Prometheus 6

Blacks rise to help their community
The black community is rallying around a cause -- to help black victims of Hurricane Katrina.
BY NATALIE P. McNEAL

From humble offerings of crumpled singles in church collection plates to the fittingly named SOS: Saving OurSelves telethon by BET, blacks are responding with money and in-kind contributions for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

A crop of black charitable organizations are benefiting from the unprecedented outpouring after the storm's devastating toll among African Americans.

Grim images of poor blacks swimming against two tides -- those wrought by Katrina and those wrought by a government's tardy response -- have rekindled feelings of injustice, motivating blacks in South Florida and across the nation to take action.