Bloggers Stand in Solidarity with NAACP Shelter Committees

9/12/2005 11:39:00 AM

To: National Desk

Contact: Bob Brigham, 415-265-2226 (cell)

NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 12 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Ernest L. Johnson, president of the Louisiana NAACP called today for Katrina evacuees in shelters to take control of their own destinies by forming shelter committees.

In response, Internet bloggers have begun writing about the effort to spread the word and stand in solidarity with the NAACP.

"We have a team of bloggers who traveled to Louisiana," said Bob Brigham of http://www.SwingStateProject.com. "Having bloggers on the ground allows us to immediately scale up and catapult good ideas."

Brigham was joined in Louisiana by Macon Phillips of http://www.RebuildTheSouth.com , Lindsay Beyerstein of http://www.Majikthise.typepad.com , and Kyle Shank who is a correspondent for http://www.Americablog.com and blogs at http://www.AmIPatriotic.com.

"Each SHELTER COMMITTEE should elect a Chairperson and a Secretary and begin holding meetings, organizing, and working as a team for better treatment," Johnson stated in a press release. "In unity there is strength."

"Evacuees need representation, they need self organizing," Brigham said. "Philosophically, the netroots have a profound interest in facilitating democracy."

The Louisiana NAACP is airing public service announcements on radio stations that explain the process for bringing participatory democracy to the shelter system.

"The Louisiana NAACP is with you in solidarity," Johnson said. "The NAACP will stand with all displaced people until each and every one return to a brand-new New Orleans."

Brigham, Beyerstein, and Shank are available in New Orleans today for media interviews.

http://www.usnewswire.com/

-0-

/© 2005 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/