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 Street Spirit October 2005 Katrina; The Human DisasterBy Janny CastilloA press conference was held on Friday, September 2nd days after the levees broke and New Orleans and its people were left abandoned under 20 feet of water. Individuals who were bereft and awaiting word on family members, Acorn Community Organizers, BOSS staff, a representative from Barbara Lee’s office and more came together to speak out against the Administration’s slow response to assist the people before and after Hurricane Katrina hit. Congresswoman Barbara Lee expressed her outrage through a press release read by her representative: “If ever anyone doubted that there were two Americas, this disaster has made this division clear. The victims have largely been poor and black. The devastation from Hurricane Katrina only underscores the disastrous consequences of the Administration’s failure to take even the most basic steps to alleviate poverty in the United States. The Administration can not ignore this reality.”
“If we were unclear before, there can be no doubt now that there are indeed two Americas – one for the white and wealthy population which was easily able to evacuate New Orleans, and one for the African community, which lives in conditions of near-slavery, poverty and powerlessness.” Oprah Winfrey on location in New Orleans (http://www.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/200509/tows_past_20050906.jhtml) tried to convince a National Guardsmen and Mayor Ray Nagin to let her into the deserted Louisiana Superdome. “You had thousands of people who were in here for 6 days who had no place to go,” she said, “so I don’t understand now why its such a big deal that I can’t be let in to see where thousands of people had to live for six days.” After releasing the city of all liability and under armed guard they allowed her to enter. She was overwhelmed immediately with the smell of death and human waste. “This is a where a national disaster becomes a human disaster.” As she stood looking into the darkness inside the dome, she began to understand the deplorable conditions that the evacuees had to endure. “This is what I am just now getting, just imagine being trapped inside with no electricity. It is dark in here, and it was dark the whole time… piles and piles of garbage and human waste and hundreds of armed gang members running the show.” Mayor Nagin shared his thoughts: “Magnificent facility like this, turned into a hell hole. The little things are so important and these people were in here with nothing, they didn’t know what was going on outside, they weren’t getting much information, they weren’t getting enough food and had lost everything and they did not know where all their relatives were.” Oprah called it “Hell on Earth.” It happened before: in 1927 during the Great Mississippi Flood, New Orleans was saved by sacrificing parishes south of the city, whose population was mostly rural and poor. From a September 12th, 2005 U.S. News and World Report article written by Judd Slivka entitled “Another Flood that Stunned America”: “On April 29, the levee at Caernarvon, 13 miles south of New Orleans, succumbed to 39 tons of dynamite…New Orleans was saved, but the misery of the flooded parishes had only started. The city fathers took years to make good on their promises, and very few residents ever saw any compensation at all.” The 1927 flood killed as many as 1,000 people and displaced about 700,000 more. Only deep human generosity, compassion and self-sacrifice can alleviate human suffering. In the Katrina aftermath, as the country’s leaders only talked about rescue and began to blame each other; we, the people responded. Many came from across the country to assist the evacuees. Story after story of heroism and self-sacrifice has been reported and the help continues to pour in. Perhaps there are three Americas; the true human essence of this country exists in the people who rushed to New Orleans and the surrounding counties. There were those who stayed in the death waters of New Orleans, who with no sign of rescue, in spite of extreme personal danger and loss, cared and comforted the injured, the children, and the elderly. The doctors, the nurses, the volunteers, the able survivors, Oprah’s Angel Network of volunteers, Red Cross volunteers, the New Orleans police dept, (85% of the New Orleans Police Officers stayed through it all and are still there). The able rushing to assist the fallen, carrying them out of the death waters of New Orleans. If the government failed, the people did not. boona cheema, BOSS Executive Directors concerned about the long-term affects of the disaster said, “Katrina’s aftermath is just beginning and will be felt for many years to come. It will be felt by every poor person in the country. The minimal safety net of housing, education, transportation and health care has been ravaged by local, state and federal cuts since 2002. The Bush Administration through its anti-poverty policies has gutted our communities. The $250 billion needed to rebuild after Katrina will mean deeper cuts in the future for the people we serve.” Katrina is a terrible, horrific disaster. It has brought a nation to its knees and has moved its citizens to tears. Over a million people have been displaced over night and are now scattered homeless across the US. That is only half the truth, the US homeless population before Katrina was already in the millions. From the website http://faculty.washington.edu/krumme/207/handicaps.html - Who are the Homeless? “It is estimated that between 1.3 to 2 million people are homeless each year and 33% of these are families. The U.S. homeless service providers, mental health agencies, human and housing services were already suffering exponentially under deep federal and state cuts. What will happen as hundreds of thousands pour into their doors in need of services? What about the homeless population that are not Katrina survivors, the families that have been sitting in our shelters or living on our streets waiting for months and years for aid, for livable wages, affordable housing, for a chance to support themselves? Who will be moved enough to help them? Where are the telethons, the volunteers, the fundraising efforts? There were millions in need of aid way before and after the memory of Katrina will begin to recede into the past. Katrina’s survivors will meld into the familiar face that we see every day, the poor and homeless. We’ve seen what the administration is willing to do, it’s up to the “third America” to reach deep into their hearts and pockets to give locally and nationally, because the need is so terribly great, and it’s the right thing to do. To help Katrina Survivors - click the link http://www.google.com/katrina.html or read below. American RedCross Acorn Community Organization Habitat for Humanity The United Way Oprah's Angel Network http://www.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/200509/tows_past_20050906.jhtml To help local homeless Uhuru House **New (August 2005) poverty estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey indicate that about 13 percent of people nationwide were living in poverty in 2004. *From a September 12th, 2005 U.S. News and World Report article written by Judd Slivka entitled “Another Flood that Stunned America” **New Data Reveal Widespread Disparities in U.S. State Poverty Rates, www.prb.org by Mark Mather An article titled Can we win the war on poverty?, appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, which details the idea of poverty in the United States. To read a poem titled The Day They Destroyed New Orleans about Hurricane Katrina, please click here. STREET SPIRIT © 2002-2006 STREET SPIRIT. All rights reserved. - Published by American Friends Service Committee
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At
a community rally on Wednesday, September 7th at Uhuru House in
East Oakland, Bakari Olatunji also spoke the words, “There are two Americas.”
The term describes the gross racial and economic inequality that divides
people of privilege and the poor. Does this administration and many that have
come before treat people of color differently than its upper class whites?
Brother Olatunji believed that the actions and the lack of action in New
Orleans was concrete and irrefutable evidence of the blatant disregard for
this nation’s poor people of color. From a handout at the meeting: 
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