BLM Houston Is Handling Its Harvey Business

One of the things that pissed me off was seeing that fake news story from a right wing website that falsely tried to claim that BLM was blocking a military rescue convoy with supplies headed to Houston.

It was a blatant lie that was easily debunked.  What it did do was motivate me to write this post telling the real story about what BLM Houston is doing in the wake of the passage of Harvey to help the people of Houston and southeast Texas affected by the storm.

It was needed and necessary for me to do especially in light of the fact that I know several members of BLM Houston's leadership including its founder Ashton Woods and Kandice Webber.  I also met in Denver during Creating Change 2015 the founders of BLM national in Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi and Patrisse Khan-Cullors.

I have witnessed firsthand what the peeps at BLM Houston have been doing for our Houston community before and since Harvey moved out of the area

For starters, BLM Houston member Brandon Mack is collecting school supplies for people who need them once the area schools restart.  Some of the local school districts had already started classes for the 2017-18 school year when Harvey struck while HISD was scheduled to start classes on August 28.

What is needed are pencils, white copy paper, spiral notebooks, notebook paper, post-it notes, clear backpacks, and binders.  Those school supply donations will be accepted through the end of September. 

BLM Houston is helping coordinate the clean up of people's flooded homes in northeast Houston, and has another Day of Action cleanup event scheduled for September 9.

BLM Houston has also been shopping for and accepting donations of supplies to distribute to people in need.

They are helping first responders and military personnel in town to help Houston recover from the floods.

In short, BLM Houston has been handling its Harvey business, and have been front and center in the efforts to help our people recover from this historic storm.

But you aren't hearing that from local or national media, or the right wing websites invested in spreading hatred of and disinformation about BLM.

If you are interested in helping BLM this weekend, their Houston Day of Action cleanup event they have scheduled will run from 10 AM-7 PM, and the gathering address will be the Fiesta at 9419 Mesa Rd in northeast Houston.
 
BLM Houston will provide the masks, cleaning supplies, gloves, goggles and tools for this event.  All they need is for you to show up to volunteer for it in jeans and closed toe shoes.

Thanks BLM Houston for doing your part at the grassroots level to help our community recover from Harvey.
 

Mixed Houston Harvey Emotions

Today is Houston's 181st birthday, and I woke up to a sight I haven't seen in several days in terms of a sunrise and no angry rain swollen cloudy skies.  

Harvey is now rolling through Louisiana dropping rain as the waters recede here and we can try to get life back to H-town normal.  

While I woke up this morning with a roof over my head in my bed, I'm deeply cognizant of the fact that I was indeed blessed and fortunate to be in the sections of Houston that didn't flood this time.

There are other Houstonians who woke up this morning in the George R Brown Convention Center, the Toyota Center, NRG Arena and other shelters scatted across the 650 square miles of Texas territory we call home.   I have friends that range from escaped any serious damage to their homes and apartment domiciles to losing everything they owned in rising floodwaters.

And so far 16 people have lost their lives including HPD Sgt. Steve Perez

So yes, this morning as the sun peeked through my windows for the first time in nearly a week, I'm pondering all that as the waters recede from this historical level flooding from Tropical Storm Harvey how lucky I was, and thinking about all the folks who weren't.  

I'm Okay And Dry TransGriot Readers!

For those of you who haven't heard about it, much of the Houston metro area got hit with 11 to 20 inches of rain in a little over five hours from training thunderstorms.  The northwest, west, southwest, north and northeast sides of town along with parts of Waller, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties got hit hardest.

KPRC 2 in SW`Houston was also knocked off the air for several hours.

Many of those creeks, rivers, retention ponds and bayous were overwhelmed by the sheer volume of rain we got which led to the flooding that you saw reported on national newscasts. Unfortunately we have lost six  people because they realized too late the water they were driving into was too deep or accidentally drove into deep drainage ditches. .

We also had over 1500+ rescues by the Houston and area volunteer fire departments and first responders.

Where me and my roommate live on the south side of Houston, we didn't get the heavy rain, but the light to moderate stuff and localized street flooding, so I and my family are okay along with many of the local trans folks I've been able to check in with.

Just to let you TransGriot readers know, I'm dry and have power.  While the local creeks, bayous, drainage ditches and retention ponds surrounding me were higher than normal, they fortunately didn't go over, and we got a chance for the extra water we received to drain off and continue its journey to Galveston Bay.

We'll have to cross our fingers in the Houston area for later tonight because we're still under a flash flood watch.  We can only hope the upriver areas in the surrounding counties or the Houston area don't get any additional heavy rainfall, but so far so good.

Thanks to those of you from around the area, Texas, the country and the world who have called, sent messages, or e-mailed to check on me and everyone else down here in Houston and vicinity.

It's deeply appreciated, and I'll keep y'all posted as to what's going on here.