“We want to be able to support kids that want to go into the trade,” said Sydney Doyle, the group leader at the current site.

In 2005, New Orleans experienced a hurricane known as Katrina. It has been 15 years since the horrific storm, and the lower 9^th ward is reminded every day. In the lower 9^th ward, there are neighborhoods that are overrun with weeds, graffiti covered buildings, and soulless houses. This community has become a desert for grocery stores, businesses, hospitals, and schools.

“When people were bused out of the city a lot of people didn’t have the money to get back or didn’t have the money to fix their home, so they moved somewhere else.” said Doyle.

This storm was an influential moment for the “haves and the have nots.” Thousands of people were able to evacuate and thousands of families that weren’t able to evacuate, most of who were low-income, or disabled. A lot of the people that couldn’t evacuate died in their homes, and those people that survived had to bear ongoing struggles to survive, and financial hurdles rebuild their homes.

“There so many abandoned lots and homes … the city wants to get people living in them,” said Doyle.

There were a couple incentives implemented to redevelop the 9^th ward, but most of those incentives lacked character and culture. unCommon Construction provides high school students paid apprentices, so they are equipped with soft and hard skills once they graduate.

“Most of what we focus on is soft skill development, so yeah they are construction and there is hard skills but what really focus on is time management and professional attitude,” said Doyle.

Students from varying New Orleans high schools who are at least 16 are encouraged to apply. Local high school students that are interested don’t need previous construction experience and must be able to commit 10 hours a week.

“We partner with a lot of different construction companies … and we try to have a diverse cohort each semester.” said Doyle.

Each cohort of students builds one house from start to finish every semester. The students earn high school internship credit, hourly pay, work experience, and a scholarship once they graduate. 

“The money from that sell is what pays our kids paychecks, and we give them equity awards, so we match 50 cents to every dollar they make every semester that goes into a scholarship they get when they graduate…. and the next student group,” said Doyle.

The houses they build are sold in an open market and they are typically priced below the medium range in the neighborhood. This is Sydney’s first time working on a home in the lower 9^th ward, she also assisted in building homes in St. Rock neighborhood. If you are interested in learning more about unCommon Construction click here https://uncommonconstruction.org/.

“This is only our second affordable home that we’ve done, with our program we can’t afford to build affordable homes often which is why it’s exciting we get to do this one,” said Doyle. 

The post Students Help Rebuild Lower 9th Ward appeared first on Rising Waters.

“The Native Americans took them in, taught them their ways, taught them how to survive, taught them their language and hid them from slave owners”, said Tinice Williams, Mother of Black Hawk Hunter tribe members.

The Mardi Gras Indians have been leading communities of people throughout the carnival with their intricate suits, heart filled songs, and glorious performances. Masking Indian has been a tradition for some families for hundreds of years, and almost every community or parish has their own tribe. Masking Indian isn’t discriminatory of age, or gender, but you need discipline, and creativity a few characteristics The Black Hawk Hunter tribe possess.

“My sons are creating a legacy for our family but there are also Masking Indian tribes that has a chief that has masked for over 50 years.” said Williams.

The Black Hawk Hunter tribe is one of the youngest tribes that you will see leading Fat Tuesday, the BHH tribe is also actively involved with their community participating in ADHD fundraisers, and meet in greet literature events.  The BHH are a young tribe targeting their peers to present alternatives that can keep them out of trouble. Member of the tribes don’t have free time like other kids and are always on deadlines to ensure they are prepared for next carnival season. The BHH tribe has less than 12 members, Brothers, Terrance “Tee” The Big Chief,16, and Tyrell Williams,14, the gang flag, got their exposure to the Mardi Gras Indian culture from an older cousin in 2011, and have been Masking ever since. The youngest brother Simeon Israel is the Spyboy and he’s 8 years old.

“My middle son has ADHD so what he does is sow the suit and dedicate it to ADHD… he’ll be set up at the schools and kids are inspired by his story… he tries to encourage kids to accept their differences,” said Williams.

The suit a tribe is dressed in for Fat Tuesday changes each year regardless of how many times they wear the suit. The suits can be designed with no restraints and are dependent on how much effort you want to put in, and you can utilize any color, story, and inspiration. A suit can consist of a Crown, Jackey, gloves, Apron, bottoms, and shoes. Each part of a suit can be decorated with meaningful patches, feathers, fabric and jewels. M Indians don’t get to participate in most carnival activities because of the time they invest in hand sowing their suits, an intricate suit can take almost a year to prepare. This year Brothers of the BHH dedicated their suits to their mother, each of them has hand sowed portraits of her on their Aprons, and the big Chief dedicates his song to her.

“At the events they allow for the student to interact musically and allow them to see the suit up close which some kids haven’t had the chance to do,” said Williams.

Positions in a tribe vary depending on that tribe’s preference. All the positions are purposeful to ensure the tribes performance and interaction with people are as safe as possible.  A few of the positions you may encounter on a Fat Tuesday is The Big Chief, Spyboy, the Gang Flag, or Wild Man. The Big chief is the Overseer, the Wild man is there to ensure the Big chief has enough room to perform, and the Spy boy is the Indian leading the tribe and scouting for other tribes. The tribe incorporates African and Native instruments into their performances and has members that fulfill this role as well.

“Each neighborhood had their own set of Masking Indians, these Masking Indians would put on their suits, come out and entertain, they got drums and tambourines going and the whole neighborhood following them,” said Williams.

Although the Mardi Gras Indian culture is well respected and known now it hadn’t once been a secret that resulted in jail if caught. During segregation, when African Americans weren’t allowed to celebrate carnival day on the main streets with their counterparts, Mardi Gras Indians would cover their face and paint and put on their suits to uplift the members of the community, and they had to be celebrate this tradition in secret. This was the time period that shaped the importance of Mardi Gras Indians in the community.

“Know it’s a form of unity and togetherness and know it’s not just about pretty colors but “the blood, sweat, and tears behind creating the suits,” said Williams.

Although Covid-19 has canceled the carnival season, Mardi Gras Indians haven’t been deterred from working on next years suit. Covid-19 has given the Black Hawk Family a chance to do activities that they haven’t been able to do because of their busy schedule, such as playing video games, learning how to cook, and taking walks around the neighborhood without their suits. Tanice wants people to learn more about the history, time, and money required to Masking Indian so they can truly respect the culture.

“It became a tradition that they would do every carnival day, and people came to like it and became legal… It’s become a thing everyone wants to see”, said Williams.

The post Mardi Gras Indian: The Black Hawk Hunters appeared first on Rising Waters.

“If you actually look in the history books, the blacks fought for the south just as the whites did, a lot of people think it’s about slavery but it’s not about slavery,” said community member Richard Brunet.

The northern and southern states were not only separated by the Mason- Dixon Line, they were also separated by their use of African slaves. All African slaves received inhumane treatment alone with brainwashing, and displacement. Until about 1805, African slaves in the north mostly worked in homes, while African slaves in the south worked in the fields supplying billion-dollar industries for the next sixty years. In the south there weren’t thousands of slave owners, there were hundreds of slave owners that owned thousands of slaves.

“They try to take southern history out of history books, everybody thinks it’s about slavery it’s about the south fighting the north…which one wanted power,” said Brunet.

States in the south felt it was a right to own slaves, especially as a white man. Owning slaves for them was a way of life and made them feel superior to something. Confederacy in the south started after northern states wanted to emancipate slavery. When these states seceded, new flags were adopted, and states’ Casus Belli were written. There were many flags adopted amongst varying states. The Confederate flag we know of was adopted a few years after the American Civil War.

“It’s the south; I was born and raised down here, it’s my heritage,” said Brunet.

For most of America until the late 1900’s, slavery was deemed acceptable because African decedents were looked at as a free commodity, instead of human beings. Although slavery was abolished in the late 1800’s, new ways of slavery have been enforced through legislation, lineage, and culture since then.

“I’m not for the Confederate flag, for me it stands for hate and aggression that all my people went through, but to each its own as long as you don’t cross my yard with it nothing I can do about your beliefs,” said a nearby shopper Ursula Steib. 

 Shortly after the American civil war is when the Confederacy in the south was amplified and was revamped by white supremacists. The most notable white hate group known as the Ku Klux Klan was founded by retired Confederate veterans. This group adopted the Confederate flag and made it the instrument it is for racism today. Since the 1865, this group has terrorized non-white individuals and at the time the Republican political party. You can learn more about the founding of the hate group here https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/kkk-founded.

“What it is, is that one person carried a Confederate flag, went to that church and killed all them black people,” said Brunet.

The states that used to be far left, and Democratic are now far right and vote Republican, if they vote at all.  Brunet doesn’t participate in politics because he feels his vote won’t make a difference, and claims he supports Trump because Trump delivered more jobs in the oil industry and did everything, he said he would do.

“I’m a Trump supporter yeah but as far as voting for any presidents, nope,” said Brunet.

Racism still exist everywhere in the U.S., but southerners feel it mainly exist now up north. Confederate flags are prominent in the south and exist sparingly up north in particular communities. Brunet feels his love for the Confederate flag is not hate because of its ties with Cajun heritage, which he has both symbolically tatted on his arms.

“This whole block right here used to be nothing but family, my great grandpa used to own all this, all this used to be sugarcane fields,” said Brunet.

Brunet would consider himself a coonass, in which he provides for his family by hunting in the bayou. He hunted all sorts of animals and has caught a 5- foot alligator along the bayou in his backyard. The most important thing that the bayou has taught Brunet is — 

“How to provide food for your family, how to live off the land, and learned about cooking, “said Brunet.

The post The Confederate Flag: History in the Bayou appeared first on Rising Waters.