Author: Linni Kral
Of what kind of house does a man who has lived in a six-by-nine foot box for 30 years dream? This is the question Louisiana artist Jackie Sumell asked Herman Wallace, a political prisoner who has lived in solitary confinement in the state’s Angola penitentiary.
Sumell recently caught the attention of Oxy students on the annual Disaster Politics course trip to New Orleans for relief work. The students met Sumell at her exhibit, “The House That Herman Built,” where she has used various media to display images of the house described to her by Wallace.
Wallace is one of three political prisoners commonly referred to as the “Angola 3.” These men met in the Louisiana State Penitentiary, where they had been put for various reasons. It was here in 1971 that they created the first prison chapter of the Black Panther Party. They aimed to desegregate the prison, end systematic rape and violence, improve conditions and work as lawyers helping other prisoners file legal papers. They also staged several sit-ins and strikes.
In 1972, Wallace and Albert Woodfox were convicted of stabbing a guard and a third man, Robert King, was linked to the murder. “They were framed by the Louisiana government for a murder they did not commit,” Aliza Goldsmith (first-year) said. Goldsmith, who went on her first New Orleans trip this break, is one of the students responsible for bringing this issue to campus through her work starting the A3 club at Oxy. The Disaster Politics class visited the exhibit and some went to Sumell’s home to talk about how they could help the three men.
The prisoners were held in solitary confinement for 29 years, at which point the former Black Panther Malik Rahim, known for his work with Common Ground Collective, joined forces with a young law student named Scott Fleming. They sought to investigate the case and raise questions about the original trials. King was released soon thereafter and pled guilty to lesser conspiracy to commit murder charges, but Wallace and Woodfox remained. By March 2008, the two men had spent 36 years in solitary confinement when they were moved to a maximum-security dormitory.
Oxy students enraged by this story have returned to start the Angola 3 club on campus. “We are excited about spreading awareness of political prisoners in the United States, taking action to work in solidarity with the A3 and work to critique the prison industrial complex in general,” Shannon Docherty (senior) said. “The way that black people are treated in New Orleans and in the prison-industrial complex is not as different from the previous reigns of slavery as people would like to think.” This was Docherty’s second trip to New Orleans, an experience she said was markedly different than the first. This sentiment was shared by many veteran participants in the Disaster Politics course, taught by Professor Caroline Heldman of the Politics department every year. Heldman’s interest in New Orleans began the week that Hurricane Katrina hit, when she witnessed the devastation on TV, drove to the city, and was able to obtain a media badge to gain entrance into the city and participate in relief efforts. She has since helped in various relief efforts, including serving as director of the New Orlean’s Women’s Shelter, where some Oxy students work on their trips.
“Professor Heldman really sparked my attention and made me realize how ill-informed I was and how I had let the media formulate all of my ideas about New Orleans and what had happened there in the summer of 2005,” Goldsmith said. Goldsmith met Heldman during the Multicultural Summer Institute program in 2008, where the group spent a week discussing causes and consequences of Hurricane Katrina. Crew leader Andrew DeBlock (junior) also cites Heldman as the source of his interest, which was sparked in a first-year Politics 101 course. DeBlock originally took the course for credit towards his major, but says his reasons have now shifted greatly.”I am now motivated by my desire to learn why the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina was so devastating, how New Orleans residents were affected by the storm and the response to it, and to do what little I can to assist in the rebuilding of the city,” DeBlock said.
“Our work was not as focused this year,” crew leader Mackenzie Israel-Trummel (senior) said, comparing this year’s work to her past trips that were spent mostly on demolition. “This was both positive and negative, as feeling unfocused meant it was at times harder to stay driven in our work, but it also allowed us to connect more with other social justice groups in New Orleans. It was through this ability to work with different groups that we were connected with Jackie and the House that Herman Built.”
In addition to their interaction with local artists and social movements, students stayed in the Lower Ninth Ward (L9) and worked with the Common Ground Relief organization to aid in demolition and rebuilding efforts. “Even though the L9 is still under federal jurisdiction and is patrolled by the military police, it felt much less like a war-zone than it had in years past,” DeBlock said. “This is in contrast to having a Blackwater security vehicle and military police car parked outside of the building where we all slept every night.” The L9 appears differently than when students first started traveling to New Orleans, as there are several new houses put up by the Make it Right project and art installation that brings in a steady stream of visitors.
“While the L9 has a few funky-looking Brad Pitt houses that were not there last year, and a neighborhood playground with some kids around, the abandoned landscape of a neighborhood once teeming with houses does not look much different,” Docherty said, referencing the changes made by celebrity relief efforts in the Gulf Coast. Goldsmith had trouble shaking the feelings of desolation of this landscape, particularly during one moment of observation while driving on a freeway overpass over a small cluster of houses. “They had no formal roads, no streetlights, no services from the government that I have and take for granted in my life. Even though I know racism is still prevalent in our society, seeing such blatant disregard for human life is something that will haunt me forever,” Goldsmith said. She also remarked on the sexism present in the French Quarter, where some students spent their New Years Eve this January.
On this trip, student efforts were more varied than in the past. Some worked at animal shelters; others installed energy-efficient light bulbs in people’s homes, planted grass in the wetlands and rebuilt homes by installing drywall, taping, mudding, sanding and installing insulation. This work differed from past trips, where most of students’ efforts were put into gutting houses.
“Gutting entailed digging others’ worldly possessions out of their homes one shovel full at a time and stripping the house down to the studs often side-by-side with the homeowner,” DeBlock said. This work was done because those who did not have their houses gutted by a certain date would have government-mandated gutting at a high cost. Many can’t afford this, and their houses are then bulldozed by the government when they can’t repay them for the gutting work.
“We spent one morning gutting a few walls in a home and stumbled upon Christmas decorations in the attic, as well as a toothbrush,” Goldsmith said. “I do not think I will be able to forget that image.” “Gutting is a different quality work with a sense of urgency that simply does not register with other incredibly important work such as wetlands remediation and dry-walling,” Israel-Trummel said. One of Israel-Trummel’s most difficult moments of the trip was returning to the L9 and seeing hundreds of gutted homes that had been bulldozed. “While dry-walling did not feel as important or pressing, it was a more positive type of work. For the first time I was part of a process of rebuilding, rather than demolition of flood-damaged homes. Finally, more than three years after the storm, we were helping to build hom
es,” Israel-Trummel said.
The heartbreak of this emotionally and physically taxing work is not all the students get out of their trips down south. “I thought I was going down to help clean up the remnants of a natural disaster,” Docherty said, “and I soon learned that I was there to learn about the racism, class-ism, and corruption that perpetuated this natural disaster into a political one.” Docherty quoted Heldman, who tells the students that New Orleans will give them far more than they could ever give it. Goldsmith also observed the political tones of the trip. “I knew that this would never be the case in Los Angeles, for my family, who are so-called ‘whites.’ I know that we would never be ignored or left completely on our own by the government.”
These political questions also gave way to more personal and hard-hitting questions for Docherty. “Are we trying to get our do-good liberal-activist deed done over break? If the money we spent coming here was donated instead, would that have a better impact on the community? Three years after the storm, another really important question posed [this trip] was, ‘why haven’t you helped sooner,'” Docherty said. Regardless of how soon people heed the call to action and whatever their motivation may be, Oxy’s Rebirth club makes an effort each semester to raise the funds to send more students on the trips. Around fifty total students took part this January and last year, largely due to the fundraising efforts of this club. The club started two years ago after returning from a trip to New Orleans. Rebirth also raises money to give to the community and aims to educate people about what has happened in New Orleans. Their efforts to raise awareness on campus culminate in the annual Rebirth Week, which takes place in the spring. The group puts on events such as educational displays, performances and fundraisers. They will also be selling t-shirts this semester to raise money for next year’s trip and offering up southern food for students to sample the New Orleans culture of which they have grown fond.
“It is one of the most unique places I have ever been in my life,” Goldsmith said. “From the small coffee shops where we spent many an evening playing board games, to the jazz and brass music that defines the city, to the beignets and café au lait at Café du Monde, to the friendly locals in the L9-each area has its own vibe.”
Raising awareness is also the goal of the new A3 club, which will work closely with Rebirth on campus. They plan to host various events to encourage students to participate in getting the prisoners released. “The two men are serving a life sentence for a crime that is proven they did not commit,” Docherty said. “We were really affected by this.”
“I think it is great that going to New Orleans this year not only motivated students to focus on issues of inequality and injustice related to the storm specifically, but to move beyond that and recognize the way the issues we discussed every day in New Orleans impact people’s lives on a daily basis,” Israel-Trummel said of the students’ decision to get involved with the A3 and bring their issue to the attention of the Oxy community.”Our goal would obviously be to get Herman and Albert freed, but because of Louisiana’s corruption, the state government has insured that this will never happen. Our goal is to make these men household names, to raise awareness and to raise money,” Goldsmith said. There is currently a pending civil suit against the state of Louisiana, which has been deemed worthy of trial by the Supreme Court, due to the argument that over 30 years in solitary confinement is inhumane and unconstitutional.
No matter what the club or cause, the Disaster Politics trips clearly make an impression on students. “Witnessing New Orleans often breaks hearts, and students return again and again to the region to work on their own healing through rebuilding. I expect to be working in New Orleans with the same Oxy students in ten, twenty, thirty years,” Heldman.
“I keep returning to New Orleans because I feel like I have no other choice,” Israel-Trummel said. “My first trip in the winter of 2007, a year and a half after the storm hit, made me realize that I was complicit. I lived in a society where I did nothing while citizens were ignored and allowed to suffer and die.” This was Israel-Trummel’s fourth trip to New Orleans, and certainly not her last. She is one of the many students Heldman referred to who cannot seem to shake the effect the city has had on them.
This certainly held true for former Rebirth club leader, Emma Keough, who decided after this January’s trip to cancel her plans to study abroad in Argentina, take the semester off, and work in New Orleans to contribute to the rebuilding. Rebirth will be run by Docherty this semester in the absence of Keough and Emily Jensen, who is studying abroad in the Netherlands.
“New Orleans has had a huge impact on my life, and the way I look at politics. My experience was not unique, as I saw others go through it, and continued to see students having these revelations this year,” Docherty said. “It was exciting watching people’s eyes open, and also a relief that I had already gone through the emotional baggage that came with owning my white privilege.”
“The experience becomes an incredible loss of innocence when you are forced to realize that your life is not everyone’s reality,” Israel-Trummel said. “And that the ideals of our country simply do not exist for many people.”
“The student trips to New Orleans cause students to question how the world works and to question their place in it, which speaks to the heart of the liberal arts experience,” Heldman said. “We are a little community, pulled together by our shared experiences and interests in rebuilding, in a consumeristic society where building authentic communities is virtually impossible.”
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