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Hurricane Katrina Horrors Linger On

3:01 pm By la Macha · Health · 1 Comment

2 Sep 2009

I just got finished to listening to this interview on Democracy Now! about the effects Hurricane Katrina had on a particular hospital in New Orleans. As waters rose and electricity and water pressure was lost, the situation in Memorial hospital became desperate–pushing some doctors to allegedly kill their more vulnerable patients. Some of the doctors allegedly killed their patients so that they (the doctors) could escape the situation, others allegedly did it as an act of kindness in the middle of hell. One doctor denies killing her patients at all–despite evidence to the contrary.

It’s a hard story to listen to–one that really opens the “death panel” discussion in a way that is much more relevant and necessary to reality. Namely: in moments of crisis and few resources, how do we decide who is going to get resources and who is not?

No doctor should have death on his or her hands because as a society we are so unprepared and unable to handle frank discussions about death. The fact is, especially in crisis moments, and ALWAYS under capitalism, resources are in short supply. And I personally would rather that there is a public debate over who is allowed to live *specifically because capitalism is its own death panel* and who is not.

But, to have that frank conversation, we first need to be able to redirect the conversation to reality. We need to be able to admit that unrestricted capitalism has its consequences. And that individual humans making decisions forced on them by capitalism become scape goats so that capitalism can remain hidden and unchallenged. When we all finally admit that capitalism is a horrible game of parceling out resources to the people who have the least need of them…then we can begin to have frank discussions that might possibly save doctors from making horrible decisions and vulnerable people from being killed simply because there was no other way.

INCITE! Asks for Help in the Path of Gustav

7:36 am By Maegan La Mala · Activism| New Orleans| Women · Comments Off

31 Aug 2008

Dear INCITE! friends and supporters,

On the eve of the 3 year anniversary of the devastation wrought by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and subsequent government criminal negligence and assaults on the low income people of color on the Gulf Coast, our sisters from INCITE! projects in New Orleans (including the local chapter, the Women’s Health and Justice Initiative, and the New Orleans Women’s Health Clinic) are bracing for the potential landfall of Hurricane Gustav, which is currently projected to hit the Louisiana coast on Monday or Tuesday at a category 4 or 5. Voluntary evacuation of New Orleans has already begun, and mandatory evacuation could be declared as early as today. INCITE! organizers in New Orleans have made over 700 phone calls to women of color and their families that make up the constituency of the New Orleans Women’s Health Clinic, working to prepare and implement evacuation and safety plans.

Your assistance is urgently needed to help the low-income women of color and their families evacuate safely if need be, stay safe for the duration of the evacuation, and return to the city as soon as possible so as not to fall prey to the pushout that has kept so many folks from being able to return to New Orleans since Katrina. Local organizers are using whatever resources and funds at their disposal to help women and their families evacuate, bond people being held in Orleans Parish Prison out, and support those who make the choice to stay in whatever way they can.

Your support is urgently needed: financial donations of any size are needed and would be greatly appreciated.

Donations online are preferred because we can more quickly send the funds to our folks in New Orleans.
You can send your donation to INCITE online by going to this website:
http://incite-national.org/index.php?s=137
Click the Donation button
Put New Orleans in the “Purpose” line

Or you can write a check directly to WHJI and send it to:
PO Box 51325
New Orleans, LA 70151

This money will go directly to supporting the hundreds of low income women of color that are the constituency of the New Orleans Women’s Health Clinic.

Once again, the particular vulnerability of low-income women of color and single female-headed households (including folks with disabilities, seniors, undocumented immigrant women, and incarcerated women) has been erased in the face of disaster and overlooked in the days leading up to the storm. With few resources, facing challenges and concerns for their families of their own, INCITE! New Orleans and WHJI have stepped in to fill the gap. Please send all your support, solidarity, sisterhood and strength their way, and join us in hoping for the safety and well-bein g of the people who are already suffering from Gustav in Cuba, Jamaica, and Haiti, and willing the storm to subside or veer off safely before it strikes the Gulf Coast.

We will keep you posted as things develop.

peace,
INCITE!

Urgent Community Action Needed in the Gulf in the Face of Gustav

5:18 pm By Maegan La Mala · Activism| Justice| States| Weather| housing · Comments Off

30 Aug 2008

One of the lessons of Hurricane Katrina was that people of color can not trust that government will protect and take care of our communities. So while we must demand that they do, we also have to prepare.

Hurricane Gustav is building strength and headed to the Gulf Region. Already, thousands are evacuating the area.

From an email :

In the attempt to learn from preparedness shortcomings of Hurricane Katrina, a network of New Orleans activists, some whom have evacuated already and others whom are intent on staying are in the process of creating a support network which is in need of all our help.

How you can help (outside of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast):

1. Serve as a point of contact in your area for evacuees.

2. Help create safe and accessible relief networks and stations in your city/region. This is particularly going to be crucial for allies in Northern Louisiana, Jackson, and Memphis, where it appears most of the evacuees are going to be stationed. We hope to have identified the rest of the specific cities by this evening.

3. Serve as a media liaison for the support network and the forces staying in New Orleans.

If you or your organization can serve in one or more of these capacities please contact one of the following individuals and send your name, cell phone, land line, email address and relevant address information for relief stations.

Kali Akuno 510.593.3956 (please text if no answer if possible) or kaliakuno@gmail. com

Lydia 314-537-0537 (C) 770-559-1461 land line

Molly 510-847-6101 (C)

Opening this Weekend in NYC & LA : Trouble the Water

8:38 am By Maegan La Mala · Los Angeles| Movies| New York City| Weather| housing · Comments Off

22 Aug 2008

This weekend, Trouble the Water, a film that follows a New Orleans couple through and after Hurricane Katrina, opens in New York City and Los Angeles. It won the Grand Jury prize for Best Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival and serves to remind us all that Hurrican Katrina was one horror, how the U.S. government treated its own in the aftermath was another.

Latino baby boom in post-Katrina New Orleans

12:42 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Immigration| children| mexico · Comments Off

19 Dec 2006

When the dust had barely settled in post-Katrina New Orleans, the city was already buzzing with anti-immigrant rhetoric as a result of an influx of Mexican workers contracted to help in the clean-up efforts. Now it seems that this chain of events has led to an unexpected demographic change in the area — a Latino baby boom:

A little more than a year after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans is seeing a boom in its Latino population, with many coming to help reconstruct the city.

Health officials had not anticipated the surge in the city’s Latino population, The New York Times reported.

In a demographic twist, hundreds of Latino babies are being born in New Orleans to immigrant Latino workers, both legal and illegal. In a city largely abandoned by its doctors after the storm, this new population adds a financial strain to the already struggling city.

According to UPI, physicians are struggling to meet the rising demand for their services as a result of the birth of nearly 250 new babies per month.

Via / Playfuls.com

NOLA Immigrant Hotel Workers Sue

2:30 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Immigration| Labor · 1 Comment

17 Aug 2006

As we approach the one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina hitting the gulf region it’s not only important to look back at what happened and why it went down the way it did, but how people are surviving or not now. A group of workers from across Latin America that were contracted as “guest workers” in New Orleans to work in hotels in the area filed a federal lawsuit yesterday saying that what they were promised isn’t what they were served.

They were recruited with false promises of good earnings and instead have been left with thousands of dollars in debt for their visas, recruitment fees and journeys here.

Workers paid thousands of dollars to recruitment companies working for Decatur Hotels LLC, which owns 15 hotels in NOLA.

“Chocolate City” turning brown

6:05 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Culture| Immigration| Labor| States · Comments Off

8 Mar 2006

s.latinbeat.jpg Remember “Fear of a Black Planet”? How about “Fear of a Brown New Orleans”? I’m not sure if it’s mainstream media’s antagonistic reporting that’s fueling public paranoia or vice-versa, but how many article like this can we read in a week? ABC News muses:

At a New Orleans construction site, the breakfast of choice is no longer coffee and beignets but coffee and tortillas.

Hurricane Katrina, as devastating as it was, has created great opportunities for many. After all, somebody has to tear down, clean up and rebuild this city. And by and large, the people doing the dirty, dangerous work are not native New Orleanians but Hispanics who have flocked in to fill the void left by hundreds of thousands who fled the storm.

Who’s sorry now?

9:17 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Immigration| race| society · Comments Off

18 Jan 2006

Ray Nagin, that’s who. Or at least that’s what he says:

“If I offended anyone, I sincerely apologize,” the mayor, who is black, said Tuesday. “I need to be more sensitive and more aware of what I’m saying.

“I want everybody to be welcome in New Orleans — black, white, Hispanic, Asian — because that’s the kind of city that we deserve going forward,” he said. “

You’re forgiven, Ray. And expect a check from Nesquik and ChocoMilk in a couple days.

Via / ABCNews.com

Chocolate New Orleans: Anti-Latino rhetoric?

6:56 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Immigration| race| society · 4 Comments

17 Jan 2006

New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin is at it again. He’s surfacing now to promote not just the rebuilding of New Orleans (I thought he had moved to Dallas?), but the rebuilding of a “Chocolate New Orleans”.

WTF?

“I don’t care what people are saying Uptown or wherever they are. This city will be chocolate at the end of the day,” Nagin said in a Martin Luther King Jr. Day speech. “This city will be a majority African-American city. It’s the way God wants it to be.”

Must Read: “La Nueva Orleans”

4:03 pm By Maegan La Mala · Lifestyle| Politics · Comments Off

26 Sep 2005

Gregory Rodriguez, a contributing editor to the LA Times is making a big prediction. In his recent article, “La Nueva Orleans”, Rodriguez states that the population of rebuilt New Orleans will look quite different than the pre-Katrina New Orleans. More specifically, he says that New Orleans will have such a large Latino population that it will resemble Los Angeles.

On September 6, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) temporarily suspended a sanction that requires employers to have proof of citizenship for their workers. This suspension is in effect for at least 45 days from the day of issue, and could be renewed.

An excerpt from the article:

Because they are young and lack roots in the United States, many recent migrants are ideal for the explosion of construction jobs to come. Those living in the U.S. will relocate to the Gulf Coast, while others will come from south of the border. Most will not intend to stay where their new jobs are, but the longer the jobs last, the more likely they will settle permanently. One recent poll of New Orleans evacuees living in Houston emergency shelters found that fewer than half intend to return home. In part, their places will be taken by the migrant workers. Former President Clinton recently hinted as much on NBC’s “Meet the Press” when he said New Orleans will be resettled with a different population.

I encourage all Vivirlatino readers to check out the entire article, even though you may have to fill out a registration form to access it.

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