Struggling In New Orleans

Pagan author and activist Starhawk continues to issue reports from New Orleans. In her latest report she talks about FEMA’s continued incompetence and the human toll their ineffective bureaucracy takes.

“Monday we saw another face of New Orleans. It was the day that FEMA hotel vouchers ran out, and people were being evicted. Common Ground set up a demonstration at City Hall, prepared to put up a tent city if local residents requested it. I stayed there much of the morning, while we waited to here if an injunction would be issued to stave off the evictions. The injunction was denied. I heard some of the sad tales of FEMA incompetence and bureaucratic nightmares: the woman who had a job in New Orleans but no housing, who was offered a shelter in Shreveport by FEMA but then would lose her job, and who wanted to stay together with her family. The woman whose sign for the demonstration was a board from her house, who had a voucher from FEMA for a hotel room up until March 1, but couldn’t find an hotel in town that would accept the voucher. Later, Sue came home from a long day with the sad tale of the man who was evicted from his hotel. FEMA wouldn’?t pay for a room but, in the only incidence of efficiency I’ve ever heard attributed to them. Immediately issued him a plane ticket to Illinois where he had family. It might seem that they were eager to get people out of town, were it not for their unwillingness to issue him a cab voucher or give him any help to get to the airport. Sue drove him, helping him sort out all of his worldly possessions, which were in clear, plastic bags, and fit what he could into a suitcase.”

Despite her admiration of the enduring spirit of aid workers and those still living in New Orleans, she wonders if the city can be rebuilt any time soon.

“I don’t know what questions the city government, the state and Federal officials, the huge relief agencies, have asked themselves. But it is clear to me what they have not asked: “How do we bring all the people home again?” There are good people in all these systems, but they’re working against the odds. And with all the awesome and amazing work being done, by Common Ground and the other relief workers here, But our efforts are so small, so slight, measured against this oceanic need.”

The pressing question for many is what happens come next Hurricane season? Will New Orleans ever be home again for the hundreds of thousands currently displaced? How do we prevent yet another humanitarian crisis under an administration that hasn’t made any significant moves to improve since Katrina hit.

Tags: Neopaganism