Our last day at NAACP was spent putting together memos detailing our experiences at Renaissance Village (FEMA camp in Baker) and what suggestions we have for future volunteers. I was caught off guard by one of the volunteers who was working with us because he said that he felt that things were not that bad at Renaissance Village. I won’t comment on my personal feelings on why he felt that way…

Since the memo writing only took up part of the morning. I decided to spend the rest of my day volunteering with the People’s Organizing Committee. The POC was scheduled to have a community meeting the following morning to discuss pending law suits against HUD and the New Orleans Housing Authority as well as meeting with several delegates from the Venezuelan government who were interested in providing funds to the POC’s efforts.

At the end of the day LAAB had a de-briefing meeting for us to discuss the work we did over the past week. The meeting ended on a sad note because some people got a little frustrated. Overall, I enjoyed my experience in New Orleans and I think our LAAB leaders did a great job in coordinating the trip.

One of the most surreal moments of my life occurred on Thursday night. We were sitting around and just talking about Katrina politics with members of Governor Blanco’s senior staff. And you know what, they were very frustrated too. They know things went wrong. They know there is a lot to be done. They know that they have to do things better. But one think I do know is that they are working incredibly hard to try to do things right.
The fact that we were sitting there and having a frank conversation about what happened during and after the Hurricane with the people who essentially control the state government was probably the most enlightening experiences of my life. My problem was that I kept thinking about how awesome the experience is and really had problems fully enjoying the actual moment I was in. It was just awesome.

We had dinner Thursday night at Louisiana Governor Blanco’s mansion followed by a tour of the state capital by Major General Hunt Downer. As I was in a daze the entire time, there is nothing that I can say to give this experience justice except to look at my fellow trip member’s blogs and see if they could describe what I cannot.

As a running theme from this whole trip, what I have found most amazing is the hospitality and gratitude that is showing to our group. We are only down in the Gulf Region for one week, most of which is spent by the community describing the problems and history of what had happened to them and, mostly, for the 5th, 20th, or 100th time. Many of us additionally spent a whole, or most of whole, day in orientation describing the organization we were with, what they were doing for the community, and, in my case, a short tour of the levees around the city.

For whatever I am able to offer the city, whether it be my work, presence to offer hope or the knowledge that they are not forgotten, or just an ear to listen to their story - there is no way that I could ever repay the hospitality that was offered to us.

Despite what happened to this community and the lack of response to help those who found themselves in the greatest need and with nothing, they have not lost, or have possibly gained, a greater sense of humanity and brotherhood than I have ever experienced. Between the two weeks that I have been in New Orleans since the storm, I feel more of a connection to the city and its people that I feel to a city that I have live for a year and a half in.

-andy

Thursday I did more door to door interviewing, I interviewed an elderly lady who said she had to stop her re-building because she had run out of money. To make matters worst, her FEMA trailer was scheduled to be taken away this August and she had no other place to go. After I finished interviewing, I walked back to our hotel (it was a 3 mile trek!) and got dressed for our dinner at the Governor’s Mansion. The food was fantastic but the real treat was to hear the frustrations from the government. Having heard all the frustrations and problems the people were going through, it was interesting to hear the governor’s own problems with getting the money to the people. I can’t say I am totally sympathetic with the governor’s problems with the federal government, but I do appreciate how it has caused some of the delays.

Friday I didn’t do much but shop for masks and tomorrow I fly back home. Although I was sick for most of the trip, I still enjoyed myself and hope I managed to help resolve, even in my own small way, some of the issues.

My last day at the NAACP ended early due to my outbound flight.  However, we spent the day de-briefing about our trip to Baker’s FEMA Camp.  We compiled a memo with a summary of the events as well as project recommendations for NAACP to consider.   I think we all saw ways in which communication on all fronts could be improved. 

While I am excited to return to LA, I’m also left feeling constricted.  It feels like there’s nothing I can do to help the situation.  It has gotten so out of control and the people feel so hopeless.  It’s a struggle to shield myself from feeling the same way.�

Long day. All day research for the JJPL pulling up and summarizing the relevant cases in La. law relating to juvenile delinquency. This to update the packet they refer to when handling cases, which hasn’t been updated in about 5 years. All the Westlaw overdosing of my Legal Writing class came in handy, and the project took us basically the whole day. At the end of the day we got another assignment researching around 10 issues relating to what constitutes unsatisfactory conditions in juvenile prisons. Unfortunately we got this assignment at the end of the week and not earlier, because short of a research/writing miracle it won’t get done tomorrow. The director gave us the option of continuing the research and sending the memo to him by next Friday. I hope I am able to do that, because I really want to help out on this, and I know it will be valuable to them as they prepare for a big litigation project they have forthcoming. Since he made it optional to complete, I could in theory just do as much as I can tomorrow, but hopefully I can find the time to work it in to next weeks schedule. If a high paying summer job would go ahead and find itself for me and hire me as well that would go a long way to ensuring that will happen.

Headed back after work to head out to Baton Rouge for a trip to the capitol and the governor’s mansion where we were fortunate enough to meet the governor as well as the former speaker of the state house (and a major general in the national guard) as well as various members of her staff. For my own part, it was a great trip, I hope everyone else enjoyed themselves as well.

Our visit to Renaissance Village was informative. After our group put together the employment packets and drove down to Baker to help them with resumes we drove into the trailer camp only to see that Renaissance Village has a job center. Not just a job center but one that allows the residents to look for jobs online via laptops and helps them with writing and printing resumes. So in a nutshell we spent several days doing something that was apparently being done already. After speaking to several residents at the camp it became apparent that the residents at the camp are really tired of having people come down to their camps and making false promises and creating false hopes.

I understand that every organization in Louisiana wants to help the victims of Katrina. I think that every organization in Louisiana can help the victims of Katrina but it requires a coordinated effort.  In some cases the things being done by one organization overlaps or repeats what is being done by another organization.  It’s like I hear a crowd of people yelling the same thing at the same time but there are all using different words so I can’t really hear anyone.

We visited the FEMA trailers today and the trip left me speechless.  I can’t begin to verbalize my disappointment with the entire situation.  After speaking with some of the FEMA workers there and they met my questions with snub expectations that these displaced victims should just get off their asses, get a job and shut up.  “FEMA isn’t responsible for long-term housing.”  “FEMA isn’t responsible for finding these people transportation.”  “MY commute is over 2 hours also.”  All of this spoken by an individual who has her own car and has never had to
“live” in a FEMA trailer.  I say “live” because these trailers are TINY and there is no way that you can call this living…it’s surviving….existing.  

The purpose of our visit was to pass out the job information we compiled throughout the week and to also help anyone who needed it with resume writing.  To all of our surprise, the trailers already had a functioning job center that did exactly what we went out to do.  After spending countless hours on the project, we just left the information with the office who really didn’t need it.  I’m infuriated that these organizations are not taking the time to actually visit the area and speak with the people and ask what they need.  They blindly send students out to re-do work that’s already being done.  

After speaking with some of the residents, we learned that transportation is a huge issue for them.  Once they find a job, they have no way to get there and back.  Also, the buses will only stop at one store, so if they need something else that’s just too bad.  Honestly, after today, all I can say say is WHAT?!!! 

�

After numerous miscommunications, today we were able to make leeway with the The People’s Organizing Committee (POC). Unlike many of the nonprofit organizations here in New Orleans, the POC/Survivor Council is a grassroots organization for the people by the people. One of the major obstacles that we had faced upon our arrival was not only miscommunication, but a limitation on resources. With many of the New Orleans residents “imprisoned” in FEMA trailer parks or exiled in other states, like Texas, the POC does not have full access to its most valuable resource, its people. We, along with numerous students from other law schools, are here to assist the POC with this effort. We devised an independent project, which involves creating a resource manual that the POC can circulate, edit, and expand for post-Katrina survivors.

This is a small effort, but I hope it does some good.

No pics yet today.  I haven’t loaded them.  Probably tomorrow…

First things first.  Most others are at the Governor’s Mansion.  Oh yeah.  You read that right.  They are having dinner with Gov. Kathleen Blanco.  Gumbo.  They had a military or police escort from New Orleans to Baton Rouge.  Nice, huh?  Yeah.  My group was in Baker, LA and didn’t get back in time.  To be honest, I had a better time in Baker than I would have had with Gov. Blanco.  Not that I know her or anything, but there’s something about chatting with people who have been living in a 500+ trailer park with over 2,000 Hurricane Katrina refugees that makes me think I got the better deal that the free gumbo.  Not to say the gumbo couldn’t have been good.  I’m just saying, I was much more in my element than I would have been in a mansion.  Let’s be honest. 

Our trip to Baker was long but good.  We left 2 hours late due to a car mix-up and go there around 2 (instead of 11) because a) Renaissance Village (the FEMA trailers in Baker) is out in BFE and b) the road to get to Renaissance Village was shut down so we had to drive further out to BFE to get to the Village.  And we wonder why these folks aren’t coming to work in NOLA?  It takes 3 hours to get there and back each way!  I’ll get into that more later.

So, we spent the last two days putting together a job search packet only to get to Baker and pull up in front of…. The State of Louisiana’s Job Placement trailer.  Yup.  They’ve got someone stationed there to help residents look for jobs.  In fact, we walked in during an OSHA training being given by an employer who will hire everyone who passes their test and pay them at least $20 an hour. 

Needless to say, they didn’t need us for that.  Although, Rosalyn said she found out info packet very useful and thanked us for our work.

We ended up talking with some residents in an attempt to just hear from them what’s going on.  One of the problems we see is that there are so many organizations trying to help that these organizations don’t necessarily find the most efficient ways to do that.  Say, but talking to residents and asking what they need, what we can do, what they’d like to see.  So, that’s what we tried to do.  We heard three major complaints.

1)      Transportation.  Because so many residents don’t have transportation, they rely on vans and public transportation.  I spoke to one resident who told me it took him 3 hours to get from Baker to Baton Rouge at 7 am.  Baton Rouge is 10 miles away.  10 miles.  New Orleans is 96 miles away.  Guess how long it takes to get there on the bus.  The fact that these folks are living so far away from everything – the main road is probably about a 45 minute walk away – doesn’t make any sense.  I mean, if you’re going to put Katrina victims in the middle of nowhere, it seems there has to be a “middle of nowhere” closer to New Orleans.

2)      There is a lack of communication.  Some residents told us they never know when things like job fairs or trainings are happening.  Others do.  Some people find out about things too late to do anything about them.  For example, one resident told me that the food deliveries are a first come first serve situation so, if you live in the back of the area, by the time you get to the food, you’ve got little selection. 

a.       Connected – he told me that they’ve got a number of senior citizens living in the back so they don’t get to the food in time.  He wouldn’t elaborate but clearly this is a major problem. 

3)      The lack of Will.  Let’s face it.  Many of these folks saw awful, awful things after Katrina hit.  They experienced a horrible, horrible tragedy we will never be able to come close to comprehending.  Add to that, losing their property (both intangible and tangible like the home they’ve owned for 40 years).  Add to that, the deep frustration at the handling of the disaster.  Add to that being moved almost 100 miles away from the place you’ve always known.   Two residents likened Renaissance Village to a prison camp.  A prison camp.  Add to that, the knowledge that will likely never be able to return home because there is no way in hell you will find another house to buy on the $300 a month you get as a pension.  Add to that the complete lack of affordable housing, for buying or renting.  Add to that the prospect of working, likely for the rest of your life, for around minimum wage.  And you get people who have given up or don’t believe there is anything they can do to make things even remotely better.  There is no will here.  And when that leaves a person, there is very little you can do to get that back. 

I asked about religion.  I’m not a religious person, but I know the power churches and religious institutions can have in bringing people together and lifting them up.  I was told that few people want to go to church anymore.  I was told there was corruption in the churches.  I wondered whether some had lost their faith after Katrina and because of how we as a country treated them.  I certainly hope that isn’t the case. 

I’m back in our hotel now.  Tonight is my last night here.  I wish I could stay longer but at the same time I cannot wait to get home.  I wish I could do more, but I know that I can’t right now.  This trip has been extraordinarily emotional for me, for many reasons.  I learned a lot about myself, my classmates and society in four days.  Not all of it has been good.  

And it is difficult, as an idealist, to recognize that.  It hard to accept this reality.  This reality of devastation.  This reality of it being okay to leave over 2,000 people out in BFE for what ?  In hopes we forget?  In hopes we look the other way and continue to care more about the death of Anna Nicole Smith or whether Nicole Ritchie is going to jail rather than rise up and scream at the top of our lungs, “THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE.  THESE ARE HUMAN BEINGS.  HELP THEM.  GIVE THEM A HOUSE.  MOVE THEM BACK HOME.  MAKE THEM SEE WE CARE!!!!”  The government won’t do it.  But who will. 

These are moments I wish I had money.  I wish I was Eli Broad or Bill Gates or Oprah Winfrey so that I could give my billons of dollars to repair levees, build homes and get everyone living in a FEMA trailer back home.  I wish I had money so that I could give them back the lives that were ripped from them by Nature but kept away from them by our government.  But I don’t.  And that makes me want to cry.  A lot.  And I’m not one to preach, but it should make you feel that way too.