E-mail a friendJuly 16, 2007
Right to Return: New Home Movies from the Lower 9th Ward: in Part 1, "Hurricane Winter," Jonathan Demme and Tavis visit with New Orleans residents Antoinette K. Doe, Pastor Mel Jones and Brandon Darby.
Antoinette K-Doe
Antoinette K-Doe
Antoinette K-Doe is the widow of R&B legend and "Mother-in-Law" singer Ernie K-Doe. She runs a lounge, named after the hit song, which has long been a performance venue for the Big Easy's living legends and was the place she called home immediately after the hurricane. Initially, she evacuated, but returned to re-open the lounge and work with the New Orleans Musicians Clinic to locate and help musicians return.
Mel Jones
Mel Jones
Pastor Mel Jones was born and raised in New Orleans and spent much of his childhood in one of the city's first middle-class African American developments. Losing his way as an addict, he was at one time homeless. Jones now runs Bethel Colony South, a drug and alcohol treatment program for men, which offers housing, counseling and job training. When Hurricane Katrina approached, Jones and men in his program stayed behind to help and rescued more than 70 people.
Brandon Darby
Brandon Darby
The day after New Orleans' levees broke, Brandon Darby drove to New Orleans from Austin, TX to help with the rescue effort. He stayed and became an organizer for Common Ground Relief, a nonprofit grassroots organization that has set up an office in an abandoned school in the Lower 9th. It offers mutual aid and support to Gulf Coast communities that have been historically neglected and underserved.