I developed the Katrina on the Ground Documentary for the Annual Student Black Leadership Conference in Arlington, VA. The Neo-Underground Railroad Conductors presented the agenda for the upcoming 2006 year at the conference. During our presentation, we used the Katrina on the Ground Documentary to gain support from audience members. The documentary was shown at several NURC campuses for educational and recruitment purposes.
The Neo-Underground Railroad Conductors joined efforts with the Common Ground Collective and the People’s Hurricane Relief Fund/Oversight Coalition in New Orleans during March 2006. The Katrina on the Ground initiative drew nearly 1300 students over four Spring Break weeks. The tasks involved were door-to-door interviewing of victims to document their stories, educating victims on their legal and voting rights, and gutting houses in the Lower 9th Ward. NURC, in conjunction with Katrina on the Ground, is returning this Summer 2006 during late June and July to continue the mission of rebuilding the most affected areas of New Orleans.
(Notes on Documentary)
The documentary does not go in-depth into the levee construction disparities between rich and poor neighborhoods of New Orleans. We (NURC) saw first-hand the severely underconstructed levees in poor neighborhoods and the strongly constructed levees in rich neighborhoods. The levees in the Lower 9th Ward were like five to ten foot tall highway median strips (concrete walls, only six inches thick). Other, more wealthy, areas of the city were protected by elaborate levee systems with earthen walls and water pressure release mechanisms. The pumping stations were also a tremendous disparity. Many stations were dilapidated and inefficient, failing quickly in areas like the Lower 9th Ward. Such disparity might be understandable if levees were privately funded in New Orleans, but they were federally funded.
Similarly, the bulk of relief effort funds from FEMA and the Red Cross have entered New Orleans hierarchically, whereas rich neighborhoods are being rebuilt quickly, yet poor neighborhoods look the same eight months later. The people who donated to the Red Cross and other non-profits likely did not know their money would not reach the most affected areas of New Orleans.
The levee/relief disparities + police/government failures have caused great human suffering in New Orleans. Hopefully this documentary gives a snapshot of the suffering you can help to end, by helping rebuild in New Orleans.
- Raphael Perrino, James Madison University (27, June 2006)
Links
http://www.commongroundrelief.org/
http://www.katrinaontheground.com/
http://www.peopleshurricane.org
Credits
Content courtesy of C-SPAN website, Little Brother, KatrinaDestruction website, NOAA/NWS/NHS/NASA websites, AP News website, CNN website, Environmental Visualization Program website, Criminal Justice Prosecutor Evacuee interview, & Salon website