David Banner Supports Hurricane Katrina Relief Efforts

DAVID BANNER, IN SUPPORT OF VICTIMS OF HURRICANE KATRINA, HEAL'S THE HOOD WITH BENEFIT CONCERT ATLANTA, GA SEPTEMBER 17TH 2005


Who: David Banner, through his "Heal The Hood" foundation
What: Benefit Concert for Hurricane Katrina victims
When: September 17, 2005
Where: Philips Arena; 1 Philips Drive; Atlanta, GA 30303
Time: 3PM
Donations: Donations are set at a minimum -- the price of the ticket,however there is no limit on monetary donations.

There will be a truck at the venue accepting food, clothing and supplies as donation as well. Guest Appearances/Performances: David Banner, T.I., Nelly, Young Jeezy,8Ball & MJG, Twista, and more. Here is what Banner has to say about Hurricane Katrina (taken from OzoneMagazine):"I think Hurricane Katrina has exposed America for what it is. I thinkit's bigger than Black and White. I think it has a lot more to do withrich and poor. We've always known that America is a racially drivencountry. We front like it's all good, but we know the levels of racismthat are in America. It shows that America doesn't give a damn aboutpeople in the hood, period.If this same thing happened in New York, they'd probably be out theremopping up water themselves. When 9/11 happened, there was help on 9/12.We sent billions of dollars overseas when the tsunami happened. We breakour necks to help other people, and we fight for oil, but we can't helpour people right here in Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana. Mississippiis definitely not getting the relief funds that they really need becausewe're not getting the TV time. There are cities in South Mississippilike Pass Christian, Long Beach, Biloxi, and Gulfport that are gone. Andthese are just regular, ordinary folks. White, Black, Hispanic, rich,poor. These are places where our grandmothers and grandfathers stay.There's history in these towns.America is the most powerful country in the world, but it takes us fourdays to get to hurricane victims? The things that took the governmentfour days to do are the same things they could've been done as soon asthe hurricane hit. They could have flown helicopters in there orsomething. America is the most powerful country and the proudest countrywhen it feels like it. They said they couldn't get down there fordifferent reasons, but those were just excuses. I sent a tour bus fullof water and supplies to Mississippi. My bus driver paid with his ownMastercard. I told him to go ahead and buy whatever they needed and I'dpay him back. He filled the tour bus up twice with water, food, andsupplies before the American government did. He drove down there fromMemphis. If I can dispatch help from my troops while out of town, thenwhy couldn't Bush?! Following that I immediately came down there myselfand I sat and signed autographs and passed out water to the kids forfour, fivehours myself. How can David Banner, a so-called "gangsta rapper," reactquicker to a crisis than our own government?There's still people in Mississippi without power right now. The wateris still not drinkable from the faucets. There's no gas from Jacksondown to the coast. There are lines for two miles to get gas, and the gasprices are out of control. Then you've got places like the Red Crossusing preferential treatment with the stuff people have donated. I hadkids from the streets telling me they gave all the better clothes to thelittle white kids. There's people who are coming city to city and can'tget water or food from the Red Cross without a little armband. We'rehaving a national crisis. If people need food and supplies, you shouldgive it to them. The bigger picture is that we're gonna have to take care of our ownpeople. We're having a big benefit concert September 17th at PhillipsArena in Atlanta. We're trying to raise $1.5 million. T.I. got on theradio station and challenged everybody - all the football players andrecord company execs - and he raised $255,000 in two hours.I'm glad Kanye said what he said on NBC. The President never gave a damnabout black folks. I mean, we knew that already. That's not a surprise.It was the perfect time for him to say it. Personally, I believe that ifCNN had showed more white people stuck in New Orleans, the governmentwould've reacted quicker.I blame Bush for the time it took for them to react to the situation. Iblame Bush for not taking this situation as seriously as they did after9/11. This is ten times worse than 9/11. These are communities; wholecities of people, just gone. We're talking about cities. We're talkingabout a whole coast of people. These are the same states that helpedassure that Bush was going to get in office, and then he turned his backon them. Where was he when we needed him? This is our President!In the Art of War they tell you that the best way to control the peopleis through chaos. Most people make their decisions when somethinghappens that sways them emotionally. So maybe this is God's blessing. Weas American people, no matter what race you are, we see that now we'regoing to have to set up better systems to protect the poor. All theseorganizations that we're forming now need to stay in tact. We're goingto have to be prepared to take care of our own. And we're going to haveto make sure that these relief funds go to people who buy our recordsand support us and come to our concerts. Those are the families that Ihave to be concerned about first, because those are the families thatput me in the position I'm in now.There's a lot more we can do as artists, but I'm really, really proud ofthe rappers who have stepped up to help. I can honestly say that we'veconcentrated so much on helping because it's in our hearts and it's theright thing to do, but we don't get the publicity for it. We're going tohave to make sure people see the efforts these rappers are making,because every time somebody gets shot or something negative happens atone of our concerts, they make sure they publicize it." - David Banner Banner is currently visiting Mississippi shelters giving away food,water, clothing and supplies. "Mississippi is an area that has beenhard hit but not getting much attention from the media. My heart goesout to all those affected, however, I needed to see about home first, Icarry it on my back," states Banner. His foundation, through itsinternet site, healthehood.com, recently helped a family displaced fromthe hurricane find a new home. Donations of canned goods, clothing and supplies can be sent to Heal TheHood Foundation; PO Box 13185; Jackson, Mississippi (healthehood.com).For more information or to speak to David Banner, contact: Tremedia:Tresa Sanders or Tam Layton at 845.623.2325 or email respectively attre@tre-media.net or tremedia1@optonline.net.