Conclusion
He sacrificed New Orleans. He cut that 17th
bridge, because you’ve got to sacrifice
something. Donald Trump is putting the tower
on Canal Street downtown and they
saved the French Quarter and the Garden
District, the historical areas, the rich people,
where the money is coming from, casinos and
all that. And they drowned out all the
poor people and the lower-middle class working
people . . . And they do that all over the country, not just in New Orleans . .
. they do stuff and then they lie, lie, lie.[1]
Since Katrina a number of interviews
with residents affected by the storm have been used to argue for and against
discrimination when it came to helping the people of New Orleans. One such
article is ‘"They Blew the Levee": Distrust of Authorities Among Hurricane Katrina Evacuees’ published in the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and
Underserved which presents
the idea that certain neighbourhoods were overlooked because of the type of people who lived there: “preparations
or response were performed ineffectively or slowly because of the race or
socioeconomic composition.” The authors take into consideration past events
such as the 1927 flood where levees were deliberately blown up to protect the
wealthy which resulted in the destruction of the poor neighbourhoods, and are
of the belief that the event has added to the distrust in government that
certain areas of New Orleans have today because of local history: “this event
lives on in the memories and oral history of the residents of the deliberately
flooded areas.” This journal article supports what my thesis has been
highlighting, that the local government has focused on areas that are of
economic value to them rather than the residential areas. Many of the 58 adults
interviewed who were directly affected by Katrina, expressed distrust of the
government and felt that more people could have been helped but were not
because of either their race or their financial situation: “They knock a hole in the levy over
here and knock these people out of pocket, destroy them, and keep the big money
in[2].”
While the number of people interviewed for
this article is relatively small so cannot be considered the majority opinion
of New Orleanians, it can be used in conjunction with other resources and
material I have used throughout my thesis to come to the conclusion that some
neighbourhoods, particularly The 9th Ward has been let down and
neglected by authorities with promises made to them being continually broken by
not just local but federal government.
While on my ethnographic visit I asked a number
of people to anonymously answer a questionnaire (see appendix) which asked
broad questions on Katrina such as; if they were affected by the storm, which
communities they thought were most affected and if the different levels of
government responded and acted as quickly as they should have. Of the twelve
people who responded, ten believed that neither the local nor the state
government acted as quickly as they should have and eleven said that the
Presidential government did not respond as quickly as possible. One native to
New Orleans in response to ‘What lessons do you think we should have learned
from Katrina?’ put an answer which agrees with my argument that the government
put its own interests before that of the city and did not treat all residents
and neighbourhoods as equal:
Treat all our residents with dignity and
respect. Don’t track our communities. Don’t trash talk our communities. Don’t
make assumptions about who should or shouldn’t be allowed to return. Restore
ALL public services first – don’t use money or politics as a reason to restore
or not restore some services.
As mentioned in chapter three, George Bush
promised New Orleans would be rebuilt and not forgotten until it was finished
but in the years after Katrina it became apparent that he did not intend to
keep to his word. A spending bill in 2007 which was going to give $6.4 billion
to hurricane recovery was almost vetoed by Bush because it had Iraq issues tied
in with it which took precedence, leading to more feelings that New Orleans was
being neglected and in this case overlooked for issues abroad which were more
important than those at home. Eventually the bill was passed and New Orleans
received $1.3 billion[3]
but the on-going war in Iraq was given $99.5 billion in comparison. In addition
to this not long after the flood, CNN reported on how $13 million of Katrina
levee fund money was being used to build a museum dedicated to the Army Corp of
Engineers the corporation responsible for the faulty levees that allowed
Katrina to cause so much damage: “Taxpayers get stuck with a $13 million bill to honor a government
agency that's responsible for these levees[4].
“
My thesis is a small part of a much wider
narrative, in addition to being a contemporary and on-going topic which means
that a precise conclusion cannot be reached as events occurring make the subject
continually develop and grow. However, from my work it can be established that
New Orleans East has been disregarded by the city in favour of more financially
favourable ventures, but whether or not corrupt officials are to blame for slow
progress in rebuilding is an issue yet to be resolved.
[1] Cordasco, K. M., Eisenman, D. P., Glik, D.C., Golden,
J.F., ‘They Blew the Levees: Distrust of Authorities Among Hurricane Katrina
Evacuees,’ Journal of Healthcare for the
Poor and Underserved, no. 2 (2007): 277-282.
[2] Cordasco, K. M., Eisenman, D. P.,
Glik, D.C., Golden, J.F., ‘They Blew the Levees: Distrust of Authorities Among
Hurricane Katrina Evacuees,’ Journal of
Healthcare for the Poor and Underserved, no. 2 (2007): 277-282.
[3]
Times Picayune. 2007. Iraq, hurricane recovery
spending bill approved. [ONLINE] Available at: http://blog.nola.com/times-picayune/2007/05/iraq_hurricane_recovery_spendi.html.
[Accessed 25 February 13].
[4]
CNN. 2005. CCN.com Transcripts. [ONLINE] Available
at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0512/06/acd.01.html. [Accessed 25
February 13].
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