It was a beautiful thing to see just how people have tied New Orleans in with the global struggle against war, poverty, injustice and the like at the big march this weekend - and very disconcerting. I planned to come to D.C. for the anti-war protests months ago, but never in my life could I have imagined how very personal it would end up being. It’s always been fun being from New Orleans - when you tell someone you are from New Orleans, they usually get an excited look on their face and start talking about all the great things they’ve seen and done there or heard about the city. Now when you say you are from New Orleans, people get a tragic look on their face and barely know what to say. I don’t blame them - I wouldn’t know what to say either - it’s pretty much the same as trying to figure out what to say to someone who has just lost a loved one.
Everywhere in D.C. we saw places collecting money for the Red Cross and so took it upon ourselves to break it to all these well intentioned individuals that sending the Red Cross money is as good as putting a match to it. Just in case you haven’t caught this bit of info yet, here is what the Red Cross is doing in New Orleans: feeding the National Guard and the police and site seeing. We have not seen one Red Cross person doing one thing for any citizen of New Orleans. They do not bring us food or water (the Salvation Army has done this, tho, and we give them many kudos for being the ONLY official disaster relief doing ANYTHING in the city of New Orleans) or medical care or anything. I have only seen two Red Cross vehicles in New Orleans - one perusing our Toxic Art exhibit outside our house (Jeffrey asked them where they’d been all this time and then told them in no uncertain terms to get lost) and one by the levy break in the lower 9th ward taking pictures. That’s it. So please, people, spread the word - DO NOT give the Red Cross your money if you really want to help. They already have millions, and I’m sure that is plenty enough to feed the National Guard.
On top of the lack of services provided by the Red Cross, I’ll tell you about Jeffrey’s latest experience with the Red Cross shelter we were staying outside of in Covington (the one we were buying toiletries and over the counter medications for the residents as the Red Cross does not provide such things) as registered ‘guests.’ We left the shelter to do relief work with the Vets for Peace while waiting to get back into the city. Before we left, we’d signed up for our Red Cross debit cards, the little amount of money they give you to get by on. These cards took over a week to arrive. Jeffrey went back to the shelter to get our card and check on Daniel who was still there and look for our two missing cats that escaped out of the tent and into the woods. Upon driving up to the shelter, he was stopped by a sheriff who informed him that he was not welcome on the property. Apparently someone forgot to inform us when we left that once you leave the shelter you can not return, and that if you set foot on the property you will be arrested. That’s the kind of thanks you get for leaving to help take care of others. And a very nice way to keep people victims - we’d been trying to help some of the shelter residents get back home - they have FEMA checks to go pick up, but no gas money to go get the checks so they can cash them and buy gas to get home. But they aren’t allowed to leave the shelter. It’s a disgusting and abhorent Catch-22 situation designed to keep people victims and prevent them from helping themselves or others.
So now we are on our way back to New Orleans - Jeffrey stayed on through Rita and was apparently spotted on ‘48 Hours’ as ‘the last man standing in the Bywater.’ While parts of the city reflooded, it was in areas still completely abandoned. Other than some wind and rain, the Bywater fared well, as we expected. Our hearts go out to those in other areas who lost their homes and businesses to Rita and we wish you a speedy recovery.
I heard today that NOPD has established its own checkpoints after the National Guard checkpoints into the city - that should add another level of ‘fun’ to getting into the city. I also heard from Jeffrey today that all the French Quarter now has power, along with the Central Business District. We’re glad to hear that the city has its priorities straight - making sure that corporate interests are being well taken care of. Meanwhile, there is still nothing being done in our neighborhood and many others. Leenie cornered a worker for Entergy last week who explained to her that there are currently no plans to restore power to our neighborhood. Get that… NO plans. Nor have we heard anything about if and when residents will be allowed to return to our area, still cordoned off with bales of razor wire. Most of the houses in our neighborhood are pretty much fine… and those that were flooded are in more and more danger of becoming inhabitable as the mold continues to grow, unchecked. If people were allowed back in they could be cleaning their houses up, saving them from the toxic mold - but no, I’m sure the developers and corporate interests have better plans in store for us.
Meanwhile, we are ready to roll back into town and continue our relief efforts. Food Not Bombs will continue feeding people and delivering food and other supplies during its mobile runs around town. We are working on setting up computers and free internet access to help people apply for their FEMA aid and reconnect with friends and loved ones. We hope to be working on setting up solar panels and other sustainable technologies to keep us from being so dependent on hard to come by fuel to run generators to keep a few lights on and keep people in touch with the world. BTW, if you work for FEMA you get free fuel. If you are merely a resident of the city, you get… well, if you can you get to drive somewhere outside the city and pay for fuel and then hope you can get back into the city.
Joe and his friend are on their way back down from Massachusetts with another truckload of supplies - food and water and things to clean with. Joe is one amazing fellow, and a big thanks again to Nicky in MA for helping gather these supplies. Joe and his friend will be staying with us for a week and helping out - we think this week more people will start to return to the neighborhood, permission be damned - and so we will be ready to help them start cleaning up the mess and introduce them to the finer points of existing without power or drinkable/bathable water and with military and police constantly patrolling the streets.
With any luck, I’ll be able to start bringing you all daily updates once that new broadband card arrives and is retrieved from Baton Rouge. By the way, Algiers, where our city council women - Jackie Clarkson - lives in a gated community, has had power, drinkable water and cable TV for the last week or so. Hey Jackie - what about us? Can we all come live with you?
Oh, one more bit about upcoming plans - in a couple of days Jeffrey will be driving to Dallas to get Sylvester Francis, proprietor of the Backstreet Cultural Museum in the Treme, home of most of New Orleans’ cultural history. Sylvester has been pretty much stranded in a hotel in Dallas and is eager to get back into his home and the museum and establish his presence. We look forward to working with him to try to figure out what to do about all the African American neighborhoods disbanded and dispersed and otherwise wiped completely out of existence, how to bring back the soul of our city.
In case this email is too upbeat, I’ll leave you with some details of my last experience in New Orleans before taking off for D.C. A couple of hours before leaving, our documentary film maker friends were headed into the Lower 9th Ward and so Jeffrey and I decided to go with them. The place we hadn’t dared set foot yet for fear it would finish the job of breaking our hearts - and it did. The outer bands of Rita were starting to roll in, and the big black clouds and falling rain only heightened our already overly busy imaginations unwillingly reliving the unspeakable horrors that happened there.
We rolled into a scene of unimaginable devastation. Thick black caked but now re-liquefying sheets of mud over everything, still over a foot deep in some places. We started over on our side of St. Claude and visited the home and recording studio of my good friend Mike West (mikewest.net). The back door was open and I stepped in to the horrible stench of toxic sludge and spreading mold. Possessions strewn everywhere, nothing where it should be, everything wet, beyond salvation. Even with a bandana over my face, remaining in the house for more than a few minutes was impossible. Ever present in my mind was Mike’s friend Terry and Mike’s three dogs stranded on that roof amidst the rising waters.
Pathetic liars stealing relief money.
"Need new efforts to bring action levels up to
speed. Dan suggested showing video “9/11-In plane site"
I hope everybody realizes that this is really what the VFP are doing with the money they have raised "to support the Red Cross" in Katrina relief.
This is a film that claims 9/11 was an inside job by Bush and the Neo-Cons. It is an article of belief with Mother Sheehan and the VFP.
This is where the money is going that should have gone to the victims of Katrina. They are using it to try to destroy our country with the most outrageously big lies they can dream up.