Community Involement and Activism

Not soon after Judith Blau accepted the Southern Sociological Society gravel or more formally after she took over as President of the SSS Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Region of the United States. New Orleans was scheduled to play host to the annual meetings of the SSS, but with much concern for hosting the meetings in such a devastated area Judith along with fellow program chair, David Brunsma traveled to New Orleans to see if it would still be a suitable site. What they found was that New Orleans needed their meetings to be there. David Brunsma captures the reaction of New Orleanians in his “Spring 2006 SSS Meetings” article of Winter 2006 issue of The Southern Sociologist, “‘Thank you for being here,’ ‘We really appreciate you coming to support our city,’ ‘Good for you, deciding to come to New Orleans, thanks for the support!,’ ‘We need people!’ These are the words from a French Quarter bartender, a Mid-City store owner, a waitress, and a staff member of the family-owned Hotel Monteleone.” In the next article of the same issue of TSS titled “After Hurricane Katrina- Doing Public Sociology” Danielle Antoinette Hidalgo and Jennifer Day, who both teach at Tulane University in New Orleans, discuss the effects of the hurricane on New Orleans and Judith’s response to it:

“Dr. Judith Blau and I discussed the possibilities of continuing the preparations for the SSS’s annual conference in New Orleans…New Orleans no longer remained. Dr. Blau, however, insisted that we could make the conference happen. While New Orleans was in a state of emergency, she believed we could the
necessary preparations with a lot of improvisation and commitment to bringing people back together and back to our fine city.”

Not only did Judith insist that the SSS hold their meetings at the Hotel Monteleone in New Orleans, but also devoted her President’s Column in TSS to discussing how one could help sociologists and students affected by Hurricane Katrina by donating money to the fund set up by the SSS Executive Committee. By holding their meetings in New Orleans the SSS not only helped the city economically on the road to recovery, but enabled themselves to see first hand the devastation of the greatest natural disasters our country has ever endured.


Manifestos:
Judith Blau has co-written many manifestos examining war and why nonviolence should be preferred over violence. In one such manifesto: "We Condemn Militant Threats Against Iran," Blau affirms that "war is not compatible with democracy" and that the US military should not be present in the Persian Gulf especially because Iranians do not want the US military present in their country. Another manifesto ("A Sociological Manifesto for a Nonviolent International Order") Blau worte with Alberto Moncada calls for nonviolent means to acheive global order. It encourages "nonviolent international order [to be] maintained through democratic authorities...that the United States is hindering" efforts toward. In another manifesto Blau and others prepare a statement against the war on Iraq, in which they summarize thoughts on why the war on Iraq should be ended. They do not support Saddam Hussein's regime, but believe that invading Iraq without the support of most of the countries "will bring more harm than good to the Iraqi People."

Resources:

Blau, Judith. “Executive Committee Announces SSS Assistance Fund.” Ed. Freymeyer, Bob. The Southern Sociologist. Vol. 37 Number 2. Fall 2005. The Southern Sociological Society. 14 February 2007 http://www.msstate.edu/org/sss/tss/2005-2006/fall2005.pdf

Brunsma, David. “Spring 2006 SSS Meetings” Ed. Freymeyer, Bob. The Southern Sociologist. Vol. 37 Number 3. Winter 2006. The Southern Sociological Society. 14 February 2007 http://www.msstate.edu/org/sss/tss/2005-2006/winter2006.pdf

Hidalgo, Danielle Antoinette and Jennifer Day. “After Hurricane Katrina- Doing Public Sociology” Ed. Freymeyer, Bob. The Southern Sociologist. Vol. 37 Number 3. Winter 2006. The Southern Sociological Society. 14 February 2007 http://www.msstate.edu/org/sss/tss/2005-2006/winter2006.pdf