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7A ► ®o NEWS/JT^e CItarlotte Tuesday, March 16, 2006 Hurricane changed New Orleans forever Continued from page 6A such as Sean Hannity Rush Tvimhaugh and, Larry Elder Elder said in a Sept. 22 col umn published in the Jewish World Review online: “For many people, past discrimi nation means present and future discrimination- End of discussion...” Though the conspiracy the ories may appear outlandish to some, there is proof that something like this hap pened in the past. It happened when Hurricane Betsy deluged New Orleans in 1965 and in the Mississippi Flood of 1927, as John M. Barry dis cusses in his book “Rising Tide,” The book discussed the social and poUticai forces that precipitated the flood and pointed to possible rea sons for deliberately flooding St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes where poor whites and blacks lived. Back then, a club of rich bankers ran the city and made the fatal decision to blow the levees in order to save their businesses. “Daily hundreds of thou sands of dollars were being withdrawn fiom banks. If the fear grew great enough, if a run developed on the bank, it would hurt, and per haps destroy weaker banks. Short-term credit was disap pearing, period. Long tern, if the nation’s businessmen lost confidence in the safety of New Orleans serious dam age could result,” Barry wrote on page 231. “...Pool’s bank was the most vulnera ble in the dty, he had aggres sively loaned money to sugar planters. A crevasse on the river’s west bank could destroy them, and his bank. Dynamiting the levee on the east bank might also relieve them. Pool argued, "Ihe people of New Orleans are in such a •panic that aU who can do so are leaving the city 'Ihousands are leaving daily Only dynamite will restore confidence.” That flood was the final straw for thousands of black laborers, who left the Delta in droves, forever changing the economic and social structure of the area, Thou^ for different rea sons, some see the same forces at work now. “Same thing—politicians, corruption, greed... they wanted this area to widen the canal for cruise ships,” said Pamela Everage, 39, a Ninth Ward resident who works on a cruise ship in Hawaii. Others see the flood and the subsequent dispersal of poor blacks to far-flung places across the nation as an ethnic cleansing of New Orleans. Naomi Bdein, in article titled "Purging the Poor,” published in the Oct. 10 issue of The Nation maga zine said New Orleans is already displaying a dramat ic demographic shift since most of the people who can return are white. Additionally, she said, given hi^ vacancy rates in many parts of the city—French Quarter, Garden District and Jefferson Parish—many evacuees could be housed in the dty ' “Roughly 70,000 of New Orleans’ poorest homeless evacuees could move back to the dty alongside returning white homeowners, without a single structure being built,” she Stated- Mayor Nagin and others have said the flood presented an opportunity to restruc ture and rebuild smaller, better neighborhoods for the dty’s inhabitants. Tb many that’s an indirect way of saying it will be a whiter New Orleans. In fact, the New York Times pub lished a story recently under Ihe headline, “In New Orleans, Smaller May Mean Whiter.” It noted, “...Race has become a subtext for just about every contentious dedsion the dty faces: wh^e to put FEMA trailers; which neighborhoods to rebuild; how the troubled school sys tem should be reorganized; when elections should be held... ” No place for the poor? Bringing back poor people is rardy discussed. “AU the talk about a small er, better New Orleans is tantamormt to not rebuild ing low-income public hous ing,” said Robert Bifilard, a professor at Clark Atlanta University and an environ mental justice activist. And not rebuilding those houses is singularly unfair to black people, whose lives are often invested in their homes. "Ninety percent of black wealth is tied into their homes so you’re not only destroying Black neighbor hoods, you’re destroying black wealth.” ‘It won’t be the same’ Fenelon, the New Orleans taxi driver, added, "The mayor talking about build ing houses that are better than the ones people lived in but will they be able to afford those houses? They don’t talk about that.” He continued, "It won’t be the same...they’re trying to get rid of us, you know,” he said. “You got white folks that come all the way from Baton Rouge every day to get to work- Think about how much easier it’s going to be for them to have some property right down here that will take them just five minutes to get to work.” In fact, Alphonso Jackson, secreta2y of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said he advised Mayor Nagin to not rebrfild the Ninth Ward, according to a Sept. 29 Houston Chronicle article, and predicted that the city would lose a significant por tion of its Afiican-American citizenry Afiican Americans previously comprised 67 per cent of the city’s residents. "Whether we fike it or not. New Orleans is not going to be 500,000 people for a long time,” he is quoted. ‘New Orleans is not going to be as black as it was for a long time, if ever again.” Mayor Ray Nagin created a controversy whai he said in a Martin Luth^ King Day speech: “Ifs time for us to come together. It’s time for us to rebuild New Orleans - the one that shotild be a chocolate New Orleans. This city will be a majority Afiican-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.” Under a barrage of criti cism, Nagin quickly retract ed that statement. Fendon, the taxi driver, says he understands the ten sion over rebuilding New Orleans. “I teU you boy a lot of poli tics have everything to do with it. It’s aU politics,” he said, adding, “There ain’t no real love for us black people, especially in the ghetto,” DuSable officially recognized as founder of Windy City By Mema Ayi THE CHICAGO DEFENDER CHICAGO - After more than a century and a half, the city’s founder will be officially recognized in city agencies and commemorations, thanks to an ordinance passed recent- ly Sponsored by Alderwomen Tbni Preckwinkle and Leslie Hairston, official commemora tions of the city’s founding wfll indude mentions of the dty’s first non-native settler, Haitian-bom Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, Chicago is cel ebrating its 169th birthday “DuSable was the visionary who created this cultural des tination point where other immigrants could settle,” Hairston said. “So I would encourage aU dty agendas to promote (DuSable) during the month of March. ” In 1779, DuSable built a cabin along the north bank of the Chicago River, near the present-day site of the THbune Tbwer. Thirteen years ago, a plan proposed by Preckwinkle and Aid. Madeline Haithcock (2nd) to rename the south end of Lake Shore Drive after DuSable was “shot down” and killed in committee, Preckwinkle said. “We got what can only be described as a hostile reac tion,” said Preckwinkle. Now, Preckwinkle wOl set tle for DuSable’s. legacy being officially recognized. “This will acknowledge the critical foimding role DuSable played in Chicago’s history,” she said Alderwoman. Dorothy TIUman suggested the City Coxmcil go further in its recognition of DuSable with a statue. Though busts of Blacks can be found, there is just one statue in the dty “This will really begin to get him into the history books, but I hope we move on to the next step,” said Tillman, who sug gested a DuSable statue, ‘You won’t find a full statue of a black man anywhere in this city except at 47th and King Drive. And we should do no less for DuSable.” Due to the longtime offidal omission, Chicago’s school- children do not know of DuSable because dty agen das, including the Board of Education, do not officially recognize him as the city’s formder, said Alderwoman Freddrenna Lyle, another sponsor of the ordinance. Hnandal Group Protecting your tomorrow.. .TODAY. Attention Business Owners ♦ Have you worked hard to build your business and your clients? ♦ Do you have a lot invested in your business? ♦ Does your businesss depend on you? If you answered yes to any of the above questions, PROTECT your business in the event of a (Usability (Illness or injury), Monique Spears 7100 Lawyers Rd. • Charlotte, NC 28227 (980)253-7121 Cell • (704)568-9649 ext. 515 mspears@messerfinancial.coni original laptop reading experience tKJe Charlotte www.thecharlottepost.com
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