Man badly beaten in Shreveport for wearing Obama t-shirt

That subject line sounds a lot more generic than it actually is. Kaylon Johnson is the victim in question - and anyone who's ever been in the Shreveport for Obama office knows him very well as our go-to IT guy and one of the office coordinators.

I received a call yesterday from Jasmine Whitehorn about Kaylon's current condition. On Saturday night at a gas station in Shreveport, he was accosted by two white males who were yelling racial slurs, incensed by the Obama bumper stickers on Kaylon's car and the Obama t-shirt Kaylon was wearing. He waved them off, went into the gas station, and when he came out, they jumped on him.

Kaylon was badly beaten and has sustained several head injuries. He will have surgery on Friday to repair a broken eye socket, broken nose, and torn tear duct.

News links with more details about the attack are below. Also attached are images of Kaylon, before and after the attack.

The local media have given the matter some attention, but it needs more. This email also serves different purposes - to let you all know about the attack (and please email obamashreveport@gmail.com if you want to send a message to Kaylon), to heighten awareness about the occurrence of such racist incidents, and to ask you to spread the word yourselves. A press release is also attached, written by fellow volunteer and Kaylon's close friend David Handy. David has been working tirelessly since Saturday night to get the facts of the case and to get those facts out to the public.

I've known Kaylon for a few months now - I first met him this June at a grassroots Obama meeting in Shreveport. I had organized the meeting through my.barackobama.com; he brought refreshments and buttons (both of which proved to be very popular). Someone on the Louisiana for Obama mailing list made the comment that it would be prudent to avoid wearing Obama paraphernalia unless one seeks martyrdom - it shouldn't have to be that way. Obama is no longer just a politician; he is our President-Elect, even in the red state of Louisiana (where Shreveport and Caddo Parish went blue). Kaylon didn't ask for any of this, and certain members of society need to realize that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated.

Kaylon in the media:
KSLA news report and video interview with Kaylon
KTAL report and video
CNN iReport by Jasmine Whitehorn

Thank you,
Versha Sharma (318.792.5136, versharma@gmail.com)
Jasmine Whitehorn (318.210.3727, jasminewhitehorn@gmail.com)
David Handy (318.573.4058, handyproperties@gmail.com)
J. T. Thomas (318.617.5879, godfather182344@yahoo.com)



(from right to left) Kaylon Johnson, Gloria Briggs, Kellie Whitehorn, and Mildred Whitehorn at the Shreveport for Obama volunteer office in mid-September



Kaylon after the attack



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

CONTACT:
David Handy

Phone Number: 318-573-4058
FAX Number: 800-647-2590
Email Address: david.handy@handyproperties.com


Obama Supporter beaten - Victim of possible hate crime in Shreveport, LA


Shreveport, LA, 12/8/2008 - Kaylon Johnson, 32, an employee of Southern University of Shreveport, was allegedly beaten by two white males on 12/6/2008 between 11:45 p.m. CST and 12:45 a.m. CST on 12/7/2008 at a Shreveport gas station for wearing a Barack Obama T-shirt.


After yelling racial slurs and obscenities including “fuck Obama” and “fuck that Nigger”, Mr. Johnson was attacked and savagely beaten before he could even react. He was punched in the face and knocked out. Mr. Johnson suffered serious injuries to his eye socket and a broken nose, both which will require surgery to repair.

Currently the case is being investigated by the Shreveport Police Department detective below:


Shreveport Police Department

Detective Craig Ivey

318-673-6992


The owners name and address of the gas station is:

J & S Fuel Services, Inc - CITGO

Owner: JAYAN T. MATHEWS

6901 WEST BERT KOUNS INDUSTRIAL LOOP

SHREVEPORT, LA 71129

Phone: 318-688-0654



For additional information on, Obama Supporter beaten - Victim of possible hate crime in Shreveport, LA, contact spokesperson David Handy at (318) 573-4058.

- END -

One single campaign - desperately seeking volunteers!

Two days from now, you won't hear from me again (well, perhaps once just to gloat over our landslide victory).

We are desperately seeking volunteers. We've had a great, bustling campaign office today, but this close to the election, we need more. We want to call every Democratic and Obama-supporting voter in the state and remind them that they need to get to the polls - with a photo ID and withOUT wearing any campaign paraphernalia - and also offer them a ride, if they need one!

I know not all of you are into phone calling. But we've had our most anti-phone-call people on the phones all day because they know the importance of what we're doing - every single phone call is a vote. And these are friendly calls! :)

Still, for those who are not inclined, we need lots of canvassers to go door-to-door on Election Day, we need general office and reception help, data entry, and much, much more.

The time is now. We should all be feeling a sense of urgency - we only have 2.25 more days to really make a difference for the candidate we all know and love. Recent polls have shown that this race in Louisiana is much closer than we think - every single vote counts.

Please come help if you can - and THANK YOU for everything you've already done!

Last debate watch party and rally for change!

IMPORTANT NEWS - We had to do a change of location for our rally scheduled for Friday. We apologize for the inconvenience, but please do us a big favor by telling everyone you know about the new location - we'll be doing it here at our office (Centenary is overbooked, basically). The rally will start at 6:30 pm on Friday, October 17 at the campaign office.

RSVP for the rally here.

Second, just a reminder: tomorrow we're having our last debate watch party once again here at the office. The potluck didn't work so well last time, but this time we've drilled it into everyone's heads (or tried) - so please bring refreshments if you can! Should be interesting - McCain has said he'll bring up the non-issue of Bill Ayers to Obama's face! The party will start at 7:30 pm on Wednesday, October 15 at the campaign office.

RSVP for the debate watch party here.

If you want to help us distribute flyers for early voting and the rally, please email northlaforobama@gmail.com. Help us out and forward them to your friends; also, print a couple out, post them at your colleges, in your churches, favorite coffeehouses, etc.!

As early voting begins just next week, we have plenty of volunteer opportunities available that we need to fill. Please give us a call, email us, or stop by the office to see how you can help.

Let us know if you have any questions - hope to see you all tomorrow and Friday night!

Voter registration deadline, watch party, volunteers needed

TODAY is the voter registration deadline for Louisiana (and several other states, so tell your friends: AZ, AR, CO, DC, FL, GA, HI, IN, KY, MI, MT, OH, PA, TN, TX, UT, VA, WY).

Check your registration at www.voteforchange.com or sos.louisiana.gov. If you need to register, come to the office or go to the Registrar of Voters at 525 Marshall Street before 4:30 pm. This is it - new voters are key to an Obama victory in Louisiana!

We also really need volunteers for a voter and absentee registration at Mt. Canaan Towers, a nursing home, today at 12:30 pm. Please call us at 318.221.7902 if you think you may be able to do this.

We're having another debate watch party on Tuesday night at the office! This is the second presidential debate and will be moderated by Tom Brokaw. Once again, we'll be in the bigger area of the building, so there's plenty of room for everyone. This one is a potluck event, so please bring food, drinks, desserts, or all three!
RSVP here.

As always, we need volunteers any time, every day of the week. Our office hours are 9 am to 9 pm Monday through Saturday and 11 am to 9 pm on Sundays. Come by when you can or schedule your own shifts.

Thanks for all of your work. 30 days until the election - we need all the help we can get!!

Shreveport for Obama HQ
520 Spring Street, Suite A
318.221.7902

Congressional meet and greet, VP debate party, and more

Tomorrow is the meet and greet with 4th district congressional candidates at the Student Union Building at Centenary College. The College Democrats are sponsoring this - all the Democratic candidates on the ballot this Saturday will be there: Paul Carmouche, John Milkovich, Artis Cash, and Willie Banks. The event starts at 11 am and goes until 12:15 pm - pizza and drinks will be available. For more info, contact Nadine Kaskas at nkaskas@centenary.edu.

Thursday night is the VP debate watch party - we'll be having it at the headquarters again, though this time in the bigger room, so it'll be more spacious and a lot cooler (and more fun) for everyone. We had a great turnout last time - and a great time shouting at McCain on the screen in unison - and this is sure to be even better with the differences between Palin and Biden. Please come by and bring food and/or drinks if you can! RSVP/get more details here.

Other events: we need volunteers to register voters at Centenary, LSUS, and the MLK neighborhood association every day this week, and we will be canvassing this weekend. Please come by the office to sign up, reply to this email, or call us at 318.221.7902. All events can be found on my.barackobama.com. The deadline to register to vote is NEXT MONDAY, OCTOBER 6. We're just seven days away!

If you want to volunteer from home, we need people to do some virtual phone banking. All it requires is a computer and a telephone - we need people to commit to just one hour of calling from home. Please let me know if you're interested in this and I can give you more information!

The state directors have been duly impressed by what we've got going on here - let's keep the momentum going and turn this state blue again!

Obama events this weekend

(left to right: Cal Butler, Del Brennan, Jackie Lynch, Kneece Camp, and J. T. Thomas register new voters while canvassing Shreveport neighborhoods; photo from Del Brennan)


Just a reminder - the campaign office is open from 9-9 Monday-Friday and 11-9 on Sunday (but we usually stop phone banking around 8 - still, you can come by!).

The deadline to register to vote on November 4th is just around the corner on October 6th - only 11 days away!! So we've got a desperate need for volunteers and a big push for voter registration - here are some of the events going on in the next few days that I'd love to see all of you at:

Friday, September 26

6:00 pm - meet up to register voters at the Capt. Shreve Homecoming game. One of our high school interns will be heading this up and may need some help - let me know if you're interested!

7:00 pm - preparing for the debate watch party! The debate, or possibly the town hall meeting between just Obama and the audience, starts at 8 pm, but come by before to volunteer for a bit before we all settle down to watch. We're having watch parties at the office and at Gigi's Sports Bar downtown (the latter is 21+ only).

Saturday, September 27

9:00 am - meet at the office for a bit of training and then head out to canvass public housing developments and targeted neighborhoods in Shreveport - this is knocking on doors and registering people to vote.

Sunday, September 28

4:00 pm - another canvass - this one meets at Roman Delight Pizza inside Mall St. Vincent before heading out to the neighborhoods around LSU Medical Center.

And much more - we need volunteers to help staff tables at Centenary, LSUS, BPCC, and other key locations over the next week! We also ALWAYS need volunteers at the office for phone banking (trying to recruit volunteers and calling back people whose registrations have been rejected), data entry, and general office help.

Electoral-Vote.com shows Louisiana as the only weak Republican state besides Florida in a sea of solid red - with your help, it should be easy for us to give our 9 electoral votes to Senator Obama!

See you soon!

Volunteers and interns needed at Shreveport Obama office!

We're in the early stages of building our volunteer army and at this point we're looking for leaders to step up and get us moving.

We need volunteers to do the following:

* Phone banking: Calling a list of Democrat-friendly people and asking them to come and help us.
* Voter registration: Going to events with our teams of canvassers and making sure people are registered to vote.
* Data entry: Logging the results of our phone banking campaign so that the campaign HQ in Chicago can see what we're doing.
* Reception/Office staff: People to meet and greet volunteers, sell Obama merchandise, answer the phone, send emails like this.
* Digital Team: Help get the message out there on the internet.
* Food committee: Make sure we're all fed and watered.
* Drivers: Help us get people to the polls!
* Handing out (and designing and printing) flyers.
* Any donations and contributions of time, money, furniture, food, office supplies and anything else that might help us!

Anyone who is interested in helping Barack Obama win the state of Louisiana should come to our new office at 520 Spring Street, Suite A (we're sharing office space with the Mary Landrieu campaign HQ), call us on 318-221-7902 or email us at northlaforobama@gmail.com. Our office is open 9am - 9pm Monday - Saturday and 11am - 9pm Sunday.

Just to give you an idea of what's going on: Until last Tuesday, the Obama campaign thought of north Louisiana as a lost cause, but thanks to groups like ObamaFTW (that's 'Obama-For-the-Win'), we managed to reduce John McCain's lead in this state from 19 points to just seven! When this happened, the campaign started to take notice and sent us David Wilburn, an experienced campaign organizer. Now we have three offices in north Louisiana - one here in Shreveport, one in Monroe and one in Alexandria.

If we can reduce McCain's lead to less than five points, the campaign will start throwing us money, and guess what? We think that within a week we can do just that.

In other words, and I know you may find this hard to believe, we believe that we actually have a realistic chance of winning this state for Barack Obama. This is why we need volunteers and we need them now. Anyone who thought there was no point in campaiging or even voting in this state needs to know this - that right now we actually have a chance - IF the people who support Obama are prepared to step up and help us.

Obama office opening in Shreveport!

Exciting news! Because we've narrowed McCain's lead over Obama in
Louisiana, the Democratic Party is finally investing resources in this
state! Obama offices are being opened in Shreveport, Monroe, and
Alexandria!

If you were at the Howard Dean rally back in July, you met David
Wilburn, who works for the Louisiana branch of the DNC. He's coming to
Shreveport this afternoon to meet with volunteers - several volunteer
positions are open and important training will take place. I know this
is last-minute, but PLEASE stop by if you can - we need to give him a
rousing Shreveport welcome so he knows he made the right decision in
coming here!

Because the LA campaign still has limited funds, they'll be sharing
office space for the moment with the Coordinated Campaign - so come to
520 Spring Street at 5:30 this afternoon.

Please come if you can and bring as many people as possible! This is
all thanks to the efforts of volunteers - Del Brennan, Jasmine
Whitehorn, and many others among you who have all registered voters
and helped spread the word of change - you are all the reason we're
closing the gap.

Details and RSVP here.

--------

Monroe Field Office opening Tuesday, September 18. Details and RSVP here.

Alexandria Field Office opening Thursday, September 18. Details and RSVP here.

5 McCain videos everyone needs to see

Robert Greenwald, the skilled documentary filmmaker behind gems like "Uncovered: The War in Iraq," "Unconstitutional: The War on our Civil Liberties," and "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism," sent an email to fans today about the 5 McCain videos everyone needs to see.

The Real McCain 2 reached an astonishing 4 million views last week, just as the McCain campaign was trotting out lie after lie at the Republican National Convention. Coincidence? We don't think so. To us, this unprecedented number suggests that the public is desperately seeking the truth about John McCain -- a truth the corporate press still isn't providing.

We're hearing reports of a lot of hand-wringing from people who are scared and don't know what to do. So we came up with a way to put that nervous energy to good use! Join the McCain Truth Squad and a couple of times a week we will send you McCain videos for you to forward on with a personal note to your friends, colleagues and family members.

Join the McCain Truth Squad.

To get you started, below are five videos that present the Real McCain: an elitist out of touch with hard-working Americans; a double talker who supports a costly war in Iraq but won't support our veterans. Forward this email on. This is the McCain everyone should know.

1. The Real McCain 2: Watch as McCain's YouTube problem became his nightmare in the video that received over 4 million views.

2. Less Jobs. More Wars: What is this 'Iraq war' charge on my bill?

3. John McCain vs. John McCain: Tell McCain to get off the Double Talk Express.

4. McCain's Spiritual Guide: The video that caused McCain to renounce Rev. Rod Parsley's bigoted endorsement.

5. Why Won't McCain Sign the GI Bill? Presenting the most blatant hypocrisy of the McCain campaign.

Imagine how differently people would regard McCain if they saw all five of these videos and learned the truth. That's why we want you to forward this e-mail to everyone and anyone with a personal note at the top from you. Why send these videos individually when you can send them all at once? Also, get them on all the blogs and traditional news sites you can. Make sure you're doing everything you can to educate the public about the Real McCain.

Yours,
Robert Greenwald
and the Brave New team

I respect him and his documentaries quite a bit - these videos are pretty good at exposing McCain's schizophrenia and/or flip-flopping.

Obama Shreveport strategy meeting Wednesday night

Jasmine Whitehorn's second Obama FTW meeting is tomorrow night, Wednesday, at 7:00 pm for one hour. Get details and RSVP here.

A brief meeting agenda from Jasmine -

1. We have a speaker from Louisiana Victory-Shreveport Office. She
will talk about their campaign efforts, and the possibility of our
group campaigning for others like Mary Landrieu and William Jefferson.
2. We have a field officer coming soon on behalf of David Huynh
director of the Obama campaign in Louisiana, and we need to discuss a
time when everyone is available to do that.
3. We will discuss different committees and everyone will get the
chance to pick what committee they want to be in.
Sydney "Saci" Roy developed this idea, and she will be organizing this.
4. We'll open the floor to any new ideas/comments/proposals.

Sounds like a great meeting! I'll also be talking about a new Postcards for Votes project that I'd love for everyone to be involved
with - if you don't have the time to canvass for new voters or don't feel comfortable making phone calls, writing 2-3 reasons why you support Obama on a postcard is the perfect project. I'll collect all the postcards and send them to voters! I'll post more info on this soon.

The Obama campaign announced that its August fundraising fell below expectations - DON'T FORGET TO DONATE! Go to donate.barackobama.com or store.barackobama.com - any money you spend on merchandise (shirts, signs, stickers) all goes to the campaign.

Shreveport events this week

Shreveport Obama events have been a great success - Kaylon Johnson said Mayor Cedric Glover went to last Thursday night's convention watch party at Southern University and stayed through the whole speech!

Though the Meet & Greet with local Democratic congressional candidates Paul Carmouche and John Milkovich was canceled today due to Hurricane Gustav (see the end of the post), a few other Shreveport for Obama events are taking place during the rest of the week.

- Jasmine Whitehorn has organized an Obama strategy meeting for tomorrow, September 3 at 7:00 pm. The meeting will take place at the Law Office of Kenota L. Pulliam in the Louisiana Tower, 401 Edwards Street, Suite 525. For more information, email obamaftw08@gmail.com. RSVP here.

- Stormy Gage-Watts is holding a voter registration event this Saturday, September 6 at 9:00 am. This will take place at Stormy's Car Care at 3903 Greenwood Road in Shreveport. For more information or for directions, check here.

The following message is from Centenary College Democrats President Nadine Kaskas, who organized the Carmouche and Milkovich event that had to be postponed today:

Hey everyone,

The meet and greet is now postponed due to Hurricane Gustav preparations (all classes canceled until Thursday).

The Carmouche campaign is suspending all campaign operations. As soon as we reschedule I will be sure to let you know the updated information.

Be safe,

Nadine

It is important to note that as of today, the September 6 primary election is still scheduled to go on - so remember to go vote!

Meet local Democratic congressional candidates

A real Democratic victory this November involves electing Obama for President and giving Democrats a majority in Congress. Obama needs a Congress willing to work with him to pass legislation crucial to reversing the failed policies of the last 8 years.

The Centenary College Democrats have organized an event for the local public to meet Democrats Paul Carmouche and John Milkovich, candidates for the 4th congressional district (which includes Shreveport).

College Democrats President Nadine Kaskas offers the following message:

Have you thought about who you'll be voting for in the September 6th 1st party primary election?

Maybe you've seen some commercials or listened to a few radio ads or checked out a website or two-- but have you met any of the candidates yet?

On Tuesday, September 2nd at 11 am, College Democrats will present an informal meet and greet with Democratic Congressional candidates Paul Carmouche and John Milkovich in the Student Union Building. Mr. Carmouche will give a brief talk at 11:00 am and Mr. Milkovich will give a brief talk at 11:45 am.

Pizza and drinks will be provided so make sure to drop by the SUB at 11 am-12:15 pm on Tuesday!

All members of the public are invited to attend.

For more information on Paul Carmouche, please visit his campaign site.

For more information on John Milkovich, please visit his campaign site.

For more information on all of the candidates running for the 4th congressional district and other election information, check out the Shreveport Times' Election section.

Convention Watch parties in Shreveport

The Democratic National Convention kicked off today in Denver, Colorado - check out CNN and the cable news channels for coverage of Michelle Obama's and Nancy Pelosi's speeches tonight. CSPAN has day-long coverage of the convention.

This Thursday, August 28, Barack Obama will officially accept the nomination of the Democratic Party at 9:00 pm. Joe Biden will appear beforehand and accept the candidacy for Vice President. Supporters in the Shreveport-Bossier area are coming together to watch this historic speech in several spots throughout the cities. Check out the links below to RSVP to any one of these events!

Shreveport convention watch parties:

Southern University, 7:00 pm

Lisa Nolen has organized this event for Ark-La-Tex supporters to gather at the Student Activity Center at Southern U to watch Obama's acceptance speech.

Location: Johnny L. Vance Student Activity Center, 3050 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, Southern University at Shreveport

Contact: 318-210-7662, rottenlisa@aol.com

Sign up to attend and get directions here.

Louisiana Democratic Coordinated Campaign, 7:00 pm

Frances Kelley has organized this party on behalf of the Louisiana Democratic Coordinated Campaign at the Critchers' house.

Location: 817 Ontario Street, off of Line Avenue between Betty Virginia Park and South Highlands Elementary School

Contact: 318-780-4138

Sign up to attend this event on the Obama website or the MoveOn website.

Change Watchers, 7:00 pm

Sharron Jarmon is hosting an informal get-together for the nomination speech at the Walker/Jarmon home. Max 10 attendees.

Location: 9440 Primrose Lane

Sign up to attend and get directions here.

"Yes We Can" party, 7:30 pm

Orlisa Johnson is organizing her convention watch party through MoveOn.org. Max 20 attendees.

Location: 1833 Christopher Glen Drive, off of Russell Road

Sign up to attend and get directions here.

Bossier convention watch parties:

Bossier for Obama, 8:00 pm

Kim Brabham welcomes friends and fellow Democrats into her home to watch Thursday night's events. Max 10 attendees.

Location: 42 Waterbury Drive

Contact: 318-560-3513

Sign up to attend here.

-----------

If you attend one of these events, PLEASE share your stories and photos with this blog! Email versharma@gmail.com.

Upcoming events: Barack's Birthday, National Night Out, Voter Registration Canvassing, and a BBQ!

We have several upcoming events in the Shreveport area related to Obama; four are listed below - come when you can, give us suggestions for more, and watch this space!

Barack's Birthday Event
Monday, August 4
6:30 pm, Centenary College

In honor of our candidate's 47th birthday, we will gather supporters in Shreveport for a screening of Obama's landmark speech on race relations, "A More Perfect Union." If you haven't seen this speech, I would greatly encourage you to come - and bring undecided voters, as Obama's vision and understanding of the current state of race relations in America in this speech have brought many from uncertainty to full support for him.

This can also double as a fundraising event, if anyone has any ideas. We will talk strategy and upcoming events in the Shreveport area, like more fundraising, voter registration at National Night Out, and general voter registration canvassing in the next few weeks. I'll bring the DVD of the speech and some buttons, stickers, and signs. We need volunteers for refreshments!

Get location information and sign up to attend here.

National Night Out: Voter Registration
Tuesday, August 5
6:00 - 9:00 pm, all over Shreveport

The Shreveport area will be celebrating National Night Out, America's night out against crime, with block parties all around the city. You can find out more about the goals of NNO and the activities typically associated with it (block parties with visits from local police departments, cookouts, youth programs) here.

This is a unique opportunity to up the voter registration numbers in our area - we'll have tables present for at least a few of these block parties and we'll also hand out informative Obama flyers to those interested. We need as many volunteers for this as we can get, so please call 318.792.5136 or email versharma@gmail.com if you're interested!

Voter Registration Canvassing
Sunday, August 10
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm, certain neighborhoods

From Kneece Camp (318-780-8870, kneece15@hotmail.com):

We will be walking neighborhoods near LSU Medical Center and the area where I-20 and I-49 intersect, to register any unregistered voters. This is a great opportunity to do something that may actually make a difference with your Sunday afternoon. Please bring water and/or gatorade, as it will likely be very warm. In case of rain, we will canvas the St. Vincent Mall. We will meet at Roman Delight Pizza in the St. Vincent Mall at 4 pm to organize ourselves with maps and voter registration forms. Again, please RSVP so I will know how many packets to print up.

Sign up to attend here.

Backyard Barbecue for Obama
Saturday, August 23
6:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Just two days before the Democratic National Convention kicks off in Colorado - where Obama will officially accept the party's nomination - local supporters will celebrate his victory (and hopefully the victory to come!) with a barbecue. This one is still in the planning stages, but more info is to come.

Again, from Kneece Camp:

This will most likely be held at Betty Virginia Park. I am still trying to get the permit to have the grill. I will send out a reminder email before the event that will confirm the location. We will need lots of volunteers for this: volunteers to bring food: burgers, hot dogs, buns, trimmings, plates, napkins, etc; volunteers to cook and prepare food; volunteers to man a table to sign up volunteers; and volunteers to man a table to register voters. Please come. Please bring as many friends as possible, bring strangers, bring enemies, bring spouses/boyfriends, girlfriends, ex's, kids, grandparents, etc! PLEASE RSVP on this one. We don't want to run out of food! I will let you know when I have the website set up for this one for you to RSVP. I'm just telling you know so you can put it on your calendar.

These events and more to come - please come to what you can and create your own events!

Recap: Platform Meetings, local supporters on the news!

Obama supporters in Shreveport made the news! KTBS covered one of the platform meetings held last weekend - to read more and see the video footage, go here.

A more detailed recap of the two meetings held in Shreveport on Saturday, July 26 will follow, but for now, here's a briefing.

Dionne Procell, who hosted one of the meetings at the main branch of the Shreveport Library on Saturday evening, said the following:

The meeting went really well. We were pretty organized (even though it's hard to stay organized in an open forum-type of meeting) and made a lot of progress, and what we were able to come up with last night was sufficient for submission.

The platform that was finished at the meeting included comprehensive ideas on what national policy should be concerning education, health care, and the economy. The finished platform that was submitted to the Obama campaign will be posted here soon.

Dionne also had the following notes of appreciation to share:

Thanks so much to Earnie Scott and Kneece Camp for making [the KTBS news coverage] happen. It's wonderful publicity. Also, thanks to Wesley Morgan and Kameko Thomas for representing KTAL and Shreveport Sun, respectively.

The organizers commented on the "great diverse group" that attended the meeting, including one Shreveport supporter who attended the Urban Policy Summit earlier that day and also came to the evening platform meeting. Congrats to the Shreveport area supporters, especially organizers Dionne and Alan Brown, for a job well done!

Tips on Voter Canvassing

From Dionne Procell (dprocell@comcast.net):

For those who took a “blind” canvassing packet:

Additional tips (there is a list of them in the packet as well):

1) Always have plenty of voter registration forms on you.

2) Focus on the unregistered voters in Shreveport who would be likely to vote for Obama, rather than the undecided voters. Do not get in heated arguments or try to convince people to vote for Obama.

3) Try to nail people down for a date and time and place to volunteer (those who volunteer are 200% more likely to vote for our candidate).
(The chance that our neighbors will vote for Obama will increase by 12 % if their door gets knocked on THREE times in the next 3 1/2 months.)

4) You can volunteer to return registration forms to the Registrar of Voters for people who fill out forms onsite (make sure to bring a pen or two), or you can fill in the Registrar of Voters address on the back of the form before anyone fills out a form. Here is the mailing address for forms (this address is on the back of the form, and I would personally stamp the forms beforehand):

Hon. Ernest R. “Ernie” Roberson

P. O. Box 1253

Shreveport, LA 71163-1253

More contact info should anyone have questions about voter registration: 318-226-6891, caddorov@sos.louisiana.gov



And here is the physical address you can give to those people who fill out a form and don't want to mail it: 525 Marshall St.,Ste.103.



IF YOU have filled out forms in your folder, you'll need to call Lillian Priest at 635-6335 and work out a time to return the forms and folder to her. She'll then make sure all forms are received at the ROV office.

Obama Editorials in the Shreveport Times (and other news)

Educating people about Senator Obama and generating real discussion on his policy positions is one of the best ways to support him. Local supporter Del Brennan has done just that with this editorial in the Shreveport Times, entitled "Barack Obama puts forth efforts on behalf of our soldiers." (Everyone should be doing this!)

In it, Del eloquently writes about Senator Obama's efforts at "confronting the problem...[of] the Army's treatment of soldiers suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and other mental illnesses resulting from combat." It's definitely worth a read, as are the comments.

Homer Adams criticized Del's piece in his own opinion, "Arrogant Barack Obama wrong for presidency," which just appeared in the Times a few days ago. In it, Mr. Adams incorrectly states that McCain supported the recent G.I. Bill, which he did not. The piece goes on to refer to "Barack Hussein Obama," in true FOX News fashion, and attempts to cast doubt on how much we really know about him.

Misinformation like this is exactly what Obama's fightthesmears.com aims to combat - but the campaign can't do it alone. Let's keep writing in informative, educational, and factual pieces to the Shreveport Times and spread the truth about Obama (and perhaps also comment on erroneous ones).


Other news:

-Obama LA Field Director Alex Okrent told volunteers at the rally on Saturday that official campaign offices should be opening in Louisiana within two weeks - but this is a tentative timeline. There are offices in New Orleans (the Louisiana Victory 2008 headquarters) and Lake Charles (the Campaign for Change office), but these are not official Obama campaign offices. More information to come as soon as we receive it!

-More event photos have been added to our Flickr account, taken by Del Brennan. Del took some great shots of our June Unite for Change meeting and the Howard Dean Register for Change rally.

-We are currently looking for volunteers to help establish voter registration tables at various spots across Shreveport for National Night Out on August 5, a crime and drug prevention event. Please email versharma@gmail.com or comment if you're interested in helping out!

Urban Policy Platform Meeting: Saturday in Shreveport

Bertha Jimison (colemanjimisonorganization@yahoo.com, 759-4582) is also hosting a platform meeting in Shreveport this Saturday, July 26, though she describes it as more of an "urban summit, an effort to get more involvement from the black community and the black churches." This one is at 10:00 am on Saturday at the Little Union Baptist Church at 1846 Milam Street. Sign up to attend and get directions here.

Bertha has personally appealed to a multitude of black ministers and urban outreach organizations in the Shreveport area to generate interest for the meeting. Everyone is welcome.

The event listing on the Obama website includes the following description:

Thanks to the Democratic Party and the Obama team, ordinary people are afforded this opportunity for presenting opinions and input into the Party's 08 Platform.

Many questions have been asked of the Party's Urban Policy. Is there one? What does this policy include? Will the Democratic Platform include a specific OR general "Urban (Inner-city) Policy?"

One way to ensure that the Platform addresses some of "our" perceived needs ... of poor people in the inner-city ... is for citizens (us!) to ACT NOW and provide input.

Saturday, July 26, 2008. A summit of several hours, refreshments and all. Summits are being held throughout the country on all sort of subjects. This is to be an inner-city summit.

Comments and input are sought on any or all of the following subject areas:
1. Education/Alternative Education/Drop-out Prevention.
2. Jobs/Joblessness/Economic Development/New Industries/Small Business Development.
3. Temporary Assistance to Needy Families(TANF)/Children Services/Day Care/Social Welfare/Child Support.
4. Community Development/Neighborhoods/Inner-City Resources.
5. Youth Developments & Opportunities.
6. Leadership Development/Role of Men in the Community.
7. Role of Faith-base/Churches/Nonprofit Organizations.
8. Government Responsibilities & Relations.
9. Law Enforcement/Crime & Violence Prevention.
10. Housing/Home-ownership Assistance/Homeless Assistance/Foreclosure Referral & Assistance.
11. Senior Assistance & Services.
12. Emergency Assistance & Preparation.
13. Health Education & Services.
14. Media/Public Services Announcements/Community Information/Ombudsman.
15. Inner-City Beautification/Land Use/Planning.
16. Historic Preservation.
17. Citizenship Education.
18. Services Outreach & Referrals.

Look out for a letter from Bertha in this Thursday's Shreveport Sun - in her own words, "There are many individuals that I talk with who are supporting Senator Obama and are expressing the need for CHANGE! I'd like for them to feel comfortable talking about some of their issues and have them know that the Democratic Party and Senator Obama are also very interested in the needs of our community."

See Bertha with Howard Dean at this past Saturday's rally and other Obama supporters here.

Shreveport Platform Meeting this Saturday

A Listening to America Platform Meeting will be held at the main branch of the Shreve Memorial Library this Saturday, July 26 at 6:00 pm. Sign up to attend and get directions here.

Dionne Procell (dprocell@comcast.net) and Alan Brown (alan@agonsys.com) will lead the discussion on what issues are most important to Shreveport locals. The point of the meeting is for attendees to draft their own version of the ideal Democratic national platform and submit it to the campaign for review; the campaign will then incorporate it into the actual agenda, to be unveiled at the Democratic National Convention in late August.

However, the meeting isn't limited to all that - this is yet another opportunity for Obama supporters in Shreveport to meet each other, network, and plan, and also discuss local issues important to them (ideas like the Haynesville Shale drilling/environmental protection have already been suggested).

Kneece Camp (kneece15@hotmail.com) is looking to host another meeting Sunday. Sharon Green (sf.green@hotmail.com) is planning another platform meeting in conjunction with the Student Government at Southern University; this will be a good opportunity for those who cannot attend this Saturday's meeting to regroup (I know a few people who will be out of town until Monday, myself included). Details to be posted as soon as we know them!

Also, for anyone who had to leave early or wasn't at the Howard Dean rally on Saturday: we have several packets available for people who want to do voter registration canvassing in the Shreveport area. The packets include a map of your designated neighborhood, a script for what to say to people at the door, answers to frequently asked questions about voting in Louisiana, and tons of voter registration forms. All you have to do to pick one up is call Lillian Priest at 635-8335, Chairwoman of the Caddo Parish Democratic Executive Committee and Caddo School Board member.

And remember - if you do go canvassing, come back and write about it here!

Recap: Howard Dean in Shreveport

We had a great turnout at the stadium behind Galilee Baptist Church for Howard Dean's stop in Shreveport as part of the nationwide Register for Change tour! Dean readily expressed his gratitude and enthusiasm for the number of people in attendance.

Obama supporters met and talked with Dean, listened to him speak about the 50-state strategy and how volunteers are going to win this campaign, shared signs and stickers, discussed future meetings, and took home canvassing packets to start door-to-door voter registration in Shreveport neighborhoods. Details to follow, but for now, enjoy the photos and please share your own!

The Shreveport Times has wonderful photos of Howard Dean and Obama supporters in this gallery.

Maysa Kaskas also took photos of the event, like the one above and the two below, all of which can be seen here at Flickr. I started a Flickr account solely for this blog, so anyone with any related Obama event photos, send them in!

Centenary College Democrats President Nadine Kaskas wrote about the event over at the KSCL blog.

The wonderful Shreveport Faces blog featured us, as well.

Thanks to everyone who came out today, it was great to see you!

Howard Dean in Shreveport: details

The DNC Chairman's visit is not just a rally - following his speech, training and a voter registration canvass in Shreveport areas will occur.

Here's what Alex Okrent, the Louisiana Field Director for the Obama campaign, said in response to my queries:

"Materials are always a good thing, and we are allowed to wear Obama gear when we register voters. We’re still figuring out the exact location of the canvass, but it should be close to the church. Unfortunately, that’s all I know for right now. We are working on it currently. Sorry I can’t give more details, but I’ll pass them on as soon as I can!"

So bring and wear your Obama gear - I still have rally signs, buttons, and stickers galore to hand out - and get ready to register voters!

Remember:

Saturday, July 19
8:30 am - 9:45 am
Galilee Baptist Church
1500 Pierre Ave
Shreveport, LA

RSVP on the Democratic Party website

RSVP on my.barackobama.com

The event on Facebook

The details for the New Orleans and Baton Rouge events are below. The New Orleans event is especially important, as the Dean event is in conjunction with the opening of the Louisiana Victory 2008 Obama headquarters in that city (at 3604 Canal Street).

Contact:

Alex Okrent
aokrent@barackobama.com

Pendry Haines
pendry.haines@yahoo.com

Voter registration sites in Shreveport

In honor of Louisiana Voter Registration and Education Week, the Caddo Registrar of Voters is conducting mobile voter registration at certain sites in Shreveport on Thursday, July 17 and Friday, July 18. (source)

Instructions from the Registrar's post:

Voters should bring a driver's license, governmental i.d. or proof of residency in Caddo Parish. For further info please call 226-6891.

To check your current voter registration info, go to www.sos.louisiana.gov. On the right side under "Whats New" click on POLL LOCATOR. You'll need your name as registered and your date of birth. You can find your polling place, sample ballot and your current address and party info.

The following sites are SHREVE MEMORIAL LIBRARY branch locations are open to the public and handicapped / mobility-impaired accessible.

THURSDAY, July 17th-

11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. - David Raines Branch- 2855 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive

3:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. - West Shreveport Branch - 4380 Pines Road

FRIDAY, July 18th-

11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. - Atkins Branch - 3704 Greenwood Road

3:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. - Mooretown Branch- 4360 Hollywood Avenue

Howard Dean in Louisiana this weekend!

Howard Dean, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, will be making several stops in Louisiana this Friday and Saturday.

Tomorrow he kicks off a nationwide Register for Change tour - he starts in Crawford, Texas, and travels to Austin before coming to New Orleans on Friday and Shreveport and Baton Rouge on Saturday (details below)

In light of this, the Obama event we planned for Saturday afternoon in Shreveport will be canceled - I want everyone to have the chance to attend this and not spread ourselves too thin - if you all want to regroup after Dean's event, we certainly can - let's get some ideas going, but for now, please plan to attend these events!

Details for the Louisiana stops:

New Orleans Campaign for Change Kickoff

Louisiana Victory 2008 Headquarters
3604 Canal Street
New Orleans, Louisiana

Friday, July 18, 2008
11:25AM -- 12:40PM

Shreveport Campaign for Change Canvass Kickoff

Galilee Baptist Church Parking Lot
1500 Pierre Avenue
Shreveport, Louisiana

Saturday, July 19, 2008
8:30AM -- 9:45AM

Baton Rouge Campaign for Change Canvass Kickoff

New Hope Baptist Church Parking Lot
5856 Greenwell Springs Road
Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Saturday, July 19, 2008
2:00PM -- 3:15PM

RSVP for New Orleans.

RSVP for Shreveport.

RSVP for Baton Rouge.

Go here for details of all of Dean's stops on the Register for Change tour.

Hope to see you all there!

------------

Excerpt from a Shreveport Times article about Dean's tour:



Dean said in a telephone interview that he'll focus on winning over people who are struggling economically.

"We think that they have been disillusioned," said Dean, a former Vermont governor and presidential candidate in 2004. "Many of them voted for George Bush. We think they want something new and we're going to provide it for them."

Democrats dominated the South through the first half of the 20th century. But as President Lyndon B. Johnson famously predicted when he signed the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the party gradually lost support in the region. Georgia native Jimmy Carter is the only Democratic presidential candidate to win broad support in the South since then.

"I think the big reason is we haven't tried," Dean said. "If you don't show up, you can't win. And that's not going to happen this time. We are going to show up everywhere."

Shreveport for Obama updates

Our next step is to host a Platform Meeting to discuss the issues most important to us - we will draft our own Democratic platform and submit it to the campaign, which will then use it to organize the agenda for the Democratic National Convention in August. I created a Shreveport event here. The date is tentatively set for July 19, but we can change that subject to what works best for everyone. The location is also up for discussion: if we do it again at Centenary, we WILL have signs up indicating where exactly to go, but Heather DuBois is ready to help us out if we want to meet at a local library.

We could also combine this into a voter registration event or schedule one of those for another day: you tell us!

We also have 25 buttons, 50 rally signs, and 600 stickers to share the Obama support; these will be at the meeting, but if anyone can't make it or wants them beforehand, please let me know.

Susan Lucci at the Louisiana Field Desk at campaign headquarters in Chicago said they are training staff and looking for places to establish campaign offices in the state right now. Basically, the more active we are in Shreveport (or elsewhere), the better our chances of getting a campaign office here.

Finally, Mildred is interested in starting a Nurses for Barack group. If you have any ideas or want to join, please email her at mildredartworld@bellsouth.net.

Links discussed at the meeting

(Photos from the meeting, thanks to Del Brennan.)


Here are useful links to some of the important (and interesting) issues we discussed at the June 28 meeting!

- The Unite for Change video we were supposed to watch at the meeting (didn't need it anyway, right?).

- The text of Obama's anti-war speech delivered at a rally in Chicago on October 2, 2002, the same day Congress authorized the use of force in Iraq.

And for fun: the video of newspaper headlines documenting Obama's success set to Tina Turner songs that we watched in part at the meeting.

Enjoy!

Louisiana Unites for Change

Welcome! This blog will aim to provide a weekly listing of all Obama events taking place in Louisiana (campaign rallies, fundraisers, voter registration drives, volunteering, etc.).

If Louisiana Obama supporters can communicate all across the state, we can plan bigger and better events.

Over 4,000 Unite for Change events are taking place across the country today - and there are dozens in and around Louisiana!

We are busy planning for the Shreveport meet-up happening at Centenary College at 3:00 pm today (Student Union Building, come on over!), but starting now, this blog will be regularly updated.

Spread the word!