Anderson@Large

Happy New Year

Thank God this zero of a decade is over. The lowlights included the Florida election debacle, 9/11, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, Hurricane Katrina and the entire George W. Bush error.

I want to get the new decade off to a better start so I’m skipping the black-eye peas. Instead, I’m kicking off 2010 with some “Memphis Soul Stew.”

Have a safe and happy new year.

Katrina Report Card

Members of Congress are back in town.

During the congressional recess, members on both sides of the aisle denounced the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina. Some of the harshest criticism was leveled by Rep. Maxine Waters who is chair of the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity of the House Financial Services Committee, which has oversight responsibility for the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

At the recent public forum on Gulf Coast recovery and renewal at Dillard University, Waters said:

HUD used Katrina as an opportunity to tear down public housing in this area. People don't trust HANO and HUD, and they have good reason not to trust them.

Waters was just getting started:

I'm unhappy with everybody. State government, the Road Home program is a mess. Local leadership is not strong enough.

Waters is the sponsor of H.R. 1227, the "Gulf Coast Hurricane Housing Recovery Act of 2007," which passed on a 302-125 vote last March. The bill provides some solutions to the affordable housing crisis in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.

Nearly six months later, the measure is languishing in the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, whose chairman is Sen. Chris Dodd.

Waters noted presidential candidates, including Dodd, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, "are coming down here telling you what they will do but they haven't sponsored a companion bill in the Senate."

She called on citizens to get involved to "change policy and make things happen."

Be the agent of change you've been hoping for and call your senators at 888/226-0627. Ask why they have not walked the walk and sponsored Waters' bill.

Back to School

When I was in New Orleans last week, my friend, Dr. Silas Lee, invited me to give a guest lecture to his class on 20th century African American urban life at Xavier University.

I ended up learning more about the challenges residents face as they try to rebuild their homes and neighborhoods.

The students expressed frustration with the claim that "this town is coming back." One student said, "When I hear that New Orleans is back, on my street lawns haven't been touched. We need help coping with the issue. It's not simple when you see it on a daily basis."

They cited the day-to-day reality of living in "The City that Care Forgot":

• lack of affordable housing
• public schools without supplies
• crumbling infrastructure
• blighted houses
• drugs
• constant depression

I asked about the impact of New Orleans high crime rates. They noted the link between abandoned houses and crime. "There’s no public safety. Be home by 8."

OK, what about the presidential candidates' rebuilding plans (here and here)? In a state where Huey Long promised "a chicken in every pot" the students are skeptical.

They dismissed the candidates' promise of, ahem, gumbo in every pot as pandering. Hillary Clinton's and Barack Obama's sincerity was questioned in part because they have affected a preacher's cadence when speaking before predominantly black audiences.

Well.

Tale of Two Cities

I'm back from the Big Easy, where the living isn't easy in certain parts of town.

If you lived on higher ground in, say, the Garden District or Lakeview, it's laissez les bon temps roulez!

But if you lived in the Ninth Ward, New Orleans East or Gentilly, it's the day after the storm.

The uneven recovery is frustrating to residents and vexing to outsiders. I got some insight into the problem when I overheard New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin refuse to answer a filmmaker's question after the candlelight vigil in Jackson Square.

The cameraman may have captured the video (or perhaps just the audio) of Nagin blowing past his colleague because he was off the clock. So, while his constituents are struggling 24/7 to rebuild their lives and homes, their, um, leader punches a clock.

The vigil was held in Jackson Square to expiate the sins of omission and commission of President Bush, who two years ago stood before the American people and promised to "do what it takes."

But as the Rev. Al Sharpton noted:

This disaster started with broken levees. It was continued in this square with broken promises. The government let the people down. Drive-by sympathy cannot fix the city.

Something is wrong when you can see weapons of mass destruction in Iraq but you can't see a hurricane in New Orleans. Bush can find money to rebuild Baghdad but he cannot find the will to rebuild New Orleans.

Don't blame God for the government's neglect. The hurricane was God. The levee breach was government. We will stay with you until the job is done.

In declaring "better days are ahead," Bush continues to ignore the plight of the 33,000 New Orleanians who are trapped in FEMA trailers. Homeowners, whose ability to pass on wealth to the next generation was lost in the flood, and renters, who have been locked out of public housing, know what it means to miss New Orleans.

This Far by Faith

Heavenly Father, make us strong to do Your work, willing to heed and hear Your will, and write on our hearts these words: "Use power to help people." For we are given power not to advance our own purposes, nor to make a great show in the world, nor a name. There is but one use of power and it is to help people.
-- President George H.W. Bush, Jan. 20, 1989

The power of prayer sustained black folks when they were left behind to walk through the rain and wind in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

At yesterday's Clergy and Civil Rights Unity Prayer Breakfast co-hosted by the National Urban League and the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, Rev. Connie Thomas of the Mount Zion United Methodist Church called on President Bush to remember his father's prayer during his 1989 inaugural address.

Rev. Thomas preached, "We need to stir things up and keep stirring things up."

And they were stirring things up in Congo Square, where the People's Hurricane Relief Fund held a political rally. The participants vowed to continue to fight to ensure Katrina survivors can come back home. Their battle cry: "We're fired up. Won't take no more."

I got spiritual nourishment at the prayer breakfast but in Congo Square, I felt the spirit of the ancestors, who gave black folks the strength and resilience to survive the worst natural man-made disaster in U.S. history.

During the rally, the sky opened up and there was a downpour. Still, the Hot 8 Brass Band played on and people danced.

I was so fired up I walked back to my hotel through the pouring rain. For nearly an hour, I waded through the water and tried to get a sense of what Katrina survivors experienced two years ago.

Bearing Witness and Telling Their Stories

Today marks the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. While progress is being made, the recovery is uneven and reflects the racial and economic disparities that existed before the storm.

The challenges facing Katrina survivors include housing, education, employment and training, health care and mental health services, and public safety.

By our presence in New Orleans, we will bear witness to the ongoing crisis in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast and tell the stories of Katrina survivors for whom today is just another day to get through.

Melanie Campbell, executive director and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, told BlackAmericaWeb.com:

This is not about pointing fingers. This is about, "Can we demand from our government at all levels to come together for the people of the Gulf Coast region?"

As for the recovery effort, Melanie noted that outside the French Quarter:

All it takes is a five-minute ride in either direction, and you know it's not okay. If this thing stays as it is, it will be one of the largest forced migrations of this century and the last.

So we will march and rally to show Katrina survivors that they matter. We care and we have not forgotten the anger we felt two years ago as we watched their suffering on CNN and other media outlets.

From 2 pm to 5 pm CST, there will be a rally in front of Halls A and B of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, the site of unimaginable misery, perseverance and survival. CNN is expected to broadcast the event live so tune in.

But don't just sit there like a bump on a log -- multitask. Flood Congress with calls and emails and demand an equitable recovery here.

After the rally there will be a silent march from Spanish Plaza to Jackson Square, where we will hold a candlelight vigil.

Earlier this week, I stood in the spot where President Bush promised to "do what it takes…to help citizens rebuild their communities and their lives." I was struck by the inscription on the base of the statute of Andrew Jackson: "The union must and shall be preserved."

Now that sounds like a plan for New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.

The Day the Music Died

I'm in New Orleans, where the sense of loss is palpable from the moment one deplanes at the Louis Armstrong Airport. The presence of absence evokes a Southern belle sitting on her front porch waiting for a gentleman caller who never shows up.

My friend, noted pollster Dr. Silas Lee, told The Times-Picayune:

Like all communities, we in New Orleans have a microscopic perception of culture. It's a way of living – the food we eat, the institutions we're committed to – the people we're used to interacting with.

Anyone who loses a component of their culture, it's like losing an immediate family member, a part of your soul, the essence of what makes your community. It's part of the spirit of a neighborhood.

Silas told me New Orleans is losing the social anchors of its neighborhoods – churches, grocery stores, barber shops. "The people made those institutions."

As I walked around the French Quarter, the ubiquitous T-shirts show that New Orleanians haven't lost their sense of humor. My favorites are "Drove My Chevy to the Levee and the Levee Was Gone" and "FEMA: Find Every Mexican Available."

While the city cannot find the resources to support local musicians (and here), it had no trouble finding Mexican children to fill up the slots in a new escuela. In fact, there are so many Mexicans the school reportedly reached its capacity in a month and now has a waiting list.

Meanwhile in the birthplace of jazz, American musicians, the heart and soul of the Crescent City, are drowning in their own tears.