Hurricane survivors win right to be heard

“Nothing about us, without us, is for us” is the message that survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita took to the Rainbow/ PUSH Wall Street Project Conference held here on Jan. 8. This gathering was called by the Rev. Jesse Jackson to discuss rebuilding New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. Elected officials and the acting FEMA director were expected to attend.

Katrina survivors rally Jan. 8. WW photo: Anne Pruden

But no local evacuees were invited. “They said we could attend but we’d have to pay a fee of $250 a day,” said Brandi Kilbourne, a New Orleans Katrina survivor and member of the NYC Solidarity Committee for Katrina/Rita Evacuees. Brandi Kilbourne, who has been living at the Apollo Hotel in Harlem, is one of 2,500 survivors living in New York City.

Rainbow/PUSH organizers finally agreed to admit survivors, waiving the $250 fee. Rev. Jackson himself met with evacuees.

Wanting to voice their concerns, some 50 evacuees and supporters gathered outside the swanky Sheraton Hotel and Towers on the edge of the theater district to hold a media conference called by the NYC Solidarity Committee for Katrina/ Rita Evacuees.

Under a giant green banner reading “Gulf Coast Survivors Demand Justice,” survivors told the media corps how utility services were actually being cut back in New Orleans, making it impossible for them to return. Construction jobs weren’t being offered to local residents, either. Par ticularly outrageous was a tour bus service making money from visitors gawking at the devastated Ninth Ward.

Price gouging was denounced, which includes jacked-up rents. People also want a victims’ compensation fund established and transparency in the entire reconstruction process.

Several local TV stations covered this event, as well as the BBC. A posse of white cops tried to hassle participants but didn’t intimidate them. The Solidarity Com mittee kept the press conference going.

After the survivors were admitted, people at the protest said this was a victory, that the voice of survivors will be heard and that people will continue to fight for the right to return to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.