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THE MICHIGAN CHRONICLE


September 8-14, 2010 Page A-3


Second Front Katrina’s legacy still painful five years after


By Jesse Muhammad NEW ORLEANS (FinalCall.com) — While


driving through the Lower Ninth Ward of the city, visitors might be shocked to see that most of it still looks the same as it did when the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina struck — five years ago.


This is where Linda Smith grew up, lost her


entire home and eventually rebuilt. She sits on her porch reflecting on and sharing the psy- chological weight she has carried for half a decade.


“I will never forget the day I returned here


and saw that my home was completely washed away. It has been hard to get that image out of my head. I think about it beyond this annual anniversary. I reflect on all of the people who won’t be back,” Ms. Smith told The Final Call.


Despite being surrounded by vacant weeded


lots, mildewed homes and a depleted popula- tion, Ms. Smith is happy she finally returned last year after evacuating to multiple cities with family members.


She was able to secure funding from the


state’s Road Home program to build a newer and bigger home on her lot but warns outsid- ers that the healing process is nowhere near done.


“There is not just a need to mark the anni-


versary. There is still a need for people to come back. There is still a need for people to get money. I usually walk my neighborhood early in the morning and it is ridiculous how they did the Ninth Ward. Most of the other areas are coming back up but the Ninth Ward is always forgotten,” she said.


The landfall wrath of Hurricane Katrina cou-


pled with the breaching of the levees on Aug. 29, 2005 caused hundreds of thousands to be displaced throughout the country and claimed the lives of over 1,400 people. Over $1 billion in damages hit Louisiana and Mississippi as images of floating dead bodies, crying babies, torn homes, and stranded citizens scream- ing for help drew world attention to the Gulf Coast.


Gail Menville and her family live around


the corner from Ms. Smith in the Lower Ninth Ward. Their home was washed away. They lived in Texas for two years and also stayed in a trailer. Her home was only recognizable by the remaining front steps and the alarm system.


“Every time I came here to Claiborne Street I


started crying because it was ... excuse me, but it is just so hard to even talk about it,” she told The Final Call as tears flowed from her eyes.


Prior to Katrina, Ms. Menville ran her own


day-care center but due to depression after the storm she could not muster up the strength to restart the business. She now works at a local Walmart, has rebuilt her home yet still can’t help being afraid every time it rains.


“I am always ready to leave when it starts


storming because the fear still lingers. It’s just extremely sad to be here and sometimes I just want to pack up and leave. I’m sticking it out for my family,” she said.


Being angry and depressed is an understate-


ment for 60-year-old Deborah Duplessis-Cola, who went from being a working class home- owner to now having her belongings cramped into a one-bedroom apartment on Congress Drive in the Gentilly area.


“I am holding back tears because I have


cried enough. This mental anguish has given me high blood pressure and a skin disorder. I’m still suffering the aftermath. I’m sleeping between a kitchen and living room on an air mattress now,” Ms. Duplessis-Cola said.


Her home took in over 12 feet of floodwa-


ter. She evacuated with her 92-year-old father, whom she still cares for. They lived in Dallas, Houston, Baton Rouge, and Slidell, La., before returning to the Crescent City. Her insur- ance claim allowed her to pay her home loan off. After a long battle, she was able to secure funds from the Small Business Administration and the Road Home program to get a new home


built. However, more troubles occurred. “I hired a contractor to repair the home and


they committed fraud. They walked away with my money. I reported it to the state contractor’s board and I haven’t received compensation yet. Plus I don’t qualify for any other assistance,” said Ms. Duplessis-Cola, who works as a medi- cal certification assistant.


As part of the Katrina commemoration,


President Barack Obama delivered a national address from the campus of Xavier University to reiterate his administration’s commitment to the Gulf.


“Now, I don’t have to tell you that there are


still too many vacant and overgrown lots.There are still too many students attending classes in trailers.There are still too many people unable to find work.And there are still too many New Orleanians, folks who haven’t been able to come home. So while an incredible amount of progress has been made, on this fifth anniver- sary, I wanted to come here and tell the people of this city directly: My administration is going to stand with you, and fight alongside you, until the job is done,” said President Obama on Aug. 29.


Like other struggling survivors, Ms. Duples-


sis-Cola wasn’t just interested in hearing good words — she wants action and personal help now.


“I wanted to hand deliver my documents to


the president so he can read for himself the real life horror stories that’s still going on since 2005. I need help! Since that contractor’s theft, I have not been able to get on my feet. I am paying rent, a house note, utilities, and storages fees on three bins. If one more thing goes wrong, I could lose everything,” said Ms. Duplessis-Cola.


Measuring Katrina’s pain In his annual Katrina Pain Index, Loyola


Professor Bill Quigley gives a statistical picture of the state of New Orleans and the work that remains to bring the city all the way back.


Louisiana residents are located in more than


5,500 cities across the nation, the largest con- centrations being in Houston, Dallas, Atlanta and San Antonio. An estimated 141,000 fewer people live in the metro New Orleans area. Women lead the majority of those displaced at 59 percent compared to 41 percent men. A third of those displaced earn less than $20,000 a year.


According to the Greater New Orleans Com-


munity Data Center, at least one in four resi- dential addresses in New Orleans are vacant or blighted.


The Road Home program’s rebuilding grants


for homeowners on average fell approximately $35,000 short of the money needed to rebuild — particularly in the Black communities hard- est hit by Katrina. Nearly 20,000 applicants


for rebuilding homes that are eligible for fund- ing have received nothing. In a 2008 lawsuit a judge concluded “on average, African-American home owners received awards that fell further short of the cost of repairing their homes than did White recipients.”


Mtangulizi Sanyika of the African-American


Leadership Project told The Final Call, “This is the tale of two cities. We have the driest parts of the city that didn’t get much damage. They look like they are recovering. The most devastated neighborhoods, such as the Lower Ninth Ward, have not recovered. There’s not one school in this area, no hospital and the infrastructure is still underdeveloped,” he said.


“The Lower Ninth Ward should have been


the number one priority because we sustained the greatest amount of damage,” New Orleans Councilmember Jon Johnson said at commu- nity housing panel at Claffin Avenue Seventh- Day Adventist Church on Aug. 27.


“Where did the money go? We’re still hear-


ing the same promises but the people contin- ue to suffer,” said Ruby Sumler, at the same forum, filled with concerned residents fed up with words.


“The Lower Ninth was the poster child of


Katrina but you can see no evidence of any of the money donated coming to this community. That concerns me,” said Councilmember John- son, who oversees District E which includes the Lower Ninth Ward.


The Southern Education Foundation re-


ported that the number of students in public schools in New Orleans, which are over 90 per- cent Black, has declined by 43 percent since Katrina.


“There are still many inequities that must


be addressed including full recovery and res- toration for all of our public school teachers who were fired after the storm. There needs to be compensation for them and a dramatic re- design of the Road Home program. Give them the money they deserve,” former New Orleans Councilmember Cynthia Willard Lewis told The Final Call.


On Aug. 28, FEMA announced it will award


the Orleans Parish School Board and the Recov- ery School District a lump settlement of $1.8 billion for damages suffered during Katrina.


“It was a battle worth waging and while we


would have liked to have received the money sooner, it was worth the wait,” said Senator Mary L. Landrieu (D-La.).


Her brother and newly elected mayor Mitch


Landrieu said, “This settlement is a big win for the children of New Orleans. Katrina destroyed or damaged 127 of our schools, and for too long our children have been learning in temporary, unsatisfactory buildings. This has been a long process and is years in the making.”


“Black New Orleans has not returned. People


have gotten Katrina fatigue and have forgotten us,” said Mr. Sanyika.


The city’s Black population has fallen, home-


lessness and unemployment remain problems and there have been steep rent increases, not to mention a group of police officers charged with involvement in a fatal shooting of unarmed civilians and covering up the alleged crimes.


Survivor: ‘We own our future’ For several weeks, various political leaders


and grassroots groups hosted events through- out the city to commemorate the anniversary. California lawmaker Maxine Waters delivered a message before hundreds on Aug. 29 in the Lower Ninth Ward a few feet from the Katrina Monument.


“I feel the same way today that I felt five years


ago when I visited this area after the storm. I am disappointed,” said Rep. Waters.


Local music artist Sess 4-5 and Rev. Lennox


Yearwood of the Hip Hop Caucus led the annual Katrina Commemoration Foundation’s March and Secondline through the streets of the Lower Ninth Ward.


“We’re here to remember but also to push


forward on the injustice that was done five years ago and the injustice that is still going on today,” Rev. Yearwood said.


Jaribu Hill, director of the Mississippi Work-


ers’ Center, traveled from the Delta to partici- pate in the march. “The spotlight is still on the U.S. government for failing to take care of its citizens. There are still millions who are in a posture of displacement. This is a human rights violations sponsored by the richest country in the world,” she told The Final Call.


“Realistically when we look around we know


we’re not stable. But I do feel a sense of encour- agement because we’re taking the lead role in recovering our own neighborhood,” Patricia Jones said.


Mrs. Jones, who also lost her home, is the


executive director of the Lower Ninth Ward Neighborhood Network Association. The group is actively involved in helping residents return, rebuild and restore their pre-Katrina liveli- hoods.


“At the end of the day, we own our own


future. As a community we have to take the lead because no one else is going to care if we don’t. We need action. If you come here don’t just be in awe — help us. We know we’re hurt- ing. We’re living it,” said Mrs. Jones.


Educators say Black boys set up to fail


By Michael Cottman A coalition of African-Americans educators say the nation’s


public school system is giving up on Black male students and setting them up to fail.


This alarming quandary is being described as a national edu-


cation crisis — and that’s not overstating the problem. According to “Yes We Can: The 2010 Schott 50 State Report


on Black Males in Public Education,” the overall 2007-2008 graduation rate for Black males in the U.S. was only 47 percent, and half of the states have graduation rates for Black male stu- dents below the national average.


The report highlights concerns that New York’s graduation


rate for its Regents diploma is only 25 percent for Black male students.


New York City, the district with the nation’s highest enroll-


ment of Black students, only graduates 28 percent of its Black males with Regents diplomas on time. Overall, each year, more than 100,000 Black male students in New York City do not grad- uate from high school.


That’s an incomprehensible number, yet apparently true. “Without targeted investments to provide the core, research-


proven resources to help Black male students succeed in public education,” the report concludes, “they are being set up to fail.”


The fourth report released by the Schott Foundation for


Public Education provides state-by-state data that shows which U.S. school districts and states are failing to provide the re- sources Black male students need for the opportunity to learn.


“Taken together, the numbers in the Schott Foundation for


Public Education’s report form a nightmarish picture — one that is all the more frightening for being both true and long- standing,” Geoffrey Canada, president and CEO of the Harlem Children’s Zone, said in a statement.


“These boys are failing, but I believe that it is the responsibil-


ity of the adults around them to turn these trajectories around,” Canada said. “All of us must ensure that we level the playing field for the hundreds of thousands of children who are at risk of continuing the cycle of generational poverty. The key to suc- cess is education.”


Some civil rights activists, like comedian Bill Cosby, have


publicly blamed Black parents for not preparing their sons to be productive citizens, and they’ve criticized Black mothers and fathers for allowing school systems to raise their children.


“I don’t know where we lost it or how we lost it, but people


are not parenting,” Cosby said last year during a speech in San Jose, California. “These people are not parenting. They are buying things for kids — $500 sneakers for what? And won’t spend $200 for ‘Hooked on Phonics.’”


Two years ago, President Barack Obama, who was seeking


the office at the time, demanded that fathers, especially Black men, shoulder the responsibility of healing broken families. Obama condemned absent fathers who have “abandoned their responsibilities, acting like boys instead of men.”


“You and I know how true this is in the African-American


community,” Obama said, outlining statistics showing that more than half of all Black children live in single-parent house- holds.


Such children are five times more likely to live in poverty and


commit crime, nine times more likely to drop out of school, and 20 times more likely to end up in prison, he said.


“And the foundations of our community are weaker because


of it,” said Obama. Meanwhile, The Schott Foundation report highlights the


success of New Jersey’s Abbott plan, which demonstrates that when proper resources are available to all students, “systemic change at the state level can yield significant results.”


New Jersey, according to the report, is now the only state


with a significant Black population with a greater than 65 per- cent high school graduation rate for Black male students.


Highlights of the report’s findings include: • The five worst performing districts with large Black male


student enrollment (exceeding 40,000) are New York City, N.Y. (28 percent); Philadelphia, Pa. (28 percent); Detroit, Mich. (27 percent); Broward County, Fla. (39 percent); Dade County, Fla. (27 percent).


• The states with Black male student enrollment exceeding


100,000 that have the highest graduation rates for Black male students are New Jersey (69 percent), Maryland (55 percent), California (54 percent) and Pennsylvania (53 percent).


• Some states with small populations, such as Maine, North


Dakota, New Hampshire and Vermont, have graduation rates for Black males higher than the national average for White males.


• The districts with Black male student enrollment exceed-


ing 10,000 that have highest graduation rates for Black male students are Newark, N.J. (76 percent); Fort Bend, Texas (68 percent); Baltimore County, Md. (67 percent) and Montgomery County, Md. (65 percent).


• The districts with the lowest graduation rates for Black


male students are Pinellas County, Fla. (21 percent); Palm Beach County, Fla. (22 percent); Duval County, Fla. (23 percent); Charleston County, S.C. (24 percent) and Buffalo, N.Y. (25 per- cent).


• Dade County, Fla.; Cleveland, Ohio and Detroit, Mich. also


have notably low graduation rates for Black male students — each at 27 percent.


“America and its states and communities will not thrive in


the 21st century without providing all students — including Black males — a fair and substantive opportunity to learn,” said Dr. John H. Jackson, president and CEO of The Schott Founda- tion for Public Education.


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