Post Katrina Pain Index: Race, Gender, Poverty Still Plague New Orleans By Bill Quigley and Davida Finger

August 22, 2011

Post Katrina Pain Index: Race, Gender, Poverty Still Plague New Orleans

By Bill Quigley and Davida Finger

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Six years ago, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf coast. The impact of Katrina and government-bungling continue to inflict major pain on the people left behind. It is impossible to understand what happened and what still remains without considering race, gender, and poverty.

The following facts offer indicators of pain that remains.

HUD and the State of Louisiana agreed to pay $62 million to thousands of homeowners because of racial discrimination in Louisiana’s program to disburse federal rebuilding funds following Katrina and Rita. African-American homeowners were more likely than whites to have their rebuilding grants based on much lower pre-storm value of their homes rather than the higher estimated cost to rebuild them. Source: Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center.

The current population of the city of New Orleans is 343,829 - about 110,000 less than when Katrina hit. New Orleans is now whiter, more male and more prosperous. Source: Greater New Orleans Community Data Center.

FEMA is now reviewing the grants it gave to 154,000 people following hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma. It is now demanding that some return the long ago spent funds. FEMA admits that many of the cases under review stem from mistakes made by its own agency employees. FEMA’s error rate following Katrina was 14.5 per cent. Source: Michael Kunzelman and Ryan Foley, Associated Press.

In the New Orleans metropolitan area, there are now 65,423 fewer African-American women and girls than when Katrina hit. Overall, the number of women and girls decreased since Katrina by 108,116. Source: Institute for Women’s Policy Research.

There were still 47,738 vacant houses in New Orleans as of 2010. Source: GNOCDC.

Over three thousand public housing apartments occupied before Katrina; plus another thousand under renovation were bulldozed after Katrina. Less than 10 percent, 238 families, have made it back into the apartments built on the renovated sites. Only half of the 3000+ families have even made it back to New Orleans at all. All were-African American. Source: Katy Reckdahl, Times-Picayune.

Nearly 75 percent of the public schools in New Orleans have become charter schools since Katrina. Over 50 percent of public school students in New Orleans attend public charter schools. There are now more than 30 different charter school operators in New Orleans alone. The reorganization of the public schools has created a separate but unequal tiered system of schools that steers a minority of students, including virtually all of the city’s white students, into a set of selective, higher-performing schools and most of the city’s students of color into a set of lower-performing schools. Sources: Andrew Vanacore, Times-Picayune; Valerie Strauss, Washington Post; Institute on Race & Poverty of University of Minnesota Law School.

Seventy percent more people are homeless in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina. People living with HIV are estimated to be homeless at 10 times the rate of the general population, a condition amplified after Hurricane Katrina. Source: Unity for the Homeless and Times-Picayune.

Only 59 percent of Louisiana’s public school students graduate from high school with their class. Among public school children with disabilities in New Orleans, the high school graduation rate is 6.8 percent. Source: Education Week and Southern Poverty Law Center.

Thirty-four percent of the children in New Orleans live in poverty; the national average is 20 percent. Source: Annie Casey Foundation Kids Count 2011.

Eleven New Orleans police officers convicted or plead guilty to federal crimes involving shootings of civilians during Hurricane Katrina aftermath. Source: Brendan McCarthy, Times-Picayune.

At least 10 people were killed by police under questionable circumstances during days after Katrina. Source: Times-Picayune

A three-fold increase in heart attacks was documented in the two years after Katrina. Source: Tulane University Health Study.

The true impact of the BP oil spill in terms of additional adverse health effects in the Gulf Coast is vast but unknown. Delays by the federal government in studying the spill’s physical and mental health effects hinder any ability to understand these issues with accuracy. A year after the spill, more people are reporting medical and mental health problems. Source: Campell Robertson, New York Times and National Geographic.

Bill Quigley and Davida Finger are professors at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law. Bill is also Associate Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights. You can reach Bill at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and Davida at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Black Man is Murdered by White Gang in Jackson, Mississippi

August 22, 2011

Black Man is Murdered by White Gang in Jackson, Mississippi

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Louisiana Weekly

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Jackson, Mississippi is reeling from yet another deadly attack on a Black man by whites. The difference is that this time the incident was caught on tape and witnesses have come forward.

On June 26, Deryl Dedmon, Jr. led two carloads of white teenagers from Rankin County, Mississippi to Jackson. The group had been drinking and partying when reportedly Dedmon suggested that they to Jackson to harass some Black people.

The first business they came to was a hotel where a Black man, 49-year-old James C. Anderson, an auto plant work was standing in the parking lot.

According to witnesses, the teens beat Anderson repeatedly, while shouting “white power!” and other racial slogans.

Then a group of the teens entered their Ford F250 truck and drove over an embankment to strike and kill the staggering Ander-son. Later he bragged about it to his friends by phone and in person. “He was not remorseful. He was laughing, laughing about the killing,” said district attorney Smith.

A surveillance video also reportedly shows the crime as it is being committed.

Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith says that based on tape and eyewitness testimony he is certain that this is a hate crime. Dedmon’s attorney says he sees no evidence of racism in the entire incident. Of all who participated only two have been charged so far. Dedmon is charged with a racially motivated murder and John Rice was charged with assault. Dedmon faces a possible two life sentences for the crime.

Later that morning, James Craig Anderson’s family were informed that he had died in a hit and run. It was later, when witness statements were taken that they learned the truth.

“This was a crime of hate. Dedmon murdered this man because he was Black,” said Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith. “The evidence will show that.”

CBC Chairman Warns Frustrated Blacks 'Might Not Vote at All' in 2012 by Hazel Trice Edney

jobsforthepeoplejobsinitiative

The CBC's Jobs for the People Jobs Initiative drew thousands of job seekers in cities around the country. Courtesy Photo

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More than 7,000 people lined up - many before dawn - outside the Cleveland State University Student Center with hopes of landing a job at the CBC job fair. Only 2,200 jobs were available. Courtesy Photo

CBC Chairman Warns Frustrated Blacks 'Might Not Vote at All' in 2012

By Hazel Trice Edney

WASHINGTON (TriceEdneyWire.com) - Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) – witnessing thousands of Black people lining up for CBC job fairs and town hall meetings around the country - is warning that African-American frustrations could result in voters staying home on presidential election day Nov. 6, 2012.

“Citizens of this country are hungering for work. And that hunger in all likelihood is going to turn into desperation and I don’t know how that desperation will be played out,” Cleaver said in an interview this week. “There are some frustrations and I hear all kinds of things from African-Americans. I think what’s going to happen is that people would be angry but I think at the end of the day, they’re not going to vote on the other side. The danger for the President is that they may not vote at all. He will get the majority of the Black vote. The issue is the majority of what?”

Cleaver says he has assured President Obama that he is totally committed to his re-election and that he will do everything in his power to make it happen. But, he said he has become increasingly troubled by what he has heard the past two weeks as the CBC has traveled to target high-unemployment cities to hold job fairs. Among them, Cleveland, Ohio, where more than 7,000 lined up for a job fair at Cleveland State University for only 2,200 jobs, he said, noting that many came at 4 a.m. and left after 6 in the evening.

The jobless rate in the Black community has hovered around approximately 16 percent – twice that of Whites – for most of this year. When Obama was asked early in his administration about the even higher jobless rate among Black males, he responded at a White House press conference, “A rising tide lifts all boats.”

Fast forwarding two years later that has not happened. Therefore, the CBC has taken to the streets to find jobs for their constituents, Cleaver said.

“I am troubled that we do not have laser-like targeted programs and initiatives to relieve the unemployment pain in Black America. I think we CBC members received critical words from Black America about what they perceive to be the President’s lack of involvement in targeting Black America with job opportunities, so what we decided was that the president will do his thing and we will do ours and we will create jobs.”

Cleaver said he intends to transform his own frustration into actions.

“I said to myself as we were in Cleveland last week, no matter how angry I get because of the problems I see in African-American communities, I am not going to allow it to discourage me or the CBC,” he said. “I thought that it was time for us to quit complaining or depending on someone else to work in this area and the Caucus has been fabulous in its support of proposals that I’ve brought before them and this has been no different.”

The CBC’s goal is to find at least 10,000 for African-Americans. More than 200 companies are participating in the effort – companies that have real jobs available, Cleaver stressed.

The CBC “For the People” job fairs and town hall meetings around the country continued this week in Detroit on Aug. 16; Atlanta Aug. 18-19; Miami, Aug. 22-23 and Los Angeles Aug. 30-31.

It’s been difficult dodging criticism of the President coming from Black voters who want to know what Obama is doing for their economic conditions.

“Because I am so committed to his re-election, when people raise that question – and it gets raised almost every day – I say, ‘Look the President’s doing his thing, we’re doing ours.’ I try not to get into the issue too deeply,” he said. “I’m a supporter of the President. I told him to his face that I was going to do everything I could for his re-election but yeah, I would love to see it a little differently.”

West and Smiley Impact on Obama Voters: Real or Fleeting?

Aug. 22, 2011

West and Smiley Impact on Obama Voters: Real or Fleeting?

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Afro American Newspapers

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Although Princeton professor Cornel West supported President Barack Obama in 2008, his recent criticism of the nation’s first Black president may be trouble for 2012. Radio personality Tavis Smiley has also joined in the Black chorus of public dissatisfaction of Obama.

It is unclear whether calling the president a “Black mascot of Wall Street oligarchs,” and publicly denouncing Obama's policies in a majority of recent interviews will hurt Obama’s election next year. But Rev. Otis Moss III, pastor of Obama’s former church in Chicago, said the intellectual’s remarks could increase African Americans’ trust of Congress.

“The negative discussion Dr. West is having can only put more apathy in the hearts of African-Americans and could ultimately cause them to lose more faith in the entire political process,” Moss told Newsweek. “Where will that leave us?”

Buddies West and Smiley have teamed to launch a two-week “Poverty Tour,” which will take the duo to different cities as they encourage the president to “wake up.” The purpose of the tour is supposed to be to help America refocus on the “least among us,” according to Newsweek.

But recently citizens have started to fight back. In Detroit, when the “Call to Conscience” bus pulled up in August, a group of people met the two outside the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center to protest.

“We will not stand silent as Smiley and West criticize the man who brought us health-care reform, one of the greatest accomplishments for the poor in this country’s history,” a spokesperson for Detroiters for Better Government told Newsweek.

The West and Smiley approach may or may not have an impact on Black voters. Obama’s approval rate is slowly dwindling. In 2008, 96 percent of African Americans voted for Obama. In March, Black Entertainment Television (BET) conducted a poll, where 85 percent of people supported the president. But in a recent Washington Post/CBS poll, African American support dropped sharply—from 77 percent in October 2010 to nearly half of that this month, according to Newsweek.

Steve Harvey disagreed with the tour and said Smiley should let go of the grudge he had when Obama did not make it to his town hall meeting.

“You don't have any real basis behind your dislike for this man...you keep masking it saying it's not about hate. Then what is it about? Poverty existed before January 20, 2008. Where was your damn bus then?” Steve Harvey said, according to the St. Louis American.

He continued: “Who in the hell got 2-3 days for your [expletive]? I ain't got time to sit down with your monkey behind for two, three days, let alone the President of the United States. We got three wars going on, the economy crashing and we going to sit down with Tavis [expletive] for three days?”

Awaiting MLK Memorial, Black Leaders Say 'Dream' Realization is Still Woefully Short

Melanie Campbell

John Payton

Charles Ogletree

Wade Henderson

Harry E. Johnson, Sr.

Awaiting MLK Memorial, Black Leaders Say 'Dream' Realization is Still Woefully Short

By Hazel Trice Edney

WASHINGTON (TriceEdneyWire.com) – There is much fanfare surrounding the long-anticipated unveiling and dedication of the Dr. Martin Luther King Memorial on the National Mall on August, 28.

That 11 a.m. Sunday program will no doubt emanate all the euphoria, powerful emotions and spiritual prowess as a traditional Sunday morning worship service. But, as some Black civil rights leaders gear up to participate in the unveiling, they acknowledge the reality this week that the dream of which Dr. King preached has still fallen woefully short.

“The Dedication promises to be a historic event for the U.S. and nations around the world, as Dr. King’s vision and timeless beliefs continue to resonate with people of all lands,” says Harry E. Johnson Sr., president and CEO of the National Memorial Project Foundation, on www.dedicatethedream.org. “World leaders, civil rights pioneers, citizens who remember the hard days of segregation and those leading the next generation closer to Dr. King’s dream, will assemble together for the long-awaited celebration and remembrance.”

According to responses to questions from the Trice Edney News Wire this week, minds of civil rights leaders will also be focused on one of Dr. King’s most famous questions: “Where do we go from here – chaos or community?”

“We have made very real and significant progress since the March on Washington, but we have a long ways to go before we could say that what Dr. King envisioned is a reality,” says John A. Payton, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. “The 1964 Civil Rights Act, the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the 1968 Fair Housing Act, the 1991 Civil Rights Act and much more – all came after the march. Those were all significant human rights achievements. Their enforcement has made the entire country more just. However, even as we celebrate what has been achieved, we must recognize what remains to be accomplished.”

He then ticked off the progress and the lack thereof on several key issues:

Education: Public schools in most inner cities are in crisis, with graduation rates for Black kids below 50 percent in some urban areas causing an educational deficiency that cripple the possibilities for many Black youth, Peyton said.

Criminal Justice: “In 1963 there were some 200,000 persons in prison in the United States, and there was a small racial gap in that prison population. Today, there are over 2.5 million people in prison and about half are Black and Latino. While participation in illegal drug use occurs at the same rate for white and Black people, the arrest and incarceration rate for black people is seven times that of white people. That is a huge racial gap,” he said.

Economic Justice: “We still see significant and often structural racism affecting job opportunities in hiring and promotion.”

Voting: “This one seemingly bright spot is the only bright because of the presence of the Voting Rights Act, which is constantly under challenge. Two years ago it was sustained by the Supreme Court in a case that the Legal Defense Fund argued, but it is again under constitutional challenge and is likely to go back to the Supreme Court. The achievements are real but the remaining challenges are also real.”

Wade Henderson, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, says conditions in America are the reason he has decided to join the Aug. 27 march, the day before the dedication. Led by Rev. Al Sharpton and radio personality Tom Joyner, the march and rally will call for jobs in commemoration of King’s 1963 March for Jobs and Freedom.

“Some have asked why we plan yet another demonstration on this important anniversary,” Henderson said. “Our nation is today, as it was in Dr. King’s time, at a crossroads of extraordinary significance. We face massive economic upheaval exceeded only by the Great Depression in its impact. We are mired in two wars which sap our strength both in lives and treasure. And finally, we suffer a new level of partisan extremism which elevates political interests over the national interest, and threatens the very existence of our democracy as we know it.”

Two-and-a-half years ago, America celebrated with great awe, the election of its first African-American president. But, it took only a few months to see that that fete gave rise to as much racism as it deed to racial healing. Race experts, such as the Southern Poverty Law Center, identified clear racial animus toward President Obama. Federal law enforcement reported more death threats against him than any of his predecessors. Coupled with the reality that Dr. King was killed by an assassin’s bullet April 4, 1968 while fighting for civil rights, the Secret Service has taken no chances. Obama has had a tighter security force than any other president in history, indicating that America has yet to overcome.

“Dr. King's dream of justice for all has yet to be realized,” says Charles J. Ogletree Jr., professor at Harvard Law School and founding director of Harvard’s Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice. “We have made great progress, but there is no time to rest. The struggle for racial justice must continue even now.”

Melanie Campbell, president and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, agrees.

“The 48th Anniversary of the March on Washington of 1963 is a reminder that the struggle for jobs and justice (freedom) is not something we win and then move on to something else,” Campbell says. “The struggle for jobs and justice is a lifelong fight for those who believe in inclusion. It is the responsibility of each generation to continue the fight against those who believe in exclusion based on race, class, political ideology and sexual orientation.”

She said, “The biggest challenge America faces to progress as a nation is to learn from the lessons of the past and build on past and current movements of inclusion including: equal pay for women, voting rights, disability rights, fair housing, health care for all and environmental justice.”

Meanwhile, organizers of the August 28 celebration hold out hope that the unveiling and the memorial itself will stand as a permanent reminder and impetus for movement toward complete fulfillment of the dream of true equality.

“Dr. King was a profound teacher, whose lessons were anchored in the primacy of human dignity. He enacted irreversible social change and led our country forward, relying exclusively on non-violent means,” says Johnson, president of the Memorial Project Foundation. “The Memorial will be a lasting tribute to Dr. King’s legacy and will forever serve as a monument to the freedom, opportunity and justice for which he stood.”