point program and the eight elements of the Community Renewal International Plan.

For your reading enjoyment here it is again (just a note - although Katee is no longer engaged to the young man mentioned in the essay they are still friends).

OF BLACK PANTHERS AND WE CARE SIGNS
An Essay By Kathryn Usher January 6, 2010

A couple of years ago, my daughter’s fiance introduced me to the 2001 Spike Lee movie "A Huey P. Newton Story." It was an adaptation of Roger Guenveur Smith’s one-man show about the life and times of Newton, who was one of the founders of The Black Panther Party.

Before the movie started, this is what I thought I knew about The Party: “Black Panther equals Evil.”

From the first puff of Smith’s chain-smoking performance, I was captivated. I realized there was much more to The Black Panther Party than I could have possibly absorbed during my pre-cable television childhood (in case you don’t know me, I am a Caucasian woman who grew up fairly middle class in the rolling hills of the “Green Country” part of Oklahoma).

Who knew The Party ran so many social programs? Initiatives included free clinics, grocery giveaways, school and education programs, senior programs, and legal aid programs. The Party's Sickle Cell Anemia Research Foundation was among the nation's first such testing programs. Its Free Breakfast Program served as a model for national programs.

What caught my attention most in the flick was the ten-point program The Black Panther Party crafted. In October 15, 1966 Newton and Bobby Seale drafted the first version. The list established the primary goals of The Party.

1.We Want Freedom. We Want Power To Determine
The Destiny Of Our Black Community.

2.We Want Full Employment For Our People.

3.We Want An End To The Robbery
By The Capitalists Of Our Black Community.

4.We Want Decent Housing Fit For The Shelter Of Human Beings.

5.We Want Education for Our People That Exposes The
True Nature Of This Decadent American Society.
We Want Education That Teaches Us Our True History
And Our Role In The Present-Day Society.

6.We Want All Black Men To Be Exempt From Military Service.

7.We Want An Immediate End To
Police Brutality And Murder Of Black People.

8.We Want Freedom For All Black Men
Held In Federal, State, County And City Prisons And Jails.

9.We Want All Black People When Brought To Trial To Be Tried In
Court By A Jury Of Their Peer Group Or People From Their Black
Communities, As Defined By The Constitution Of The United States.

10.We Want Land, Bread, Housing, Education, Clothing, Justice And Peace.

Whew. Mind-boggling. But then again, not really so far out. I can understand. After struggling to take care of chronically sick family members for years, I can relate to that list of needs.

Who doesn’t want decent housing, clothing, food, medical care, and schooling? Oh heck, I’d love to also have time for friends and a bit of fun. The happiest country in the world seems to have figured it out. Denmark is where the happiest people live. They seem to have all these things and they are a capitalist society. I also think it’s a list that the 8lb 6oz Baby Jesus could approve.

The funny thing was those ten points reminded me of a list of eight items I had read just days prior to watching Newton puff smoke all over the small screen. But what had I read and where had I put it? Most days our Highland home resembles the cluttered homestead National Public Radio commentator, Bailey White seems to write about.

A week later, I cleared off the computer desk that sits across from the French doors that open onto our front porch. There it was. A set of stapled papers in a maroon folder. Shreveport Bossier Community Renewal 8 Elements. I couldn’t help but marvel at how those eight elements were so similar to the ten points of The Black Panther Party from 40 years ago. Shreveport Bossier Community Renewal (now called Community Renewal International) believes there is a way to systematically improve cities block by block by reawakening the “caring” in folks. CRI believes healthy communities are composed of whole persons who have basic needs meet and are then able to then go out and be competent and compassionate folks. Those eight basic needs of a community are adequate housing, meaningful work, healthcare, safety, a leadership system, culture of caring, education, and mutually enhancing relationships.

So many of the programs of The Party from the sixties seemed to mirror the 8 elements CRI is currently working on in Shreveport and my Highland neighborhood.

There is a trifecta of irony hovering around all of this. Newton was named after Huey Long. Newton was also born the seventh son of a Louisiana sharecropper. The spiritual parent of The Black Panther Party itself is said to be the Louisiana-based Deacons for Defense.

Long, Newton’s namesake, is the Louisiana governor who is best remembered for his “Share the Wealth” platform that came about during The Great Depression. Long was demonized as a dangerous revolutionary, yet revered by the masses as a champion of the common man.

Newton did his work in the 1960s and 1970s. And here we are in this new century addressing the same issues Long and Newton addressed years ago with a new program called Community Renewal International. This new program was also created by a Louisiana man. Mack McCarter is actually a native of Shreveport who served as a pastor for 18 years in Texas before returning to his hometown to begin implementing his vision for community renewal.

But what if we don’t succeed and aren’t able to change America block by block? What if we can’t figure out adequate housing, meaningful work, education, healthcare, and safety? That daughter of mine and her fiance will probably relocate to a place like Denmark. And who can blame them? There’s a troubling thought. We are outsourcing jobs to all over the globe; I guess we can outsource our families also. With the Internet and smartphone, it’ll be almost like they are just around the corner.

Almost.

But in reality they won’t be.

And America and the South and Louisiana and Shreveport and Highland and the 400 block of Dalzell Street with it’s big ol’ pothole on the west end will be so much poorer for it. And I have to admit, selfishly, I’ll be in that house with the French doors on Dalzell Street, and I will be feeling extremely deprived from the loss of my only child to some golden place far away. At that time I’ll probably pull up my maroon and white “We Care” yard sign and toss it into the blue recycling bin. I know my doors will be locked a wee bit tighter. And I’ll be a lot less inclined to stroll across the street and tell my neighbor she’s left the lights on again on her old car. Because what would be the point? My car lights are off. I’m safe in my house. And I and my own will be taken care of.

Ultimate Fear

Ultimate Fear, a photo by Nadine Charity on Flickr.

Ultimate Fear is open on Texas Avenue, now through Halloween. Lots of work has gone into the production. Be ready to be frightened out of your socks.