This fall break, I (along with Iris Mercado) took part in Rhodes Rebuilds, a group that travels to New Orleans to help rebuild and repair damage still left from Hurricane Katrina. While I have been to New Orleans countless times before, I have not been since taking this African American History course, thus I had a different perspective during and after my visit .
One day, while working in a community garden, which was aimed at providing (free) fresh produce to the surrounding neighbors that may not be able to typically afford it, we were visited by one of the African American residents of the neighborhood. She told us her story of her experiences of being stranded on her roof for days as well as the stories of her neighbors' (some of which did not survive) experiences.
This neighborhood is one within walking distance of the levies, so it was especially damaged when the levies broke. With this being said, one would think this neighborhood would have received extra attention, but unfortunately, this did not seem to be the case. So many houses in the area, fallen trees, and trash were left untouched by any government aid that I had to question whether the fact that the majority economic status and race of the people of the neighborhood and community played a role in how the government prioritized what it would choose to fix.
Something that this woman told us that left me in shock was that weeks would go by without the garbage trucks coming by to pick up the garbage. This especially flabbergasted me because it paralleled exactly what we have studied in this course. From the Ground Up discusses the inferior treatment towards blacks in terms of education, housing, etc. during the mid-1900s, and this was no different - only it was in 2013! It is truly hard for me to imagine how the government can still neglect a community just as it had done during the Civil Rights Era.
In the lecture "Social Media and Social Justice in the Age of Hip Hop," the speaker addressed Kanye West's remark that "George Bush doesn't care about black people" in reference to the thousands left in terrible and unimaginable conditions in New Orleans neighborhoods, streets, houses and the Super Dome post-Katrina. While I heard this statement by him before, I do not think that I really appreciated it until I spoke with Katrina victims. While I do not think that the president of the country purposefully neglected thousands of people (not all of which were African American, I might add), I wonder if his reaction would have been different had the majority of them been Caucasian. How do you think race played and still plays a role in fixing New Orleans post-Katrina? Is today's discrimination much less discreet and much more prevalent than we actually think it is?
I think you need to evaluate all the factors that could have contributed to the lack of response in that specific area you were in. You may be right and race may have played a factor in it but also the mayor Ray Nagin who served from Katrina till 2010 was indicted on 21 corruption charges from wire fraud to money laundering with the city following the rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina. I am sure that the wealthier areas were much cleaner but they also had money to help out in the rebuilding process. You can only rely on the government for so long before the money going into rebuild just isn’t enough to do the job. As you stated, that area was right next to the levies which made it hit the hardest therefore it would cost way more to rebuild in turn would make it farthest for the cleanup crew to get to. New Orleans in 2000 was 67% African American so I don’t think that the specific area you were in was segregated because an overwhelming percent of the population is black. Now if the whole city was neglected that would be a different case but you can’t determine something from one area. Every city has there bad areas.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post, Mariam! I had never considered the role race might have played or might play in areas in which natural disaster has occurred. What I think could be happening here is that governments are choosing to rebuild areas that will quickly (and for the long-term...) generate income for New Orleans. So, with that being said, they are going to be less focused on these poorer areas because it will yield fewer economic benefits for the city as it is in repair mode. Now, with that being said, perhaps these areas are more so African American populated so as a consequent, race may appear to be a factor here. However, I would be willing to bet that New Orleans' government would have strived to rebuild black prominent businesses and affluent residences just as much as they would have strived to do so for white. I, however, do not have the facts, but that would be something very interesting to look into. But, like you said it may be covert and there may be little information on it available to outsiders. Hmmmm, food for thought.
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