The following is from a fact-finding tour of the south by members of the PhillyIMC. See articles, photos, audio, and upcoming video from the trip here.
Words and images will not prepare you for the Lower Ninth Ward. When I entered the Lower Ninth I was reminded of watching a World War II movie and trying to imagine what it would be like to stand in the burnt out husks of once thriving European cities. That is what the Lower Ninth Ward felt like. Block after block of total destruction. A complete breakdown of society. I scoffed earlier in the trip when a veteran had described the Lower Ninth as "worse than Vietnam." Once I visited I could see what he meant.
The Lower Ninth Ward brought gut-wrenching clarity to the "poverty in a sea of opportunity" that was the focus of our trip. The obliterated Lower Ninth neighborhood, as well as other poorer neighborhoods we visited, stand in surreal contrast to the French Quarter, Business District, and other richer neighborhoods that appear to be fully recovered.
How could some neighborhoods be relatively unscathed while others are uninhabitable? The fact that this dichotomy falls so closely along racial and class lines is perhaps the most powerful testament of Katrina and why it awakened the nations consciousness. The levees failed, the evacuation plan was so terribly planned, and the poor were left behind because of a premeditated system of negligence. The media and right try to play this as "incompetence". That a few bad apples blew it. Nothing couldn't be farther from the truth. Bush's decision to demote FEMA from a cabinet level position, place it in the Department of Homeland Security, and to appoint a crony with zero disaster relief experience are just the tip of the iceberg in a Neoliberalist system that is slowly but surely chipping away the rights and dignity of the middle and lower classes.
We saw first hand in Mississippi and New Orleans the what Adolph Reed recently stated in The Nation:
We have to be clear that what happened in New Orleans is an extreme and criminally tragic coming home to roost of the con that cutting public spending makes for a better society. It is a shocking foretaste of a future that many more of us will experience less dramatically, often quietly as individuals, as we lose pensions, union protection, access to healthcare and public education, Social Security, bankruptcy and tort protection, and as we are called upon to feed an endless war machine.
Before visiting the Lower Ninth Ward, with met with several New Orleans residents who lost their homes to the flooding of Katrina.
Al Alcazar, whose home in the Lakeview neighborhood is uninhabitable, considers himself lucky. While his home is gone and his hurricane insurance policy will cover only the damage to the roof of his house (out of a $370,000 policy he received $10,000), he does have a steady job that paid him throughout the Katrina nightmare.
However he focused on those who were not as fortunate as he. Those without work or who have lost their work and now have no means with which to buy food or find housing. "They are the ones who clean our dishes and wash our clothes. They are the ones who cook our food and build our homes. They are the ones who don't have the money. They are the ones who will become homeless."
Ted Quant took us on a tour of his uninhabitable home in Gentile. If the Lower Ninth Ward is a war zone then Gentile, and many other neighborhoods like it, could be considered a "ghost town." Everyone has left and few may be able to return.
Ted spoke to us about his views of the reconstruction plan which gives neighborhoods four months to prove they can return or they will be bought out and demolished. "It is a land grab development plan," he told us.
"There are too many questions to decide in four months. Based off of what information? Can I get insurance? Do I need to raise the house above the flood plane? Will there be services? Will others return as well?"
Ted spoke to us about the struggles of reuniting a community that is now spread out across the country.
"This is just property. My home could burn but that is just property. If you walk outside, that is community. You can't replace that."
"Community is a spiritual thing that isn't just lost for you but is lost for everyone."
Read more about PhillyIMC's Fact-Finding Mission at http://www.phillyimc.org.
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