Harlem forum examines Katrina, race, class and war

The Harlem Tenants Council sponsored an Oct. 7 forum entitled "Connecting the Dots: The Gulf Wars—Iraq to New Orleans." The forum attracted a multinational crowd representing mostly a cross-section of New York boroughs. The meeting was chaired by HTC leader Nellie Bailey.

Brenda Stokely

Before the round-table discussion began, a People's Video Network documentary on Hurricane Katrina was shown. It included footage taken by Johnnie Stevens of interviews and statements made by survivors, most of whom had been transported from New Orleans to the Houston Superdome. These African-American and white survivors spoke about the lack of humane treatment from local, state and federal agencies during this unprecedented crisis.

International Action Center co-director Teresa Gutierrez introduced the film to the Harlem audience. She and Stevens had traveled to Houston and Louisiana to show solidarity with the Katrina survivors. Comparing the Katrina crisis to the war in Iraq, Gutierrez pointed out that just as the White House wants to take over Iraq in the interests of Big Oil, the reconstruction of New Orleans is being carried out in the interests of wealthy whites and corporate profits.

Katrina survivor Carlita Mahrs

The panel of speakers included Carlita Mahrs, a Katrina survivor from New Orleans who has resettled in New York City. Mahrs, an interim steering committee member of the newly formed People's Hurricane Relief Fund of Community Labor United, presented a list of demands formulated by the national grassroots movement; it includes the right of Katrina survivors to return to their home cities.

Mae Jackson, formerly with the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee and a member of Art Without Walls, talked about the plight of hundreds of Katrina evacuees who have relocated to New York. Their immediate concern is to receive vital social services, which New York agencies have been reluctant to provide.

Oct. 7 in Harlem, N.Y.

Attorney Joan Gibbs, a faculty member at Brooklyn's Medgar Evers College, spoke on the grossly inadequate response from the International Red Cross and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) towards the Katrina survivors. She mentioned that President George W. Bush has the authority to appoint people to the Red Cross board, showing that this agency is dependent on the White House and the military.

Dr. Sam Anderson, a leader of Black New Yorkers for Education Excellence, made everyone aware of how historical Black colleges in Louisiana have been impacted by Katrina—especially Dillard, Southern and Xavier. He stated that these three colleges combined have suffered over a billion dollars worth of damages. Precious archival materials housed at these colleges were destroyed by Katrina.

Anderson mentioned that public schools in New Orleans will not be reopening until 2006 and that the local ruling class and reactionary politicians are pushing for the privatization of education in the form of charter schools as a vehicle for undermining public education. Anderson called for a "second Reconstruction" to take place in the Gulf Coast that must directly include Black people in the rebuilding of their areas to meet their needs.

Rev. Lucius Walker from Pastors for Peace praised the Cuban government and especially President Fidel Castro for offering to send 1,500 Cuban doctors to the Gulf Coast region. The U.S. denied these doctors visas. Walker stated that because of its revolution, Cuba now provides health care at home and to many other countries as a human right and not for profit. For instance, Cuba has turned a naval base into a medical school that provides training for students from at least 27 countries. They come from areas that have experienced a higher than normal number of natural disasters.

Dionne Monsanto from the December 12th Movement connected the struggle in the Gulf region to the right of reparations and self-determination for the Black masses, especially in the areas of health care and education.

Brenda Stokely, a leader of the Million Worker March Movement and New York City Labor Against the War, spoke about the need for progressive groups and activists to put aside any political differences in order to build a united front to fight back against national and class oppression in light of the Katrina crisis. She raised that it is important for this united front movement to demand the right of return of Katrina survivors; the protection of the prevailing wage under the Davis-Bacon Act, which Bush has suspended in the Gulf region, especially for construction workers; and the right to decent jobs, housing and health care.

Stokely also raised three important days of struggle that are coming up: the Dec. 1 National Day of Absence against racism, poverty and war in honor of the 50th anniversary of the arrest of Rosa Parks, whose stand against segregation on Montgomery's buses launched the modern-day civil rights movement; a Dec. 9 conference of Katrina evacuees in Jackson, Miss., and a Dec. 10 national march in New Orleans to "take back" that city.