Synopsis: As Western North Carolina marks a somber anniversary, a new report pairs with a candid discussion about recovery challenges — from gentrification pressures to lessons learned about class and racial disparities — that still resonate today. Description: Recorded live at radio station WPVM in Asheville, this bonus episode of Laura Flanders & Friends looks back on Hurricane Helene with community organizers who led relief efforts across Western North Carolina. One year on, they share lessons in resilience, justice, and mutual aid, and what pressure people are facing now to combat gentrification in the wake of displacement. Guests: • Ayotunde Dixson, Racial Justice Coalition (RJC) • Tai Little, SEAC Village Watch the special report on YouTube; PBS World Channel September 28th, and on over 300 public stations across the country (check your listings, or search here via zipcode). Listen: Episode airing on community radio October 1st (check here to see if your station is airing the show) & available as a podcast. These audio extras are made possible thanks to our member supporters. Become a member today, go to https://Patreon.com/LauraFlandersandFriends
Synopsis: As displacement pressures mount in the mountains 1 year after Hurricane Helene devastated western North Carolina, residents face gentrification head-on. Hear from local voices on the frontlines of a growing crisis in our exclusive conversation.
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Description: In this bonus conversation recorded live at radio station WPVM in Asheville, North Carolina, Laura speaks with two community organizers who were on the ground in Western North Carolina in the wake of Hurricane Helene. On the one-year anniversary of that deadly storm, they reflect on what it meant to face such an unprecedented disaster in the mountains — a place few imagined a hurricane could strike. From mutual aid networks to lessons in resilience, race, and class, they share how neighbors became first responders when government failed, and why mutual aid isn’t just a slogan but a lifeline. And what pressure are residents facing now, to combat gentrification in the wake of displacement? Released alongside our full, investigative report, Alone & Under Water: Learning from Hurricane Helene, this live conversation brings local voices and learned wisdom too listeners everywhere.
Guests:
• Ayotunde Dixson, Racial Justice Coalition (RJC)
• Tai Little, SEAC Village
Watch the special report on YouTube; PBS World Channel September 28th, and on over 300 public stations across the country (check your listings, or search here via zipcode). Listen: Episode airing on community radio October 1st (check here to see if your station is airing the show) & available as a podcast.
Full Episode Notes are located HERE.
Support Laura Flanders and Friends by becoming a member at https://www.patreon.com/c/lauraflandersandfriends
Music Credit: Original sound design by Jeannie Hopper
Special thanks:
Davyne Dial, General Manager: WPVM FM 103.7 - Community Radio for Asheville
Mab Segrest
Additional crew: DL Anderson, Jon Laww
RESOURCES:
Related Laura Flanders Show Episodes:
• Community Action After Hurricane Helene: BIPOC Media Answers the Call: Watch / Listen: Episode and Full Uncut Conversation
• Power Grids Under Attack: The Threat is Domestic Terrorism – Not Drag Artists: Watch / Listen: Episode
• Collective Real Estate: Land Without Landlords?: Watch / Listen: Episode
• A Co-op Story: People's Construction in Rockaway: Watch / Listen: Episode
Related Articles and Resources:
• Hurricane in the Mountains: What we can learn from Western North Carolina, A Blueprint NC Special Report, by May Segrest with Sofia Trovato, May 2025
• North Carolina government calculates Hurricane Helene damages, needs at least $53B, October 24, 2024, The AP
• We Are The Relief: How Queer Appalachian Mutual Aid Showed Up After Helene, by Basil Vaughn Soper, October 22, 2024, Them.us
• When the Hurricane-Relief Worker Turns Out To Be a Neo-Nazi, by Tawnell D. Hobbs, Jennifer Levitz and Joe Barrett, October 10, 2024, The Wall Street Journal
• Hurricane Helene brews up storm of online falsehoods and threats, October 8, 2024, Institute for Strategic Dialogue
• Extremists Co-Opt Hurricane Response to Blame Israel, Incite a Storm of Hateful Narratives, October 11, 2024, by Center on Extremism, ADL
CHAPTERS:
Unpacking Hurricane Helene's Impact and Community Response
00:00:00
Meet the Organizers: Hurricane Helene's Immediate Aftermath
00:02:39
Government Failure and Class Dynamics in Disaster Response
00:04:56
Gentrification and Class Divide Before the Storm
00:07:32
Mutual Aid Networks Fill the Void of Government Response
00:13:18
Building Community and Facing External Threats Post-Helene
00:18:42
Gentrification and Trauma: Helene's Lasting Societal Impact
00:22:39
Hope in Community: Defining and Practicing Mutual Aid
00:26:48
LAURA FLANDERS AND FRIENDS
UNCUT INTERVIEW FROM THE EPISODE:
[Special Report] Alone & Under Water: Learning from Hurricane Helene
Watch | Download Podcast – Episode -Investigative Report
123.
Recorded live at radio station WPVM in Asheville, this bonus episode of Laura Flanders and Friends looks back on Hurricane Helene with community organizers who led relief efforts across Western North Carolina.
0:17
One year on, they share lessons in resilience, justice and mutual aid, and what pressure people are facing now to combat gentrification in the wake of displacement.
Right, we're on I am Laura Flanders and I am so excited to be here in Asheville, NC on WPVM One O 3.7.
0:45
It is a fantastic studio here.
We are thrilled to be hosted by the incredible Dave Vane and we are doing a interview live for Laura Flanders and Friends, which is a nationally syndicated public television and radio show that airs every week out of New York City.
1:06
Now, I will say on New York City, studios are not as beautifully designed as these.
I broadcast from a little cabin in upstate New York, about two hours out of New York City.
It's a rural community of about 25,000 people.
1:22
And we know a little bit about bad weather, but I'm high on the hill surrounded by neighbors.
We look out for each other.
We have a little bit of a sense of how rural life works.
It's a very agricultural community.
We never would be expect, we would never expect to be hit by a hurricane, never would.
1:41
But when it happened here in the mountainous part of western North Carolina, we paid attention.
We paid attention at my local radio station, WJFF Radio Catskill, and we paid attention at Laura Flanders in France.
We know that you here were hit with a surprise, something you never anticipated, and that you were hit at a time where if your infrastructure is anything like ours, it had already been being weakened for many years and there was very slow response from government.
2:15
So into that vacuum, what flowed?
We're here to find out and to talk about what worked, what didn't work, and what are some of the lessons that people learned here that maybe all of us need to learn because there are hurricanes coming all of our ways, climate related and human being related.
2:36
And I think you've got a lot to teach us both.
So I'd like to start by asking my guests here in the studio to introduce themselves.
We have two incredible people who work together during, before, during, and after the hurricane and who have a lot to teach.
So let's start with you, Ty.
2:52
Tell us who you are and what do you do?
Hi, my name is Ty Little.
I'm in Charlotte, NC, originally out of Atlanta, GA.
So I have a deep love for the South and I always feel like the South has something to say.
3:07
And so thank you, Andre 3000 for that one.
And so when the hurricane happened, my role as a movement building organizer in Charlotte, it really took shape.
3:24
We had been building a foundation for mutual aid already, and it was just the moment and the time.
And because we already had the collective put together, we were able to step up and fill a need and jump into action.
3:39
Very grateful for everybody that was a a part of it with me.
Well, jump into action you did.
Let's hear from you, Ayotunde.
You want to introduce yourself?
Tell us who you are.
What are you?
Doing My name is Ayotunde Dixon.
During the time of the hurricane, I was working for an organization called RJC Racial Justice Coalition.
3:59
And I can say that Asheville was not ready because there have been so many times when we've been told I've been here 12 years that there's a hurricane and it's a running joke in Asheville.
4:17
Would you baff it off?
Hurricane in the mountains here, right?
And it's been the last time that there was anything there was anything close to it was like 1910.
So people, the majority of people here even, you know, generationally was like everybody went to bed like there was nothing going on.
4:41
I mean you get a little flooding in certain areas and that's it.
So when this happened, it made a bust.
Everybody's little pink bubbles.
Well, a lot of people compare Hurricane Elaine to the last worst climate catastrophe to hit the South and to hit the United States.
5:05
And that was Hurricane Katrina that hit Louisiana, a coastal region, a place that was familiar with flooding, not like the mountains.
But I imagine for you, I turned especially that your thoughts might have gone back to 2005.
Did they?
Did you think about what happened?
5:21
As I at the time that Katrina hit, I was living in Mississippi.
So that was like flashback seriously.
And because when the when the hurricane hit, it was not just the hurricane, it was the Tornadoes that ripped through Mississippi and the devastation.
5:46
I know the water was high in New Orleans, but the devastation of the Tornadoes that ripped through Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia, it was like it was like a clear line path.
And it was like, this is amazing.
It's like, how could I mean, it was like a straight line.
6:06
It's like the Hurricanes blew up out of Louisiana and they went straight across all the way to Florida.
So I was like, Oh my God.
Did your thoughts, did your mind go back to Katrina to time?
Yeah.
Having been from Atlanta, so many people from Louisiana that were displaced ended up in Atlanta.
6:25
And so when Helene happened here, it was the same.
Now being in Charlotte, where so many displaced people were coming to Charlotte, and in addition to that, where I live in Charlotte, we also were impacted by Helene as well.
6:44
And I live by the the dam, Mount Allen Dam that that overfilled as well.
And so we had people that were impacted and were displaced in Charlotte as well.
And my house even became a refuge, ironically enough, for teenagers.
7:01
It's always for teenagers at my house, from people at my children's school that had nowhere else to go because their homes were flooded.
And so on top of doing the work on the ground, I was also housing and feeding people in home as well.
7:18
And that was very similar to Katrina.
And one of the things that we learned from Katrina was the government's response was, A, tardy and, B, uneven.
And when you talk about who was displaced and who was left stranded and who was left, why, frankly, there was a racial dynamic there.
Absolutely.
It was also a class dynamic.
7:35
Absolutely.
So this is what I have come to experience here.
Classism is very, very much a big thing here in Asheville because I have seen poor white people suffer as much as black and Hispanics.
7:57
And I mean, it's, I mean, at first it was, it was shocking because I'm just used to white people having this privilege.
But then to see poor white people get treated just as bad as blacks and Hispanics was very eye opening for me.
8:18
Now you would just come off doing a deep research program around reparations in this community.
Right.
Yeah, yeah, It's 2 1/2 years.
And it was about urban renewal and how black people's lands and houses were just, you know, snatched away.
8:38
Some of them weren't paid.
Some of them were paid.
Trucks showed up, put people's stuff in the trucks and moved into the projects through.
I mean with no permission.
So you had been doing that.
You would, you would just to put a pin on it.
8:54
You had been doing that research for the years immediately preceding this hurricane.
Right.
And then we.
Why did you do that and and what was the prop the point of that report?
Because it's getting ready to start happening all over again.
Same thing is happening again, especially here in this area where corporations want the land to build more hotels.
9:19
It's the this is the city where the rich and famous come and play up in the woods.
There are like houses here in this area, 17,000,028 million whole compounds with the helicopter landing pads.
9:36
And I mean, a lot of DC lobbyists live in this area.
So yeah, this is where rich people come to play or they send their relatives or their children that have drug addiction problems to this area.
9:56
Has the state-of-the-art rehab in the United States.
I mean, state-of-the-art there's like, I think it's like 28 different rehab for the very rich here up in the mountains.
10:13
And so this is this is where they come.
So what you're painting, what I'm hearing is a community that was already, as it were at a turning point or at a delicate point, fragile, it's mix was fragile.
10:28
Would you say that was?
Very, yeah, it's very fragile because the cost of living people that service work is a big thing, but this is tourist town, so service work is majority of what people do here.
And when rent is steady, going higher and then you have all these people coming in and putting in Airbnb's or hotels or spa retreat centers.
10:57
And then the average the if you're making $10.00 an hour with tips, you still have to have two or three roommates to live anywhere around here.
I think there's a historical context at play too with, and this is something MAB has brought up a lot with their research, is that historically during the slavery area era, what have you, there were no plantations within Appalachia.
11:31
And so poor white folks did not have the opportunity to become overseers and and slave catchers and police officers that allowed them that privilege and allowed them that upward mobility.
And so there was a long and still has been a long standing history of resistance and having to look out for one another.
11:58
And even like, I love to hear like the Appalachian calls to one another where you would wake up singing, but that was really just you checking in on your neighbors, the call and response.
And so when, when doing this work, it was important for me to get out of the city where so much was being covered.
12:22
And because of the gentrification and the work that Ayatunde is referring to and the development because of the rich, to go out into these haulers where people were not being taken care of, people were being ignored.
People had not been checked in on.
12:39
And there was also no routes to them.
There was no accessibility to cut off.
Yeah, they were.
Because the rich had helicopters.
Helicopter.
There was so many helicopters flying in from day one, picking up rich families and flying them out.
12:59
I mean, that's the.
Greatest way into this place.
Right.
So as soon as the winds and everything died down, there were like helicopter after helicopter after helicopter after helicopter, picking rich families up out of the heels.
13:15
And leaving.
Behind, leaving everybody else behind.
So you have described a very fragile ecosystem, both climate wise and human and political and economy ways.
What did you immediately do?
What did you feel was the priority and and and how did you set priorities in that moment time?
13:37
For me being separate, not being in Asheville and being in Charlotte, we had access to goods and services that were not available here.
And so I immediately got in touch with who I could get in touch with with, started checking in with the mutual aid disaster relief chats to see what the needs were.
14:01
And by day 2, we were able to start filling up U-Haul trucks full of water, full of gas for generators, baby wipes, baby pampers, things along those lines and formula things that were specifically being asked for.
14:20
And I think that was the an insulin, yes, I think that was the biggest.
This lesson was not just sending what we perceived people would need, but sending what was actually being asked for.
Because you were asking people and listening, yes?
And how did you 2 know each other?
14:37
We are both part of Blueprint NC.
And Blueprint North Carolina, that's a big region wide network.
Right.
And that's how we met at a conference.
Years ago, yeah.
And did.
That help that you knew each other beforehand.
Yes, a lot, yeah.
Yeah.
14:52
And it's very important.
And because of that, like being able to tap in with the networks that we have already established, I was able to reach beyond just Asheville into some of the other hollers and things like that where people weren't getting the assistance because of the networks that I knew of.
15:11
In addition to that, just some random people that I happen to know from people vacationing up here.
I have a close friend that has a camper that was staying in Marshall all the time.
So I knew who to go check in in in Marshall.
And when we decided to put on our Tyvek suits and go help demuk people's homes and businesses, we had points of contact.
15:34
And having those points of contact made a difference because you're not just showing up saying hey, what can I do?
You're tapping in and saying, hey, I've got what you need.
Here's some volunteers.
Where?
Where do you need us?
Where are we most needed?
15:50
So we're not just showing up and extrapolating resources by just being here, but able to provide and fulfill.
Is there a story that stands out in your mind that maybe illustrates that I have to?
I mean it to me, it was so beautiful the way they showed up.
They showed up like the Calvary.
16:07
I mean 5 trucks.
They had everything on them.
It's like, OK, where do you want this stuff to go?
I had a couple of different sites that I knew needed these things.
So I took her around to those sites.
They dropped the stuff off and then they were on their way to jump in the muck in and dig people out.
16:27
And it was so beautiful because they need, they brought the things that were needed because I got this place.
So I wound up at a friend's house that was right up the street from a housing unit and it was all black housing unit.
16:43
They got no help.
They did.
So they were bringing in these large containers for water to flush toilets.
It took them almost two weeks to get their first one.
And then because a friend of mine that was like had a mutual aid, a flora collective right down the hill, they had called in a lot of their friends and they started making sure that people have water, babies had diapers, there was food because there, there was nothing, there was nothing going on in housing in the city.
17:25
I think one of the ways that was really important for us to show up from Charlotte was understanding that all systems were down here.
There was no way to pay for anything electronically, and in this time and age, most people don't have cash.
And so we showed up with cash to just be able to pass out to community members.
17:46
But not just that, also understanding that sometimes we have to meet people where they are.
And when you go through a disaster like this, you're left in shock, you're left in with trauma, what have you.
And people deal with those things differently.
And sometimes all you need is a cigarette man afterwards, right?
18:04
So I showed up with.
Miles.
Big boxes of cigarettes and honestly, boxes of small bottles of liquor.
Like take a shot 'cause I get it, sometimes you just need to.
Tells me the Red Cross did not show.
Up they didn't, and you know, the Salvation Army didn't and so and.
18:22
That was the best thing because to see people so downtrodden would to put a $20 bill in their hand.
It was like the tears and the smiles and the IT was like, that's the best thing that had happened to them since the storm.
18:41
Yeah.
What stands out as a learning that might be applicable to people elsewhere?
Ties.
What did you learn this process?
I think I've got a few points with this one, that when we say things like we keep us safe, that is not just a slogan.
19:00
We have to actually enact it.
And that looks different under different circumstances.
But that cannot happen without community.
So it's important that we invest in getting to know our community and understanding how we can show up for one another and with one another and understanding who's good at what.
19:22
Because everybody has a different role that they can play, both in movement and organizing, but also in disaster relief and community organizing.
Because all of us can't show up in all of the ways.
And there's very different roles that we can all play that are all very important and, and will mean sustaining whatever it is that we are trying, trying to do.
19:48
Additionally, it is going to be us that are the first responders.
Our government is not going to be the first on the line to take care of one another or to take care of us.
We have to show up for one another.
And having that foundation of community in place first and foremost allows for when there are times of crisis, for us to jump into action together.
20:11
And so I implore everyone to get to know your community.
We are told that.
And and and and engineered to think that we are individuals and only you can take care of yourself and strap, you know, pull up yourself by the bootstraps.
20:27
But in reality, we all have to be in this together, because if we don't, we won't survive.
Anything you'd add to that I have to well.
And also, you know, educating your community on being hypervilligent, vigilant, because some of the things that we ran into where people that were not from this area showing up with the gun racks and the mud trucks and being very aggressive and nasty toward people of color.
20:59
I mean, that happened quite often.
And then to actually see the license tag on the back of a vehicle and it's like they weren't even from here.
I mean, it was like Indiana, Arkansas, Florida's, like these people don't even live in this area.
21:16
And then they're being aggressive toward the people that are like, they're just trying to figure out what's what's going to happen today, let alone tomorrow, because this has never happened in them before.
And they were trying to use their their services to recruit people to go do harm to others.
21:32
We heard a lot in the national Press of like white supremacist and survivalist and far right groups like Patriot Front coming in here.
Did you see that?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Because I was living on the area called to Wanna Know, which is close to Black Mountain.
And that being that I lived out there, there are these meetings that happen every three months or so where all these supremacists come in town and they have one of those base camps where they learn how to shoot and survivalist skills.
22:05
And that happens every three months in that area.
And it's like, it was for me, it was difficult because the area that I lived in, in Swannanoa, I was the only black person that I saw for five years.
22:22
So I had to be hyper diligent, vigilant and aware at all times when I was coming and going.
You say you don't live there anymore.
I got flooded out otherwise I would have stayed.
I loved where I lived.
Who lives there?
It's.
Beautiful.
My housemates.
22:40
They had no choice but to when they redid the house, they had to let their parents move in because their parents lived in Old Fort and they lost.
Everything in this displacement that's happened since Hurricane Helene, What?
22:56
What have you seen that that worries you about perhaps permanent change to the demographic mix here in Asheville?
Businesses closing down, people not being able to afford, How do you pay rent when the when where you worked is no longer in existence and there's no new like great jobs opening up anywhere.
23:23
And the housing here is just totally ridiculous.
It all is.
It's been bad for a while and now it's worse.
And have prices, have housing prices changed?
Oh my God, yes, yeah.
And I think for me, I love historical context, but Asheville itself used to have a much, much larger black population that is already impacted by gentrification that made the percentage of black folks fall from, I want to say like 80%, something along those lines.
24:01
Well, one time we were 46% of the population.
Right.
And now it's under 10 and now it's under 10%, six.
And since Helene, that displacement has happened even more.
Yeah.
So do you see a future here for yourself?
24:16
I attend that.
Well, I do a lot of nonprofit work.
I do a lot of nonprofit work and I don't know, I, I really don't know.
I've been fortunate enough to have a job that affords, that affords me to be able to keep a roof over my head.
24:37
But as far as I'm really looking at what that looks like in the next two to three years, because our the state of affairs in America is horrible.
So I believe that 80% of America does not know where they're going to be in the next two years.
24:59
And with things that are people are going to have to do, we're going to have to become like other countries like China and other countries.
You're going to have to take your elderly in because if things get cut off the way they're going, they're not going to be able to keep their people in nursing homes or assisted living or everybody's going to have to bring everybody home.
25:22
And then they're going to have to educate their children at home because that's like the education system here in Asheville.
Buncombe County is horrible.
It is horrible.
The the the the gap between the private schools 'cause there are a lot of entitled private schools in this area and public education is horrible.
25:51
I think too, there was already a gap that was caused because of COVID and then these children started to go back to school and then were hit by Helene.
And then there was another gap of just not being in school.
26:07
And the trauma that was coming along with finding out that their classmates were missing or, you know, the IT was traumatizing for me as an adult to ride around these towns and see exes on buildings, meaning those people weren't there anymore.
26:23
And so for children to also have have been displaced from school, go back to it and then been displaced again.
And now seeing this dystopian view everywhere they turn, it calls, especially within the public school system, a huge, tremendous gap and trauma that we may not ever recover from.
26:48
Well, before we close, let's talk about how you both deal with some of that trauma insofar as you do.
We heard a little bit about cigarettes and and alcohol, but that might not be what you're advising for.
All in terms of what makes it possible to get up in the morning to do this work, to keep at it, to have a vision of a future that's not just the dystopian that may we've just experienced.
27:10
What is it?
What?
What keeps?
You going?
I grew up during the time I was born in the 5th, late 50s, early 60s.
So I know what it's like to live in Jim Crow and I see it creeping.
27:25
But I have hope because my thing is where I'm at right now.
I'm educating anybody to give me 5 seconds to we'll listen.
And it's like this is what's happening.
This is what goes what's going on.
27:40
I don't care if you're uncomfortable, but this is what I know to be true.
At one time, Jim Crow was just about black people and people of color.
But guess what?
New dude in town don't care if you black, white Puerto Rico, don't care what you are.
27:57
And it's all about money.
So what I need you to understand is we got to put this together as a people and we got to work this out as a people because the way it's going, 80 to 90% of us are all going to be left behind.
28:15
So it's like it's time to take the glasses off, get your whatever your privilege is off your shoulders and realize we in the same boat.
Talking to boats, it sounds like a hurricane kind of crisis.
Now it is take us one way or another.
I think for me to answer that question, what kept me going and what keeps me going is the resilience of community even in the darkest of times.
28:40
To see people come together to provide food for one another.
I have the curse of being the eldest daughter and so I know what it's like to get up despite it all and and to provide for others.
28:55
And to see so many people coming together despite having lost everything, to still be able to give to others gives hope in that there is resilience, there is faith, there is the ability for us to survive as a collective.
29:13
And for me, that looks like returning to our roots.
A lot of things have been lost in what we've been indoctrinated in, but in reality, there's still something inside of us where that core root value of family and community is there.
29:29
And I got to see it first hand with people that lost everything.
Yeah.
Any final word you want to share?
Mutual aid saves lives, yes.
When we say mutual aid just for people that don't know what we mean, what do you mean?
Mutual aid is us coming together and giving what you can how you can.
29:49
It does not necessarily mean giving money.
Yes, if you have some money to give that is great, but it it's showing up for one another.
If somebody is has code enforcement coming after their home because they can't cut their grass due to ability issues or access issues, but you have a lawn mower and you can do it, go mow their grass so they don't lose their home.
30:11
But yes, mutual aid is showing up for one another how you can, when you can, and in ways that are needed.
Yeah, mutual aid is about helping to build community and showing up with whatever your everybody has a talent, everybody has something they can do.
30:28
And just being, you know, taking that brave step and stepping out and say this is what I can do and showing up and doing it.
Do for them and they might do for you.
Yeah, yeah, makes a lot of difference in the world.
I have Tunde Dixon.
Ty Little.
Thank you so much.
It's been great talking with you.
30:43
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you for doing this.
And thank you everybody at WPVM 103.7 FM in Asheville.
Signing off for Laura Flanders and Laura Flanders from FRIENDS.
I'm Laura.
Thanks for joining us.
Thank you.
Thanks for taking the time to listen to this bonus full uncut conversation released alongside our full investigative report alone and underwater Learning from Hurricane Helene.
31:09
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31:25
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