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FinalCall.com News
National News
Evacuees demand their right to return
By Jesse Muhammad
Staff Writer
Updated Jan 2, 2006 - 12:48:00 PM
NEW ORLEANS (FinalCall.com) - The evacuees of New Orleans are forming coalitions to demand their human rights and the right to return to their destroyed neighborhoods. One of the many coalitions is the People’s Hurricane Relief Fund and Oversight Coalition (PHRF).
“The people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast will not go quietly into the night, scattering across this country to become homeless in countless cities, while federal relief funds are funneled into rebuilding casinos, hotels, chemical plants, and the white wealthy districts of New Orleans like the French Quarters and the Garden District,” the group states in their mission statement.
This is the sentiment of many among the thousands who went to New Orleans recently for a rally at City Hall. Many survivors were returning to the city for the first time since the massive flooding wiped out their properties and left them homeless and heartbroken Aug. 30.
Survivors boarded buses with mixed feelings of anxiety, agony, grief, pain and anger over the treatment they have received from national and local government over the past few months. Tears flowed from their eyes as they viewed fields of prostrated trees and stripped homes impacted by the most costly destruction in the history of the United States.
Buses took evacuees to view the wasted areas where they encountered high toxic air pollution, discolored grassland, shifted homes, roofless buildings and debris in the millions of tons piled in the streets. These tours brought back devastating memories of floating dead bodies for many.
One bus rider, L.A. Martin, director of NOLA.TV, a web-based television and news website focused on delivering news from a Black perspective, grew up in the Lower 9th Ward in the home owned by his parents for decades. When he got word of an evacuation, he was reluctant to leave, but decided to get out in time. He and his 84-year-old father took back roads until they were able to reach Houston safely. Since that evacuation, he has been trying to get his life back in order and desired to see his parents’ home again.
“I am truly happy and elated to have my father alive with me,” he shared. “I wanted to see if I could retrieve any of the things I consider family treasures and jewels.”
To his dismay, he returned only to find that those irreplaceable treasures were washed away. He was in the process of graphically enhancing 60-year-old photos of his parents, but those computer files were destroyed, as well.
“We lost everything! Those were items we were going to keep to show our children and grandchildren,” he lamented.
Among the protest crowd was Brenda Johnson, who rode a bus from her temporary home on the East Coast, to join with the thousands who marched from Congo Square. The floodwaters forced her from her home and it was the first time she had returned.
“I want to come back home just like everybody else,” she stressed. She recounted that she and her family were rescued by people and taken to locations that they didn’t know they would end up. “We didn’t really leave, to be honest. We were taken from here and now I want to come back. I have a right to my home,” she insisted.
Bilal Mustapha Mustakeen, of the eastern part of New Orleans, shared the horror of being beaten and jailed by officers while he was being evacuated. “This is one of the few stories that have not been told,” said Mr. Mustakeen, who was also a speaker at the rally. “They do not care about us and we must stand up.”
After losing her Gentilly home, Ms. Sanders came to the march in order to get some answers from the government and desired to rebuild her family’s life. She and others vented that the flooding is the fault of those that built the levees. Like thousands of others, her family is staying in makeshift homes and motor homes, waiting until they can live in the city again.
“This is our city and we have been here all of our lives,” she said. “They need to build those levees stronger or we will be right back in the same situation.”
Grassroots people who were disproportionately impacted by the flooding and received dehumanizing treatment from local, state and federal officials are working to build a movement of empowerment. The movement is uniting surviving families of people who perished, those who still have missing family members, homeowners of the upper and lower 9th ward, and others.
Organizers believe that $50 billion belongs to the survivors and they demand the inclusion of displaced residents in the planning process to rebuild the city. Demands are being made for jobs at union wages, so that the population is no longer subject to extreme poverty. The people want the government to provide funds for all families to be reunited, and demand that the Red Cross and FEMA make their databases public.
In January, the PHRF will launch the “Finding Our Folk Tour,” which will be a month-long mission reconnecting families that have been living in exile throughout the country. Tools of education, documentation, healing and organizing will be used to explore and discuss the conditions that led to the destruction of the Gulf area. They will also celebrate the African and Indigenous culture of New Orleans.
