In September of 2005 I wrote a very well researched article exposing the reasons why flooding from Katrina cost us 1800 mostly African lives. That article was printed in "Positive Action" the then newsletter for the California Chapter of the All African People's Revolutionary Party. The piece was also picked up by several other publications and was even required reading for at least two national conferences on white supremacy that I know of. It was the first piece that I'd ever written that was widely read and circulated. Ten years later I'm fortunate enough to have thousands of people read my works regularly. I believe this is happening because there are people out there who appreciate honest assessments and analysis around the problems we face and ambitious, yet realistic, solutions for solving those problems. That's why, on this 10 year commemoration of the horror that took place in New Orleans, I think its appropriate to dig back and revisit some of those truths that I and others were discussing immediately after that tragedy. I'm hoping that you haven't forgotten how clearly and completely the New Orleans flooding aftermath exposed in raw fashion how vicious capitalist exploitation and it's right hand soldier - white supremacy and institutional racism - are against the African masses. And, if you weren't old enough, you can feel the truths of what happened while currently observing continued efforts by guilty thugs to defer and deny responsibility for mass scale murder.
Immediately before I wrote that article, in the days during the horror in New Orleans, I was so incensed that I went out and had a shirt made that used the letters F.E.M.A. (Federal Emergency Management Agency) to spell out next to each of those letters: "Forgetting to Evacuate Mostly Africans." That shirt generated quite a bit of attention and I had countless discussions with people in supermarkets, gas stations, work, and at the gym, etc. I remember the degree in which so many people were radicalized while viewing the trauma our people were experiencing and I wondered how long it would take before people forgot their outrage and we went back to capitalist business as usual. Well, here we are 10 years later...
That's why I think it's important that we remember to ask appropriate questions that have never been answered. I'm talking about us asking each other these questions. I already know the capitalist system knows the answers. These are questions that if we keep them in our conscious minds, it makes it extremely difficult to be lulled back to sleep. We would know no candidate can change what happened. No law can protect us. We would understand that our only protection is ourselves. But, we have to ask the right questions. Like why were all public school teachers in New Orleans systematically fired during the flooding? Why were the generous donations of aide, aide workers, and supplies from places like Cuba (who had effectively prevented any serious damage from Katrina just days before), Russia, and even WalMart, categorically prevented by FEMA from being distributed to the communities and people who needed them most? Why did FEMA cut the power throughout all of New Orleans during the flooding (the flooding isn't the answer. That's not standard practice in other floods)? Why were massive water supplies, food, and medicines stock piled and prevented from being distributed to the people? Why did capitalist media consistently parrot the now dis-proven and discredited story that African youths were raping and brutalizing people at the New Orleans SuperDome and Convention Center? And why were none of those media sources held accountable for those vicious lies? Why were the very real white supremacist thugs who boated and drove around New Orleans armed, shooting at Africans like it was a hunting holiday, not reported on? Why were Africans shot at by police for simply trying to escape the horrors of the City and cross a bridge to neighboring Gretna? Why has no one really been seriously held accountable for that? Why have African people who searched stores for food, water, and necessary supplies characterized as looters while nothing was said about gas stations that tripled prices? Grocery stores that did the same? How were National insurance companies like All State and State Farm able to cheat thousands of Africans out of claims although those people had valid flood insurance policies on their houses? Why aren't those big companies labeled as thugs for how they cheated people? Last (but certainly not least - I can ask these questions all day), why was Kellogg Brown and Root, the company with ties to Haliburton Corporation, which had Vice President Dick Cheney as a board member, able to receive a non-bid contract to clean up lower New Orleans without having to follow federal law and bid for that contract? Why was that company paid $20.00 per square foot for the clean up when the going rate was $2.00 per square foot?
Before saying anymore, I want to express that everyone always has the right to believe what they want. In a capitalist dominated society, you maintain the right to be ignorant and your right to be that way is celebrated. Still, I maintain hope in people and I trust that most people have an instinctive love of justice. I believe that if presented with truth, most people will accept it. So, here's how we see truth as it relates to all the questions above. Since its well documented that the dangers of the levies in New Orleans were well known among government officials at the local, state, and national level for years before Katrina, we have to conclude that this pre-knowledge makes the slow response to African suffering anything except an accident , an oversight, or government incompetence as some would have you believe. What actually happened is big business oriented interests saw the flooding as an opportunity to remove unwanted elements from the City of New Orleans. The unwanted was the pre-Katrina massive African population of which 67%, at that time, was below the poverty level. One only has to visit Bourbon Street to view the discomfort and elitist attitudes displayed by visiting European (white) tourists at the sight of large numbers of African people being so close. Since the flooding? Over 100,000 Africans have been systematically removed from New Orleans. The Teacher's Union, which was dominated by African women, has been effectively overrun and much of New Orleans is now operating under privatized education (affectionately called charter schools). Public housing has been all but eliminated. Now, what you have left in New Orleans is the authentic culture of the town, which isn't French. It's African. Creole food is African food. Jazz is African music. The Mardi Gra is nothing except an African celebration. What has been permitted to happen is the African cultural essence is there without many of the Africans. The ideal scenario for privileged people in a capitalist/white supremacist society. So, if you forgot, now let's remember. If you didn't know, now let's realize. And then we can study other similar circumstances and see the consistent trends as it relates to African people. The 10 year commemoration of Katrina/the flooding serves one purpose for me. Its another reminder that the only true representation that was made by capitalism during that devastating ordeal was referring to our people struggling to survive during the flooding as "refugees." The sad reality is we have been refugees here for over 500 years and we will always be that until we get serious about making some fundamental changes.
Immediately before I wrote that article, in the days during the horror in New Orleans, I was so incensed that I went out and had a shirt made that used the letters F.E.M.A. (Federal Emergency Management Agency) to spell out next to each of those letters: "Forgetting to Evacuate Mostly Africans." That shirt generated quite a bit of attention and I had countless discussions with people in supermarkets, gas stations, work, and at the gym, etc. I remember the degree in which so many people were radicalized while viewing the trauma our people were experiencing and I wondered how long it would take before people forgot their outrage and we went back to capitalist business as usual. Well, here we are 10 years later...
That's why I think it's important that we remember to ask appropriate questions that have never been answered. I'm talking about us asking each other these questions. I already know the capitalist system knows the answers. These are questions that if we keep them in our conscious minds, it makes it extremely difficult to be lulled back to sleep. We would know no candidate can change what happened. No law can protect us. We would understand that our only protection is ourselves. But, we have to ask the right questions. Like why were all public school teachers in New Orleans systematically fired during the flooding? Why were the generous donations of aide, aide workers, and supplies from places like Cuba (who had effectively prevented any serious damage from Katrina just days before), Russia, and even WalMart, categorically prevented by FEMA from being distributed to the communities and people who needed them most? Why did FEMA cut the power throughout all of New Orleans during the flooding (the flooding isn't the answer. That's not standard practice in other floods)? Why were massive water supplies, food, and medicines stock piled and prevented from being distributed to the people? Why did capitalist media consistently parrot the now dis-proven and discredited story that African youths were raping and brutalizing people at the New Orleans SuperDome and Convention Center? And why were none of those media sources held accountable for those vicious lies? Why were the very real white supremacist thugs who boated and drove around New Orleans armed, shooting at Africans like it was a hunting holiday, not reported on? Why were Africans shot at by police for simply trying to escape the horrors of the City and cross a bridge to neighboring Gretna? Why has no one really been seriously held accountable for that? Why have African people who searched stores for food, water, and necessary supplies characterized as looters while nothing was said about gas stations that tripled prices? Grocery stores that did the same? How were National insurance companies like All State and State Farm able to cheat thousands of Africans out of claims although those people had valid flood insurance policies on their houses? Why aren't those big companies labeled as thugs for how they cheated people? Last (but certainly not least - I can ask these questions all day), why was Kellogg Brown and Root, the company with ties to Haliburton Corporation, which had Vice President Dick Cheney as a board member, able to receive a non-bid contract to clean up lower New Orleans without having to follow federal law and bid for that contract? Why was that company paid $20.00 per square foot for the clean up when the going rate was $2.00 per square foot?
Before saying anymore, I want to express that everyone always has the right to believe what they want. In a capitalist dominated society, you maintain the right to be ignorant and your right to be that way is celebrated. Still, I maintain hope in people and I trust that most people have an instinctive love of justice. I believe that if presented with truth, most people will accept it. So, here's how we see truth as it relates to all the questions above. Since its well documented that the dangers of the levies in New Orleans were well known among government officials at the local, state, and national level for years before Katrina, we have to conclude that this pre-knowledge makes the slow response to African suffering anything except an accident , an oversight, or government incompetence as some would have you believe. What actually happened is big business oriented interests saw the flooding as an opportunity to remove unwanted elements from the City of New Orleans. The unwanted was the pre-Katrina massive African population of which 67%, at that time, was below the poverty level. One only has to visit Bourbon Street to view the discomfort and elitist attitudes displayed by visiting European (white) tourists at the sight of large numbers of African people being so close. Since the flooding? Over 100,000 Africans have been systematically removed from New Orleans. The Teacher's Union, which was dominated by African women, has been effectively overrun and much of New Orleans is now operating under privatized education (affectionately called charter schools). Public housing has been all but eliminated. Now, what you have left in New Orleans is the authentic culture of the town, which isn't French. It's African. Creole food is African food. Jazz is African music. The Mardi Gra is nothing except an African celebration. What has been permitted to happen is the African cultural essence is there without many of the Africans. The ideal scenario for privileged people in a capitalist/white supremacist society. So, if you forgot, now let's remember. If you didn't know, now let's realize. And then we can study other similar circumstances and see the consistent trends as it relates to African people. The 10 year commemoration of Katrina/the flooding serves one purpose for me. Its another reminder that the only true representation that was made by capitalism during that devastating ordeal was referring to our people struggling to survive during the flooding as "refugees." The sad reality is we have been refugees here for over 500 years and we will always be that until we get serious about making some fundamental changes.
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