Roundtable Discussion with Hurricane Katrina Survivors 2

A week after arriving in New Orleans to cover the events William Quigley described in his call to action that laid out the details of the severe housing crisis still affecting New Orleans 2-1/2 years after the city was struck by Hurricane Katrina, many irregularities remain surrounding Mayor Ray Nagin's policies on the homeless, the displaced and the disenfranchised. Having stayed in a number of places that would probably scare most white people (we can say this because it scared us a little, being a couple middle class white boys) there is the sense of unfamiliarity and uneasiness at being out of one's element, but it is larger and much more foreboding than than. We were struck by the eerie and palpably obscene juxtaposition of people in expensive suits coming and going at City Hall in downtown New Orleans, while literally across the street was a scene directly out of the Grapes of Wrath with people living in tents, under blankets, cardboard and in some cases, even less than that. We ourselves stayed with the homeless overnight, sleeping on cardboard, in the rain, in Duncan Square Plaza. It's a little park directly across the street from the mayor's office in city hall. What we saw and smelled and heard would disgust most people, especially those who live there. Almost unbelievably, many of these people hold full time jobs, have always held jobs and have never asked for a handout but, because of the severe housing shortage and skyrocketing rent, can no longer afford housing. We watched them returning from work in clean white shirts and neat pants and clean shoes only to hole up inside their tent after dark.

We also stayed with Roderick Dean, a man who would frighten some people because, a) he is a black man, b) he lives in a small, landlord neglected first floor apartment in the hood and c) he is HIV positive. He isn't just any black man, having run for mayor in 2006. He served as a corrections officer, he's a veteran and he is an activist. But these are not what make him exceptional. It isn't even that he was locked inside a cell in downtown New Orleans during Katrina. There were thousands of other inmates, many who were being held on trivial offenses and, while they were never charged, they were nevertheless left there to drown in the foul, poisonous, sewage and chemically contaminated waters of Katrina by prison guards who left them locked inside flooding cells without so much as a parting insult before the guards headed for home and safety. Most of the inmates here are African Americans. So it is not his ethnicity that makes him stand out. What makes him exceptional is that he had absolutely no business being arrested in the first place.

On its face the policy of demolishing useful housing in the midst of a monumental housing crisis appears to be at the very least racist and profiteering inspired if not down right ethnic cleansing. It is precisely because there are so many more questions than there are satisfactory answers, and that the answers will have tremendous influence on thousands of people's lives and the future quality of life for all of New Orleans that we are discussing the housing crisis in New Orleans. We hope to help provide a forum that will allow for transparency in addressing the questions and disseminating the conversation widely.

Having shared but two weeks with those most affected by the demolitions here, it is hard to imagine the national press could turn away now.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• corrupt
• New
• Orleans
• Mayor
• Nagin
• City
• Council
• HUD
• Secretary
• Jackson
• police
• brutality
• Taser
• pepper
• spray
• abandons
• poor

[gapband1983]

this needs to be stoped,hardworking tax payers are always the ones who get swept under the rug when the game of politics concerns them.the people of new orleans are some strong people to say that they are fighting for what they know is right, soo many people have sooo much negative shit to say about the people of the city after katrina.but before,everyone was like "wow i love the city of new orleans"if the people aren't there than what's a city without them?

[ironman36]

This is mind numbing. This is proof that we as citizens of the U.S. don't have a voice in this God damn country. Just you wait!!! there is gonna come a day when A great mass of people will wake up and snap!!! and no government force of man will stop it!!!