The Houston Defender has been publishing and serving the Black community in and around Houston since 1930. Sonceria “Sonny” Messiah Jiles has been at the helm of the newspaper since 1981, reporting the news and events of one of largest Black communities in the United States, with a population approximately the size of the entire city of Atlanta.
But, this week Jiles wasn’t reporting the news; this week she and her family were part of the news, victims, along with thousands of others of the catastrophic Hurricane Harvey and its aftermath.
“We’ve lived in this house for 25 years…and we have never had any flooding. There’s been flooding around us, but it’s never touched us for the 25 years we’ve lived there. And all of a sudden this year. We’ve been through four or five hurricanes, many thunderstorms, now this catastrophic flood comes about,” Giles said during AFRO First Edition on Aug. 28. Jiles called in to the show from Houston, Texas in the midst of what was at the time Tropical Storm Harvey.
Sean Yoes (Courtesy Photo)
Despite being downsized from a hurricane, Harvey nonetheless continued to devastate Texas and Louisiana throughout the week. The historic storm had claimed at least 30 lives as of Aug. 29 and a levee was breached south of Houston. According to the National Weather Service, as of Aug. 29 the all-time record for total rainfall from a tropical system in the continental U.S. was broken in Cedar Bayou, Texas, about 30 miles from downtown Houston with 51.88 inches. On the evening of Aug. 29, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner imposed a mandatory curfew on the city from midnight to 5 p.m.
The epic flood waters left at least five feet of water in the Jiles family home and Sonny Jiles said her husband’s blood pressure began to elevate, before family members escaped through a second floor window and were rescued by neighbors.
“An airboat…these were neighbors that were five blocks away, who actually came into the neighborhood almost on a search and rescue mission,” Jiles said. “The police and firemen had come through earlier…and we thought they were coming back but they never came back. So, about four or five hours later, neighbors came through with the airboat and they made about six different trips, clearing out the neighborhood picking up people from their balconies.”
Despite the tremendous adversity Jiles says the Houston Defender is determined to publish this week and provide the service it has rendered for Houston’s Black community for decades. The Defender has been publishing news on its Facebook page during the storm.
“There is a joint venture that we do with the Mayor’s office from the standpoint of staying on top of whatever new resources or opportunities that they are establishing,” Jiles said. “But, you have the federal component that has a template that is in play and often times people don’t know how to navigate it. Explaining those components and how you access…what are some of the pitfalls and mistakes, so that people know what not to do…that I think is our biggest responsibility to both our readers and Houstonians in the area,” Jiles added.
Jiles operates the Houston Defender as a proud member of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, which represents about 200 Black newspapers across the United States, including the AFRO. But for Jiles, Hurricane Harvey has reinforced the fact that the city she serves is one of the most diverse in the nation.
“…As far as Houston is concerned, our city is very diverse. On that airboat it became very apparent how diverse,” Jiles said. “We had Asians, we had Hispanics, we had Iranians, we had African Americans, we had Africans. It was just amazing to look around that airboat and to realize how many of us were all there, we pretty much all knew each other, but to be forced to be in that situation we became much closer to each other.”
Ultimately, through the harrowing Hurricane Harvey and its aftermath Jiles and her family fall back upon a default position of faith.
“…With much prayer there is much power.” she said. “So keep on praying, and we appreciate you.”
Sean Yoes is the AFRO’s Baltimore editor and host and executive producer of AFRO First Edition, which airs Monday through Friday 5 p.m.-7 p.m. on WEAA, 88.9.
