Hello, hello. I'm writing from a Best Western in Santa Rosa, NM. The sun is rising and we're getting ready to spend a few days in Dad's beloved South West.
This change of gears has finally started to set in. Many of you have written the kindest notes or called with encouragement. I can't say how much these words have meant to us as we re-start and consider ways to carry forward the original intentions of this trip.
Our stay in Memphis with a wonderful and feisty Dorothy Abbott (seems we were bound to stay with feminists after all!) provided a perfect transition. We spent hours at the moving Civil Rights Museum,
which conclude at the very balcony where MLK was shot 40 years ago. Dorothy, who was 19 in Memphis when the shooting occurred, added vivid memories to this glimpse into a part of our particularly American history.
We also toured Dorothy's church, 1st Congregational Church or "1st Congo," a mecca for Memphis social justice organizations, including a rocking bike co-op that made me a little sad not to be on 2 wheels. (The gap between wishing I were riding and my walking-like-a-90-year-old slowness reminds me again that long days on the bike are simply not a possibility yet. Alas. Dad's been very patient.)
In addition to a media co-op, hostel, fair trade market, ACORN and many other great organizations, First Congo houses an environmental justice group, Defense Depot Concerned Citizens Committee. DDCCC is asking for a clean-up of the nearby naval dump site that has leached toxic chemicals into the primarily African American community that is close by. The
group started when parents demanded answers for their young kids' testicular and ovarian cancer. As Anthony, our garrulous tour guide (who later did a little shimmy in front of the belly dancing studio where rape survivors can find healing through movement), said, "For these parents, it wasn't a question of waiting for the government. They lived and breathed the injustice and came together for their own survival."
Cancer is everywhere. Yet, Breast Cancer Action and the Lymphoma Foundation of America, the two groups we chose to support in this journey (no longer just a ride), are questioning the systems that cause and respond to cancer. They ask how everyone, rich, poor, White, Black, Asian, Latino (pick your identity), can have the care they need to survive the disease. What sort
of health care, social services and awareness make cancer survival possible?
We must also ask the question of who is exposed to toxins that cause cancer. The rich and burgeoning Environmental Justice movement highlights the links between race and toxic exposure, showing that communities like those outside the Depot site are the norm, not the exception. Race plays a large factor in communities' exposure to chemicals that accelerate or even cause cancer. As a nation that can afford to spend billions (now trillions?) on a war abroad, shouldn't we be able to find the resources to ensure every member of this nation can experience the RIGHT to a clean and safe environment?
Finally, I leave you with a heartening message from the Lymphoma Foundation when they learned about my accident:
This change of gears has finally started to set in. Many of you have written the kindest notes or called with encouragement. I can't say how much these words have meant to us as we re-start and consider ways to carry forward the original intentions of this trip.
Our stay in Memphis with a wonderful and feisty Dorothy Abbott (seems we were bound to stay with feminists after all!) provided a perfect transition. We spent hours at the moving Civil Rights Museum,
which conclude at the very balcony where MLK was shot 40 years ago. Dorothy, who was 19 in Memphis when the shooting occurred, added vivid memories to this glimpse into a part of our particularly American history.We also toured Dorothy's church, 1st Congregational Church or "1st Congo," a mecca for Memphis social justice organizations, including a rocking bike co-op that made me a little sad not to be on 2 wheels. (The gap between wishing I were riding and my walking-like-a-90-year-old slowness reminds me again that long days on the bike are simply not a possibility yet. Alas. Dad's been very patient.)
In addition to a media co-op, hostel, fair trade market, ACORN and many other great organizations, First Congo houses an environmental justice group, Defense Depot Concerned Citizens Committee. DDCCC is asking for a clean-up of the nearby naval dump site that has leached toxic chemicals into the primarily African American community that is close by. The
group started when parents demanded answers for their young kids' testicular and ovarian cancer. As Anthony, our garrulous tour guide (who later did a little shimmy in front of the belly dancing studio where rape survivors can find healing through movement), said, "For these parents, it wasn't a question of waiting for the government. They lived and breathed the injustice and came together for their own survival."Cancer is everywhere. Yet, Breast Cancer Action and the Lymphoma Foundation of America, the two groups we chose to support in this journey (no longer just a ride), are questioning the systems that cause and respond to cancer. They ask how everyone, rich, poor, White, Black, Asian, Latino (pick your identity), can have the care they need to survive the disease. What sort
of health care, social services and awareness make cancer survival possible?We must also ask the question of who is exposed to toxins that cause cancer. The rich and burgeoning Environmental Justice movement highlights the links between race and toxic exposure, showing that communities like those outside the Depot site are the norm, not the exception. Race plays a large factor in communities' exposure to chemicals that accelerate or even cause cancer. As a nation that can afford to spend billions (now trillions?) on a war abroad, shouldn't we be able to find the resources to ensure every member of this nation can experience the RIGHT to a clean and safe environment?
Finally, I leave you with a heartening message from the Lymphoma Foundation when they learned about my accident:
Please be assured that you have not let anyone down. To the contrary, your setback provides us with even more inspiration -- your good attitude sets an example and makes all the difference in healing. Lymphoma patients learn this lesson, too -- you can pick yourself up after adversity hits you. Thank you for all that you do.Friends and family, thank you again for your love and support.
Over and out,
Kellea
Kellea
