Katrina survivors confront NYC mayor

Michael Bloomberg, New York’s billionaire mayor who bought his second term in November, hadn’t planned on being confronted by nearly a hundred protesters during his extravagant inauguration on New Year’s Day. But there they were, picketing on Broadway across from City Hall. Their 50-square-foot banner demanded justice for survivors of the hurricanes that devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.

Some 4,000 of these survivors are currently living in New York City and the NYC Solidarity Committee for Katrina/Rita Evacuees, which organized the protest, says that many of them are facing a Feb. 6 eviction deadline. They need housing and jobs, not broken promises from government agencies. “There is no escape from the red tape,” said Dick Darby, an evacuee who has been staying at the Apollo Hotel in Harlem.

Bloomberg’s administration was so alarmed by the demonstration that Deputy Mayor Dennis Wolcott came to the protest and asked leaders that it be called off. The organizers refused to do so and the chanting grew louder. Despite the denial of a sound permit by the police, chants led by Charles Jenkins, a member of Transport Workers Union Local 100 and the Million Worker Movement, could be heard across the street. Bloomberg notoriously called TWU members on the subways and buses—70 percent of whom are Black, Latin@ or Asian—“thuggish” for going on strike.

Whatever embarrassment Bloomberg felt about being confronted by destitute hurricane survivors, that didn’t stop him from spending at least a million dollars on his swearing-in party. Two huge “Jumbotron” viewing screens were erected within the small confines of City Hall Park so the megabucks mayor could look at himself. The master of ceremonies was John Lithgow, who, appropriately, is currently starring in the Broadway show “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.”

Bloomberg has grown so wealthy from his financial news empire that if he gave $10,000 apiece to 100,000 of the people driven out of New Orleans, he would still have a tidy $4 billion left.

After the inauguration ceremony dispersed, demonstrators marched up Broadway to the local headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), which let Black people drown in New Orleans.

Survivors and their supporters spoke eloquently at a rally there chaired by Joan Gibbs. Dick Darby said that coming from New Orleans he didn’t realize the high rate of homelessness in Harlem. Mike Bartley reminded everyone that Jan. 1 was the traditional date that slaves were sold and families broken up when plantation owners were in debt.

Virginia Fields, who had retired a few hours before as Manhattan Borough President and was a candidate for mayor in 2005, addressed the rally. Brenda Stokely of the Million Worker Movement and former president of AFSCME District Council 1707 spoke, as did Brenda Walker of the Millions More Movement. Gwen Debrow brought greetings from the New York Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition. Solidarity messages were also heard from representatives of the National Conference of Black Lawyers and the International Action Center.