10 years after katrina

8/20/2019 10 Years After Katrina

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10 Years After Hurricane KatrinaBlack Lives Matter. I remember the events of Hurricane Katrina like yesterday. It was the worst hurricane

national disaster in our generation. It heavily damaged the Gulf Coast region with lives ruined forever. It is

important to note that lives have been strengthened and the courageousness of the people of the region is

amazing too. Also, the events five years ago further confirmed the anger that my black people had at

systematic racial discrimination and economic oppression. Katrina opened the eyes for others that

investments in public infrastructure was a necessity in order for human beings to have more productive,

happier, and blossoming lives. The hurricane hit U.S. soil in the Gulf Coast on the date of August 29, 2005.

Katrina was about 175 square miles at its peak. Almost 1,800 people died (almost 40 percent of thepeople who passed away in Katrina were elderly) and more than 500,000 human beings have been

displaced from the region after Katrina. I was 21 years old and a senior in college during the time when it

happened. From the start, New Orleans experienced disgraceful neglect from all levels of the government.

Hundreds of bodies floated in the streets of New Orleans. Charity Hospital, founded in 1736 to provide for

the poor and indigent, was shut down in 2005 despite minimal flood damage, depriving thousands of

uninsured residents of a crucial source of health care. There is a new hospital completed in August 2015 was

named University Medical Center New Orleans. However, in some neighborhoods (including the Lower 9th

Ward, which was among the hardest hit by the flooding) the population is still barely a third of what it was a

decade ago. Other sections of the city, such as the Tremé neighborhood—a historic center of jazz and

working-class culture—have been gentrified. Many media people have talked about triumphalism (which is a

falsity). New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu is working with the Rockefeller Foundation to advance neoliberal

policies in the city.

Black people in New Orleans were on roofs begging for help. There were people starving to death and

others have died. The black people and the poor were not only mistreated, but they were unfairly

scapegoated by many disgraceful right wing commentators like Glen Beck and Sean Hannity. Not to mention

that many black people and other human beings (of every color) during the disaster, helped the victims of

Hurricane Katrina, gave food including water to people, and they saved lives. Their courage, sacrifice, and


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activism must be acknowledged and respected. Hundreds of people (like Larry Bradshaw and Lorriet Beth

Slonsky) tried to escape across the bridge over the Mississippi River, and they were stopped from doing so

by armed police firing live bullets over their heads. 10 years later, many of the people were left behind,

forgotten, and ignored when Katrina happened are still left behind, forgotten, and ignored in the recovery

and rebuilding New Orleans.

Some police officers tried to frame black Americans on the Danziger Bridge too. This incident happened on

September 4, 2005. Members of the New Orleans Police Department killed 2 unarmed black people, who

were 17 year old James Brissette and 40 year old Ronald Madison. 4 other black civilians were wounded too.

Each of the people never committed any crime. Madison was a mentally disabled man and he was shot in

the back. The murdering cops are total disgraces. The New Orleans police fabricated a cover up story for

their crimes. They falsely reported that seven police officers responded to a police dispatch reporting an

officer down, and that at least four people were firing weapons at the officers upon their arrival. This was a

racial tragedy as said by Raymond Brown (or the local head of the National Action Network). On August 5,

2011, a federal jury in New Orleans convicted five police officers of myriad charges related to the cover-up

and deprivation of civil rights. An attorney for the Justice Department described it as "the most significantmisconduct prosecution [in the U.S.] since the Rodney King beating case." The Justice Department appealed

the decision to vacate the convictions, but a federal appeals court agreed that a new trial was warranted. The

bad news is that the convictions were vacated on September 17, 2013, because of prosecutorial misconduct,

and a new trial was ordered. The Justice Department appealed the decision to vacate the convictions, but a

federal appeals court agreed that a new trial was warranted. The cop involved in the killings should be

prosecuted, convicted, and sent to prison. So, Justice must come in the case of overt police terrorism against

Brothers and Sisters.

It is important to note that Hurricane Katrina caused destruction in other places of Louisiana, Mississippi,Alabama, and other places in America. Any victim of the storm should receive sympathy and respect.

Waveland, Mississippi was the location where Hurricane Katrina had a direct impact on August 29, 2005.

Many people have died, homes have been destruction, and massive grief has happened in the town (and in

other locations of the Gulf Coast). 95 percent of the homes in Waveland were damaged in the 2005 Katrina

disaster. Today, the town is in the process of recovering and rebuilding. Hurricane Katrina damaged over 40

Mississippi libraries, gutting the Waveland Public Library, as a total loss, requiring a complete rebuild. Many

religious organizations (like Shoreline Park Baptist Church in Waveland and Pastor Ed Murphy, etc.) have

aided Waveland in massive ways in order to help the citizens of Waveland. Mobile, Alabama also

experienced damage from Hurricane Katrina. A storm surge of 11.45 feet (3.49 m) damaged eastern sections

of Mobile and caused extensive flooding in downtown.

There is a huge amount of economic inequality and other racial discriminatory policies in New Orleans plus

in other locations nationwide. There are sick people who are openly exploiting the situation to allow poor

people and black people to suffer. The Lower Ninth Ward has not received adequately resources to rebuilt

(it was the last region in the city to receive electricity, etc.) while the French Quarter and other areas are

massively rebuilt. The Sanchez Center in the lower Ninth Ward was only opened in May of 2015. Today, there

are 100,000 less African Americans living in New Orleans than in 2005. The storm was originally a national

disaster. Later, it became a man-made disaster when many people suffering via neglect, negligence, and a


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disgraceful response by various governmental agencies. Classism and racism certainly are serious problems

in New Orleans. I watched where one person said that people in the 9th Ward have to take buses in long

distances to go into Walmart to just get groceries. Spike Lee has shown the truth. The BP disaster was about

BP polluting waters, which harmed people and killed wildlife in the Gulf Coast region too. I read that many of

the FEMA locations had poisons in them too. The Bush/Cheney team was shopping, celebrating in a baseball

game, etc. while people were dying in the streets of New Orleans. What made me angry was about how thecowardly racists were blaming the black people and the poor when they were victims of a natural disaster.

Koch Industries being involved in corporate exploitation doesn't surprise me. The Koch Brothers were

involved in aiding three strikes laws back during the 1990's. Malik Rahim, who is founder of Common

Ground Relief, is one of the heroes of Katrina.

10 years later, we have a long way to go. While richer neighborhoods in New Orleans have been massively

invested, many poor and black communities are filled with decaying homes and lax investments. We must

continue to promote mental health resources in New Orleans. We live in a new era where Black Lives

Matter is a powerful motto where people are confronting police terrorism, racial injustice, and

economic inequality. We also face poverty, health care, housing, education, and the environmental

issues. These issues existed in 2005 just like today in 2015. We have a long way to go, but we fight on. We

will fight for more solutions and we will always believe in justice for all.


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Warnings

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Hope for the Future

There are always hope for the future. The good news is that the future will be better than the past. Many

people are graduating from high schools in New Orleans. There are strong people in the Gulf Coast region.

There has been a great rebuilding of homes in the Gulf Coast including in New Orleans. We will never forget

about the Katrina disaster and we will always remember the heroes then and now who are helping people,

educating students, and making a difference in the lives of human beings every single day. We want New

Orleans and the Gulf region in general to be much better 10 years from now in 2025. We will never give up

and we will always love the truth and fight for freedom and justice. There are many organizations and

activists who are doing great work from charities, community develop programs, and other individuals who

are engaged in social justice activities. Many people in New Orleans are rebuilding. There is the Creative

Alliance of New Orleans and Alembic Community development. They are displaying an exhibition of murals

painted by hundreds of people in New Orleans. The African American Leadership Project has been working

constantly to end racial injustice and oppression in the region as well. They have worked with others in

improving public policy since Hurricane Katrina. Trymaine Lee is a journalist who covered Katrina back in

2005. He has interviewed people in the city and he won a Pulitzer Prize for the breaking news coverage of

Hurricane Katrina. He has worked in many media companies and now he is a national reporter for the

MSNBC, where he writes for the network’s digital arm. He interviewed many people including Sister Lucrece

Phillips. She was a victim of the storm and she loves her family.

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Power to the People.

10 years after katrina

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