Community Profiles

Gabe, Lisa, and Audrey (with Dominic on her back)

Before Katrina, Ithacans Audrey Stewart and Lisa Guido were thinking about moving to New Orleans. They're plan was to head down for at least six months—and then the storm hit. Rather than convincing them to stay in Ithaca, the destruction following the storm confirmed their commitment to helping residents in whatever ways they could.

"After Katrina," Audrey explains, "We were more drawn to go down there, but we were also uncertain what it would be like for the kids." Audrey and Lisa have two children together, Gabe, who just turned three, and Dominic, who is one.

On a recent sweltering morning, I visited Audrey and Lisa in their downtown Ithaca home to talk about their work in New Orleans. Later, I spoke with Lisa about their involvement in various issues and actions, and to get more of a sense of their personal lives.

One of the most notable aspects of the couple and their children is the ease in which they move from one activity to another and their humble approach to life. In fact, their whole way of life seems to be deeply rooted in activism and simple living.

They met at an activist retreat in Washington DC eight years ago, and since then have taken part in actions all over the country, including a yearly trek to shut down the School of the Americas, to New York City anti-war protests, World Bank and FTAA protests, and last summer's action in Crawford, Texas with Cindy Sheehan.

Now that they have children, the boys attend alongside their mothers.

Of course, going to protests is just a part of what they do: every day provides opportunities for them to live their values. Lisa says it's not just about a day of action here or there, but an overall approach to life.

For example, they started a free child care movement in Ithaca, and that is still going strong. They just started offering free child care and then others did the same. Their lifestyles have very little overhead so they can volunteer a lot. They support themselves through doing odd jobs like gardening, landscaping, or painting work. It helps that they don't own a car, and buy all their clothes secondhand.    

During our first visit, Lisa took the kids upstairs while Audrey and I talked, though Dominic would sometimes wander in for a quick nurse from Mama Audrey. Lisa was Dominic's birth mom, but Audrey was still nursing Gabe when Dominic was born, so she can help with the task, so to speak.

Getting the word out about what's happening in New Orleans is important to both of them. One thing that helped their decision to go to New Orleans is that the kids' godparents live there, so they knew they'd be close to family. Also, Audrey grew up in Mississippi, and Lisa spent time in New Orleans on a walk retracing steps of the Underground Railroad, so they felt a strong connection to the area.

Their first trip to New Orleans took place in November. During their seven month stay, they volunteered at places such as Common Ground, Safe Streets/Safe Communities, and the St. Augustine Church, which is the oldest African-American Catholic Church in the country—and which, during their stay, the Archdiocese of New Orleans (the same man who was Arch Bishop in Boston during the sex scandal) decided to close.

The African-American community's response to this was so great that the Archdiocese instead put the church on an eighteen month probationary period. The Archdiocese also appointed a new priest—a white one. And when he showed up for his first Mass in March, he came along with ten or twelve armed guards.

"It was really such a blow to the community," Audrey said. "So protestors stepped up on the altar, with signs, to interrupt the Mass." The Archdiocese proclaimed it sacrilege and deconsecrated the church.

"I find it interesting that he didn't see bringing armed guards to Mass as sacrilege," Audrey said, "but nonviolent demonstrators protesting racism in the church is sacrilegious." 

Racism is in the church, and all throughout New Orleans. Audrey has done quite a bit of paralegal work, helping people with what she calls "FEMA issues," as well as housing and criminal justice cases.

"In the case of housing," Audrey says, "poor people are completely disenfranchised. They're not invited to HUD meetings, they're not asked about their opinion on rebuilding."

The poor are starting to get organized in New Orleans, however. Residents of the Saint Bernard Public Housing had been asking for a while for it to be reopened. It flooded and it needs work, but it could be habitable again. Instead, ten months after Katrina residents were still shut out of their homes. HUD installed metal doors, at a cost of thousands of dollars each, which say ACCESS DENIED. Residents decided to camp outside the housing complex in protest, calling themselves "tent city."

"I've talked with people who are living in cars, camping, living in gutted out houses," says Audrey, "but many, many people are just still out of the city, living in Atlanta or Houston." 

In another demonstration, a group of marchers marched on a gated community. "Their message," Audrey explained, "was 'Hey, the gated communities are back, Mardi Gras is back, Jazz Fest, tourism…When can we go back?"

In July, HUD announced that they would be tearing down 15,000 low income units in New Orleans. "Where will these people go?" Audrey wonders. "There's lots of talk on mixed income neighborhoods, but what that really translates into is gentrification."

She told me about one "mixed income" neighborhood complex where police brutality is common against youth of color. She's worked with families whose African-American children have been harassed by the police while attending an after school program in the neighborhood. One child was arrested and jailed for riding his bike one-handed.

In the past six months, seven men have been killed by police or have died in police custody. Audrey attended a vigil with the family of a previously healthy forty year old African-American man who died in police custody after being arrested on a three-year-old marijuana charge. The family still does not know how he died.

She also told me about a case where eighteen police officers gunned down a mentally ill man.

There has been some increased violence in some of the neighborhoods they've been working, so officials placed National Guardsmen in some of the more quiet areas, according to Audrey.

"The end result is that a lot of the neighborhoods have become even more unsafe because the teenagers are at the mercy of amped up, armed guardsmen," she says. 

Still, she can't wait to get back. They will be leaving Ithaca, likely for good, at the end of August, coming back only for visits with family and friends.

"There's still a ton of volunteer opportunities in New Orleans," Lisa says.

For more info on helping residents in New Orleans, check out the Common Ground Collective.