CoungterPunch - Sep 2, 2005
http://www.counterpunch.org/ford09022005.html
The Politics of Displacement
Will the "New" New Orleans be Black?
By GLEN FORD
The Black Commentator
One of the premiere Black cities in the nation faces catastrophe. There
is no doubt in my mind that New Orleans will one day rise again from its
below sea level foundations. The question is, will the new New Orleans
remain the two-thirds Black city it was before the levees crumbled?
Some would say it is unseemly to speak of politics and race in the
presence of a massive calamity that has destroyed the lives and
prospects of so many people from all backgrounds. But I beg to differ.
As we have witnessed, over and over again, the rich and powerful are
very quick to reward themselves as soon as disaster presents the
opportunity.
Remember that within days of 9/11, the Bush regime executed a
multi-billion dollar bailout for the airline industry. By the time you
hear this commentary, they may have already used the New Orleans
disaster to bail out the insurance industry - one of the richest
businesses on the planet. But what of the people of New Orleans, 67
percent of whom are Black?
New Orleans is a poor city. Twenty-eight percent of the population lives
below the poverty line. Well over half are renters, and the median value
of homes occupied by owners is only $87,000.
From the early days of the flood, it was clear that much of the city's
housing stock would be irredeemably damaged. The insurance industry may
get a windfall of federal relief, but the minority of New Orleans home
owners will get very little - even if they are insured. The renting
majority may get nothing.
If the catastrophe in New Orleans reaches the apocalyptic dimensions
towards which it appears to be headed, there will be massive
displacement of the Black and poor. Poor people cannot afford to hang
around on the fringes of a city until the powers-that-be come up with a
plan to accommodate them back to the jurisdiction.
And we all know that the prevailing model for urban development is to
get rid of poor people. The disaster provides an opportunity to deploy
this model in New Orleans on a citywide scale, under the guise of
rebuilding the city and its infrastructure.
In place of the jobs that have been washed away, there could be
alternative employment through a huge, federally funded rebuilding
effort. But this is George Bush's federal government. Does anyone
believe that the Bush men would mandate that priority employment go to
the pre-flood, mostly Black population of the city. And the Black mayor
of New Orleans is a Democrat in name only, a rich businessman, no friend
of the poor.
What we may see in the coming months is a massive displacement of Black
New Orleans, to the four corners of the nation. The question that we
must pose, repeatedly and in the strongest terms, is: Through whose
vision, and in whose interest, will New Orleans rise again.
[Glen Ford is Co-Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the Black Commentator,
where this editorial originally appeared.]
Serbian News Network - SNN
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http://www.antic.org/
