August 5, 2008
Eighty percent of New Orleans was flooded, and wind damage was extensive after the August 2005 landfall of Hurricane Katrina. The United States Census Bureau notes that New Orleans was the fastest-growing large city in the nation between July 1, 2006, and July 1, 2007. Unfortunately, this follows the Crescent City having the largest rate of population loss since 2000: with various estimates of only 50-60% of the population having returned. Many neighborhoods, although now devoid of floodwaters, appear essentially unchanged from the post-Katrina decimated landscape. Houston, Texas, another city near the Gulf Coast, received over 100,000 evacuees from New Orleans and led the nation's cities in numerical increase during the period. Estimates indicate a population increase of 13.8% to 239,124 during the one-year period, to lead all cities with populations of 100,000 or more in rate of increase. Nevertheless, statistics can be cruelly misleading and New Orleans also experienced the largest rate of loss and numerical decline since 2000, as its population fell 50.7 percent (from 484,674 to 239,124).
http://www.census.gov/popest/geographic
“By reaching back into pre-Katrina memories, the narrators of Overcoming Katrina allow us to understand the richness of pre-Katrina community life and the non-material sources of trauma. It specifically speaks to the concerns, dreams, hopes, and unfulfilled promises experienced by the African American community.”
—From the foreword by Former President Jimmy Carter
One of the major activities of the Health Outreach Prevention and Empowerment (HOPE) project of the ABC, Inc. has been to support and highlight the continuing struggles of the people of New Orleans, the Gulf Coast, and beyond subsequent to Hurricane Katrina. As HOPE director, I along with D’Ann Penner, PhD, Visiting Scholar at the Center for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University, have recently completed a moving oral historical account of several of the people affected by Hurricane Katrina.
Overcoming Katrina: African American Voices from the Crescent City and Beyond (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, in press) chronicles twenty-seven histories of Black New Orleanians from the era of segregation to the present. Specifically, this book tells the stories of the human beings beyond the statistics of loss and death. One strength of these oral histories is the chance they offer to learn first-hand experiences of the survivors: to be on the roof in Eastern New Orleans for three days with Leonard Smith, a retired career Navy veteran; or at a Superdome loading dock with Kevin Owens, a maintenance man, after he was separated from his wife, Elise, after complying with military evacuation orders; or with deacon Harold Toussaint from the Ninth Ward, as he sought to negotiate expedited evacuation from the Armstrong Airport for the forty-one elderly people, predominantly white, in his care. African Americans in New Orleans have been an integral part of the city, and more than just support for a sugar- or tourism-based economy.
Overcoming approaches the question of why New Orleans matters, from perspectives of the natives who lived, loved, worked, and celebrated life and death there prior to being scattered across the country by Hurricane Katrina. These narratives are memorials to the corner stores, the Baptist churches, the community health clinics, and those streets where the aunties stood on the corner, and whose physical traces have now all been washed away. The narratives conclude with descriptions of the new tactics used for overcoming the latest set of obstacles faced by New Orleanians of color, both at home and in new cities.
This book’s twenty-seven narrators range from Mack Slan, a conservative businessman who disparages the younger generation for not sharing his ability to make “good, rational decisions,” to Kalamu ya Salaam, who was followed by the New Orleans Police Department for several years as a militant defender of Black Power in the late 1960s and ‘70s. Eight of the narrators, including one woman, served in or supported the armed forces. Spirituality matters to the majority of the narrators, many of whom self-identify as Catholic, Muslim, or Protestant.
As editors, we unfold the experiences of the narrators in the context of the history of Katrina, New Orleans, and race relations in the South. I draw conclusions on the basis of my personal and professional relationships with thousands of displaced evacuees before and after the storm. Dr. Penner interprets from the perspective of having conducted 275 (and counting) interviews since September 2005.
“This is the book everyone has been waiting for since Katrina. In their own words, the people of New Orleans talk about Katrina; how they survived, what was lost, and how they endure now. Their stories of tragedy and courage, racism and inspiration, abandonment and hope will change the way you think about New Orleans, Katrina, and the United States.”
—Bill Quigley, Loyola University Law School
The recent floods in Iowa, according to some news accounts, reminded the country of the horrors of Hurricane Katrina. Nevertheless, the situation in New Orleans was unfortunately much worse. Thousands clung to life and died in the Superdome and Convention Center with little or no water or food and no air conditioning at the hottest time of the year in a city known for its heat and humidity. The military presence, if any, was first directed at “law and order” versus assistance. With few escape routes, those who were trapped in the Crescent City, post-Katrina, if they survived, live daily nightmares of an unfortunate and unnecessary post-disaster environment.
The people of New Orleans deserved better and while our response as a nation to the Midwest floods was much more rapid and integrated, we cannot allow the prolonged effects of Hurricane Katrina, including both physical and psychological scars to be overlooked or forgotten.
For more information on the upcoming text, contact:
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If you desire to contribute to the support of the HOPE Project, we remain willing and respectfully grateful for your donations and support. Your donations can be made by selecting the button below or upper left corner or by phone at 1-800-753-9222.
Sincerely,
Keith Ferdinand, MD, FACC
Director, Health Outreach Prevention & Empowerment (HOPE) Project
Association of Black Cardiologists, Inc.
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Atlanta, GA 30349
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