We are deeply saddened to report that Christopher LaForce, a commercial fisherman from Bayou La Batre, Alabama and friend of Bridge The Gulf, passed away last week on his shrimp boat. He was 44 years old.
Christopher was a passionate, outspoken advocate for commercial fishermen, especially in the wake of the BP disaster. "I wasn't raised to bite my tongue," he said last Fall, "This is our life."
By Zack Carter and Paul Nelson, South Bay Communities Alliance. Originally posted in the Mobile-Press Register. One day last month, we arrived at the Fowl River docks and saw several oyster catchers in soaking-wet clothes.
By Ariella Cohen, The Lens. Years after FEMA moved Hurricane Katrina and Rita victims out of formaldehyde and mold-infested trailers, the very same government-issue dwellings are once again sheltering disaster victim
On a beautiful late afternoon in early May, Dedrick Benison and Michael Calvin are quietly surveying the house that came crashing down around them just a week before. On April 27th they were watching a movie here, a neighbor’s house on the catfish farm where the men live and work, near Forkland, Alabama. Moments later a tornado collapsed the roof and ripped off the kitchen wall, sending furniture and splintered wood flying.
“I hate disasters,” Derrick Evans has said grumpily and repeatedly over the past several days. As a resident of coastal Mississippi and a Gulf Coast advocate, Evans has been through situations like this before – Katrina, Rita, Gustav, Ike, BP, to name a few.
Like Holt-Peterson Road near John Wathen's place outside Tuscaloosa, I have seen total destruction in nearby Alberta City and Crescent Ridge Road, in Birmingham's African-American community of Pratt City (approximately 7,000 homes), and elsewhere.
The question that folks who want to volunteer or send relief must begin to ask is not "how hard was xx hit?", but "where is there NOT a steady flow (or even an over-abundance) of relief?"
Today in Mobile, Alabama, community leaders from across the Gulf Coast got together for day one of a two-day summit on fair housing and environmental justice. At the end of a day packed with panels, workshops, and speeches, I spoke with Teresa Bettis, who played a major role in organizing the summit.
We are deeply saddened to report that Christopher LaForce, a commercial fisherman from Bayou La Batre, Alabama and friend of Bridge The Gulf, passed away last week on his shrimp boat. He was 44 years old.
By Zack Carter and Paul Nelson, South Bay Communities Alliance. Originally posted in the 
By Ariella Cohen, 
On a beautiful late afternoon in early May, Dedrick Benison and Michael Calvin are quietly surveying the house that came crashing down around them just a week before. On April 27th they were watching a movie here, a neighbor’s house on the catfish farm where the men live and work, near Forkland, Alabama. Moments later a tornado collapsed the roof and ripped off the kitchen wall, sending furniture and splintered wood flying.
“I hate disasters,” Derrick Evans has said grumpily and repeatedly over the past several days. As a resident of coastal Mississippi and a Gulf Coast advocate, Evans has been through situations like this before – Katrina, Rita, Gustav, Ike, BP, to name a few. 
Like Holt-Peterson Road near John Wathen's place outside Tuscaloosa, I have seen total destruction in nearby Alberta City and Crescent Ridge Road, in Birmingham's African-American community of Pratt City (approximately 7,000 homes), and elsewhere.
Today in Mobile, Alabama, community leaders from across the Gulf Coast got together for day one of a two-day summit on fair housing and environmental justice. At the end of a day packed with panels, workshops, and speeches, I spoke with Teresa Bettis, who played a major role in organizing the summit.
