Survivors demand people’s control

Communities and grassroots organizations in the Gulf region and their allies are fighting to beat back the attacks launched on them by the United States government in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

A rally and mass assembly will be held on Sept. 24 in Baton Rouge. Organized by Louisiana grassroots organizations and activists, the rally is themed, “Make the Vultures Pay—Don’t Let them Prey!” Demands on the flier for the event include, “Tax the oil companies to repay the $Trillion they’ve stolen since the war began—use the money to pay for a democratically-run government jobs program to rebuild New Orleans.”

On Sept. 19, a press conference was held in New Orleans to announce the opening of a local office and collection point for the People’s Hurricane Relief Fund and Reconstruction Project (PHRF) at the home of New Orleans resident Mama Dee.

According to the press release for the event, “PHRF represent[s] more than 45 community based, grassroots organizations in the region determined to oversee all aspects of the relief, recovery and reconstruction of their homes, neighborhoods and lives.... PHRF stated days after Katrina that ‘the people of New Orleans will not go quietly into the night, scattering across this country to become homeless in countless other cities while federal relief funds are funneled into rebuilding casinos, hotels, chemical plants and the wealthy white districts of New Orleans like the French Quarter and the Garden District.’”

Curtis Muhammad of Community Labor United, a member organization, said, “The government abandoned the people, the Black and poor people. Now we are seeing the most remarkable determination, generosity, creativity and collectivity on the part of those whose lives have been ravaged, and from people far and wide. It is deeply moving, necessary and hopeful in the face of the horror and neglect that can only be construed as the most blatant racism. Mama Dee is acting in the tradition of the powerful women in our community who have always stepped forward to make life possible.”

Will survivors get reconstruction jobs?

The legacy of racism and classism is reflected in the reconstruction efforts in the Gulf region. The Boston Globe reports, “The affluent areas of [New Orleans] are humming with activity as reconstruction efforts pick up tempo, but many of the black working-class and poor neighborhoods remain ... popu-mostly by dragonflies and National Guardsmen.... The haves are beginning to pick up the pieces of their former lives, while many have-nots may be forced to simply pick up and leave.”

The article expresses the concern of local officials that although the French Quarter, central to New Orleans’s tourism industry, may reopen soon, “it remains unclear where the ... low-wage workers necessary to operate it will come from.”

In addition, the article suggests that the new construction jobs that will be created by reconstruction efforts may not go to the poorest residents, supposedly because they either “dropped out of the labor force well before the storm or lack the skills for many specialized construction jobs.”

The Associated Press reported on Sept. 16 that “the nearly 20,000 residents returning to some of New Orleans’ neighborhoods beginning next week will face military checkpoints ... and a dusk-to-dawn curfew.”

An article in the Virginian Pilot discusses the continued presence of 200 Blackwater mercenaries in New Orleans, 164 of whom were hired by a division of the Department of Homeland Security to guard government facilities. A spokesperson for Blackwater interviewed by the newspaper admitted that assertions made by its employees on the ground of being “deputized” to arrest and use lethal force were unfounded—yet they were authorized to carry loaded M-16 rifles.

Meanwhile, the most oppressed in the region continue to be either criminalized or ignored. On Sept. 4, two young trans women were arrested for “criminal trespass” after taking showers in the shower facility at a Texas A&M University-run shelter. The two cousins, 20 and 16 years old, were separated from each other and from the rest of their family, and the older woman was held in isolation in the Brazos County Jail for five days. The woman was released only after the trans community and allies pressured the university to drop the charges.

The National Coalition for Transgender Equality, along with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and Lambda Legal, has issued a guide on making evacuation shelters safe for transgender evacuees.

On Sept. 16, a 73-year-old woman was released after spending 16 days in prison on charges of looting. Merlene Maten, a Black, diabetic grandmother and church deacon, was arrested the day after the hurricane struck for charges that she stole $63.50 in goods from a delicatessen. Although she had never been previously arrested, the court set her bail at $50,000 and sent her to a state penitentiary. Witnesses and family members attest that she was going to her car to get sausage to bring back to her hotel room when police arrested her.

According to the Associated Press, “Despite intervention from the nation’s largest senior lobby, volunteer lawyers from the Federal Emergency Agency and even a private attorney, the family fought a futile battle for 16 days to get her freed.

“Then, hours after her plight was featured in an Associated Press story, a local judge on Thursday ordered Maten freed on her own recognizance.”

Others who have been marginalized, once again, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina are Indigenous nations in the region. The National Congress of Amer ican Indians estimates that several thousand Native people live in the Gulf area.

The Houma Nation, located in South Louisiana, suffered terrible devastation. An email sent to the Hawaii Solidarity Committee reads, “The hardest hit of the Nations were the Houma Tribe.... 3,500 members were displaced and would need everything in the long run. Most were living in the poorest places in New Orleans area.”

Rather than wait for relief efforts by governmental officials that may never come, the Native community is raising relief funds through its own organizations to help native peoples in the region.