Katrina Law & Social Justice

Katrina: Law and Social Justice

Today on Gulf Coast

One-Third of New Orleans not yet receiving mail – not back;

60% of children not back in public school in New Orleans;

50,000 families received federal rebuilding funds – out of 184,000 applicants;

First! Thank you to all who did so very very much Without you…?

Self Reliance

Build and Re-Build Community

Advancement Project

August 29, 2005

Officials already knew that: 27% of people in NOLA did not have access to a car 100,000 people 27% of NOLA lived below poverty line

25% of New Orleans Do Not Own Car

Hyatt Hotel

August 30, 2005

More than 100 reported dead in Mississippi

Slabbed

Lower Ninth Ward Before Katrina

Lower Ninth After Levee Failure

Sand deposits Warrington Drive – London Canal

flood inundation source: USGS

Who was left behind?

8300 Prisoners Left in Cells

ACLU Report Abandoned & Abused

Congress later estimated that at least 78,000 people were left behind

Many Never Made It Out 1,700 direct deaths

Thousands More “Aftershock” Deaths

One Million Displaced

City of New Orleans Closed Indefinitely

Race & Katrina Gender & Katrina Class & Katrina (Property Ownership) Cannot understand Katrina Without Analysis

Surviving or Looting?

3 Days After Katrina

“ As we approached the bridge, armed Gretna sheriffs formed a line across the foot of the bridge.

“ Before we were close enough to speak, they began firing their weapons over our heads.”

Jefferson Parish Council Unanimously Supported Action

Ronald Madison – Shot 7 times, 5 times in the Back

Lance Madison – Filing Civil Rights Action

Immediate Federal Response

Federal Emergency Management Agency “Heck of a job, Brownie!”

Brown prior job? Horse Association

How can you respond to a disaster in a country that does not believe in universal health care?

September 8, 2005 President Suspends Davis-Bacon Prevailing Wage Law

September 8, 2005 President Suspends Affirmative Action Requirement of contractors

September 16, 2005 – “From Tragedy to Triumph: Principled Solutions for Rebuilding Lives and Communities” Have Private Sector Respond – Not Government Vouchers & Choice in Public Education Eliminate Capital Tax on Investments Repeal Clean Air Act to speed re-building oil & gas Reduce EPA rules for refineries Open Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Rebuild schools, bridges, water & sanitation with private sector Repeal Estate Tax

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

In Long Beach, MS, Shelter

US Marshalls & Mississippi Law Enforcement

Pulled Out 60 “Latino-looking” People

Given Hours to Leave For Atlanta, Houston, or Mexico

Some Red Cross Shelters Flatly Denied Assistance to Foreign Born

Scope of Damage Mississippi Louisiana Alabama Florida

Katrina Damaged 90,000 Square Miles Area from Boston to Baltimore Inland hundreds of miles

300,000 homes uninhabitable

Feet of Water Black – over 10 Dark red – 8 to 10 f Red – 6 to 8 Yellow – 4 to 6 Blue - 2 to 4 Green 0-2

Black & Poor Neighborhoods Suffered Disproportionate Flood Damages – Lower Elevation

Early Warnings Not Everyone Welcome Back NOT WANTED

“ 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

“ The new city must be something very different… with better services and fewer poor people. "Those who want to see this city rebuilt want to see it done in a completely different way: demographically , geographically and politically ," WSJ September 8, 2005

“ New Orleans is not going to be as black as it was for a long time, if ever again," Alphonso Jackson, Sec. of HUD.

St. Bernard Parish: September 2005 Rent Only to Blood Relatives Ordinance

204,000 People Lost Their Jobs September 2005

Environmental Impact?

Major Water Problems New Orleans Losing More Water Than Using

Lawyers Volunteer 24/7 to Identify Unknown Prisoners

Phyllis Mann – interviewed over 2400 prisoners herself by September 13, 2005.

USDC Civil Rights Action for Release of Misdemeanor Women

Sep 20, 2005 federal civil rights action filed for misdemeanor women sent to Angola state prison – Paula Cobb, Nick Trenticosta, Carol Sobel

110 Public Schools Destroyed or Severely Damaged

September 15, 2005 School 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

October 2005

One-third New Orleans Opens Up: French Quarter, CBD, Uptown, Algiers

October 2, 2005 Water still being pumped out of 9 th Ward

First (highest land) back? Least black.

Governor Issues Executive Order Waiving Charter School Start-up Rules – October 2005 School Board then converts all 13 schools on dry side of river into charter schools

NOT WANTED "As a practical matter, these poor folks don't have the resources to go back to our city just like they didn't have the resources to get out of our city. So we won't get all those folks back. That's just a fact." Canizaro – October 2005

October 25, 2005 Governor Lifts Stay of Evictions

Waves of Evictions Hit New Orleans

Civil Courthouse Closed

Eviction hearings scheduled 60 miles away from New Orleans

Injunction granted against court by court

Federal challenge to LA eviction laws – tacking 3 day notice

Criminal Courthouse Closed No Jury Trials No Witnesses No Victims Accused Still Lost in System

Criminal Evidence Room: Chest-deep Water

UN Human Rights Special Raporteur Visits

“ Shocking” “Gross violation of Human Rights.” “If USA, richest country in history of world, can rebuild Afghanistan and Iraq, why not New Orleans?”

Right to Return

International Human Rights Law

UN High Commission on Human Rights

Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement

Every human being shall have the right to be protected against being arbitrarily displaced from his or her home or place of habitual residence

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

October 30, 2005 Lower 9 th Ward – Still Not Drained – No residents allowed in

November 2005

54 members of Congress, including ALL the members of the Congressional Black Caucus co-sponsor HR 4197, Hurricane Katrina Recovery Act Goes Nowhere

Refusal to Reopen Public Hospital –that saw 350,000 a year

Los Angeles Times: low income African Americans more likely to land farther away from the city when displaced –

St. Bernard? 193 Miles Away

Lower 9 th Ward? 349 Miles Away

NAACP LDF & Civil Rights Advocates file Voting Rights Action

LA Secretary of State: “299,000 voters in N.O. not back”

This is New (better) Normal & “Let’s move on.” versus The Right to Return

LA Legislature Strips NO School Board of 102 Schools

Largest Union in Louisiana United Teachers of New Orleans DECERTIFIED after 35 years 7500 people lose jobs

FEMA - November 15, 2005 Quit paying for housing for nearly 60,000 homeless Katrina families residing in government paid hotel and motel rooms.

X 60,000

McWaters v FEMA to halt FEMA evictions

*4500 hours of pro bono legal work by 20 lawyers private firm

Lawyers Committee Civil Rights & Public Interest Law Project

Who is coming back? November 2005 Urban Land Institute announces division of New Orleans into three zones – including one – return to nature

1878 New Orleans 200,000 people

city of history source: Campanella 2002, ULI Analysis 2000 1949 1920 1880 1722 Legend

December 2005

Protests & Litigation

9 th Ward Opened to residents for “look see” only

December 2005 Governor postpones New Orleans elections Times-Picayune calls foul Need swift elections to show normalcy “They did it in Baghdad.”

Christmas Eve – 2005 City of New Orleans announces plans to bulldoze houses without notice

Federal constitutional case filed with Advancement Project

Report on Housing Discrimination against Katrina survivors released

January 2006

Demands for Change

Voting rights advocates lose battle for easier absentee & satellite voting

February 2006

New Orleans Elections Held

Voter turnout low - more than 10% below usual mayoral turnout and more than 40% below turnout November 2004 presidential election

Black neighborhoods lost 6-7 points of share in electorate, down from 63% in 2002 and 2004 to 57% in 2006.

In white undamaged areas like French quarter and garden district turnout was up

Results of Election “ reshape the political map of the city by suppressing the vote in the poorest and blackest neighborhoods.” John R. Logan, Brown University

Feb 2006- Louisiana law enforcement personnel were so concerned about evacuees that they convened interagency meetings with State Police and Local Police to plan evictions of 12,000 families from hotels .

Pre-Katrina 22 Hospitals Feb 2006 - 7

Pre-Katrina there were 53,000 hospital beds February 2006 there were 15,000 Waits of more than 8 hours in emergency not uncommon.

March 2006 6 months after Katrina

UC-Berkeley International Human Rights Law Clinic

Hearing before Organization of American States – March 2006

One third of city homes using electricity 15% of public schools open Katrina Index – February 2006

April 2006

Ninth Ward – April 2006

FEMA Trailers & Health Report - April 2006

FEMA Trailers are 240 square feet

Impact on Children?

Nearly half of the parents surveyed reported that at least one of their children had emotional or behavioral difficulties that the child didn't have before the hurricane

More than half the women caregivers showed evidence of clinically-diagnosed psychiatric problems, such as depression or anxiety disorders

Households have moved average of 3.5 times since the hurricane, some as many as nine times, often across state lines

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

Unloading Ambulances

Nationally, average of 20 minutes to take a patient from an ambulance waiting in front of a hospital to emergency room.

In the New Orleans area load times are usually 2 hours, but sometimes more.

Longest report is 6 hours, 40 minutes, of a patient waiting in ER driveway to receive care.

No criminal or civil jury trials yet – April 2006 6000 awaiting criminal trials

Vietnamese Community Fights Landfill

May 2006

25,000 students in 53 schools 6 traditional 17 state 34 charter

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

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;

June 2006

Pre-Katrina, 5000 families lived in public housing

June 2006 - 1040 families allowed to return to public housing

HUD Announces

Demolition of

4500 Apartments

Class Action USDC Filed on behalf of 4500 families displaced from public housing

June 2006, Black evacuees nearly 5 times more likely to be unemployed than white evacs, - U.S. Department of Labor.

Suicide Rate Triples

Lost Half Psychiatrists

Lost Half Psychologists

Lost Half Social Workers NYT June 2006

Pre-Katrina 450 Psych Beds in Metro Area – Now 80

First Criminal Jury Trial!

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 Katrina Routinely mistreated.

UN Human Rights Committee

142 human rights organizations present 22 shadow reports to UN on Katrina violations

UC Berkeley International Human Rights Clinic submits human rights report

New Orleans organizations and people present to UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva

July 2006

Migrant Workers Abuse (cont) INJUSTICE FOR ALL Report by Advancement Project

Migrant Workers

Tens of thousands of migrant workers to Gulf Coast to work in the recovery.

Many were recruited, promised good wages and working conditions and plenty of work.

Some paid money up front for chance to come to work.

Most of these promises were broken.

Many Latino workers live in houses without electricity, other live out of cars.

Whole families are living in tents.

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 Strain St. Tammany Parish

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

UN Human Rights Committee Issues Report “ Poor People and African Americans Disadvantaged under USA Rescue, Evacuation & Reconstruction” July 2006

August 2006 1 Year

August 2006 – Ninth Ward

Lower 9 th Ward No Drinkable Water For One Full Year

Half Homes in NO Still Not Hooked Up to Electricity

Dramatic Reduction in Public Transportation – 83%

Population of New Orleans – 1 Year Later

Pre-Katrina population was 454,000.

One year later 187,000.

African-American dropped by 61 percent or 213,000 people. Pre-Katrina 302,000 down to 89,000. LRA

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.

On Gulf Coast 298,000 people living in FEMA trailers August 2006

Blue Cross: “3/4 of physicians in New Orleans gone.” One Year After Katrina

Half the Hospitals in New Orleans Remain Closed – 1 Year After

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

250,000 Displaced in Texas

Texas, summer 06, hosting over 250,000 displaced; 41% income less than $500 per month. 81% black, 59% still jobless, most one child at home.

150,000 in Houston Alone

100,000 Displaced in Georgia 80,000 in Atlanta Most need Long-term Housing and Mental Health Services

Half the Groceries in NOLA still closed

Dramatic Reduction in Day Care

Dramatic Reduction in Public Education, Healthcare, Housing, Transportation, & Childcare Equals Reduction in African American Women Workers in NO - From 51,000 to 17,000

Where did the money go?

Where did $ go? – 1 year report

$100 billion total

$50 billion temporary and long-term housing.

$30 billion emergency response & Dept of Defense.

$18 billion was for State and local response and the rebuilding of infrastructure.

$3.6 billion was for health, social services and job training and $3.2 for non-housing cash assistance.

$1.9 billion was allocated for education and

$1.2 billion for agriculture.

Who Got the Disaster Contracts?

Afghanistan, Iraq, Katrina?

Halliburton

CH2M Hill

Bechtel

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 1 st 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.

If government works for corporations before the disaster, why different after? After disaster is a hyper corporate friendly environment.

Example #4: Biloxi Moved Casinos Ashore Evicting Low-Income People From Homes

Congress allocated $10 billion in Community Development Block Grants, Louisiana has not yet distributed dollar number one.

Dan Farber & Jim Chen publish DISASTERS and the LAW

September 2006

Superdome is Opened - $180 Million Public Hospitals? Public Schools? Public Housing?

Privatization of New Orleans

Public Schools to Charter Schools

Public Housing to Private Developers

Public Healthcare to Private Providers

Public Oversight to

Private Oversight

School Starts

Disaster in RSD public schools

Charters looking good

October 2006

9 th Ward Gets Drinkable Water

Water system problems

New Orleans loses more water through faulty pipes and joints in the delivery system than it is using. More than 135 million gallons are being pumped out daily but only 50 million gallons are being used, leaving 85 million gallons

The daily cost of the water leaking away in thousands of leaks is about $200,000 a day.

November 2006

November 1, 2006, 18 received CDBG money to fix homes, 77,000 homeowners applied

Example # 5 – Disaster Capitalism

$200 million in CDBG $ to bail out a private utility corporation, Entergy New Orleans.

Parent Entergy Inc. reported a net cash flow of $777 million dollars for the third quarter of 2006.

Louisiana is saying this $200 million in CDBG funds counts as low and moderate income people of New Orleans – most not even back.

High School Entrance

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.

December 2006

Tiny % CDBG Going to Renters

84,000 rental units were destroyed or suffered major damage (41% of the total housing) only 15% of the $10 billion program is to be spent on rental units. That is going to landlords.

New Hurricane Problem “ DEADLINE SET FOR REMOVING FEMA TRAILERS” December 14, 2006

Homicides Soar

New Orleans had 63.5 slayings per 100,000 residents in 2006

57 homicides per 100,000 residents in 2004.

National homicide average is 1.85 per 100,000

Seven Police Officers Charged with Murder

January 2007

Federal suits filed to open public schools & stop wait list

RSD = Rest of the School District

“ We wanted charter schools to open and take the majority of the students. That didn't happen, and now we have the responsibility of educating the 'leftover' children."

February 2007

Problems in Public Schools

February 2007 – 300+ no room in schools

Long delays in textbooks

Unreliable transportation system

Vacant teaching jobs

Little IDEA education

March 2007

Housing Protests Continue

April 2007

57.5% of Landlords in Metro Area Discriminate Against African- Americans April 2007 Greater N.O. Fair Housing Action Center

Over 70,000 Families in Gulf in 240 sq ft. Trailers – April 07

Homeowners in New Orleans Oppose Rebuilding Section 8 Apartments

USDC Class Action v FEMA Termination and Recoupment

May 2007

June 2007

24,910 approved for Federal Housing Rehab $ out of 142,000 applicants – June 07

In-state voting rejected

In June 2007, the Louisiana Senate rejected a filed bill by an African American Senator to allow in-state displaced voters to vote in the governor’s race in fall 2007 as they did for the mayoral election in 2006.

NOT!

July 2007

Fight for Public Housing Continues

Fight for Public Health continues

Environmental Struggle Continues

Fight for public schools continues

August 2007

Some People Making Big Money, Not Victims

Federal Class Action filed To prevent mistaken and no notice demolition of homes in New Orleans

National Guard Still Patrols New Orleans

Katrina Human Rights Tribunal

20,000 purged from voter rolls

The Louisiana Secretary of State announced in August 2007 that he had deleted 20,000 former Louisiana residents from voter rolls after a computer search matched people who were registered to vote in Louisiana with names of people registered in other states. Some of those registered in other states never knew they had registered to vote there – they had apparently registered when they signed up to get drivers licenses, according to Orleans Registrar of Voters Sandra Wilson.

Voter Purge Challenged in USDC

LA looks to lose 1 of 7 congressional seats