Tamara Jackson, President of the New Orleans Social Aid and Pleasure Club Task Force, Speaks out for Health Care Reform

This Wednesday, more than a hundred New Orleanians (as well as two brass bands and several other performers) demonstrated outside the Hale Boggs Federal Building to send the message to US Senator Mary Landrieu that her constituents support the public option in the health care debate.

Tamara Jackson, the president of the New Orleans Social Aid and Pleasure Club Task Force – the alliance that represents 25 of the city’s 32 clubs - was one of the main organizers of the rally.

“I’m out today because we need a public option,” said Jackson. “A lot of the Social Aid and Pleasure Club Members - as well as many musicians we work with - have been suffering because they don’t have access to care.”

The Task Force previously led the successful fight against excessive fees the police department attempted to levy on secondlines, which threatened the very existence of the secondline tradition. They also have spent the past four years fighting to help their members return home, while also continuing to preserve the city’s traditions. “While we rebuild our lives, we also contribute to the culture that is so historic here in this city,” she says.

But this is the first time that the alliance has taken on a political issue not directly tied to the city’s culture. Jackson explained that all of their members believed in the importance of this fight.

“We talked about it recently with our members,” she said. “With people falling sick, we felt we needed to be proactive and do something. We decided its essential that the task force take on another role and advocate for the public option.”

Although this kind of direct political action may be new for the organization, it fits well with their history. “The Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs started as benevolent societies,” Jackson explained. “They helped establish burials for the members that were fallen, or helping someone who had fallen sick. And now we are faced with an insurance crisis, and a health care crisis. We are disenfranchised. We are everyday working people that are in need.”

Jackson, who worked at the New Orleans Adolescent Hospital, now works at the Southeast Louisiana Hospital in Mandeville. She explained that the loss of NOAH is another aspect of the city’s health care crisis. “Louisiana is suffering, we don’t have many health care options,” she said. “There’s no hospital in New Orleans East. You just have a few hospitals in the city that are open and providing services, and even those services are limited. You no longer have a charity hospital. Mental health patients, with the recent closure of the New Orleans Adolescent Hospital, will not have a place to go.”

Jackson hopes that Wednesday’s rally will send a message to our political representatives. “I’m really disappointed in Senator Landrieu,” explains Jackson. “When she ran for re-election she supported Obama’s plan. She used President Obama to get elected, and now she opposes it.”

Jackson stressed that her organization intends to stay in this fight. “This is a real serious issue,” she said. “A lot of people, especially African-Americans, don’t have access to care. We need to come together as a community. I have health insurance, but I’m still advocating for those that don’t.”

The Fight for Health Care Reform Continues

This Wednesday, a wide coalition of organizations has organized a rally to support the public option in health care reform. The rally will be held outside Senator Mary Landrieu's office - Landrieu is among the key Democratic votes who have been standing with Republicans in blocking meaningful health care reform.

One of the key organizations behind this rally is the New Orleans Social Aid and Pleasure Club Task Force, the coalition that represents virtually every S&P Club in the city. While these clubs are known for their central role in our city's culture through sponsoring secondlines most weekends, they deserve recognition for their social justice role as well.

Historically, S&P Clubs were founded as benevolent societies, offering insurance to their members and engaging in other forms of community support. This role continues to be an important aspect of most clubs - for example, several clubs hold benefits in the fall to buy school supplies for kids. Post-Katrina, the Task Force has played an even larger role in advocating for culture - for example, by fighting against city rules that would have nearly eliminated most secondlines - and also greater community needs, such as supporting the recent demonstration to save Charity Hospital.

Wednesday's rally will begin at 6:00pm at the Federal building at 500 Poydras St. At least two brass bands will perform, and speakers will include Dr. Joia Crear-Perry, the President of the New Orleans Medical Association and founding steering committee member of the Louisiana Consumer Healthcare Coalition; Robert “Tiger” Hammond, President of Greater New Orleans AFL-CIO; K Brad Ott, Co-chair, Committee to Reopen Charity Hospital; and Tamara Jackson, President of the New Orleans Social Aid and Pleasure Club Task Force.

For more info on the rally, contact Michelle at 214-684-1426, or michellelongino@yahoo.com, or Gilda, at gildawreed@yahoo.com.

(Photo above by Taslim van Hattum)

Report on Inspector General's Office Released by Project Transparency and Louisiana Justice Institute

This morning the Louisiana Justice Institute, as a part of our Project Transparency campaign, received a copy of the Transition Report of the Office of Inspector General (OIG). The Inspector General's office has been in the news a lot this week, with the hiring of Inspector General Edouard Quatrevaux, the dismissal of former Interim Inspector General Leonard Odom, and the resignation of former Police Monitor Neely Moody. Today's Picayune mentions the report, which has been a central part of the current controversy.

According to the latest Times Picayune story about the office, "The man running the office in Quatrevaux's absence, David Westerling, said he has tried unsuccessfully to get copies of the report, and the two auditors who produced it have taken leave for the rest of the week and locked the rest of the staff out of their files."

You can find the report here, or by heading to www.NolaPublicRecords.org.

We would especially like to draw your attention to page five of the report, which discusses the hiring of the executive director of the Ethics Review Board.

According to the report, when Inspector General Cerasoli hired the executive director of the Ethics Review Board, "she was an undergraduate student from a college in Quincy, Massachusetts, where IG Cerasoli had been her teacher. She was a marketing major whose only previous work experience included part-time employment earning no more than $10 per hour while attending college. Upon graduation, she was hired as the executive director for the ERB with an annual salary and benefits of $90,000."

The new inspector general, Edouard Quatrevaux, dismissed the report as "internal strife," while Cerasoli told the Picayune that Odom's report was "sad, really sad" and was "just an attempt to undermine the credibility of the office."

At this link, you can find the resumes and the salary for everyone at the Inspector General's Office. You can also find the First Annual Report of the Ethics Review Board and the First Annual Report of the Inspector General, all at http://www.nolapublicrecords.org/governance/office-inspector-general-documents.

Since these agencies were authorized by the voters in a City Charter referendum in 1996, and established in 2007, the people of New Orleans have placed great faith in the Office of Inspector General and the Ethics Review Board. We expect and demand that both of these powerful public agencies set the highest standards for transparency and accountability. . . and accept nothing less.

There is a lot more, all available at nolapublicrecords. Want to know about the District Attorney’s Office personnel? The documents are there. Want to know more about the Recovery School District and charter schools? We have all the documents.

And if you want us to make document requests, or need help with forms, send us an email.

Transparent Racism: From Washington, DC to St. Bernard Parish

Over the weekend, tens of thousands of angry protesters gathered in Washington DC in a demonstration that was largely organized by Fox News and right wing radio. They were not protesting the lack of health care for tens of millions of Americans, or the out-of-control criminal justice system, or under-funded schools, or the continued wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Waving confederate flags and carrying signs with racist slogans, they were expressing their fear at the changes happening in this country.

Welcome to the so-called post-racial US.

On Tuesday, the House of Representatives voted to rebuke Republican Congressman Joe Wilson for shouting “You Lie,” at President Obama. The vote to rebuke fell largely along party lines. During 8 years of Bush administration innovations in the art of lying, including the multi-trillion dollar lies that brought us to war with Iraq, no member of Congress ever shouted at the President during a speech. And, unlike much of what has been said by Bush and many presidents before him, the statement that inspired Wilson’s outburst, about healthcare for immigrants, was unquestionably true.

Wilson, who in 2003 called it a “smear” to mention that Senator Strom Thurmond had a mixed-race daughter, denies that race anything to do with his remark. But former President Jimmy Carter disagrees. To Carter, it’s clear that Wilson's outburst was rooted in fears of a black president. "I think it's based on racism," Carter said. "There is an inherent feeling among many in this country that an African-American should not be president."

Meanwhile, here in New Orleans, St. Bernard Parish city government continues to look for ways to discriminate. According to today’s Picayune, “The Parish Council Tuesday night called for a November special election that would give voters the chance to permanently ban most future apartment developments.”

As the chorus of voices calling for accountability grows, a growing list of relief and recovery organizations have pledged to challenge racial discrimination in the parish. "St. Bernard Parish officials just don't seem to be getting the message, " Morgan Williams of the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center told the Picayune. "The purpose and intent behind this ordinance, coming as it does after three findings by the U.S. District Court holding the parish in contempt, is transparently discriminatory."

A Wide Spectrum of Voices Speaks up Against Racial Discrimination in St. Bernard Parish

Pressure is heating up on St. Bernard Parish.

An editorial in Saturday's Times Picayune says it all: "St. Bernard Parish's housing restrictions are legally and morally wrong."

On Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Ginger Berrigan once again found St. Bernard's government in contempt of court. Further, as the Picayune noted, "She gave the parish until 5 p.m. Monday to produce the respective paperwork. If parish officials delay without cause, St. Bernard faces fines of $5,000 the first day and $10,000 every day thereafter." A Sunday column by Jarvis Deberry asks, "At what point will residents decide that it's just too damned expensive to be racist?"

This week, two open letters were released that further heightens the pressure on the parish. Both were signed by a broad spectrum of organizations, from national human rights groups like National Economic and Social Rights Initiative, US Human Rights Network, and Advancement Project; to regional organizations like Moving Forward Gulf Coast and Families and Friends of Louisiana's Incarcerated Children; to an ever-increasing range of local groups, such as the Zion Travelers Cooperative Center and Survivors Village; as well as individuals like historian Douglas Brinkley and blogger Karen Gadbois.

The first letter, directed towards St. Bernard Parish, is called an Advocates Letter to St. Bernard Parish, in response to Housing Discrimination. The second is called the Pledge in Support of a Just Rebuilding of St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana and the U.S. Gulf Coast: A Sign-On Letter for Local and National Relief Organizations and Volunteer Groups. Both letters can be seen on the Louisiana Justice Institute blog.

Another article about the campaign for justice in St. Bernard can be found at this link, and a legal background from Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center can be found here.

Louisiana Justice Institute Wins In Court!

Last week, the Louisiana Justice Institute won our battle in the Louisiana State Supreme Court, against New Orleans City Council efforts to silence us and have LJI director Tracie Washington disbarred.

Briefly, here is the full story: In October 2008, LJI launched Project Transparency. We did this because access to information, especially about our government and its activities, is part of our common heritage as US citizens, and it is a human right. Members of the public demand access to unclassified documents their tax dollars have been used to produce.

In December 2008, LJI made a request for the emails of several city council members, their staff, and members of the Nagin administration. Our intent? To support research and provide information to the public. And our research proved what we suspected all along: roving quorums of councilmembers, divided along racial lines. The reason New Orleans local government has become ineffective and growth stymied is due in no small measure to the racial tension exhibited amongst City Council members, petty bickerings, and tribalism one would expect in viewing Survivor – not local government.

But our councilmembers and their attorneys fought Louisiana Justice Institute at every step of the way – all the way to the State Supreme Court - to keep you from having full access to these records. Their battle against LJI cost us time and resources.

Last week, the Louisiana State Supreme Court agreed with the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board's (LADB) Hearing Committee Report and Recommendations, which found absolutely no grounds to the charges against Tracie and LJI. In fact, one LADB Hearing Committee member wrote, in this case “New Orleans City Government is using its influence to attempt to crush an opponent with ethical charges when the real battle is over its own incompetence and ineptitude. With scant evidence of any harm caused by the public release of three emails that bear no resemblance to privileged documents and with no evidence of future harm posed by Tracie Washington, the LADB, by its prosecution of this matter, has become a weapon of the city government and an instrument of harm to the public.”

The New Orleans City Council, in its petition to the Louisiana Office of Disciplinary Counsel, submitted misleading statements and outright lies to the Supreme Court of the State of Louisiana, all in an effort to ‘punish’ Tracie and Louisiana Justice Institute for daring to challenge these government officials’ obsession with secrecy, closed government, and good ol’ boy politics of the 50’s and 60’s.

When LJI opened its doors on April 1, 2007, we took on the responsibility of serving as the first statewide civil rights legal advocacy law firm with a mission to foster and support social justice campaigns for poor communities and communities of color throughout the state. This work has been both challenging and exhilarating. We work with some of the most exceptional people and partners in both urban and rural communities, where the promise of our nation for true social justice reform has been ignored. Our enthusiasm for these campaigns is bolstered daily by the many calls for assistance and gratitude for our intervention, as individuals and, increasingly, community leaders understand it is only when we raise the standard of living for our most marginalized residents that this state will prosper.

We have no intention of giving up. In fact, the opposition and attacks we have faced only mean that we will fight harder.

We need your generous support now more than ever as we work to ensure our citizenry is not only fully informed, but motivated and mobilized to participate in the rebuilding and renewal of this great city. Your donation will make a real difference in sustaining and expanding Project Transparency and our other work areas, and in reinforcing the message that government belongs to the people – ALL THE PEOPLE – and we will demand accountability from those we elect.

Please make your contribution today. You can visit our website – www.louisianajusticeinstitute.org, and contribute directly online.

PS: Please remember that your donations are tax deductible as LJI is registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a non-profit organization with 501c(3) status.

Pledge in Support of a Just Rebuilding of St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana and the U.S. Gulf Coast

Sign-On Letter for Local and National Relief Organizations and Volunteer Groups
(To add your name to the list of signers, please email StBernardParishLetter@gmail.com)

In September of 2006, the Parish Council in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana enacted a law that would have prohibited home-owners from renting homes to anyone other than a “blood relative.” Since the Parish is overwhelmingly white and had few Jewish citizens, the law effectively made it a crime to rent to African Americans, Vietnamese Americans, Latinos, Jews, and other populations who did not live in the parish in large numbers pre-Katrina.

Many of us engaged in rebuilding and relief work were deeply troubled by the “blood-relative” law and similar policies that discouraged the return of African Americans and the poor in New Orleans and throughout the Gulf Coast. Regrettably, many relief and volunteer organizations chose not to respond to the “blood-relative” law, remaining silent on this issue.

With the benefit of hindsight, we now know that St. Bernard Parish officials interpreted silence as consent, which has now emboldened them to pursue other means to defy the Fair Housing Act. The Parish and its leaders are openly disobeying a federal court order and considering a charter change that would require public referendum on any proposal to construct affordable multi-family housing. Their actions have been repeatedly ruled illegal in federal court because they are discriminatory in intent and impact

It is time that we take a stand against discrimination wherever it occurs, and make clear what the moral imperatives are for all organizations that seek to rebuild the Gulf Coast as a fair and just society.

As local and national relief organizations and volunteer groups, we recognize we have a moral obligation to work towards a just rebuilding of the Gulf Coast, and we pledge to speak out against injustice where we see it. This includes discriminatory housing policies, such as those pursued by elected officials in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana.

Signed,

(To add your name to the list of signers, please email StBernardParishLetter@gmail.com)

September 14, 2009

via facsimile: 278.4209
St. Bernard Parish Council & President
8201 W. Judge Perez Drive
Chalmette, Louisiana 70043

Re: Fair Housing in St. Bernard Parish

Dear St. Bernard Officials:

We are a coalition of community organizations from the Greater New Orleans area, writing to express our grave concern and disappointment over recent actions taken by St. Bernard Parish government to block equitable housing access in the Greater New Orleans area.

The Parish was sued by Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center (GNOFHAC) in 2006 for alleged violations of the Fair Housing Act of 1968, in enacting several housing ordinances with the intent and effect of discriminating against minorities. At that time, GNOFHAC fought to enjoin the Parish from enacting a so-called “blood relative ordinance, that is, the housing ordinance passed on September 19, 2006 that stated “No person…shall rent, lease, loan, or otherwise allow occupancy or use of any single-family residence located in an R-1 zone by any person or group of persons, other than a family member(s) related by blood within the first, second, or third direct ascending or descending generation(s) without first obtaining a Permissive Use Permit from the S. Bernard Parish Council.”

On February 27, 2008, you agreed the Parish would no longer (a) refuse to rent a dwelling unit, or otherwise make unavailable or deny a dwelling unit, to any person because of race or national origin; (b) deny minority citizens the same rights as are enjoyed by white citizens to make and enforce contracts; (c) deny minority citizens the same rights as are enjoyed by white citizens to lease, hold and otherwise enjoy real property; (d) deny any person equal protection of the law by discriminating on the basis of race and national origin in the leasing of real property; or (e) retaliate against Plaintiffs or any other person who alleges that Defendants have violated the Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. § 3601 et seq.

In spite of this agreement, in September 2008 the Parish violated its terms by enacting an ordinance that placed a moratorium on the construction of all multi-family housing (i.e., buildings with more than 5 units) for a period of twelve months or until the Parish Council enacted certain zoning updates. The effect of this ordinance was that it triggered cumbersome bureaucratic procedures, including a special election for which that developer must bear the costs. This ordinance would have had a detrimental impact on housing development, and stymie movement of certain people who want to reside in St. Bernard Parish. People of color, who are more likely to depend on multi-family housing post-Katrina, would have been especially harmed if this moratorium had been allowed to stand.

This latest initiative follows a pattern and practice in St. Bernard Parish to prevent development of low income housing at a time when our community could not be more desperate for safe and affordable units.

St. Bernard Parish’s post-Katrina efforts to rebuild a racially segregated Parish by passing and implementing rules to prevent non-White homeowners from moving to and living in the Parish have become an international symbol of injustice in the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast. The 2006 “blood-relative” ordinance would have prohibited single family homeowners from renting to anyone other than blood relatives, effectively excluding many ethnic groups from residing in St. Bernard Parish; including African Americans, Jewish Americans, Vietnamese Americans, Latinos, and other populations who did not live in the parish in large numbers pre-Katrina.

Fortunately, U.S. District Court Judge Helen G. Berrigan ruled this 2006 ‘blood-relative’ ordinance is illegal based on its discriminatory intent and impact. The Times Picayune editorial board wrote, “This ruling strips off the camouflage and reveals St. Bernard's actions for what they really are: an effort to keep lower-income people and African-Americans from moving into the mostly white parish.”

Since the date of the district court’s first order, Judge Berrigan has held the Parish in contempt three times for its failures to comply with the agreed upon and court-approved Consent Decree. But the St. Bernard Parish government, with apparent support from Parish residents and associations, continues to pass laws in support of segregated housing. Related ordinances restricting the development of rental housing in St. Bernard Parish have also been struck down as discriminatory, yet the Parish forges on in this regressive homage to racial and ethnic isolation.

These illegal ordinances and their progeny hurt all Greater New Orleans area residents by erecting barricades that obstruct a just rebuilding, instead of clearing the road for an equitable right to return home.

We will not be silent as our neighbor community actively discriminates. These policies create a climate of discrimination and magnify racial and ethnic tensions in our community, while also exacerbating our local housing crisis. As concerned community members, we call on St. Bernard Parish government to immediately end these discriminatory practices, and instead to join with us in standing for a just rebuilding for all Gulf Coast residents. By standing together, all of our communities benefit.

Signed,

Organizations Endorsing:
Action Coalition for Racial, Social, and Environmental Justice - University of New Orleans
Advancement Project
Advocates for Environmental Human Rights
C3/Hands Off Iberville
Caffin Avenue Church of God
Coastal Women for Change
Common Ground Health Clinic
Community Church Unitarian Universalist - New Orleans
Emerging ChangeMakers Network
Families and Friends of Louisiana's Incarcerated Children
Homeless Action Team of Tulane University (HATT)
Jesuit Social Research Institute, Loyola University
Junebug Productions
Katrina Rita Diaspora Solidarity
Loyola University Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild
Louisiana Justice Institute
Lower Ninth Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development
Lower 9th Ward Homeowner's Association
Mayday New Orleans,Housing and Human Rights Organization
Mennonite Central Committee - New Orleans
Mississippi Center for Justice
Mondo Bizarro
Moving Forward Gulf Coast, Inc
National Economic and Social Rights Initiative (NESRI)
New Orleans Palestine Solidarity
New Americans Social Club (New Orleans Holocaust Survivors Organization)
PATOIS: The New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival
People's Institute for Survival & Beyond
Poverty & Race Research Action Council
Pyramid Community Parent Resource Center
Southern Institute for Education and Research
Survivors Village
US Human Rights Network
Zion Travelers Cooperative Center

Individual Endorsements:
Kali Akuno, US Human Rights Network
Jay Arena, C3/Hands Off Iberville
Sister Theresa Anne Billeaud
Nell Bolton, Episcopal Community Services, Diocese of Louisiana
Trupania W. Bonner, Moving Forward Gulf Coast, Inc
Douglas Brinkley, Professor of History, Rice University
Judith A. Browne-Dianis, Co-Director, Advancement Project
Kevin Cahalan
Elizabeth Cook
Pamela Dashiell, Lower Ninth Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development
Deacon Margaret Dawson, Diocese of Louisiana, The Episcopal Church
Joel Devalcourt, Action Coalition for Racial, Social, and Environmental Justice - University of New Orleans
Sr. Frances Duos, Congregation of St. Joseph
David Eber, The Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development
Rev. Tyronne Edwards, Zion Travelers Cooperative Center; People's Institute for Survival & Beyond
Melanie Ehrlich, Founder, Citizens' Road Home Action Team (CHAT)
Davida Finger, Loyola University School of Law, Law Clinic
Jordan Flaherty, Louisiana Justice Institute
Bruce France, Mondo Bizarro
Felicia Fuksman
Karen Gadbois, squanderedheritage.com
Tiffany Gardner, National Economic and Social Rights Initiative (NESRI)
R. Justin (Bobby) Garon, Southern Institute for Education and Research
Sharon Hanshaw, Coastal Women for Change
Monique Harden, Advocates for Environmental Human Rights
Chester Hartman, Poverty & Race Research Action Council
Lance Hill, Southern Institute for Education and Research
Mike Howells, C3/Hands Off Iberville
Sister Barbara Hughes, Congregation of St. Joseph
Linda Jackson, Lower 9th Ward Homeowner's Association
Sam L Jackson, Mayday New Orleans,Housing and Human Rights Organization
Endesha Juakali, Survivors Village
Rev. Fred Kammer, SJ, Jesuit Social Research Institute, Loyola University
Michael Kane, Ed.D
Anne Levy
Rabbi Ethan Linden
Rabbi Robert H. Loewy
Dr. Rachel E. Luft
DJ Markey, Pyramid Community Parent Resource Center
Deacon Priscilla Maumus, Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana
Dr Alex Mikulich, Jesuit Social Research Institute, Loyola University
Damekia Morgan, Families and Friends of Louisiana's Incarcerated Children
Jacques Morial, Louisiana Justice Institute
Reilly Morse, Mississippi Center for Justice
Elizabeth Rei Nakamura
Pam Nath, Mennonite Central Committee - New Orleans
Antor Ndep, Common Ground Health Clinic
Gretchen Newby, Tulane University School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine
Jessica Norwood, Emerging ChangeMakers Network
John O'Neal, Junebug Productions
D'Ann Penner, Co-Author, Overcoming Katrina: African American Voices from the Crescent City and Beyond
Deacon Ormonde Plater
Lawrence N. Powell, Ph.D
Katherine Prevost
Bill Quigley, Loyola University School of Law, Law Clinic; Center for Constitutional Rights
Emily Ratner, PATOIS: The New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival
Ameca A. Reali, Loyola University New Orleans, College of Law
Dr. Kimberley Richards, The People's Institute for Survival and Beyond
Kysha Brown Robinson
Plater Robinson, Southern Institute for Education and Research
Sr. Cynthia Sabathier, Congregation of St. Joseph
Aaron Schneider, Assistant Professor, Political Science, Tulane University
Jordan Shannon
Pastors Victor and Barbara Simon, Caffin Avenue Church of God
Nick Slie, Mondo Bizarro
Johnnie Stevens, Katrina Rita Diaspora Solidarity
Philip Teger, Poverty & Race Research Action Council
Nikki Thanos, Loyola University Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild
Sue and Paul Troyano
Rev. Jim VanderWeele, Community Church Unitarian Universalist
Nathalie Walker, Advocates for Environmental Human Rights
Tracie Washington, Esq., Louisiana Justice Institute
Shep Zitler, New Americans Social Club (New Orleans Holocaust Survivors Organization)

Advocates Letter to St. Bernard Parish, in response to Housing Discrimination

(To add your name to the list of signers, please email StBernardParishLetter@gmail.com)

September 14, 2009

via facsimile: 278.4209
St. Bernard Parish Council & President
8201 W. Judge Perez Drive
Chalmette, Louisiana 70043

Re: Fair Housing in St. Bernard Parish

Dear St. Bernard Officials:

We are a coalition of community organizations from the Greater New Orleans area, writing to express our grave concern and disappointment over recent actions taken by St. Bernard Parish government to block equitable housing access in the Greater New Orleans area.

The Parish was sued by Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center (GNOFHAC) in 2006 for alleged violations of the Fair Housing Act of 1968, in enacting several housing ordinances with the intent and effect of discriminating against minorities. At that time, GNOFHAC fought to enjoin the Parish from enacting a so-called “blood relative ordinance, that is, the housing ordinance passed on September 19, 2006 that stated “No person…shall rent, lease, loan, or otherwise allow occupancy or use of any single-family residence located in an R-1 zone by any person or group of persons, other than a family member(s) related by blood within the first, second, or third direct ascending or descending generation(s) without first obtaining a Permissive Use Permit from the S. Bernard Parish Council.”

On February 27, 2008, you agreed the Parish would no longer (a) refuse to rent a dwelling unit, or otherwise make unavailable or deny a dwelling unit, to any person because of race or national origin; (b) deny minority citizens the same rights as are enjoyed by white citizens to make and enforce contracts; (c) deny minority citizens the same rights as are enjoyed by white citizens to lease, hold and otherwise enjoy real property; (d) deny any person equal protection of the law by discriminating on the basis of race and national origin in the leasing of real property; or (e) retaliate against Plaintiffs or any other person who alleges that Defendants have violated the Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. § 3601 et seq.

In spite of this agreement, in September 2008 the Parish violated its terms by enacting an ordinance that placed a moratorium on the construction of all multi-family housing (i.e., buildings with more than 5 units) for a period of twelve months or until the Parish Council enacted certain zoning updates. The effect of this ordinance was that it triggered cumbersome bureaucratic procedures, including a special election for which that developer must bear the costs. This ordinance would have had a detrimental impact on housing development, and stymie movement of certain people who want to reside in St. Bernard Parish. People of color, who are more likely to depend on multi-family housing post-Katrina, would have been especially harmed if this moratorium had been allowed to stand.

This latest initiative follows a pattern and practice in St. Bernard Parish to prevent development of low income housing at a time when our community could not be more desperate for safe and affordable units.

St. Bernard Parish’s post-Katrina efforts to rebuild a racially segregated Parish by passing and implementing rules to prevent non-White homeowners from moving to and living in the Parish have become an international symbol of injustice in the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast. The 2006 “blood-relative” ordinance would have prohibited single family homeowners from renting to anyone other than blood relatives, effectively excluding many ethnic groups from residing in St. Bernard Parish; including African Americans, Jewish Americans, Vietnamese Americans, Latinos, and other populations who did not live in the parish in large numbers pre-Katrina.

Fortunately, U.S. District Court Judge Helen G. Berrigan ruled this 2006 ‘blood-relative’ ordinance is illegal based on its discriminatory intent and impact. The Times Picayune editorial board wrote, “This ruling strips off the camouflage and reveals St. Bernard's actions for what they really are: an effort to keep lower-income people and African-Americans from moving into the mostly white parish.”

Since the date of the district court’s first order, Judge Berrigan has held the Parish in contempt three times for its failures to comply with the agreed upon and court-approved Consent Decree. But the St. Bernard Parish government, with apparent support from Parish residents and associations, continues to pass laws in support of segregated housing. Related ordinances restricting the development of rental housing in St. Bernard Parish have also been struck down as discriminatory, yet the Parish forges on in this regressive homage to racial and ethnic isolation.

These illegal ordinances and their progeny hurt all Greater New Orleans area residents by erecting barricades that obstruct a just rebuilding, instead of clearing the road for an equitable right to return home.

We will not be silent as our neighbor community actively discriminates. These policies create a climate of discrimination and magnify racial and ethnic tensions in our community, while also exacerbating our local housing crisis. As concerned community members, we call on St. Bernard Parish government to immediately end these discriminatory practices, and instead to join with us in standing for a just rebuilding for all Gulf Coast residents. By standing together, all of our communities benefit.

Signed,

Organizations Endorsing:
Action Coalition for Racial, Social, and Environmental Justice - University of New Orleans
Advancement Project
Advocates for Environmental Human Rights
C3/Hands Off Iberville
Caffin Avenue Church of God
Coastal Women for Change
Common Ground Health Clinic
Community Church Unitarian Universalist - New Orleans
Emerging ChangeMakers Network
Families and Friends of Louisiana's Incarcerated Children
Homeless Action Team of Tulane University (HATT)
Jesuit Social Research Institute, Loyola University
Junebug Productions
Katrina Rita Diaspora Solidarity
Loyola University Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild
Louisiana Justice Institute
Lower Ninth Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development
Lower 9th Ward Homeowner's Association
Mayday New Orleans,Housing and Human Rights Organization
Mennonite Central Committee - New Orleans
Mississippi Center for Justice
Mondo Bizarro
Moving Forward Gulf Coast, Inc
National Economic and Social Rights Initiative (NESRI)
New Orleans Palestine Solidarity
New Americans Social Club (New Orleans Holocaust Survivors Organization)
PATOIS: The New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival
People's Institute for Survival & Beyond
Poverty & Race Research Action Council
Pyramid Community Parent Resource Center
Southern Institute for Education and Research
Survivors Village
US Human Rights Network
Zion Travelers Cooperative Center

Individual Endorsements:
Kali Akuno, US Human Rights Network
Jay Arena, C3/Hands Off Iberville
Sister Theresa Anne Billeaud
Nell Bolton, Episcopal Community Services, Diocese of Louisiana
Trupania W. Bonner, Moving Forward Gulf Coast, Inc
Douglas Brinkley, Professor of History, Rice University
Judith A. Browne-Dianis, Co-Director, Advancement Project
Kevin Cahalan
Elizabeth Cook
Pamela Dashiell, Lower Ninth Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development
Deacon Margaret Dawson, Diocese of Louisiana, The Episcopal Church
Joel Devalcourt, Action Coalition for Racial, Social, and Environmental Justice - University of New Orleans
Sr. Frances Duos, Congregation of St. Joseph
David Eber, The Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development
Rev. Tyronne Edwards, Zion Travelers Cooperative Center; People's Institute for Survival & Beyond
Melanie Ehrlich, Founder, Citizens' Road Home Action Team (CHAT)
Davida Finger, Loyola University School of Law, Law Clinic
Jordan Flaherty, Louisiana Justice Institute
Bruce France, Mondo Bizarro
Felicia Fuksman
Karen Gadbois, squanderedheritage.com
Tiffany Gardner, National Economic and Social Rights Initiative (NESRI)
R. Justin (Bobby) Garon, Southern Institute for Education and Research
Sharon Hanshaw, Coastal Women for Change
Monique Harden, Advocates for Environmental Human Rights
Chester Hartman, Poverty & Race Research Action Council
Lance Hill, Southern Institute for Education and Research
Mike Howells, C3/Hands Off Iberville
Sister Barbara Hughes, Congregation of St. Joseph
Linda Jackson, Lower 9th Ward Homeowner's Association
Sam L Jackson, Mayday New Orleans,Housing and Human Rights Organization
Endesha Juakali, Survivors Village
Rev. Fred Kammer, SJ, Jesuit Social Research Institute, Loyola University
Michael Kane, Ed.D
Anne Levy
Rabbi Ethan Linden
Rabbi Robert H. Loewy
Dr. Rachel E. Luft
DJ Markey, Pyramid Community Parent Resource Center
Deacon Priscilla Maumus, Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana
Dr Alex Mikulich, Jesuit Social Research Institute, Loyola University
Damekia Morgan, Families and Friends of Louisiana's Incarcerated Children
Jacques Morial, Louisiana Justice Institute
Reilly Morse, Mississippi Center for Justice
Elizabeth Rei Nakamura
Pam Nath, Mennonite Central Committee - New Orleans
Antor Ndep, Common Ground Health Clinic
Gretchen Newby, Tulane University School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine
Jessica Norwood, Emerging ChangeMakers Network
John O'Neal, Junebug Productions
D'Ann Penner, Co-Author, Overcoming Katrina: African American Voices from the Crescent City and Beyond
Deacon Ormonde Plater
Lawrence N. Powell, Ph.D
Katherine Prevost
Bill Quigley, Loyola University School of Law, Law Clinic; Center for Constitutional Rights
Emily Ratner, PATOIS: The New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival
Ameca A. Reali, Loyola University New Orleans, College of Law
Dr. Kimberley Richards, The People's Institute for Survival and Beyond
Kysha Brown Robinson
Plater Robinson, Southern Institute for Education and Research
Sr. Cynthia Sabathier, Congregation of St. Joseph
Aaron Schneider, Assistant Professor, Political Science, Tulane University
Jordan Shannon
Pastors Victor and Barbara Simon, Caffin Avenue Church of God
Nick Slie, Mondo Bizarro
Johnnie Stevens, Katrina Rita Diaspora Solidarity
Philip Teger, Poverty & Race Research Action Council
Nikki Thanos, Loyola University Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild
Sue and Paul Troyano
Rev. Jim VanderWeele, Community Church Unitarian Universalist
Nathalie Walker, Advocates for Environmental Human Rights
Tracie Washington, Esq., Louisiana Justice Institute
Shep Zitler, New Americans Social Club (New Orleans Holocaust Survivors Organization)

Feds Explore Criminal Charges Against New Orleans Police Department

The Sunday Times-Picayune, in a front page story, reports that Federal agents have been investigating the New Orleans Police Department, issuing subpoenas, gathering grand jury testimony, and even “a surprise search warrant executed on the New Orleans Police Department homicide office.” The main targets of the investigation seems to be the killings in Algiers in the days after the storm, as well as those on the Danziger Bridge, but the probe goes further, also exploring “the police shooting of 22-year-old Adolph Grimes in the 6th Ward on New Year's Day” among other incidents. Hopefully, they will also explore the racial attacks led by NOPD officers at Midcity’s Beach Corner Bar in 2008.

According to the Picayune article, “Observers and authorities say the investigations, and the charges they are likely to result in, could shake the very foundation of the New Orleans Police Department in ways that haven't been seen since the Len Davis murder-for-hire case in the mid-1990s.”

Apparently, the NOPD have not been cooperative. In one incident mentioned in the article, “the 2nd District commander argued with and nearly barred agents earlier this summer from entering his station house.”

It’s good to see the Picayune give this story serious coverage. Perhaps they are attempting to atone for ignoring the Algiers story for over three years, until journalist AC Thompson wrote about it for ProPublica.com and the Nation Magazine.

Federal agents apparently first heard about the Algiers killings from the Nation article. It’s too bad that both the Feds and the Picayune didn’t pay attention to the many local journalists, activists, and others bringing the story up in the years before, including Malik Rahim on Democracy Now in 2005, the testimony at the 2007 Katrina Tribunal, sponsored by People’s Hurricane Relief Fund, reporting by blogger Darwin Bond-Graham on New Orleans Indymedia (also in 2007), and a documentary filmed by a European crew in 2005 called Welcome to New Orleans, which featured interviews with some of the white vigilantes involved in the killings.

On Labor Day, Four Years After Katrina, New Orleans Workers Face Lower Pay and Discrimination

Tomorrow is Labor Day, a holiday that was popularized as a substitute for the more radical international worker’s rights commemorations on May First. On this Labor Day, four years after New Orleans was flooded, what is the state of worker’s rights in Louisiana?

In the days after the storm, virtually the entire staff of New Orleans’ public school system was fired. Not long after, the school board voted to officially cease recognition of their union – one of the largest and strongest in the city. In the months and years since, Black and Latino workers in the reconstruction of the city have been pitted against each other by some employers in a “race to the bottom,” where all working people lose.

Louisiana is one of 22 so-called “Right to Work” states. These state laws prohibit workplaces where all employees are part of a union. Studies have found that states with these laws – which effectively limit the power of workers to advocate for better pay and benefits – have salaries almost 15% less than states without these anti-union prohibitions.

Nationwide, about 12% of workers are in unions. In Louisiana, only 4.6% of workers had union representation in 2008, one of the lowest rates in the US. Nationwide, there has been a decline in union membership for almost three decades – a decline that has also caused a drop in average salaries for workers, and in health coverage. Workers with unions are nearly 50% more likely to have health insurance covered by their employer.

Louisiana Justice Institute stands with organizations like the New Orleans Workers Center for Racial Justice in a fight for justice for all workers.

Alice Walker and Color Purple Touring production raise money for home building in St. Bernard, despite racist laws and policy in Parish

The touring production of the Broadway show The Color Purple, produced by Oprah Winfrey, has announced that they will be raising money for the St. Bernard Project. Of all the charities in the Gulf Coast to fundraise for, this seems to be an odd choice for the play, which is based on the legendary book by Alice Walker about southern Black women finding their strength.

St Bernard Project works almost exclusively on rebuilding housing in St. Bernard Parish, despite discriminatory housing laws of the Parish that effectively keep Black families from living there. St. Bernard Project leadership have never spoken against these laws. By their actions, and silence, they have in fact supported the Parish’s discriminatory policies.

In the year after Katrina, St. Bernard Parish passed the notorious “blood relative ordinance,” which barred single-family homeowners from renting to anyone except blood relatives without the special permission of the Parish Council. Since whites own nearly 93% of St. Bernard Parish owner-occupied housing, in most circumstances only whites would be able to rent most single-family housing in the Parish. This ordinance was a clear violation of the Fair Housing Act.

In case anyone doubts the intent of the laws and policy of the parish, there has been extensive documentation of the intent. Last year, one of the only two members of the St Bernard parish council to vote against the ordinance told reporter Lizzy Ratner, "They don't want the blacks back… What they'd like to do now with Katrina is say, We'll wipe out all of them. They're not gonna say that out in the open, but how do you say? Actions speak louder than words. There's their action."

Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center (GNOFHAC) has successfully challenged St. Bernard’s policy, but Parish officials have continued to search for new ways to try and subvert the law.

In the latest legal development, on August 17, 2009, Judge Helen G. Berrigan granted GNOFHAC's and Provident Realty Advisors' second motion for contempt against St. Bernard Parish. Judge Berrigan writes that by "subverting the re-subdivision process" to prevent Provident Realty Advisors from moving forward on construction of four multi-family housing units, the actions of St. Bernard Parish are discriminatory against African Americans in both intent and effect.

Congressman Cao Addresses Health Care, Audience is Dissatisfied with his Answers

Last night, Congressman Cao faced hard questioning from a room of New Orleanians, and most of the smaller-than-expected crowd of about 60 was loudly dissatisfied with his answers.

Cao’s office apparently was nervous about public expressions of opinion they couldn’t control. In advance of the event, they attempted to forbid local organizers from passing out information about the state of health care in Louisiana.

The evening was dominated by questions about medical insurance, as one person after another tried to pin down the Congressman to a stance on the White House’s health care reform bill. Cao would only repeat that he was for reform, but not necessarily this bill. Questioners asked if Cao was more responsive to donors and supporters such as Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions than he was to his constituents.

One position that Congressman Cao did commit to was a stance against federal funding for abortions. In response, a woman in the audience gave an impassioned declaration that, as a man, he should not try tell women what to do with their bodies – to wide support from the room. Other audience members responded that, regardless of anyone’s opinion on the issue, the White House bill would not overturn the already-existing Hyde Amendment, which already prohibits such funding. Cao disagreed.

Finally, in response to a question from Tracie Washington of Louisiana Justice Institute, Congressman Cao declared that he would not support a health care reform bill that did not specifically prohibit federal funding for abortion. Many in the room expressed frustration and anger at his stance. One speaker declared that Cao was standing against the bill, but they did not see him standing for anything, especially Louisiana.

Health Care Advocates from Across the City will be Attending Congressman Cao's Forum, and Asking Hard Questions

Congressman Anh “Joseph” Cao, who dodged last week’s Community Conversation on Health Care, has announced a public health care forum for tomorrow night. Congressman Cao apparently decided last week’s conversation – which filled a church in Gentilly - was not important enough for him to attend, but was still a good enough idea for him to present something very similar.

Tomorrow night’s forum, like last week’s event, features a panel of health care experts, including: Nancy Cassagne, CEO of West Jefferson Medical Center; Mary Joseph, Director of the Katrina Resource and Referral Project at the Children’s Defense Fund; and Judge Calvin Johnson. The panel will take questions from forum attendees, and be moderated by WBOK’s Gerod Stevens.

Anyone concerned about health care in New Orleans, and what our elected representatives are doing about it, should be there, and be prepared to ask Congressman Cao the hard questions he has been dodging. If anyone knows the need for health care reform, its residents of Louisiana; our state is number 50 in most measures of health care quality and access.

Local activist Eli Ackerman has listed some questions for Cao on his blog. As Ackerman says, “Congressman Cao has developed the habit of not taking positions on issues (think stimulus) before he votes the reactionary position with his Party's leaders. It is important that meeting attendees make a real effort to force Mr. Cao to explain what he believes, how he plans to vote, and why.”

Cao’s forum will be Thursday, September 3, at 6:00 p.m, at H.C. Schaumburg Elementary School, 9501 Grant Street – in New Orleans East. For some background, check out the Louisiana Justice Institute’s "Healthcare: Myths vs. Facts" Powerpoint and factsheet, here.

Promises are Made to be Broken: A Rights-Based Solution to Katrina Recovery

August 29, 2009
Atlanta, Georgia
Speech to Katrina Citizens Leadership Corps
on the 4th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina



Good morning. Thank you, Yolanda Adams, for that warm introduction. More so, thank you Yolanda for your steadfast leadership as the Atlanta coordinator for the Katrina Citizens Leadership Corps.

I was introduced to KCLC only last year, when Mary Joseph and Oleta Fitzgerald – two of our modern-day Deep South Social Justice Giants – invited me to one of their convenings in New Orleans. How many of you have ever attended a Children’s Defense Fund convening? Powerful, aren’t they?

If Rush Limbaugh attended one of these meetings at Haley Farm, he’d convert. Become an Obamaholic. Might even begin preaching the healthcare ‘single-payer’ option.

Y’all know a Haley Farm meeting is life changing.

Anyway, I was overwhelmed by the camaraderie of these mostly New Orleans natives, and marveled in knowing my neighbors and friends – no matter how far displaced from home – still retained the essence of this region’s spirit: a dogged determination to survive despite any barriers placed in our paths.

Today, I want to talk about needing more than survival. Why more than survival? Well because we were promised more than survival.
 
Travel back with me to September 15, 2005. President Bush stood that evening in the middle of Jackson Square, in front of St. Louis Cathedral.

Do you remember that night and that speech?

And Mr. Bush made several promises to the people of the Gulf Coast. I know you all remember that speech. Let me read to you his third promise:

“Our third commitment is this: When communities are rebuilt, they must be even better and stronger than before the storm. Within the Gulf region are some of the most beautiful and historic places in America. As all of us saw on television, there is also some deep, persistent poverty in this region as well. That poverty has roots in a history of racial discrimination, which cut off generations from the opportunity of America. We have a duty to confront this poverty with bold action.”

And President Bush then continued with that for me was a life-altering pledge –

“So let us restore all that we have cherished from yesterday and let us rise above the legacy of inequality. When the streets are rebuilt, there should be many new businesses, including minority-owned businesses, along those streets. When houses are rebuilt, more families should own, not rent, those houses. When the regional economy revives, local people should be prepared for the jobs being created. Americans want the Gulf Coast not just to survive, but to thrive; not just to cope, but to overcome. We want evacuees to come home, for the best of reasons – because they have a real chance at a better life in a place they love.”

It is now four years later, and the No. 1 question from everyone – Anderson Cooper, Rachel Maddow, my driver to the hotel last night – that No. 1 question is “How’s New Orleans doing?”


I’ve been a bit irreverent in my response lately. “New Orleans,” I say “is like a well coiffed, well manicured, well dressed woman who doesn’t take care of herself.”

Oh, her hair is fierce, like the Superdome one year after the storm. The bent metal was laid bone-straight. The dome was slick and shinny, like newly sprayed as Afro-sheen.

And don’t talk about her nails. Perfect. No chips. No peels. Just drive down Canal Street. We have some of the most ‘horticulturally-correct” palm trees outside of Palm Springs. The sidewalks aren’t cracked.

Finally, let’s not forget the outfit. St. John Knit with Ferragamo matching pumps and bag, baby. Our French Quarter homes and Garden District mansions never looked better.

But this well coiffed well manicured well dressed woman, smokes like a chimney and drinks like a sailor. Unhealthy. No way to live.

And so closes the parallel with New Orleans. On the outside, in some places, we look good. Real good. But the statistics show degenerating health:

0. Number of renters in Louisiana who have received financial assistance from the $10 billion federal post-Katrina rebuilding program Road Home Community Development Block Grant – compared to 116,708 homeowners.

0. Number of hospitals in New Orleans providing in-patient mental healthcare as of September 2009 despite post-Katrina increases in suicides and mental health problems.

11.9. Percent reduction in employment in the professional and business services in Louisiana.

18. Percent reduction in employment in the education and health services industry in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina

35. Percent of child care facilities re-opened in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina.

50. Ranking of Louisiana among states for overall healthcare.

30,396. Number of children who have not returned to public school in New Orleans since Katrina.

And these figures mimic those in Gulf Coast Mississippi and Alabama communities ravaged by Katrina. So sure we look good, but we are not a healthy region, a long way from the beloved communities promised by President Bush.

It is why those promises have not been met that is the focus of – WHAT IT TAKES TO REBUILD A VILLAGE AFTER A DISASTER, the title of the KCLC report. Why have so many of our students not returned to our schools? Why is our healthcare situation in a state of chaos? Why are renters suffering from oppressively high rents, easily double the pre-Katrina rates?

Why? Because ladies and gentlemen, an elected officials’ promise means absolutely nothing unless a ‘right’ is bestowed along with it; and the people of the Gulf Coast who suffered as a result of Katrina had no right to recovery.

I’m going to pause for a moment, because I want you to hear my words again. The people who suffered from the most impressive natural and man-made disaster to befall the United States have no right to recovery.

Recover from disaster is governed by the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Assistance Act, a federal law implemented by FEMA. The Stafford Act places almost all disaster response, at the discretion of the President of the United States, and explicitly denies an individual harmed by a natural disaster the legal right to claim assistance or compensation for loss. Under the Stafford Act, people affected by natural disasters are subjected to widely different governmental responses as chosen by presidents and negotiated on agreements or waivers.

A president can break a promise – intentionally or by benign neglect. I state governor can fail to obtain a waiver, due to ignorance or malevolence.

But a right to recovery is not dependent upon the shim of one man, or the competence of another. This is a right to which all internally displaced people would be entitled pursuant to the U.N. Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. These principles establish the duties of national governments and the rights of displaced people for the purpose of ending displacement and ensuring the recovery of people and communities.

The duties of national governments, range from preventing or at least mitigating the conditions that can cause displacement, prohibiting any form of ethnic cleansing that alters the racial, ethnic, or religious composition of an area where displacement occurs, and providing specific assistance to displaced persons that includes, but is not limited to housing, education, and healthcare.

The rights of individuals include, but are not limited to, voluntarily choosing to return home, integrate in the area where evacuated, or resettle elsewhere in the country, as well as a right to humanitarian assistance, such as housing, food, healthcare, education, and other social services for the duration of their displacement.

It is a right to more than just survival.

The subtitle of the KCLC Report “Stories from Internally Displaced Children and Families of Hurricane Katrina and their Lessons for Our Nation” foretells what you will hear today. You will hear the story of Maude Perryman, a 65 year old grandmother who asked “Where do I go from here?” after being relocated to Jackson, Mississippi, where she is raising four grandchildren without any assistance. It’s the story of Zeneta Jones who finally settled in Snellville, Georgia, having moved several times with her husband and 4 year old son, while still struggling each month to pay for food, education, and healthcare. And it’s the stories of David Graham, and Bandaka and Lyle Soule, and Shirly Scieneaux, and Cora Murray.

These are the stories of the Katrina diaspora. Their poignant struggles with employment, cultural adjustment, healthcare, school systems, childcare and housing are struggles that cannot go unnoticed as we try to rebuild houses and communities, which cannot be rebuilt without them.

I leave you with the words of President Bush, also delivered on September 15, 2005. “This government will learn the lessons of Hurricane Katrina. We’re going to review every action and make necessary changes so that we are better prepared for any challenge of nature or act of evil men that could threaten our people.”

So, not from Mr. Bush, but form our Katrina Citizens Leadership Corps, I deliver to you the Lessons for our Nation. By exceeding the greatness of his words with their own resurrection and resolve, we are Called to Act, to reform our laws and ensure no other United States resident suffers in this way again.

Thank you.

More than a thousand people take to the streets to support Charity Hospital

The battle over the future of Charity Hospital has just taken an exciting new turn. On Monday, August 31, more than a thousand people marched through the streets of New Orleans, in one of the largest demonstrations the city has seen has seen in recent years. The massive crowd represented every neighborhood of the city, rich and poor, Black and white, small toddlers joining with elderly retirees. While coming from many different backgrounds and political perspectives, and wearing everything from shorts and t-shirts to brightly-colored suits and costumes, everyone spoke with one voice on this issue – Charity should be rebuilt within its former building.

Dancing through the streets with The Hot 8 and Rebirth Brass Bands, people from across the city held mass-printed signs saying Save Charity Hospital, as well as individually-written messages, like “I’m a Charity Hospital Baby” and “Save Lower Midcity.”

The giant secondline, which stretched several blocks, brought out many people who have never been to a protest, as well as membership from the more than 77 organizations that have endorsed the central demands of this movement: First, that an independent analysis of the two competing hospital plans be ordered by the governor. Second, that the City Planning Commission and City Council hold the legally required public hearings on the decision to cede Lower Mid-City for expropriation. Finally, the coalition wants the costs and benefits of each competing hospital proposal to be evaluated within the confines of the Goody Clancy Master Plan process.

This mass of people added to the evidence that public opinion is completely against LSU’s plan to relocate Charity Hospital to a new location, tearing down a large swath on Midcity in the process. A new opinion poll verifies what the demonstration implied. The survey, by pollster Ed Renwick, shows that, by a solid two-to-one ratio, New Orleans residents support rebuilding within the historic edifice. Like the march, the poll results crossed lines of race, gender, age and education.

Local politicians should take special note of the poll: more than 80% of respondents thought that public hearings held by city council would be a good idea, and - by a four-to-one margin - people said they would support Mayoral and City Council candidates who support rebuilding Charity in its original structure.

At the end of the march, people cheered as speakers promised further action. Among the many public figures present was Reverend Avery Alexander’s granddaughter and a doctor who’s father built the sculpture over Charity’s door. However, state and local politicians stayed away, further demonstrating official short-sightedness.

Musician Glen David Andrews, who spoke and performed at the end of the march, summed up many people’s thoughts when he said, “They want us to say goodbye to Charity Hospital. We ought to be saying goodbye to Bobby Jindal. We ought to be saying goodbye to Ray Nagin and the whole City Council.”

New Orleans community activists gather for preview of new film on the struggle for housing

More than two hundred New Orleanians gathered together on Friday, August 28, to commemorate the struggles our communities have been through in the four years since the city was flooded. The occasion was a preview of selected scenes from the forthcoming documentary Land of Opportunity, by filmmaker Luisa Dantas.

Dantas has spent most of the past four years working on this film, which will be completed in 2010. The preview, which featured poetic narration from New Orleans spoken word artist Sunni Patterson, explored the confrontations around housing and homelessness this city has faced, from the battle over the fate of public housing to the homeless encampment outside city hall.

Among the most powerful moments were many scenes inside the now-torn-down developments, where first-hand observation disproves official claims that the housing was too damaged by the storm to be restored. Countering the claims by politicians and developers, we see residents cleaning their own apartments, accomplishing with simple cleaning supplies the task that HUD was unwilling to take on. In one memorable encounter, journalist Lolis Elie challenges a HANO spokesperson, while touring the Lafitte development. As the spokesperson claims the housing needs to be torn down, Elie points out the evidence right in front of their eyes, of mostly undamaged apartments. Urban planner Andres Duany, touring the St. Bernard development, reaches a similar conclusion.

The audience, which included a range of folks, from former public housing residents to lawyers and journalists and advocates and community residents, filled the empty lot next door to the Seventh Ward Neighborhood Center. Reaction to the film was overwhelmingly positive, although many were angered anew by the role of our public officials in tearing down these homes while the city faced a massive crisis in affordable housing. As we enter the fifth year after the storm, this crisis shows no sign of going away.

The event, which also featured music by the Big Seven Brass Band, was organized by a coalition of groups that included Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center, Survivors Village, Porch 7th Ward Cultural Organization, NOLA Tenants Rights Union, JoLu Productions, STAND for Dignity, and PATOIS.

If you're not with us, are you against us?

If you’re not with us, are you against us?

Where do Louisiana Democrats stand on healthcare reform?

Why are members of Louisiana’s congressional delegation having such a difficult time either supporting President Obama’s healthcare reform initiative, or at least supporting an alternative that effectively directly addresses the deadly healthcare circumstances in Louisiana?

For some of the more fortunate around the country, healthcare reform is more a question of only resources: how do we build a sustainable system that gives everyone the right to healthcare coverage and access to quality, affordable healthcare? How do we break free from the economically unsustainable system of healthcare that while profitable for healthcare insurers, will eventually bankrupt us all.?

But in Louisiana, the stakes are much higher. . . it’s a question of life and death for some Louisiana family every day.

No one can deny that Louisiana is the pitiful poster child for healthcare reform.

Just a few of the more compelling circumstances which cost the lives every day in Louisiana that our congressional leadership is apparently unwilling to address:

• Louisiana consistently has among the worst medical outcomes of any state;
  § 50th in deaths from diabetes;
  § 50th in breast cancer deaths;
  § 49th in infant mortality;
  § 46th in overall cancer deaths
  § 48th in deaths from colorectal cancer;
  § 42nd in deaths from stroke and cerebrovascular diseases.
• Overall we rank 46th in access to healthcare and healthcare outcomes (according to the non partisan Commonwealth Fund State Scorecard on Health System Performance, 2007). 61 or 64 parishes in Louisiana are medically underserved and 54 are classified as poor in terms of healthcare access)

If this is not compelling reason for our congressional delegation to support some kind of effective healthcare reform, perhaps nothing is.

• Louisiana has the fifth highest rate of uninsured in the country with a third of African Americans uninsured, more than half of Latinos (legally in the country) uninsured.
  
• And Louisiana ranks fifth to last in employer sponsored health insurance.
  

Because of these inhumanely high levels of uninsured, the dearth of employers who make healthcare available to their workers and the poor penetration and lack of competition among insurers and managed care organizations, Louisiana needs a public option or some other effective means to give our people real choice when it comes to quality, affordable healthcare coverage available to our citizens. An “exchange” composed of the effective oligopoly of Louisiana’s private healthcare insurers and managed care organizations is no real choice at all. We need a public option to protect us from the healthcare insurance industry that has in recent months showered Congress with millions in campaign cash.

Time and time again, hundreds of thousands of working poor folks and African American voters had placed their loyalty and their hopes in Democrats in elections for Congress in Louisiana.

Trust, especially when it comes to government and politics, is a finite virtue.

It’s time for Louisiana’s congressional delegation to stand with us, and not with the entrenched moneyed interests that share responsibility for the dire healthcare circumstances people in Louisiana suffer and die from everyday.

If you’re not with us, are you against us?

FEMA Panels to be held in Secret

Once again, decisions that will affect the future of all New Orleanians are being decided behind closed doors.

A post last week on SaveCharityHospital.com highlighted the news that the special arbitration panels that were set up to resolve ongoing disputes between the state and FEMA over public works projects will now be held in secret. According to the FAQs on FEMAs website,

"Most of the arbitrations will be decided on the written statements provided by the parties. If any of the parties requests an oral hearing, hearings may be held telephonically or by other electronic means so long as the parties may hear and respond to each other, or in-person, where the arbitration panel is located. Most of the arbitration panels are expected to be located in Washington D.C. The arbitration proceedings are not open to the public, but the final decisions will be available to the public. (Emphasis added)"

As SaveCharityHospital.com puts it, these panels, “designed to make binding and final decisions on this critical matter, will actually represent yet another secret, backroom deal in which stakeholders will not be permitted a substantive opportunity to have input.” There has been no justification given for why these hearings would be secret.

"Given diminishing public confidence in the ability of local elected officials to act in the public interest and growing public skepticism of the utility of state plans to demolish Lower Mid-City for a medical campus it cannot fund," continues SaveCharity, "it is extremely disappointing that the thousands of New Orleans residents affected by this decision may be again deprived of a fair public hearing. Recent polls have indicated overwhelming support for public input and transparency in the hospital controversy."

According to an August 6 Times-Picayune article on the panels, HHS Secretary Janet Napolitano has said that the “panels should reach decisions within 60 days of hearings, with the caveat that a ‘highly technical or complex’ case could take longer. The decisions are intended to be final, with no further administrative review option, though before Napolitano's announcement state officials declined to rule out federal court as an eventual venue for the Charity fight.”

It is exactly incidents like this - where the public is cut off from both the process and the decisions - that make grassroots accountability efforts so important. Project Transparency, at nolapublicrecords.org, is based on the principle that the public has the right to full disclosure of the use of tax dollars by various public agencies. Once again, our government representatives have shown why we need to keep watch.

In an interview last week with the Picayune, President Obama told reporters, "I also think the rest of the country is going to be insistent at a time of great fiscal challenge that money in the Gulf region is spent wisely, that local officials are coordinating effectively, that there is transparency and accountability to these processes, that there is a minimum of politics involved in decision making.” Lets hope this message of transparency and accountability gets down to the officials in charge of these panels.

HR 3200: A Primer For The Misinformed

The National Healthcare Reform Bill has sparked widespread political frenzies across the nation, once again drawing major attention to “Mainstreet, USA.” News talk radio, television shows, newspapers, and advertisements have been blasting the public with misinterpretations and fear tactics that give no actual facts on the bill. Cable stations, and news media outlets stand to profit from the $170 million spent on healthcare ads as a result of the frenzy caused by the controversial bill.

It is unfortunate that the general public is as uninformed about this issue as they have been led to become. There are sources of factual information on the bill on the internet, but very few have accessed that information. People are being lead by fear and misinformation, which has caused physical and verbal altercations at town hall meetings on healthcare.

Louisiana’s federal legislators have failed to provide the public with clear and concise factual evidence to justify their opposition to or support of HR 3200. The debate has switched from logical value to religious and political party wars. Republican Representative Joseph Cao has included his studies of becoming a Jesuit Priest in his justification of opposing the bill. The Weekly Standard even likened Cao to St. Thomas More, even though Cao abandoned his quest for priesthood long ago for private sector legal/business practice and politics. Go figure. In a similar effort to gain support from religious conservatives, Republican Senator David Vitter originally claimed the purported abortion policy in the bill “could kill millions,” only later issuing the statement, “We found an amendment in a key version of the House plan that specifically seeks to ensure that federal funds are not used to subsidize abortion coverage.” Democrat Senator Mary Landrieu stated her opposition to the Democrats’ proposal for government controlled healthcare, and her opposition has sparked malicious advertisements from MoveOn.org and Change Congress, causing the facts on her opposition to be overpowered by negative publicity.

Ladies and Gentlemen, this debate is not about political party affiliation or religious beliefs. It is about healthcare coverage for the 50 million uninsured Americans, and an equal number of under-insured. The Democrats believe that government control is the way to go. Republicans believe that government control is inefficient and will drive private insurance companies out of business. Both sides agree with some sort of healthcare reform, whether it is free universal healthcare or motives to make private insurers more competitive. Canada has proven that universal healthcare has a positive track record, with some flaws. U.S. history has proven that profit motives, competition, and individual ingenuity have always led to greater cost control and effectiveness. It is up to our policy makers to develop a plan that is most efficient and beneficial to the American people. It is up to the American citizens to educate themselves on the bill and to petition their leaders to consider the public’s concerns when voting on the bill.

Here are some pros and cons to HR 3200

PROS

The number of uninsured citizens has grown to over 45 million.

Health care has become increasingly unaffordable for businesses and individuals.

We can eliminate wasteful inefficiencies such as duplicate paper work, claim approval, insurance submission, etc.

We can develop a centralized national database which makes diagnosis and treatment easier for doctors.

Medical professionals can concentrate on healing the patient rather than on insurance procedures, malpractice liability, etc.

Free medical services would encourage patients to practice preventive medicine and inquire about problems early when treatment will be light; currently, patients often avoid physicals and other preventive measures because of the costs.

Patients with pre-existing conditions can still get health coverage.

CONS

Government-controlled health care would lead to a decrease in patient flexibility.

Healthy people who take care of themselves will have to pay for the burden of those who smoke, are obese, etc.

Patient confidentiality is likely to be compromised since centralized health information will likely be maintained by the government.

Patients aren't likely to curb their drug costs and doctor visits if health care is free; thus, total costs will be several times what they are now.

A long, painful transition will have to take place involving lost insurance industry jobs, business closures, and new patient record creation.

LJI and our partners at Children’s Defense Fund, Advocates for Environmental Human Rights, and the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana are sponsoring a Community Conversation on Healthcare Reform, on Tuesday, August 25, 2009, at Tulane Memorial Baptist Church, from 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. Several panelists will be on hand to discuss healthcare issues in the Greater New Orleans community, and we have invited all of our federal congressional delegation members to attend, serve as panelists, and respond to your questions.

So what should you do?

Educate yourselves.

Attend this forum.

Ask questions, calmly.

Listen without prejudice.

The Real Story

Tuning into all the different formats of coverage of the infamous “City Council E-mail Scandal,” citizens of New Orleans, (who have nothing to do with the city’s government or the civil justice issues regarding the case) have been pulled into a whirlwind of slander, instigation, and negatively framed reporting. It is very unfortunate that a landmark case such as this has been overshadowed by a never-ending stream of negativity and personal spotlights. Contrary to what the news media wants us to believe, the overall principle of this case is not about Stacy Head, Tracie Washington, Veronica White, or the other individuals involved in the actual case. The main purpose of this case is to show the citizens of New Orleans that it is possible to hold their city officials accountable for their actions while in office. However, this is not what has happened as a result of the undying publicity of the case. New Orleans is a unique city where elected officials are allowed to publicly “do as they please,” while suffering no repercussions for their actions. It is also a city where journalists are allowed to publish “opinions” that are blatantly guided by the players in the game of New Orleans politics. Although education in New Orleans is towards the bottom of the totem pole in the nation, it is unfair to continue treating the residents as if they do not understand the games that are being played by the people they entrusted to rebuild our city. New Orleans residents understand that they are way beyond the “what you see is what you get” notion of city governance. Most understand that there is always much more to the story than what is reported.

As confirmed by the not-so-brief introduction, this blog is not a usual update of the case. It is a charge to residents of New Orleans to think beyond framework, and put forth an effort to seek and gain knowledge of the facts for ourselves. This is also a charge to journalists, media officials, government officials, and community leaders to stick to the facts, and if an opinion is warranted, publish your own, and no one else’s. In reading the cesspool, also known as Nola.com comments, the majority of the negative remarks have obviously stemmed from secondary and third party sources. Nobody posted opinions on actual facts, nor did anyone comment on whether they believed the elected officials should be accountable for their actions. Instead, most comments were about Stacy Head or Tracie Washington, who are only ¼ of the individuals participating in the case.

If we could learn how to refrain from totally indulging ourselves in the “drama” surrounding cases involving city government, maybe some of the core issues at hand would actually be addressed, rather than making a complete spectacle of our governance, or making “local superstars” of those who are supposed to be just doing their jobs.