Rosario Dawson

Jennifer Hudson
On April 11 and 12, women, and a few men, from all over the world converged on New Orleans, LA, for the V-Day 10th anniversary.

V-Day is an organization with a grassroots movement to end violence against women and girls around the world.

This year’s spotlight was on the women of New Orleans and the Gulf South, who survived Hurricane Katrina.

The event consisted of panel discussions with such notable figures as Amber Tamblyn, Ali Larter, Kerry Washington and Rosario Dawson, who are V-Day board members, telling the truth about how the media distorts the female image. They recounted times when they had seen their pictures in magazines and thought “hey, I have a freckle there” or “I’m not that small.”

There was also an all- male panel, which included Bart Scott, linebacker with the Baltimore Ravens. They talked about changing the male idea of women. They posed the question of what men think of women and found that women are thought of as companions and sex objects by most men, but they were working to change that persona.

Lounges were set up specifically for the women in the Gulf South jto take moments for reflection and healing. They were offered free pampering services and health screenings as well as counseling.

On Friday evening, there was a performance entitled, “Swimming Upstream,” a collection of stories about men, women and children, telling the effect that Katrina had on their lives. “Swimming Upstream was produced by Eve Ensler and Carol Bebelle, and performed by Anna Devere Smith of “The West Wing,” Shirley Knight, Kerry Washington and New Orleanians Troi Bechet, Asali Njeri Devan, Anne-Liese Juge Fox, Briceshanay Gresham and Karen-Kaia Livers.

On Saturday morning, there was a march through the streets of New Orleans from Congo Square to the Superdome, led by Eve Ensler; Dr. Denis Mukwege, founding physician of Panzi Hospital in Dukavu, Democratic Republic of The Congo (DRC), where he does life-saving work for women who are sexually mutilated; Agnes Pareyio, founder of the V-Day Safe House in Narok, Kenya, for women who want to avoid genital mutilation; and Christine Schuler Deschryver, to celebrate the men and women of New Orleans and highlight their right to return home. Though it was cloudy and sprinkling, thousands of people danced and marched through the streets in pure New Orleans style with a jazz band and an African-inspired drum group.

Jane Fonda closed the V-Day conference portion with an inspiring speech on how art and activism has and can change the world.

On Saturday evening, there was a star-studded and nearly sold-out performance of Ensler’s award-winning play “The Vagina Monologues.” Though Oprah Winfrey and Selma Hayek, who were slated to perform, weren’t in attendance, the show was just as powerful and moving with such talent as Jennifer Hudson, Jane Fonda, Jennifer Beal, Rosario Dawson, Amber Tamblyn, Ali Larter and Kerry Washington – just to name a few. Jennifer Hudson, Charmaine Neville and Faith Hill concluded the show with a performance of Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” where Hill kicked off her black Louis Vuitton stilettos and danced with the tambourine lady from the N.O. Zion Harmonizers. Over 1,200 women from New Orleans were gathered and brought home for the first time in three years.

Overall the weekend was a celebration of womanhood and an opportunity to bring awareness to the atrocities committed upon women around the world and especially in New Orleans. Next year, the V-Day Spotlight will be on the women of the DRC. Dr. Mukwege, Deschryver and Ensler will be opening the City of Joy for women who have been brutally raped and tortured in the DRC.

As for New Orleans, three years after Katrina only about 25 percent of the native residents have returned. Though it has the appearance of a bustling city, many of the buildings in the downtown area and French Quarter still have not reopened. Many of the neighborhoods, especially the Ninth Ward, look like a ghost town. It is reported that as many as 200 plus people are homeless, living under the viaducts of the freeways in tents, which I saw with my own eyes as I left the city.

Native New Orleanians were systematically removed to make way for a Donald Trump-inspired Bayou with expensive condos and yachts, which would be a detriment to all. New Orleans is primarily the domain of African Americans and Creoles, who inspire the music, art, food and everything else that is uniquely New Orleans. And without them there, it’s not the same. For more information, log onto www.vday.org.