Katrina Round up

Glen Ford & Peter Gamble in Black Commentator "Fighting the Theft of New Orleans":

"The overwhelmingly Black New Orleans diaspora is returning in large numbers to resist relentless efforts to bully and bulldoze them out of the city's future. "Struggle on the ground has intensified enormously. A number of groups are in motion, moving against the mayor's commission," said Mtangulizi Sanyika, spokesman for the African American Leadership Project (AALP). "Increasing numbers of people are coming back into the city. You can feel the political rhythm. [...] It is in this context that one must view Mayor Nagin's statement to a mostly Black crowd gathered at City Hall for a Martin Luther King Day march, on Monday: "I don't care what people will say - uptown, or wherever they are. At the end of the day, this city will be chocolate…. This city will be a majority African American city. It's the way God wants it to be. You can't have New Orleans no other way. It wouldn't be New Orleans." (more)

Michelle Roberts in Yahoo News "More Than 3,200 Still Missing From Katrina":

"NEW ORLEANS - More than 3,200 people are officially still unaccounted for nearly five months after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, and the state medical examiner wants the search to resume for those missing from the most devastated neighborhoods.

A total of nearly 11,500 people were reported missing to the Find Family National Call Center, a center run by federal and state workers. The reports included people from throughout the Gulf Coast area, but most were from Louisiana. (more)

Check out the January 9, 2006 New Yorker article on New Orleans if you can. Really problematic.

Iris Young in Dissent "Katrina: Too Much Blame, Not Enough Responsibility" (via wood s lot):

"The events and discussion around Katrina revealed shared responsibilities that existed long before—and still exist. Rhetorics of blame can get in the way of taking action against structural injustices for which many of us share responsibility. Katrina opened a new discussion about government capacity and spending priorities that we should keep going." (more)