Lafayette, Louisiana

August 27: 

Today we were invited to join Bishop Diana Williams in Lafayette, LA at the Imani Temple #49, for their Sunday mass. The service was true southern style, lively song and dance, emphatic and spiritual, African heritage mixed with the Christian religion, combining forms of worship. The temple itself has a humble exterior, inside a combination of traditional architecture with Coptic crosses, symbolizing the Christian church in Africa, with a predominantly placed andika symbol.

This synthesis of African styles with deep Christian roots reflects this church’s commitment to the African American community.  After the storm, the Imani church acted as a relief center, distributing clothing -- 1000 school uniforms and 250 pairs of tennis shoes, for instance -- and provided the displaced with information about services, and networking opportunities. Churches and places of worship along the coast have an advantage over outside service agencies when it comes to providing services -- they have connections to community members, people are more likely to go to them for help who may not want to deal with the government, and they provide solace in troubled times.

Taking this tour with so many faith leaders involved reminds me that Katrina was a human disaster and that the toll was human. After experiencing total loss, dehumanizing neglect of the federal government, and exploitative coverage by the media, people here need to heal mentally and emotionally.

Country Living

After a community luncheon, Former New Orleans resident and recently-turned organizer of Van Lee Parker gave some delegates from the bus an impromptu tour of some of the places where the government placed FEMA campers.   I am calling them campers because they are not actual trailers but much smaller. We traveled with Van Lee Parker in a caravan of four trucks, with the aid of walkie-talkies, miles away from the main thoroughfare, or any major road.

We drove past cow pastures, past lush creeks, on long bendy roads, until we found about 30 campers tucked away behind larger older trailers. They were all empty. And no doubt why -- with no car, it would take hours to get to anywhere, to get groceries, do laundry, get to a bus to go to work. For the elderly or disabled, the isolation in these campers would be crippling. Since we’ve heard that communication has been so poor between the government and the community, there is a chance that no genuine effort has been made to inform people that the trailers are even there.

This really didn’t have to be the case – a factsheet from The Opportunity Agenda describing FEMA’s history that shows that it can be an important and effective component of our country’s disaster response and recovery system. The FEMA that responded to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita was weakened by systematic disinvestment over time, which diminished the agency’s ability to address national disasters.

Unfortunately, FEMA’s diminished role is part of a larger pattern of disinvestment in federal agencies responsible for security and opportunity in America. While FEMA is a noteworthy example with dramatic consequences, it is only one of many important federal programs that now lack adequate resources and authority.

Housing Affects Political Voice

On the ride back, Latosha Brown, a steering committee member of Saving Our Selves, and Van discussed opportunities for homeownership and cooperative land ownership. Latosha was making the point that many African Americans should be encouraged and empowered to own property, as well to fight for their property if there is a threat of it being taken from them.

It’s interesting that the most immediate issues people are facing concern housing, home ownership, and property ownership. While the storm wreaked havoc on the coast and people’s lives, it is the subsequent land grabs, evictions, and systemic refusal to help low income residents that are ultimately displacing people of African decent in the gulf south. In New Orleans’ lower ninth ward, which had the highest proportion of African American homeowners, residents’ property is now under threat of being taken. With so many residents yet to return to the lower ninth, this ward’s African American is significantly diminished. In this ward, voter turnout for the May elections fell by nearly 40% from the previous election.  Research also shows that May’s municipal New Orleans elections reflected a shift toward a more affluent, white, and home-owning population.