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Come Hell Or High Water

Come Hell or High Water follows Derrick Evans in his fight to preserve his community's home in coastal Mississippi.
Leah Mahan

    

When the city of Gulfport, Mississippi made plans to bulldoze the graves of former slaves, teacher-turned-advocate Derrick Evans fought to stop it. 

Evans returned to his home, the Turkey Creek community. His fight to preserve and protect the area are the subject of the film, Come Hell or High Water. The work traces the battles of community members to fight for environmental justice and to survive the destruction and damage caused by Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill. The struggles in Turkey Creek are similar to those faced by community members in Mebane, North Carolina. 

Host Frank Stasio talks with filmmaker Leah Mahan; Omega Wilson, president of the West End Revitalization Association; and Danielle Spurlock, professor of city and regional planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Come Hell or High Water screens tonight at 6 p.m. at the UNC School of Public Health with a panel discussion to follow.

COME HELL OR HIGH WATER: The Battle for Turkey Creek - TRAILER (1 MIN.) from Leah on Vimeo.

Laura Lee was the managing editor of The State of Things until mid February 2017. Born and raised in Monroe, North Carolina, Laura returned to the Old North state in 2013 after several years in Washington, DC. She received her B.A. in political science and international studies from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2002 and her J.D. from UNC-Chapel Hill School of Law in 2007.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.