Part 2 of 2: The Lower Ninth: Ground Zero for Reparations and Education

After the catastrophic damage Hurricane Katrina caused to the people and the property in the communities along the Gulf States in September 2005, one especially hard hit neighborhood in the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans heard the announcement of the closure of all of its public schools until 2008. Instead of accepting the closing of one of their key institutions parents, community leaders, teachers, and administrators began to organize for King School's immediate reopening. Their organizing efforts take place within the context of a wider movement toward self-determination and the reclaiming of key community institutions termed reparations. This film reports on interviews, fieldnotes, discussions, findings, and actions taken during April 2006 immediately following Hurricane Katrina in the Lower Ninth Ward. Following recent work in cultural geography, critical race theory, and cultural studies, the film explores how one community, is rejecting systematic 'neoliberal' injustice, market imperatives, expansion of white capital and the violent dispossession of their property by claiming the right to self-determination. Through an analysis of the historical context which the Lower Ninth is situated, documents and speeches given by state officials, interviews of community members, the film illustrates several economic and educational themes that are represented in their struggle: racial geography, local fiscal control, the role of capital in ethnic cleansing, and a pedagogy of racial justice. Finally, the film offers a New Orleans framework for understanding how communities are forging a new narrative of liberation by claiming and taking reparations.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• New
• Orleans
• Katrina
• Reparations
• Education

[cosmicskydaddy]

I never could figure out why people of any color live in the Gulf of Mexico.Storm after storm,year after year.Maybe it's time to go somewhere else.

[latech1116]

Blacks are going to bitch and complain till the day they die. 70% of all blacks born are born out of wedlock. GOD was speaking to you blacks when Katrina hit. You still ain't got a damn clue.

[latech1116]

How are we supposed to help or respect people who won't even help themselves? Hurricane coming=GET THE HELL OUTTA THE WAY YOU DUMB DONKEYS.

[latech1116]

Why is it that everywhere else hurricane damage occured people got off their ass and rebuilt. Yet in NOLA people "expect" someone else to do it for them? Blacks are disobeying the word of GOD which states if you donot work, you donot eat. Get off your ass black people. You wonder why racism exists and things happen to you? Because you appear not to be able to get thru life w/o help.

[cheesecake7777]

I remember when this school first opened. Everyon wanted to attend. It was so beautiful and still is. To bad I was already in the 7th grade:(.

GOD BLESS

[DivinePoetry]

lol

[CCVERL]

A couple of corrections and clarifications: This video portrays one aspect of the stuggle poor and working black people to return to New Orleans. The "residents" and "people" that were complaining and fighting to reopen MLK school in the Lower Ninth Ward were members of the New Orleans Survivor Council (NOSC). Quara Charles, whose name is actually spelled Cora Charles, was one of the NOSC leaders at that time.

[crymeafuckinriver]

why don't you join us so we can really solve some problems: reparationsthecure(dot)org

[n2motocross]

Solution: MOVE ABOVE SEA LEVEL! Problem solved.