August 28:
Renaissance Village is one of the largest FEMA camper parks in Louisiana. It is in Baker, just outside of Baton Rouge. With around 280 campers lined up, back to back, in rows, I felt quite claustrophobic.
The first time I tried to come here, as a journalist trying to cover a story on this camper park in December 2006, the management blocked my entrance and did not allow residents to speak with reporters. Residents fought back, and now they are able to speak with us.
Bus tour participants were invited to attend a meeting of the Renaissance Village community council. Members of the council described the difficulties they had trying to relocate. One of the major challenges they face is lack of transportation, not only to work, but school as well.
Many students take several buses to get to school and wake up incredibly early in the morning. Some groups have tried to start bringing 
education programs to students on the premises, but they are having difficulty certifying roughly 100 of those students, since those students have been expelled from other Louisiana public schools. The only option for such students is to attend either a certified center for alternative learning, or a private school that they then have to pay for.
One resident said that “we came in homeless, but we will leave homeowners.” For that to happen, residents will need help achieving these goals. Programs that empower people to own their own property would greatly benefit the residents of Renaissance Village. According to a factsheet issued by The Opportunity Agenda, homeownership rates among African American and low-income families in New Orleans and the Gulf Region even before the storm were far lower that that of whites and higher-income families. And even as homeownership increased over the last two decades among most income groups, it declined among those at the bottom of the income scale.
Sisters Voices in Baton Rouge
Discussions of lack of housing, education, and basic needs were present throughout all of the Listening Sessions. However each group had its unique conversations. I learned that Baton Rouge hosts one of the highest populations of displaced New Orleanians in the country. This is the first time I’ve heard about the stigmatization of displaced New Orleanians.
Women reported that their children were being isolated in schools and identified by teachers as problem children, merely because they 
are displaced New Orleanians. Women were experiencing problems from other people from Baton Rouge due to their status as displaced people. Stigmatization is experienced by internally displaced people worldwide.
August 29th, 2006
Today is the one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. I went to a march that began in the lower ninth ward by the levee breach. The ceremony had been postponed for an hour because George Bush had come for a photo op in the area.
High grass has grown over the foundations of the houses closest to the levee breach, every few meters there are stone steps to nowhere. On the levee itself, four women dressed in white called out names of the deceased while lighting candles. It was a spiritual commemoration and it preceded a political march that included a brass band. In New Orleans the Jazz Funeral, with brass band, is a cultural institution where mourning and celebration happen simultaneously.
After the march, I walked home to watch the news. The news on Channel 4 reported on a steady stream of commemoration ceremonies around the greater New Orleans metro area and lower lying parishes. Channel 26 was the same. Channel 6 followed the path of the President. Besides discussing the need for category five levees, the news didn't really talk about any of the issues that I had learned about from women during these last 5 days on the bus tour. Granted it was a day for mourning, but the news didn't even touch upon the issues I had been hearing about all week.
So the voices from the hardest hit communities are stifled yet again in the media, and their images are skewed toward stereotypes. The Opportunity Agenda, for instance, reported biased coverage of Katrina evacuees, demonstrated by the number of news outlets focused on and disseminating unconfirmed reports of looting and violence among Hurricane Katrina survivors. The factsheet states that subsequent investigations proved many of the reported crimes and stories to be false. (see the footnote source in The Opportunity Agenda’s factsheet on the loss of voting power and voice for Katrina’s marginalized communities at www.opportunityagenda.org).
New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region have come further than one could ever have expected, given so few resources. What I heard over the last 5 days was a people’s determination to rebuild their lives despite the adversities and a government that is taking no responsibility in expediting the recovery process. Non-profits, grassroots community organizations, and churches are having to pick up the slack.
From the tour it is clear that the people most adversely affected by the storm and its aftermath have solutions, but feel forgotten. They are strong, but the daily emotional, bureaucratic, and environmental challenges are taking their toll. Many are holding it together and holding back depression. And many are now living in toxic conditions and are getting sick. The Trouble the Water series will hopefully give voice to some of the women I’ve met. They hold a truth that needs to be heard.
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