Two Years Ago, but Today, too

It's really odd that we talk about Katrina as if we've actually overcome the problems with FEMA and getting a reliable means of transportation back to people so that they can eventually re-inhabit New Orleans.

Look at this article in the New York Times.

I want to share with you a short story to give you an idea of how bad the problems for the black New Orleans diaspora really are.

A week ago, I was getting into my car after coming out of Jimmy John's Sandwiches off of 32nd Street and Red River at about 9 p. m., when a lean black man about 100 yards wearing a buttoned-down shirt and tie shouteded something at me. I turned to look at him, and as soon as he realized I was going to wait for him to approach, he jogged up to me.

He explained the situation. He was a victim of Katrina, and after the house he owned in the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans was destroyed in the flood, he was relocated to Houston with other unfortunate people from his neighborhood. He told me that he moved here to stay in a family friend's house until he found some work; he had spent all day searching for jobs in West Austin, he was out of luck and out of cash, and he needed two dollars to get himself and his son home. He motioned to a frail boy sitting at the bus stop across the street who raised a hand and waved as soon as the man gestured.

I took out my wallet and handed him the only cash I had left--exactly two dollars. "Thank God!" he said. "You're the first dude who didn't run away when I asked for two dollars." He took the money, thanked me and walked across the street. When he got to the bus stop, he sat down and hugged his son.

This is unacceptable. If something like this were happening to rich white people on Staton Island, Long Island, or somewhere in Florida, the government would pull out all stops to make sure that those "viable" people had every opportunity to stay in the same place and rebuild their houses.

Telling poor black people from the Lower Ninth Ward that they can't stay in or go back to New Orleans is the same as telling them that everything they've got--everything they've worked for--is gone and will never be replaced. Asking them to move doesn't solve the problem, it just takes away their only property and gives them no money and no housing. And since many of the families in the Lower Ninth Ward cannot afford new property values, when they're left without a home and told that there's no way to rebuild it, that's the end of the only financial stability that many of them have. It's devasating; it's like cutting the roots off of a tree.

This is despicable.