Amen
The past few days have been much more interesting than had been the previous week. Before a few days ago I felt completely lost and out of place here. What am I doing in a place I don't understand at all, walking through someone else's empty streets at night and spending my days cleaning the homes of faceless ghosts who I have not and will never meet? Well, I finally had the experience that made all of this work real to me. With a bunch of faces, brains and hearts forever burned into my own heart and head, having heard the story from the horse's mouth, I began to understand and be deeply affected by the gravity of the situation for lots of people here in the Delta. A particularly crazy case is, as some of you may know and as I have suggested, the lower 9th ward.
Two days ago I attended a meeting of people from the lower 9th ward. These are all folks who had returned to the desolate area specifically for this meeting; their homes are wrecked, and they have no place to stay here. Most of them drove distances to come; some are staying in places as far as Mississippi and Texas. All are trying to get their lives, and their community, back together. And they recognize who and what they are up against (I'll get to that). But for these people, it seems, struggle is a given, a part of life like any other. After witnessing an albeit imperfect meeting of these community members and organizers, I have hope that they will indeed overcome. Again.
Hurricanes have always affected the lower 9th intensely because of its close proximity to lots of water. According to the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center, "The Lower Ninth Ward was among the very last of the city's neighborhoods to be developed. Bordered by the Industrial Canal to the west, the Southern Railway railroad and Florida Avenue Canal to the north, the parish line to the east and St. Claude Avenue to the south, isolation from the rest of the city and lack of adequate drainage systems contributed to its slow growth." But as one of Common Ground's primary organizers said last night, the all black neighborhood has for the past fifty years has boasted having the highest density of black homeowners in the entire country. While over 40% of New Orleans was 'poor' before the hurricane, the lower 9th proves that poverty and the oft associated ills of 'laziness' or 'shiftlessness' do not apply here. People have worked hard for what they have, and they have built a community and culture that will not allow neo colonialism to strip them of it all.
Many of the people from the lower 9th who lost homes during Katrina and Rita are the decendents of slaves. New Orleans was the most profitable slave port in the US for a long time. Again, from the community data center: "Originally a cypress swamp, the [lower 9th] was the lower portion of plantations that stretched from the river to the lake. Poor African Americans and immigrant laborers from Ireland, Germany and Italy desperate for homes but unable to afford housing in other areas of the city risked flooding and disease to move here. In the 1870s, several African American benevolent associations and mutual-aid societies organized to assist scores of struggling freedmen (formerly-enslaved Africans) in the area."
And the mutual aid societies have not disappered. Indeed, among the chaos and the government criminality of New Orleans society today the people there have redoubled their efforts to rebuild their lives. What are they facing? In a word, displacement. As Kone, a Common Ground founder, said last night: "They want to clear the area of black people. It's that simple. They want to build so-called 'green spaces' there. But don't be fooled, yall. 'Green spaces' does not mean community gardens or wetlands. It means golf courses and casinos." And this isn't the first time that the lower 9th has played the role of sacrificial lamb for the rest of the city. In the 1920s, a hurricane threatened to engulf the downtown/french quarter area, across the canal from the lower 9th. What did the government do? They blew a hole in the levee where it protects the latter community, and the financial, white sections of the city were saved at the expense of the lower income black area. It happened again in 1965 during hurricane Betsy, when "that storm took a total of eighty-one lives. Eighty percent of the Lower Ninth Ward district was under water. At that time, the levee was eight feet high, but Betsy's storm surge was ten. Following the storm, people walked through water that for some was above their waists, holding children in their arms, to escape the water. Others had to be rescued from their rooftops." Deja vu? Lots of people I met a few days ago, who don't have much evidence beyond circumstance and historical knowledge, think that the levees were bombed again.
Some more history: "Although legislation was passed in 1899 for drainage and pumping systems, it was not until between 1910 and 1920 that the city installed adequate drainage systems, including the Jourdan, Tupelo and Florida Avenue Canals, in preparation for construction of the Industrial Canal. The Industrial Canal, built to connect the Mississippi River to Lake Ponchartrain, was completed in 1923, and further isolated the neighborhood from the city proper." The area was and is still in some sense prime real estate because of its proximity to so many trading passages---the canal, railroad tracks and highways. All of these byways also made the area segregated from the downtown area and from basically anywhere else. As James Kelley has observed, though, segregation is often followed by congregation.
"The lack of sewerage, continual drainage and water distribution problems did not deter desperate immigrant and African American workers from moving to the Lower Ninth Ward in search of a place to live and employment in nearby industries. The area continued to maintain a rural feel and the Lower Ninth Ward's reputation for neighborliness actually attracted some New Orleanians from other crowded city neighborhoods" (emphasis mine).
The kind of activism I witnessed at the recent lower 9th community meeting is not new. It is part of a long tradition of taking one's life into one's own hands. The neglect or outright oppression of the local and state government has been felt heavily in the lower 9th, and people there do not wait for charity or help from those they do not trust or have reason to rely on. It is a community of do it yourself pro's. Where the government failed or acted with intent to harm, the people there picked up the pieces and worked hard to fight for their rights, their homes, their families and their community.
It's obvious that the government and the wealthy contractors and corporations want the black community out of the lower 9th. If the two bombed levee experiments are not enough to convince you, consider that people there are constantly being offered funds by the government to sell their property (in what one resident called a 'pennies for dollars' scheme). Five years ago community organizers were put to the test when the government claimed imminent domain on two full streets of homes. They wanted to widen the canal by two streets, and people resisted through court action and battles of civil disobedience in the streets. They won then, and have all the reason in the world to believe that against all odds, they will win again. The bulldozers are coming, but with the legal and financial help of groups like Common Ground, these folks have reason to hope.
It will be another win in a long string of fights-back against the white capitalist rule, which seeks to dismantle their society and move it away. Some more history: "As a result of the activism of residents (particularly from the Lower Ninth Ward) that emerged with the fight for civil rights, and the expertise of the NAACP legal team, the school desegregation movement marked New Orleans as the first deep-South school district to open its all-white doors to black children."
Plenty of people at the meeting think that there are more sinister forces working behind the scenes to prevent people from returning to their homes. FEMA is actually paying people to stay away. That is to say, they get money if they stay in Texas or Mississippi, but are cut off if they return to the lower 9th. And even if they wanted to, where would they live? The trailers made available to the lucky are being parked in Baton Rouge, not here in people's front yards where they want them. The Red Cross has told its employees that they will be fired if they drive into the neighborhood to provide assistance. But the bulldozers are encouraged. One resident at the meeting spoke of their dire situation: "If we return to this toxic place, we have a long road ahead of reconstruction while we live in terrible conditions with our families. But if we stay away, they will see that we aren't committed and then we'll have nothing to come back to."
People are demanding two things of the government: 1. money directly to families to rebuild their homes; 2. levees capable of withstanding another Katrina so that this never happens again. Perhaps one of Common Ground's most important struggles is the solidarity, financial, legal, organizational and otherwise, that they are providing to the lower 9th as these folks attempt to regain control over their community and their lives. And hurricane season is only five months off. And the levees have yet to be rebuilt. One woman at the meeting mused about the ridiculousness of government officials claiming that the levees can't be built to withstand a category 5 storm. "I have been to Europe," she said, "and I've seen that tunnel they have connecting France to England under the ocean. If that is possible, and if it was possible to build this community on a swamp a hundred years ago when we had bad technology, we can do this."
There's so much more to say. Apologies for the disorganization of my ideas...it's a lot to absorb in a few days.
Check out these interesting wiki posts for more info on the lower 9th:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9th_Ward
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ING_4727
Two days ago I attended a meeting of people from the lower 9th ward. These are all folks who had returned to the desolate area specifically for this meeting; their homes are wrecked, and they have no place to stay here. Most of them drove distances to come; some are staying in places as far as Mississippi and Texas. All are trying to get their lives, and their community, back together. And they recognize who and what they are up against (I'll get to that). But for these people, it seems, struggle is a given, a part of life like any other. After witnessing an albeit imperfect meeting of these community members and organizers, I have hope that they will indeed overcome. Again.
Hurricanes have always affected the lower 9th intensely because of its close proximity to lots of water. According to the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center, "The Lower Ninth Ward was among the very last of the city's neighborhoods to be developed. Bordered by the Industrial Canal to the west, the Southern Railway railroad and Florida Avenue Canal to the north, the parish line to the east and St. Claude Avenue to the south, isolation from the rest of the city and lack of adequate drainage systems contributed to its slow growth." But as one of Common Ground's primary organizers said last night, the all black neighborhood has for the past fifty years has boasted having the highest density of black homeowners in the entire country. While over 40% of New Orleans was 'poor' before the hurricane, the lower 9th proves that poverty and the oft associated ills of 'laziness' or 'shiftlessness' do not apply here. People have worked hard for what they have, and they have built a community and culture that will not allow neo colonialism to strip them of it all.
Many of the people from the lower 9th who lost homes during Katrina and Rita are the decendents of slaves. New Orleans was the most profitable slave port in the US for a long time. Again, from the community data center: "Originally a cypress swamp, the [lower 9th] was the lower portion of plantations that stretched from the river to the lake. Poor African Americans and immigrant laborers from Ireland, Germany and Italy desperate for homes but unable to afford housing in other areas of the city risked flooding and disease to move here. In the 1870s, several African American benevolent associations and mutual-aid societies organized to assist scores of struggling freedmen (formerly-enslaved Africans) in the area."
And the mutual aid societies have not disappered. Indeed, among the chaos and the government criminality of New Orleans society today the people there have redoubled their efforts to rebuild their lives. What are they facing? In a word, displacement. As Kone, a Common Ground founder, said last night: "They want to clear the area of black people. It's that simple. They want to build so-called 'green spaces' there. But don't be fooled, yall. 'Green spaces' does not mean community gardens or wetlands. It means golf courses and casinos." And this isn't the first time that the lower 9th has played the role of sacrificial lamb for the rest of the city. In the 1920s, a hurricane threatened to engulf the downtown/french quarter area, across the canal from the lower 9th. What did the government do? They blew a hole in the levee where it protects the latter community, and the financial, white sections of the city were saved at the expense of the lower income black area. It happened again in 1965 during hurricane Betsy, when "that storm took a total of eighty-one lives. Eighty percent of the Lower Ninth Ward district was under water. At that time, the levee was eight feet high, but Betsy's storm surge was ten. Following the storm, people walked through water that for some was above their waists, holding children in their arms, to escape the water. Others had to be rescued from their rooftops." Deja vu? Lots of people I met a few days ago, who don't have much evidence beyond circumstance and historical knowledge, think that the levees were bombed again.
Some more history: "Although legislation was passed in 1899 for drainage and pumping systems, it was not until between 1910 and 1920 that the city installed adequate drainage systems, including the Jourdan, Tupelo and Florida Avenue Canals, in preparation for construction of the Industrial Canal. The Industrial Canal, built to connect the Mississippi River to Lake Ponchartrain, was completed in 1923, and further isolated the neighborhood from the city proper." The area was and is still in some sense prime real estate because of its proximity to so many trading passages---the canal, railroad tracks and highways. All of these byways also made the area segregated from the downtown area and from basically anywhere else. As James Kelley has observed, though, segregation is often followed by congregation.
"The lack of sewerage, continual drainage and water distribution problems did not deter desperate immigrant and African American workers from moving to the Lower Ninth Ward in search of a place to live and employment in nearby industries. The area continued to maintain a rural feel and the Lower Ninth Ward's reputation for neighborliness actually attracted some New Orleanians from other crowded city neighborhoods" (emphasis mine).
The kind of activism I witnessed at the recent lower 9th community meeting is not new. It is part of a long tradition of taking one's life into one's own hands. The neglect or outright oppression of the local and state government has been felt heavily in the lower 9th, and people there do not wait for charity or help from those they do not trust or have reason to rely on. It is a community of do it yourself pro's. Where the government failed or acted with intent to harm, the people there picked up the pieces and worked hard to fight for their rights, their homes, their families and their community.
It's obvious that the government and the wealthy contractors and corporations want the black community out of the lower 9th. If the two bombed levee experiments are not enough to convince you, consider that people there are constantly being offered funds by the government to sell their property (in what one resident called a 'pennies for dollars' scheme). Five years ago community organizers were put to the test when the government claimed imminent domain on two full streets of homes. They wanted to widen the canal by two streets, and people resisted through court action and battles of civil disobedience in the streets. They won then, and have all the reason in the world to believe that against all odds, they will win again. The bulldozers are coming, but with the legal and financial help of groups like Common Ground, these folks have reason to hope.
It will be another win in a long string of fights-back against the white capitalist rule, which seeks to dismantle their society and move it away. Some more history: "As a result of the activism of residents (particularly from the Lower Ninth Ward) that emerged with the fight for civil rights, and the expertise of the NAACP legal team, the school desegregation movement marked New Orleans as the first deep-South school district to open its all-white doors to black children."
Plenty of people at the meeting think that there are more sinister forces working behind the scenes to prevent people from returning to their homes. FEMA is actually paying people to stay away. That is to say, they get money if they stay in Texas or Mississippi, but are cut off if they return to the lower 9th. And even if they wanted to, where would they live? The trailers made available to the lucky are being parked in Baton Rouge, not here in people's front yards where they want them. The Red Cross has told its employees that they will be fired if they drive into the neighborhood to provide assistance. But the bulldozers are encouraged. One resident at the meeting spoke of their dire situation: "If we return to this toxic place, we have a long road ahead of reconstruction while we live in terrible conditions with our families. But if we stay away, they will see that we aren't committed and then we'll have nothing to come back to."
People are demanding two things of the government: 1. money directly to families to rebuild their homes; 2. levees capable of withstanding another Katrina so that this never happens again. Perhaps one of Common Ground's most important struggles is the solidarity, financial, legal, organizational and otherwise, that they are providing to the lower 9th as these folks attempt to regain control over their community and their lives. And hurricane season is only five months off. And the levees have yet to be rebuilt. One woman at the meeting mused about the ridiculousness of government officials claiming that the levees can't be built to withstand a category 5 storm. "I have been to Europe," she said, "and I've seen that tunnel they have connecting France to England under the ocean. If that is possible, and if it was possible to build this community on a swamp a hundred years ago when we had bad technology, we can do this."
There's so much more to say. Apologies for the disorganization of my ideas...it's a lot to absorb in a few days.
Check out these interesting wiki posts for more info on the lower 9th:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9th_Ward
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ING_4727
posted by boston2palestine at 8:51 AM
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