March on New Orleans: ‘We shall not be moved’

Evacuees and their supporters lead off march through the streets of New Orleans Dec. 10.

The streets of New Orleans were filled with angry and determined protesters, both survivors of Hurricane Katrina and their supporters, on Dec. 10, International Human Rights Day. Chanting “We’re back to take it back” and “No justice, no peace!” a crowd estimated at 5,000 marched from the historic Congo Square—also known as Louis Armstrong Park and described by Reuters as “a centuries-old meeting place where African slaves once gathered to trade, play music and dance”—to City Hall for a rally, where they demanded “Justice after Katrina.”

The march was a vibrant display of the culture and resistance of the people of New Orleans. Babies were pushed in strollers alongside marching youth and elders. Groups represented on the march included Community Labor United; Common Ground Col lective; Million Worker March Movement; Millions More Movement; Troops Out Now Coali tion; FIST—Fight Imperialism, Stand Together; New Black Panther Party; ANSWER and others. African drums accompanied the chants, and the march was led by the Soul Rebels, a New Orleans brass band.

Survivors traveled from as far away as Texas and California to speak their minds and lend their voices and feet to the effort. The march and rally were organized by the People’s Hurricane Rights Fund and Oversight Coalition, which raised money to bring survivors home for the day. The PHRF announced a list of demands to be presented to the office of Mayor Ray Nagin that included an end to evictions, the right to return for evacuees, and a halt to Mardi Gras festivities in the midst of the devastation of the Black community.

The rally at City Hall was chaired by New Orleans resident and activist Malcolm Suber, who told the cheering crowd: “We want our voices heard. We’re here standing tall, ready to fight. The government promises everything and gives you nothing. This government don’t give a damn about poor people, the working class, and especially don’t give a damn about Black people.”

Speaker after speaker pressed their demands and told horror stories of the travails they had to endure at the hands of the government, both local and federal. One protester noted, “They could get troops over to Iraq overnight, but couldn’t get anyone here to save our people.” Another young man told about being beaten, along with his pregnant sister and another female friend, at the hands of the police.

An environmental justice activist led the crowd in a chant: “We have the right to healthy and safe neighborhoods.” She spoke about the high levels of toxic arsenic that have been found in every area where flooding occurred, and how the federal government has consistently done nothing about it. The toxicity in the wake of the hurricane was exacerbated by the environmental racism that allowed housing for the poor to be built on top of a landfill. When the hurricane hit, these toxics leached out into the rest of the area.

Mama Dee, a New Orleans resident who opened her own home early in the wake of Katrina for relief efforts, described the poverty and neglect that Black people in the region had suffered long before Katrina struck. She demanded, “Come clean, New Orleans! Enough of my babies are dead, and it didn’t start with Katrina!”