Two Years Later: New Orleans still faces adversity
New Orleans, LA – August 29th, 2005 will always be a day to remember in our lives; especially for the residents of New Orleans, Louisiana. It was the morning that Hurricane Katrina made its third landfall upon the southeastern Louisiana coast. With predictions indicating the storms catalytic potential damage dating as far as up to three days earlier (August 26th, 2005), the city prepared for the worse outcome possible as it attempted to evaluate all of its residents immediately (Aug. 28th, 2005). However, due to the city's levees failing in more than 53 places, it was inevitable for the city to flood. Approximately, 1,900 lives were lost during that catastrophic storm. As of today, more than 700 people are still unaccounted for. In addition, as of today, Hurricane Katrina stands as being the second largest natural disaster in the United States; the 1928 Hurricane Okeechobee was the most deadly.Still, two years later, New Orleans has yet to have recovered from Katrina.
The Importance of New Orleans (a history lesson):
Prior to Katrina, New Orleans labeled "The big easy" was one of the country's oldest cities. Founded in 1718, New Orleans was founded by a French Mississippi Company and named after Philippe II, Duke of Orléans. La Nouvelle-Orléans (New Orleans) was ceded to the Spanish Empire by 1763 and was led by the Spanish for over 40 years. During this period, the only architecture that was to survive this period was the French Quarter (Vieux Carré). Although the French eventually regained control over the city in 1801, the city was re-sold to the United States by Napoleon during the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. During this time, the city grew rapidly with a diverse culture ranging from American, French, and Creole French. Many years later, New Orleans played a vital role in the slave trade system. Subsequently, the city also became known as being the most prosperous place for free slaves.
The city's central business district which sits at to the north and south of the Mississippi River, historically is known as, "The American Quarter" is truly the heart of the city. From this location, every major street points outward towards the rest of the city with major streets such as Canal Street, Poydras Street, Tulane Avenue and Loyola Avenue. Ironically, the terms "downtown and uptown" only describe ones location of the river. For example, "Downtown" means "down the river". The city's downtown area houses neighborhoods such as The Vieux Carré or French Quarter, Bywater (the Upper Ninth Ward), and the Lower Ninth Ward. While the Uptown neighborhoods include the Warehouse District, Garden District, the Irish Channel, and the University District – just to mention a few. Amongst all of these neighborhoods, the French Quarter is the oldest and most historical. The most extravagant part of the city without a shadow of a doubt would be along St. Charles Street where majority of the city's mansions reside.
Not to mention, the city is several levels below sea level, however due to natural and manmade levees, the city was once considered to be protected.
Overall, New Orleans would go on to become a city for its multicultural diversity and its exquisite music. Historically, New Orleans is considered to be birth place of jazz. The city was also the home of three Historical Black Colleges and/or Universities (HBCUs): Dillard, Xavier, and Southern Universities.
Prior to Hurricane Katrina, the city was home to more than 484,674 people – a grand total of 1,337,726 in its metropolitan area - according to the 2000 Census reports in comparison to its 17, 242 residents in 1810. This is the last number to be recorded on file. According to estimations from the Census Bureau less than 223,000 people are living there after Hurricane Katrina.
Why we should care:
Before Katrina, the genetic make-up the city consisted of: 67% Black/African American, 28% White, 3% Latino/Hispanic, 2% Asian, and less than 1% of Native Americans, Pacific Islanders, and other races. Before the hurricane, there were over 188,000 households with nearly 113,000 families living in New Orleans. Since the hurricane, this number has reduced to half of these figures. Of these households the demographics consisted of nearly 30% being children under the age of 18; 25% being single parent households and about 9% being a household with someone 65 years and older. The age range for the city consisted of 27% children under the age of 18, 11% ages 18-24, 29% of 25 to 44 year olds, and 11% were 65 and older. The median income was at about $27,000 and for families about $33,000. Unfortunately, 24% of families were living below the line of poverty.
Majority of these numbers are African American.
Post Katrina:
Although immediately after Katrina, there was a large outreach of finances, emotional support, and physical help, New Orleans still faces more adversity. Even with the constant reminder of displacement of families and children throughout the south, those who were fortunate enough to return still face many problems including insurance claims, finding employment, and rebuilding (two years later).
Now, the City of New Orleans faces yet another vital problem; the city's 3,200 mile long sewer system is failing. Although the system was in need of major repairs prior to Katrina, the system is now beginning to spawn leaks due to the corrosion of the pipes influenced by the high levels of salt (from the water) during the hurricane. New Orleans' Sewage and Water Board says that the city is losing nearly 50 million gallons of water a day due to the faulty system. As a result, officials are worried that raw sewage is leaking out of the pipes in some areas, tainting the city's water system. Secondly, if these water pumps shall fail (the pumps that pump water from the Mississippi River into New Orleans for purification), raw sewage and other pollutants will drastically affect the city's water system. Sadly, this occurs, this can contaminate water for residents for up to weeks on end before it would be safe to use the water again.
Although officials insure residents that the water is currently safe, residents such as Patricia Jones, is reluctant to believe it as she spends nearly $80.00 a month on bottled water.
Unfortunately, the repairs for the city's system are estimated at being around $7.5M dollars over the next 25 years which is nonexistent for the city. If anything such as a power outage or Katrina-like storm shall hit, New Orleans' second worst nightmare will come into existence. What's even more disturbing is that $150M dollars was given to the city by The Federal Emergency Management system which plans to utilize $10M towards fixing the problem. However, my law, the money cannot be used for fixing the problem because it is not required to 'fix' anything; only to repair the system to what it was before Aug. 29, 2005 (pre-Katrina). As a result, because the funds are unavailable, it is expected that residents of New Orleans' sewage bills will rise nearly 80% to cover the cost of repairs – amongst the already increased payments for insurance, electricity, and basic housing. To make matters worse, the basic reconstruction of New Orleans' is expected to be around $80M as the city tries to balance out its streets that have been raised due to drainage problems causing the streets to swift and loosen its joints. Sadly, because of construction trying to fix these problems, the vibrations from constructions have worsened the problems with the cities pipes. In order to repair the problem totally, the city will have to tear up the majority of the city's streets.
"At this point now, we're out of options," deputy general superintendent Joe Becker said. "We're struggling to meet costs for chemicals, struggling to meet costs to pay employees. We're putting off maintenance activities that are needed. It's a matter of time before that lack of maintenance will result in failures, and we don't have the equipment to back that up."
What can you do?
Write your local senate and house of representative members and demand that action is taken to help prevent this from happening. This is our extended family – black people – that are ultimately suffering from this in the long run. It is only right that we try to help these people that are fighting the constant battle of trying to maintain and rebuilt their lives. The way I see it, we have spent BILLLLIONS of dollars to help rebuild the lives of others IN other countries but we mysteriously don't have enough money to help our own... it's sad that we stand for the freedom and equal liberities of others but don't even support and stand by our own.
I challange you all to take a stand with me and DEMAND respect from our federal government.
In case you forgot what this was like, watch this video: (beginning downtown) http://youtube.com/watch?v=ubbjgLDKGyk
Sadly, when YouTubing this footage, all they kept showing was white people when the majority of the people affected were Blacks.
For more information: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20151051/
Please, help do all you can to help out your fellow AFRICAN Americans.
