Reflections on New Orleans

Earlier this summer, I spent two weeks doing volunteer legal work in New Orleans. While there, we heard from some attorneys that the residents of Renaissance Village, once the biggest FEMA trailer park in Louisiana, had just been given 1 weeks notice of eviction. We went and interviewed the residents for the attorneys so they could see what assistance was needed to help them securely relocate. FEMA was only offering them 30 day hotel vouchers, which for many residents were not an option. 30 days in a hotel and then what? FEMA seemed to be offering no assistance, and many of the other programs set up to help people with housing were only for those who were previously homeowners. What were people who lived in apartments supposed to do? The most frustrating thing was that as we roamed New Orleans, many people pointed out abandoned, boarded up apartment buildings that I am certain could be as easily revitalized as the tourist areas have been, and yet were just sitting there while thousands of people have been displaced and cannot return home to New Orleans for lack of housing.

I was further infuriated when I returned to California and several days later read an article about Renaissance Village in the New York Times. The article puts the blame on the residents for not leaving the trailer park.

“Reason holds little sway over the residents of this microcosm. Some of those most in need have proved to be, out of pride or paranoia, the least likely to accept help.”

Residents of Renaissance Village were not accepting “help” from FEMA because it was not actually help. The article talks about the people I met in the most disrespectful ways, saying they are being “dragged toward self-sufficiency” as if it were their choice in the first place to be relocated 150 miles north of their home and given toxic trailers to live in, and now they don’t want to leave their beloved home. Give me a break! Um…does anyone remember that there was a HUGE natural disaster followed by poorly planned/built/maintained levees that burst and destroyed thousands of people’s homes and personal property?

I could rave about this all day, but I think my overall point is that while in New Orleans, I met some amazing, strong people that for the most part have been forgotten. The lack of a governmental response to Hurricane Katrina has been twisted into a message of blame on displaced people to “get their shit together” and be self sufficient. This is truly infuriating.

Below is a poem I wrote while in New Orleans after visiting the lower 9^th ward where the levees burst.

as i lay bare and broken

As I lay bare and
broken
concrete blocks
crouch low
in overgrown grass
rubble of
past shelter
foundations
of love
and trust
scattered and
forgotten
ancient history
memories drifting by
unspoken

As I lay bare and
broken
bursts of vibrant
purple flowers
emerge from
the cracks
nature making
room for its
tenacious brethren
dull gray weeds and
shiny green
dragonflys
gather and
overcrowd
the concrete
tombstones

As I lay bare and
broken
levees
meant to
shelter
loom over
newly rebuilt in their
burdensome
stupidity
cold
grey
unattentive
staunch
governmental allies
don’t betray
their masters

As I lay bare and
broken
rushing water
lapping at the highest
windows with
faces looking out
echoes and fills the
stagnant
now silent
air
roof tiles waving goodbye
in the wind
mardi gras beads
clattering
shattering
window panes
broken
souls

As I lay bare and
broken
words do not
rush out
like a sweet
summer
spring
instead
tainted
rust-colored
sour and
embittered
cries flood out
unfriendly to
the ears
unkind to the
powerful
but they
flow
slowly treading
out a cry

listen to me

listen to me

LISTEN

as i lay bare and broken