 By Judge Greg Mathis
This month marks the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the now legendary storm that struck the Gulf Coast, flooding the city of New Orleans, killing thousands and causing billions in damage. In the last two years, we’ve watched residents struggle to return to the Big Easy to rebuild their lives. Some progress has been made. The city’s population is at 66 percent of its pre-Katrina numbers. The labor force has reached 79 percent of its pre-storm levels. Money earned from sales taxes are at 84 percent of their pre-Katrina numbers. Despite these promising trends, residents and city officials still face obstacles to rebuilding. The biggest obstacle of them all: the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). In the aftermath of Katrina, FEMA inflicted additional pain on the storm’s survivors, scrambling to send aid to the hardest hit areas and failing to provide adequate housing and other resources. Two years later, the bureaucratic mess that is FEMA is still failing the people of New Orleans.
Last month, elected and appointed officials from both Louisiana and Mississippi testified in Washington about delays in getting FEMA money to rebuild area schools and police stations. Less than half of New Orleans’ schools are open; another 25 schools are set to open in the fall, but many of the repairs on these schools are not yet complete. Additionally, public buildings such as courts and police stations are in need of serious repair. City police headquarters are currently operating out of FEMA supplied trailers.
More astonishing is that only 22 percent of the 180,000 applicants who applied for federal funds to rebuild their damaged homes have received any money.
That FEMA is adding to the problems in New Orleans – instead of helping –should not be a surprise. In the months after the storm, several housing organizations publicly criticized FEMA for not educating evacuees on the types of federal housing programs available.
Thousands of residents complained that they received FEMA trailers, but didn’t get the keys they needed to access it. It has been very clear that FEMA could not – or would not – meet the needs of the hundreds of thousands New Orleans residents who so desperately needed the agency’s support.
But why? Why are the people of New Orleans dealing with so much red tape? Is FEMA truly overwhelmed? Is this simply bureaucracy? Or is it racism? When the first Katrina images were sent around the world – brown faces, begging to be rescued - race became been an integral part of this story. There are still many who believe the government’s slow and uncoordinated reaction to the disaster is directly related to the fact that the city was predominantly African-American and poor.
Whatever the reason for FEMA’s inept handling of the situation in New Orleans, it is a testament to the will and the strength of the city’s residents that they’ve been able to come so far, so quickly with what seems to be little support. Rising, despite obstacles, is something our people have been doing for centuries. The people of New Orleans have continued that legacy.
Editor’s note: Judge Greg Mathis is national vice president of Rainbow PUSH and a national board member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
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