Katrina Racism & Catholic Social Teaching

Katrina, Racism, and

Catholic Social Teaching

Goal is Justice not Guilt

Racial JusticeEconomic JusticeGender JusticeAre Intertwined

Brothers and Sisters to Us

U.S. Catholic Bishops

Pastoral Letter on Racism

Racism is a sin

Racism is a sin:

a sin that divides the human family,

blots out the image of God among specific members of

that family, and violates the

fundamental human dignity of those called to be children of the same

Father.

Not Just White and Black

Isn’t Racism Over?

Because the Courts have eliminated statutory racial discrimination and Congress has enacted civil rights

legislation, and because some minority people have achieved some measure

of success, many people believe that

racism is no longer a problem in American life.

Racismis

Prejudice Plus

Power

Distinguish BetweenPersonal Prejudice and Personal Acts

versus

Systemic and InstitutionalPreferences for Whites

What is Structural Racism?

The structures of our society are subtly racist,

for these structures reflect the values which society upholds.

They are geared to the success of the majority and the failure of the minority. Members of both groups

give unwitting approval by accepting things as they are.

Importance of Structure

Can You Restrict With One Wire?

Depends on How You

Arrange the Wires

Structural Racism Directs Us to Examine the Way the Wires

(Institutions) Are Interconnected

Movement toward authentic justice

demands a simultaneous attack on

both racism and economic oppression.

The continuing existence of racism becomes apparent

when we look beneath the surface of our national life.

Look beneath the surface

Bishops point to 5 areas that illustrate continuing racism:

EmploymentEducationHousing

Criminal JusticeOpposition to Affirmative Action

But First,Who Was Left

BehindWhen Katrina Hit?

Race & KatrinaGender & KatrinaClass & Katrina

(Property Ownership)

Cannot understand KatrinaWithout Analysis

25% of New Orleans Do Not Own Car

Officials already knew that:

100,000 people,

27% of New Orleans,

Lived below poverty line

Who was left behind?

8300 Prisoners Left in Cells

Many Never Made It Out 1,700 direct deaths

One Million Displaced

Employment

204,000 People Lost Their Jobs September

2005

People Have Lost Jobs, Health Insurance, Hospital, Doctor, Dentist,

Pharmacy, Records

June 2006, Black evacuees nearly 5 times more likely to be unemployed than white evacs,

- U.S. Department of Labor.

Women Louisiana lost 180,000 workers after

Katrina, 103,000 were women.

In New Orleans after Katrina, men’s median annual income rose to $43,055

while women’s fell to $28,932;

Two-thirds of single mothers have not returned to New Orleans;

In Mississippi only one of the state’s women crisis centers remained open – covering four counties in the disaster

area.

Dramatic Reduction in Public Education, Healthcare, Housing,

Transportation, & Childcare Equals

Reduction in African American Women Workers in NO - From 51,000 to 17,000

Education

110 Public Schools Destroyed or Severely Damaged

Pre-K - 56,000 students in over 100 public schools

Katrina hits -public schools put in receivership-Best schools converted into charters

2006-2007 - 25,000 students -69% in Charter Schools

September 15, 2005School Board Converts

First Schools to Charters –Meeting in Baton Rouge

September 30, 2005

U.S. Department of Education

Gives $20.9m to Louisiana

Charter Schools Only

LA Legislature Strips NO School Board of 102 Schools

Largest Union in LouisianaUnited Teachers of New Orleans

DECERTIFIEDafter 35 years

7500

people

lose

jobs

Spring 2006-FEMA trailers

More than one-fifth of the school-age children who were

either not in school, or had

missed 10 days of school in the past

month

Pre-K - 56,000 students in over 100 public schools

Katrina hits -public schools put in receivership-Best schools converted into charters

2006-2007 - 25,000 students -69% in Charter Schools

School Daze

• Disaster in RSD public schools

• Charters looking good

Non-Charter Public Schools Failing

• John McDonogh, a public high school November 2006• 775 students - teachers, textbooks and supplies

remained in short order months after school opened. • Students described the school as having a “prison

atmosphere.” • No hot lunches and • Few working water fountains. • Girls’ bathrooms did not have doors on them. • Library had no books at all, not even shelves for books.

• “Our school has 39 security guards and three cops on staff and only 27 teachers,” one McDonogh teacher reported in fall 2006.

High School Entrance

Fight for public schools

continues

Housing

300,000 homes uninhabitable

Black & Poor NeighborhoodsSuffered Disproportionate Damages

Lower Elevation

Who ended up in shelters?

September 10, 2005 in Shelters

• 64% Renters

• 55% Did Not Have a Car

• 93% African-American

• 67% Employed

• 76% Had Children under 18 In Shelter Too

• 57% incomes of Less than $20,000/year

“We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn’t do it, but God did.”

Richard Baker, U.S. Congressman (R-La) Days after Katrina

St. Bernard Parish:

September 2005

Rent Only to Blood Relatives

Ordinance

Jefferson Parish Council Passes Resolution Opposing

Tax Credits for Housing. Member

Chris Roberts: "With the number of jobs out there,

nobody should be

on public housing unless you're ignorant or lazy." October 2005

We do not want “thugs” and “trash” from New Orleans

public housing projects.

Everyone with dreadlocks or che-wee

hairstyles will be stopped by law enforcement.”

Sheriff Jack StrainSt. Tammany Parish

Noose Around New Orleans for African-American and Moderate Income Renters

New Orleans isMajority Renters

Rents Soar – 39% - 70%

Pre-Katrina, 5000 families lived in public housing

June 2006 - 1040 families allowed to return to public housing

HUD Announces

Demolition of4500

Apartments

Lower 9th Ward No Drinkable Water For One Full

Year

1 Year After - 298,000 people living in FEMA trailers on Gulf Coast

Over 65,000 Families on Gulf240 sq ft. Trailers – Oct 07

Demolition of 4500 affordable apartments by government will give

clear message to private sector about who is welcome back

Criminal Justice

ACLU Report

Abandoned & Abused

Surviving or Looting?

Criminal Courthouse Closed

No Jury Trials

No Witnesses

No Victims

Accused Still Lost in System

6000 criminal case backlog – May 2006

• Judges only in courtrooms part-time• Insufficient #s Public Defenders• Problems with Jail Facilities• Absent retired or quit NOPD officers• Evidence problems• District Attorney problems• Displaced victims, witnesses• Backlog cut to 3000 by October 06;• Backlog cut to 2000 by December 06;

Seven Police Officers Charged with Murder

National GuardStill Patrols New Orleans

Opposition to Affirmative Action

Opposition to Immigrants

Migrant Workers Abuse

June 7, 2006 – UCAL Berkeley & Tulane Report

on Migrant Workers. Half the reconstruction

workers in NOLA is Latino; 54% of group is

undocumented – 87% already living in us at time

of KatrinaRoutinely mistreated.

Migrant WorkersAbuse (cont)

INJUSTICE FOR ALL

Report byAdvancement

Project

Where did the money go?

Tens of billions of $ to be made

2% Rule of Gulf Coast

• 98% of the money distributed in a disaster ends up enriching corporations

• 2% gets to the people.

Example #1 – Blue Tarps on Roof

Example #1 : Blue Tarps – 2%

• SHAW GROUP 1st got $175 a square to put on the tarps.

• Shaw subcontracted the work out to A1 CONSTRUCTION for $75 a square.

• A1 subcontracted the work out to a WESCON corporation for $30 a square.

• Who in turn subcontracted it out again to guys who did the work for $2 a square.

Shaw Group got contract for$175 a square (100 sq ft)

-subcontracts for $75/square earns $100 each square-

average roof is 1500 square feet – 15 squares

X 15

Per roof!

A1 Construction gets $75/square subcontracts out for $30/square

X 15

Per roof!

Roofers get $2 per square (of original $175)

Example #2: Ashbritt Inc of Florida• Received no-bid contract

for $579 million to pick up trash in Mississippi

• Miami Herald reports company does not own a single dump truck!

• MH also reported the company gave $40,000 in previous 12 months to GOP lobbying firm

Example # 3: Circle B Enterprises - Georgia

• Awarded $287 million no-bid contract to build FEMA trailers

• Company filed for bankruptcy year before• Company does not have a website• Company had no license to manufacture

trailers in GA.

Analysis&

Lessons Learned

Lesson:Build and

Re-Build Community

St. Augustine’s Church

Self-Reliance

Value every single life equally

Don’t Wait for a Leader-Become One

Lesson: Prepare for Love-Hate Relationship

with Government

If government works for corporations before

the disaster,why different after?

After disaster is a hyper

corporate friendly environment.

Privatization of New Orleans

• Public Schools to Charter Schools

• Public Housing to Private Developers

• Public Healthcare to Private Providers

• Public Oversight to• Private Oversight

If there is no

struggle,

there is no progress.

Disaster can be a lens to reveal structural injustices in our community

race gender class

Educational opportunity for us to learn about ourselves, our institutions,

and our communities

Justice-based Reconstructionwill NOT be funded

Radical Revolution of

Values

“I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution,

we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values.

We must rapidly begin the shift from a "thing-oriented" society to a "person-oriented" society.

When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and

militarism are incapable of being conquered.”

Martin Luther King, April 4, 1967.

Love is the answer

Justice work is a commitment

for the long haul

Signs of Hope

Our Hearts Must BeTotally Open

to Injustice and Painand

Totally Opento Hope and Love

Wherever you find tragedy and injustice

You will also find

resistance and

inspiration

People Keep Fighting to Come Home

Church Groups Organize e.g. Jeremiah Group

“This is why we joined the service – to help people!”

Those Left Behind When Katrina Hit

Are Being Left Behind Again

How start to combat racism?

Start with the understanding that racism is “hard-wired” into our society

and institutions.

It is like the electric wires in the walls,or the plumbing,

or the air and heat ductwork.

Invisible. Important. Always There.

It is a life-long struggle for justice.

Be willing to move beyond your comfort zone

Transformative Education

Educate Self and Community about history and reality

of the barriers of structural racism

How it affects us,How it affects others.

CREATE a safe environment for open and honest discussion

Study Bishops Pastorals

“Brothers and

Sisters All”

Listen to People of Color

There are resources for

training & expert help

If you have come to help meyou are wasting your time.

But if you have comebecause your liberationis bound up with mine,

then let us struggle together.

Solidarity

Lila Watson – Aboriginal Activist Collective

Justice Challenge? Never Again!

www.loyno.edu/~quigley/