We went to the 9^th ward today and the 9^th ward is like the poverty of New Orleans. It was striking to see the debris that was still left from the hurricane years later and everything just looked like  hell had ran through the city. I was touched by what I still seen and I feel like there is not enough help in New Orleans for the kind of population that they have. I feel like more people can reach out besides the people of ACORN.

Today had to be a different encounter to what really happened to the people of New Orleans and to what is really going on. I was not aware of the great devastation that the people of New Orleans went through and is still suffering from today. It is a person that really needs help there and it is a lot of people that died. It is sad and mind bothering to see that the government is not helping the people to feel like citizens and to let them know that it is ok and New Orleans is a great place to live. I left today with a lot of questions as to where who were the people that is and has reached out to the people of New Orleans because they really do need the help

Today (Day was a pretty low key day. We got up and a few people went to the library. The rest of us went to breakfast and the laundromat. After everyone had finished up with laundry and the last oral history at the library, we headed to New Orleans. I was really excited to come back and see the city, after having been here for spring break. Coming into the city, I was again impacted by the massive destruction that is still present. While the damage is not quite so severe here as it is in Bay Saint Louis, I think there will always a special place in my heart for the people of this city. We had a low key afternoon pretty much to spend however we would like. Lauren, Tania and I walked around the area by our hotel for a little while, before heading over to Bourbon Street to meet up with the other girls for dinner. It’s like entering a different world, walking from Canal Street onto Bourbon. I guess I never really walked down much of it the night we came downtown while we were here on spring break. Even at like 6, there were people walking around with drinks, some stumbling, and girls with very little clothing on, walking to work. Never in my life have I seen so many bars and flashy lights. It was quite a culture shock, to say the least.

Today (Day 9) we went to visit ACORN, an agency who works with city development, helps educate people about their rights, and fights those government agencies trying to infringe on those rights. It was shocking to hear what the woman who worked there had to say about how the poor were being taken advantage of. I think it’s despicable that the government and its agencies consider it acceptable to take from those who don’t have the knowledge to realize that they’re being taken advantage of. I think the thing that really inspired me the most about what this woman was saying was that it sounds a lot like what I want to do. The idea that someone can have their voting rights restricted or their home taken away just because someone can get away with it is completely unacceptable.

After talking to this woman, we went to look at some of the homes that they have been rebuilding in the Lower 9^th ward. I was again pained to look at all the destruction. As I noticed when working in this neighborhood over spring break, there are NO people around. We got out and walked around for a few minutes. Other than a group of workers, there was no one else there. It concerns me, especially after what the ACORN woman said about the government seizing property. If these people are not here rebuilding, it makes me think that this whole area will be demolished and transformed into some other type of housing…not of a low income variety.

After a long night and an early morning we loaded the bus and went to ACORN. I had never heard of the organization, but after our group conversation I had an understanding to what the organization was about. ACORN stands for Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. It is the nation’s largest community organization of low income families, working together for social justice and stronger communities. For a community that has been destroyed to have so much unity and faith to continue to move forward is very inspiring. I cannot imagine how I would feel to lose my home to something I was totally unable to control and on top of the trauma with the hurricane, afterwards feel like I am not wanted back into my community or my city. I was very disappointed after learning more on the situation of the 9^th ward.

We were able to tour the 9^th ward, which is one of the lower income neighborhoods. It was like riding through a ghost town. There were many homes that still needed to be taken down and one particular house had these word spray-painted on it, “1600 people died for you to take this picture.” I was confused about the meaning of this quote, but I came up with two possible meanings 1) it was a request to let the story of the residents of the 9^th ward not be forgotten; 2) it was a request to not treat that community as a tourist area.

Day 7: Bay St. Louis

Wow, what a day this was!  We got up really early to go back to the library and setup for our long awaited oral histories.  After some of our reflection time on all the information we had heard in regards to Hurricane Katrina from the day before, and all the horrific images we had seen, I was excited to get to actually hear in depth stories from people who had lived through it.  At the same time, I feel like I went into the day somewhat skeptical, and with somewhat mixed emotions.  It’s hard to go out and see the massacred homes with no remains left but the stairs or the mailbox, and then imagine approaching a way to help through simply talking to people rather than getting out and building homes or something involving more physical work.  Also, all the talk about the money spent to refurbish statues in the library, as well as seeing some people who are relatively speaking, doing well as compared to some who are still in FEMA trailers or without even that, was a complex model to piece together.  I can say after doing the interviews, I can totally understand why that was the task that we were chosen to do, as it forced us to step a little out of our comfort zone to do interviews, but in a way that helped us to grow and learn, all while providing the victims with almost a form of therapy and rejuvenation.

Without getting in to any specifics about my particular oral histories, I can say overall that it was touching to see how we as the interviewers gradually gained the respect of the interviewee, and how as this occurred, their willingness to open up and not fear that they will be judged or rejected.  It really renewed my sense of how important it is just to be a good listener, and show you care about other people, even if you can’t provide them with money or a physical way to make it better, just listening goes a long way.

Though stratification is far from absent in the different levels of recovery from the hurricane, it is an institution in society that simply exists, and there isn’t any way I see to make that change.  At the same time, it is true that we do need people to recover at different times and in different manners in order for more people to be available to help others and resources to be available.  The more affluent people as a general rule did same to fare better in some circumstances, be it access to help, a trailer, medical attention, etc.  Yet, this is just kind of the way it is, and we can’t expect everyone to wait for the very last person to get back on their feet and try to move together all at the same time because it is just not reasonable.  It is not fair to wish the worst on people of higher socioeconomic status in order for them to experience what some of the most underprivileged go through, we must try to identify with everyone and remember how much more horrible this is than any of us can really begin to comprehend.  The oral histories really opened my eyes a lot more to how resilient these people are who returned, how much lending a helping hand makes a difference, and helped to put the city of Bay St. Louis in perspective for me.

We later had the opportunity to watch a Finnish movie with English sub titles called “Mother of Mine.”  It was by far one of my favorite movies I’ve ever seen; it even brought me to tears.  I definitely want to try and find this movie to buy.  This was a neat cultural activity to get a glimpse of some of the library activities, and the people in the area.

Day 8 & 9: New Orleans

We traveled to New Orleans today after a trip to the Laundromat, and conducting the last oral history at the library.  We had a good discussion on the bus about what the individual oral histories meant to us, and how we felt about our time at the library.  I feel like it was a general consensus that people got much more out of it than they expected to when they went in.  This was definitely a major eye opening experience for me.

After checking in, we walked around and went shopping and got dinner.  I can’t say we had the most pleasant dinner ever, but we definitely got to experience the culture of New Orleans.  A walk down Bourbon Street, lined with tons of restaurants, bars, clubs, and souvenior stores, is unlike anything I have ever experienced, and definitely gives new meaning to why they call it “The Big Easy.”  I have never seen anything like some of the hair styles, clothing, and PDA that I witnessed while visiting this street.  Quite a culture shock from the seemingly a little more conservative and smaller town atmosphere of Bay St. Louis.  We also learned to be very careful due to the rising levels of crime in the city, particularly after the hurricane, so we made sure to travel in groups, and hide all personal belongings.

The next day we visited the organization called ACORN, and heard a very different account of the hurricane.  It was much more of a geographical and more city overview, and less personal hard times such as we experienced in Bay St. Louis, so the combination really rounded out our experience learning about the hurricane.  Despite all the news reports, I really had failed to realize that the levies were what really had caused all the damage to New Orleans.  Between Bay St. Louis and New Orleans, it was two very different sites due to the water vs. wind damage, as well as the types of houses and attention that the places had received.  Though we heard much more information regarding New Orleans, the help didn’t seem to have filtered down to them as Bay St. Louis received, but also there may have just been such an extreme number of houses destroyed in New Orleans that it was just taking that much longer.  It’s hard to decipher exactly why some areas have recovered faster, and how their ability to access resources and receive outside help may have modified their recovery.

For lunch, a few of us went to an amazing restaurant called mothers with the best po’ boy sandwiches I’ve ever had.  It was definitely a favorite spot in the city, and seemed to be a good representation of where the locals go to eat.

Today we visited the 9th Ward of New Orleans and a social group entitled ACORN. ACORN is the nation’s largest community organization of low and moderate income families, striving for social justice and stronger communities. It seems that ACORN works for the downtrodden and poor in the midst of a city that is trying to disenfranchise them. While listening to the representative from ACORN, the concept of gentrification popped into my mind. Although the formal definition of gentrification involves physical renovation that brings about raised property values and an influx of upper-class citizens who prevent the former, lower class dwellers, from returning to their homes, there seem to be many parallels. While the major “renovations” obviously came from the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina, the fact still remains that the upper-class inhabitants of New Orleans seem to be preventing the flow of minorities and the underprivileged from coming back into their homes.

Again, we can see the perfect example of how people with means and power can control and manipulate the system to make it work in their favor. These rich people stand to gain millions of dollars by disenfranchising the people who are now viewed as refugees throughout the country. The fact that some people are being turned away from their homes is very disturbing to say the least. It is ridiculous to me that some people are more concerned with profiting from the tragedies of Katrina rather than showing compassion enough to try to find ways to make things better for everyone. ACORN seems to work against such disenfranchisements and I honor their efforts.

While traveling through the 9th ward, it became quite apparent just how much damage New Orleans has endured in certain areas. The major problems, as we have all talked about to great extent, came when the levees broke. Apparently, New Orleans did dodge the bullet in terms of the storm, however, the water that accumulated behind the levee surged so strongly that water flooded the entire city and created more problems than many other areas victim to the storm. This mistake was avoidable and manmade, not a product of a natural disaster. ACORN representatives explained that the politics behind accountability are entirely frustrating and the end is no where in sight at the moment. I feel that politicians and government officials have a responsibility to protect its citizens and not treat people like second class citizens in their country. All of the people displaced from Katrina have homes and they deserve to be in them like everyone else. The practices occurring in terms of Katrina business seem to only facilitate the disenfranchisement of minorities and the poor while perpetuating the vicious cycle government failures at the present time.

We’ve been busy over the weekend, so I’ll catch up with two days of reports in this posting.

Saturday, I saw a different New Orleans than my previous pre-Katrina visit. The first stop of the day was at ACORN (The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), the “nation’s largest community organization of low- and moderate-income families, working together for social justice and stronger communities.” Beth spent an hour with our group discussing the myriad of problems that exist post-Katrina. This organization is a national one and has existed for 29 years. But with the magnitude of Katrina issues, it appears their main focus is on attacking the problems that have worsened since the flooding. It was interesting that she made a point of saying that everything that was bad pre-Katrina only has worsened since. Even though I’ve read regularly about all the issues that have been in the news concerning the recovery efforts, Beth gave it a much more personal picture of how poorly the recovery is coming along for the citizens of the Ninth Ward.

Our next stop was a bus and walking tour of the Lower Ninth Ward. All the photos and video that have saturated the media paled compared to seeing the area in person. It was desolate and had a very hopeless look to it. It was inspiring to see two new houses that have families who have returned to the area, but at the same time, they were sad because they were the only two after almost two years.

Saturday evening Lynn and I had another delicious dinner in the French Quarter at the Red Fish Grill. I walked off the double chocolate bread pudding before heading back to the hotel. We had a much earlier evening than did the students. I heard them around midnight, but understand they were heading out then, not coming in! Must be nice to be young and still have that much energy late at night.

This morning we attended another Baptist church service, this one at the Greater St. Stephen Full Gospel Baptist Church. This one was more elaborate than last week: more people (with a wider range of ages, young to old), bigger choir, full immersion baptism of 14 youths, a woman preacher plus screen projection that included what was happening up front, words to the songs and Bible passages, and what I would call advertisements. The collection process was much more elaborate with the tithers (is that a word?) lining up to walk their donation to the front. One collection request was made to buy the preacher a birthday present! Many people went up to be saved at the end of the service. I have a question about this part of the service that I should ask Marcus or one of the others who are familiar with this. Is the call to be saved a weekly occurrence, and if so, what happens if nobody goes up to be saved? Do they hang in there until someone finally goes forth, or do they have a standby person who is planted in the congregation just in case? My very favorite part of this ministry was the fact that they have coupled religion with technology: church members can receive inspirational text or voice message on their cell phones!

After the 2 hour 10 minute church service, we hit the road for Cleveland, MS. The five hour drive (with one stop for lunch, one to wash the bus and a dinner stop) turned in to over 6 I think. But we made it here to Cleveland safely and I think most of us are blogging or working on assignments. Tomorrow is a long day, according to Dr. Hattery, so look for the next update sometime Tuesday.

After a unique experience of Bourbon Street we woke up to visit the Acorn Agency that had done so much for the city of New Orleans. In my opinion and I am sure that many would agree, New Orleans can be considered “a Forgotten City”. I feel this way because, the slow responses by the structured government gave off the emotions that the officials in power put those in the city on the ‘back burner’. I understand that it takes a while for a city to overcome the hardships that New Orleans and Bay St. Louis and the government cannot just sprinkle magic dust to make everything better.

Walking the streets of New Orleans was an experience in itself. You can defiantly tell that the city is not the same after the storm. I recall being hungry and wanting to eat at the Popeye’s down the street. After walking a couple blocks I got to the front door only to see that the restaurant had not rebounded after Katrina. This was a reoccurring event as I searched for food on the once business populated corridor of Canal Street. I ended up eating at a Chinese restaurant that had debris still piled up in front of the door from the renovations made to the business.

One aspect of the city that seems to have recovered well is Bourbon Street. It was thriving throughout the night even though some vendors said that it was defiantly different than pre-Katrina Bourbon Street. I maybe could not tell, because it was my first visit to the city. Once walking up and down the street you tend to forget that such a disaster had occurred and that the very street we were walking was submerged in water. Folks working and residents partying on the street seemed to mask their heartaches by the loud music and flashing lights, while the city itself is still struggling to regain its identity

Today we visited the totally devastated Lower 9^th Ward of New Orleans as well. Riding through the streets reminded me of World War II cities that had been completely wiped out by bombs and warfare. It was almost an unbearable sight. Seeing no signs of prosperity or entrepreneurship compounded with homes remaining unpopulated was very moving. Knowing that the Lower 9^th Ward was one of the most poverty stricken parts of the city, I wouldn’t expect to see businesses being reconstructed in waves but wreckage left by Katrina and the presence of almost no industry was amazing. I cant even imagine how the section of town can rebound, given the socioeconomic status prior to Katrina compounded by the affects of post Katrina.

These are the powerful words inscribed on a t-shirt in a gift shop in the French Quarter of New Orleans on Bourbon Street. The breach of the levees (yes, plural) in New Orleans led to mounds of destruction and death. Water rushed in from multiple canals and the Miss. River through the streets and into houses taking the lives of many who did not expect such a surge, literally moving houses down the streets on top of other houses (and you can still see that image here , I stood right in front of such a scenario today). I walked through the Lower 9th Ward and it is a veritable ghost town. There are some houses standing, but most are nowhere near liveable. They all have spray-painting on them relaying if a certain structure is toxic, how many people died in it, and how many pets died in it.

Walking down the street I tried to envision how this neighborhood was before Katrina. How many brothers, mothers, uncles, cousins, nieces lived in a close-knit community blocks away from one another? How many senior citizens lived in these houses and sat out on the front stoop telling younger people stories of the past? How many kids rode their bikes through the area and played basketball in the streets? These are of New Orleans may have been poor before the storm, but one thing I am sure was there before the storm was life. A life that was lived day by day unaware of the weak levee system “protecting” their neighborhood. Water rushed in from 3 angles into this community and one thing that is barely present 2 years later is life.

This morning, we started our day by making a trip to ACORN, an advocacy group that promotes the preservation of homes in the New Orleans area. This is how the website describes the organization: Who We Are

National non-profit ACORN Housing has been providing free housing counseling to low and moderate income homebuyers since 1987. We have opened HUD-certified, Fannie Mae-approved housing counseling offices across the US, helping over 50,000 families to achieve homeownership.

ACORN Housing provides one-on-one mortgage loan counseling, first-time homebuyer classes, and helps clients obtain affordable mortgages through our unique lending partnerships.

We look at your savings and credit history to see if you qualify for a mortgage. We can help you with credit problems and to create a downpayment savings plan.

When you qualify, we can help arrange a mortgage with lower interest rates, lower down payments and lower settlement costs than what banks usually offer.

Groups like ACORN are the main organizations that work so that New Orleans can be rebuilt. Beth, who led the discussion had true pride for being from New Orleans. She said that many people in the community that have left feel like outsiders in their respective states. New Orleans is a city that has such a long history of generations with a large population of elderly people. Many of the older people lived in the city without insurance mostly because of financial reasons. Beth brought up a very important point on the value of voting rights. ACORN works to make sure that people of Louisiana know about their voting rights so that they can make sure the right people are in office, making a difference to rebuild the city. Beth also discussed problems dealing with insurance companies and how many of them are unwilling to assist people the way they need to. The problem with insurance companies is prevalent and really effects all people. Beth said that all people no matter where they are geographically on the map have the possibility of being hit by natural disasters. I completely agree with that statement and it is something that I have thought about before.

After we left the ACORN building, we took a driving tour of the lower ninth ward. The lower ninth ward had some serious damage by Hurricane Katrina. The Lower 9th Ward is a section of the city of New Orleans. As the name implies, it is part of the Ninth Ward of New Orleans. The term “Lower” refers to its location further towards the mouth of the Mississippi River, “down” or “below” the rest of the city in local geographic terminology. The area is sometimes just referred to as the “Lower 9″. The area that we explored was really devastating and there was so much damage done to the area. In that one area, there a lot of deaths and one house read, “1600 People Died So That You Could Take this Picture.” I was amazed by this and it brought me back to reality. A couple of the homes that were rebuilt on the street really stood out to me because I kept thinking about their surrounding areas. After touring the ninth ward, I realized how important it is to rebuild and help cities like New Orleans reclaim their amazing place on the map. Facing destruction is something that I can no longer steer away from after seeing this for myself and not a clip on CNN.

I can’t wait to come back to this city. Just like the T-shirt I saw yesterday, I heart NO.

Today was an awesome day that warrants a lot of reflection. We began our day early at the local ACORN chapter. This experience was priceless. During this meeting we were informed by ACORN of some of the problems that the residents of the lower 9^th ward are dealing with, and how ACORN is working with the citizens to deal with these problems.

I was reminded of a very valuable lesson today that I learned during my trip to the region two years ago. The lesson is that in order to see change you must move past your tears and pity for the people to analyzation and/or action. Your tears are useless if they aren’t coupled with analyzation and/or action.

Today as I listened to the ACORN representative tell stories of how the people of the lower 9^th ward were treated after Katrina, and the conditions that some are still living under two years after the storm, I was deeply saddened. We were told of people that are currently living in FEMA houses, gutted houses, and tents, as they struggle to rebuild their homes. The ACORN representative also told of how the amount of police brutality has increased since the storm. In fact, the New Mexico has refused to work with the New Orleans police because of how they have seen them treat the people.

We were told of other ways that insurance companies have not worked in the best interest of their clients; in lieu of failing to recognize liability. For example, instead of forwarding insurance checks to their clients they forwarded them to the mortgage companies. I am blown away to know that there are people still paying their mortgage; despite the fact that they have lost everything and are displaced. During our tour of the lower 9^th ward after the visit to the ACORN office, we met a lady who said that she knows someone who had been paying insurance for 40 years and all that she received from the insurance company was $1,000 to rebuild.

It is important to note some of the ways in which the most vulnerable people of the New Orleans population were put at risk before the storm. For example, we were told how the height of the levees was significantly higher in the more affluent wards/districts of the city. This is vital to consider because after Katrina the shorter levees in the lower 9^th ward could not even withstand the rain that accompanied Hurricane Rita; which resulted in additional damages.

ACORN officials and others around the globe believe that the privileged people of New Orleans wanted to purge the city of the low 9^th ward residents; which were predominantly African American. The ACORN representative gave various examples of tactics that were employed to attempt to accomplish this goal. But before I lay out some of those examples, I feel it is important to write about a brief conversation that Mayor Nagin had with a citizen.

According to the ACORN official, one of the wealthiest men in the city went to the Mayor and told him that something would have to change about the demographics of the city or he would have to leave the city. She further reported that Nagin responded by rejecting the proposition; but he put this man on his board that will set the vision for the city’s future.

There were many other ways in which residents in the lower 9^th ward were treated differently than other more affluent regions. For example, the ACORN official told us of people who were out walking, and how they were scooped up by authorities, their animals abandoned, and taken to other states and countries, without consenting. Resident’s of the lower 9^th ward were also prevented from returning to their homes as quickly as other areas. This is important because these people were unable to return to open windows and begin to minimize their overall loses; this allowed the damages to compound. We were also told about sit-in that ACORN officials organized to demand that officials let residents return to the lower 9^th ward.

Two other issues that ACORN is fighting alongside the residents are eminent domain and voting. According to ACORN officials are trying to take people’s property in order to transfer control of the ward from their residents to the government. This is an extremely important issue considering the fact that many people are uneducated about their rights in this complex process. Voting is another issue that ACORN is working diligently with in order to ensure that the citizens of the lower 9^th ward have a voice in the upcoming elections, despite their current location. ACORN also told us of how they pulled together resources to bus voters into the city to vote during the last election

I would be remised if I failed to discuss the effect of privilege after the storm and how artificial tensions work to oppress people. Many people have been quoted as saying that Katrina was the great equalizer that put every-one of the same level; at least temporarily. However, if you listen to ACORN describe what happened in New Orleans, it is clear that this was not the case. For example, privileged individuals were able to call and reroute trailers that were headed to underprivileged areas, simply because of their various forms of capital.

Many tensions have been created and perpetuated after Katrina. For example, you have people in Bay St. Louis and Pearlington, MS arguing that New Orleans, LA is receiving all of the attention; which has created a tension. Then you have an antagonistic relationship that has been created between the resident African Americans and the influx of immigrant workers that have come to the area to assist with rebuilding projects. And, the thing to consider is that when you have these tensions at the micro level it shields those that are in power from being subjected to a high level of strict scrutiny and allows exploitation to persist. One of the goals of sociologist is to expose structural problems by revealing how tension and writing problems off as isolated or individual problems allows exploitation to continue.

Once, we got back to the hotel from our excursion, I immediately sought out some food. I ended up having some Louisiana Catfish and Jambalaya. Afterwards, I took a quick nap and now I’m up doing some reading.

I’m looking forward to tomorrow. We will be joining Bishop Paul Morton for services. Below you will find some important questions that I have been grappling with today.

Some Questions to Ponder:

1. Was Katrina the great equalizer?
2. The waters that crushed structures in New Orleans came very rapidly. In fact, the lower 9th ward had 6 foot of water in 15 minutes. So, the question that the lady at ACORN encouraged students to think about is, what would you do with your 15 minutes? What decisions would you make? Where would you go?
3. Several thousand people have not returned to New Orleans. The devastation and health hazards are still vast; despite the fact that it has been more than two years. Many of these areas were not in good condition before the storm; especially in the lower 9^th ward, which is one of the most impoverished areas in the nation. So, one question that I’m grappling with is whether or not I would return, to make a “chocolate city.”
4. Does this desired “chocolate city,” by some say something about a super structure that seeks to keep Whites superior to Blacks, considering the social elements that are at play within a chocolate city?
5. Was the city looking out for the best interest of the citizens by not allowing them to return?
6. In regards to real estate; the location of one’s property plays a vital role in determining the property value. So, I’m forced to ask the question of whether a house that cost $150,000 to build in both an impoverished community and a privileged community; should become less valued in the impoverished community simply based on the location?
7. Has New Orleans gotten too much attention or simply not enough?
8. Who is benefiting by what happened as a result of Hurricane Katrina?

To be Continued ……………..

The photo below, from the lower 9th ward is profound. I encourage you to think about this. BTW: The death count is probably higher.