Is There Any Doubt?

In case there were any people left who were not sure about the racist and class objectives of the Republican Party, I think this should clear up any more doubt. The state of Mississippi and its Republican Governor Haley Barbour has decided to take money earmarked for rebuilding the Gulf Coast region which was damaged by Katrina and use it to provide relief and redevelopment money for the wealthy at the expense of the poor. Mississippi was the only state that requested and the only state granted the waiver to override the provision that atleast 50% of the Community Block Grants be spent on low income projects. In creating the program Congress wanted to insure that the low income population in the affected states would not be left out of the redevelopment funds.

But so far, the state has spent $1.7 billion in federal money on programs that have mostly benefited relatively affluent residents and big businesses. The money has gone to compensate many middle- and upper-income homeowners, to aid utility companies whose equipment was damaged and to prop up the state’s insurance system.

Just $167 million, or about 10 percent of the federal money, has been spent on programs dedicated to helping the poor, mostly through a smaller grant program for lower-income homeowners.

Some critics contend that the main interest of state leaders in spending community development dollars is to help big businesses like shipbuilders and casinos and the port.[1]

So while the Governor has claimed that there is no discrimination in the allocation of the funds, the numbers seem to be telling a different story. So what are we to believe the Governor or our own lying eyes and figures? It amazes me that even with compelling evidence there are those that will continue to deny the accusations of wrong doing. I am beginning to believe that lying has become so innate in politics that the politicians don’t even care when they are caught anymore. The Governor and other state representatives continue to push the trickledown theory to the poor. Let us take care of the business owners and the wealthy first and that will in turn benefit your situation. Well, this theory has never worked in practical application and only serves to transfer wealth from the public coffers to the wealthy.

The officials for the State of Mississippi would have us to believe that by spending money on their redevelopment projects it will generate jobs which will provide income to the low income workers; the problem is that the jobs being created in a poor state like Mississippi will never go to the low income. These jobs will be prized and go to the off-spring and the cronies of those officials allocating the funds. It is a viscous circle the low income will never be able to break so long as the deck is stacked going in. The state continues to make promises it has no intention of keeping. So on the one hand they can say we are trying to help the poor, but as soon as the cameras are turned off they go back to lining their own pockets. Same as it ever was, same as it ever was.

So just as we have seen with the State of New Orleans; Mississippi has also chosen to improve the lot of the haves at the expense of the have-nots. The Katrina catastrophe has turned into a land grab and a poor population migration effort on the part of the Gulf Coast states. They now have the excuse to reclaim all that beachfront property that had been in the hands of the poor for the wealthy, while the rest of America sits idly by waiting for the resorts and casinos to be built on land and the homes of the poor. The affluent will visit the resorts and casinos currently being built and ignore the bodies they were built on. They have moved these people off their land and placed them in either hostile communities or tainted FEMA trailer parks. We have not seen a “land redistribution” on this magnitude since the reservation movement for Native Americans.

It is time we faced the facts America, Americans don’t like poor people. They are constantly treated with disdain and disregard. Sure you help them with donations and through local charities, but the reality is you would rather not see them and especially not talk to them. So the response is, so what if they are taking the land and homes of poor people and turning it into resorts, it was just going to waste with them on it anyway. I mean they don’t take care of their stuff and this is prime real estate. This land has been coveted for a long time and it took a natural disaster to allow the developers and moneychangers to get their hands on it.

It seems like lately every time America has been presented with a challenge to display our once great spirit, we have chosen to display instead fear, greed, and intolerance. With 9/11, we could have shown measured response to aggression in proportion to the threat, but we went way overboard in some kind of surreal statement of overkill and destruction upsetting the balance not only of the region, but the world as a whole and imprisoning ourselves in the process. With the Katrina catastrophe we could have displayed compassion and shared responsibility, but we chose covetousness, materialism, and racism. Have we departed so far from our ideals? The answer is without a doubt.

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/16/us/16mississippi.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

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New Orleans – Let The Good Times Roll

For years, New Orleans and Louisiana have had reputations as centers of political corruption. Former Gov. Edwin Edwards is serving 10 years in prison after being convicted in 2000 in a fraud, extortion and racketeering case. Within the past week, a former New Orleans school board president pleaded guilty to taking bribes to help a business consultant win contracts for an employer, and a one-time associate of former Mayor Marc Morial was sentenced to prison for his role in a kickback scandal.

Historically, the city and state have been tolerant of corruption, Letten said. Still, he and Rafael Goyeneche, president of the Metropolitan Crime Commission, believe that tolerance is eroding, particularly in the nearly 22 months since Katrina flooded much of the city[1]

Time is supposed to heal all wounds or so they say. It has been 22 months since the disaster known as hurricane Katrina; hit the city of New Orleans. While there has been significant progress in the city as a whole, the 9^th ward has not been as fortunate as the rest of the city. For those who are not familiar the 9^th ward is where the majority of the poor people of New Orleans resided. I originally wanted to do a piece to respond to a challenge on a blog site, asking if the Black bloggers had forgotten about New Orleans. I had to admit that I had not done one post on it and it kind of bothered me. I was ready to do a post blasting the incompetence of the federal, state, and local governments and how the well documented history of corruption in Louisiana was playing out on the national stage.

However, as I began gathering my facts and figures and preparing to start into my tirade an interesting question came to mind. I must say I was somewhat troubled and yet intrigued by the question. The question speaks to how we respond to disaster as a society and as a nation; the things we value and want integrated into our fabric. I could find no right or wrong response to the question, but a difference in the values we have as individuals. It made me question what are we entitled to as citizens of a city and a nation.

Does the city of New Orleans have to provide for the poor people to return to New Orleans? Before you go into the immediate knee jerk response think about it. Due to the disaster New Orleans has a chance to rebuild the city; do they have to bring the poor people back that are not home or property owners? Is the city served by having poor people relocated back to the city, with the inherent problems of crime, homelessness, drugs, etc? Does the city have an obligation to include creating a ghetto in its redevelopment plans?

But you say, “They were here before the hurricane” and yes this is true but they are not there now. The reason I ask these questions is because the city is in the process of recreating itself by demolishing the public housing or projects and replacing it with “mixed income” housing, which is code for getting rid of the poor. The area that the city is “renovating” lies very near to the French Quarter and I am sure would be prime redevelopment real estate.

After the last remnants of ‘the city’ are removed, we stand and look across the dead silence of the empty projects – it is a somber reminder of the city and federal governments’ failure to ensure low income housing in New Orleans. St. Bernard, like 80% of the public housing developments in the city, is slated for demolition, despite the fact that they have sustained very minimal hurricane or flood damage. HANO, taking leadership from Housing and Urban Development has condemned the projects as contaminated, and declared a plan to destroy them while simultaneously announcing a plan to provide ‘mixed-income housing’ instead. Ironically, the buildings themselves were some of the strongest in the city, and had sustained very little real damage.

Either way, for public housing residents across the city, the prospects are bleak. They are locked from their apartments despite holding leases, and told they may not have a place in the new slimmed down version of public housing that is being proposed. The truth is, the plan for ‘mixed income housing’ would provide a small fraction of the actual units that are afforded low income families, discouraging those without other means from returning to New Orleans.

Many people believe the long history of racism in New Orleans that has led to government neglect in the rebuilding process. They simply don’t want low income blacks to return. After volunteering in New Orleans for the last 7 months, it is a hard statement to rebuke. Everywhere you look the evidence is around you. Demolished homes, skyrocketing rent, lack of public health care, underfunded public schools, and one of the highest incarceration rates for young black men in the nation. A large gap in mental health services, particularly for those suffering ‘Katrina trauma’ and a lack of decently paying jobs has led to drug wars and staggering murder rates.

Meanwhile residents in the poorest areas of New Orleans are still awaiting the long promised Road Home money, awarded by congress to aid home owners in the state of Louisiana. More than eighteen months after the storm, as few as 1% of the families who applied for this assistance have received checks. Meanwhile the city has begun demolitions on ‘neglected’ properties, part of an ongoing land grab that is being called by some “the largest gentrification project in the history of the United States.” As one black woman who was waiting for her Road Home check told me, “I’d like to see who that 1% is, because I can guarantee you, it’s nobody I know. “

Often these things can be written off as result of neglect and bureaucratic in-action. But times like today it appears intentional -- as if a small war is being waged – with red-tape and bulldozers, at a time when housing is needed more than ever.. .According to HANO’s own documents St. Bernard could be repaired for $41 million, or substantially modernized for $130 million. Demolishing them and building ‘mixed income’ apartments will cost at least $197 million, and reduce the number of low income units from 1400 to 160. The new buildings would be less secure, and more likely to suffer future Hurricane.[2]

So does the city owe the poor a return ticket to poverty or a relocation back to the slums they once called home?

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[1] http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-06-24-new-orleans-watchdog_N.htm

[2] http://neworleans.indymedia.org/news/2007/04/10093.php

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