Come Hell or High Water

Filmmaker Leah Mahan discovers a memorable hero in longtime friend Derrick Evans during a 10-year story arc marked by activism, corporate greed, and race-tainted Deep South land grabs. Evans is a Boston teacher and student of African-American history, whose ancestry can be traced back to the Mississippi community of Turkey Creek, which was founded by ex-slaves just outside Gulfport. In 2001, with post-industrial Gulfport expanding as a casino-resort town, the predominantly black Turkey Creek became endangered by a development scheme—directly from bulldozers and indirectly from flooding associated with the new construction. Putting his Boston career on hold repeatedly, Evans rallied with Mississippi neighbors and preachers to prevent Turkey Creek from being effectively wiped off the map. Evans tried to get town buildings and homes named to the National Register of Historic Places, and gained support from the Audubon Society and the Sierra Club to preserve the Turkey Creek wetlands. Years later, after Hurricane Katrina devastates the region, Evans' high-profile protests emphasize how the blacks of Turkey Creek have largely been overlooked in cleanup efforts. The theme of "environmental racism" surfaces in this saga, which concludes with the epic BP/Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster threatening Gulfport's ballyhooed beaches (although where Turkey Creek fits into that particular controversy is vague). A powerful story of one man's good fight, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)