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7A *00 NEWSAE^e Charlotte $o«t Tuesday, April 6, 2006 New Orleans residents ponder the future By Hazel Trice Edney NATIONAL NEWSPAPER PUBUSHERS ASSOCIATION NEW ORLEANS - Sandra Robertson is just the bind of resident New Orleans needs to rebuild. At 36 years old, she was working as an urban planner there when Hurricane Katrina turned her life upside down. She is now living in Dallas, not knowing when - or, if - she’ll return to the place she once called home. “It’s very stressful not knowing where we stand with a lot of things,” she says, softly “I have so many emo tions about it and on a daily basis, it changes.” Summing up the fate of more than 800,000 displaced residents, some rdocated as far away as Alaska, she said: “Havir^ to be forced to be somewhere or bdng somewh^e that is not our choosing is emotional. But you deal with it.” Merian Gross, a retired schoolteacher, first dealt with post-Katrina New Orleans by moving in with a daughter in Washington, D.C., 955 miles away Now, she has moved to Baton Rouge, 76 miles away fium New Orleans but a life time away from the New Orleans she had come to know and love. . Tb Donna Gross McDaniel, her only daughter, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita washed away more than the city’s faulty levees. “She’s always been the rock,” McDanid said of her mother. “Now, almost every day my Mom is crying. I keep asking her. What is it. Mom? What is it that I can do?’ I think there’s no answer because there is no answer. She wants her life back. And I can’t buy that for her. I can’t fix that.” The people who can fix it - at the local, state and nation al level - have failed resi dents of the Gulf areas, espe cially the most vulnerable — Afiican-Americans and the poor - and are now asking the peofde they failed, to trust them to make things right. Not only is inctunbent mayor Ray N^in seeking re- election, 22 candidates are lined up to show him the door. If a mayoral forum in Hoiiston last Saturday is any indication, most have no con crete plan to return residents to a safe and thriving Crescent City In fact, one candidate said that imtil there is ample housing, he wouldn’t recommend that residents return. Some former resident have relocated to other cities and have no plan to return. But others are still in hmbo and, at a minimum, want to decide who will lead the dty the next four years. But that won’t be easy As State Sen. Cleo Fields of Baton Rouge said in letter to the Justice Department, “300 of the City’s 442 - primarily in black neighborhoods - voting precincts are unavailable for voting because of damped sustained in and after Hurricane Katrina.” In his letter to John K. Tanner, chief of the Voting Rights Section of the Civil Rights Division, Fields con tinued, “As a result of the changes in precinct location and arguably ddiberate lack of information the State has provided associated there with, the State has caused voter confusion which will clearly lead to voter dilution.” Jesse Jackson, NAACP President Bruce Gordon and other dvil rights leaders are holding a march in New Orleans on Saturday seeking to have what they call an “illegal” election postponed so that more former residents can cast ballots. The civil rights groups received a setback Monday when a federal judge refused to postpone the Ajril 22 elec tion. National Urban League President Marc Morial, a for mer two-term mayor of New Orleans, said, “This is a Florida in the making,” i-efer- ring to widespread voting problems in the 2000 elec tions. “If you see an election train wreck ccaning, why not do something to prevent it before the wreck occurs?’ Those living elsewhere must either return to New Orleans to vote or fill out an absentee ballot. And that has angered some displaced resi dents who witnessed Iraqi dtizenshvingintheU.S. cast votes across the nation at satelhte poUing stations for an election being held in Iraq. Yet, U.S. dtizens are not beir^ accorded that same courtesy That’s not the only indigni ty that afflicts them. Charlotte Jumper Classic 9, 2006 • Charlotte Bobcats Arena GREAT FAMILY FUN STARTS FRIDAY! More than 150 horses will converge in Uptown Charlotte this weekend for the Carolinas premier equestrian event. You'll see horse and rider fly as they maneuver and jump through a twisting turning course where the fastest competitor takes home the prize. The three-day Grand Prix show jumping event features the best riders from around the world including past, present and future Olympians competing for $300,000 in prize money. PURCHASE SINGLE SESSION ADULT TICKETS AND RECEIVE FREE KIDS ADMISSION Redeem using promo code: WIN by calling 1-800-495-2295 or the Charlotte Bobcats Arena Box Office. Offer available via phone or Box Office only. No limit on number of kids tickets with paying adult. Net proceeds benefit Presbyterian Hemby Children's Hospital, TIPirCTC AlfAII ADI E UniAl CharlotteBobcatsArena.com• 1-300-495-2295 I luncio HVHILMDLC NUVV Charlotte Bobcats Arena Box Ottice I V ■■ ii \ \ . v> ' ■>. :VH..,'-' . ' , ’ .' if ■■ ■ ■ ' ■ ■ ■ i;';'
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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April 6, 2006, edition 1
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