katrina law & social justice
DESCRIPTION
Human rights lawyer and law professor Bill Quigley's presentation on social justice and Katrina.TRANSCRIPT
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…?
SelfReliance
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
HyattHotel
August 30, 2005
More than 100 reported dead in Mississippi
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
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 & KatrinaGender & KatrinaClass & Katrina
(Property Ownership)
Cannot understand KatrinaWithout 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
FederalEmergency
ManagementAgency
“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, 2005President Suspends Davis-Bacon
Prevailing Wage Law
September 8, 2005President 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 GovernmentVouchers & Choice in Public EducationEliminate Capital Tax on Investments
Repeal Clean Air Act to speed re-building oil & gasReduce EPA rules for refineries
Open Arctic National Wildlife RefugeRebuild 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 DamageMississippiLouisianaAlabamaFlorida
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 NeighborhoodsSuffered 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 24/7to 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, 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
October 2005
One-third New Orleans Opens Up: French Quarter, CBD,
Uptown, Algiers
October 2, 2005Water still being pumped out
of 9th 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, 2005Governor 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, 2005Lower 9th 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 9th 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.”
versusThe Right to Return
LA Legislature Strips NO School Board of 102 Schools
Largest Union in LouisianaUnited Teachers of New Orleans
DECERTIFIEDafter 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 2005Urban Land Institute
announces division of New Orleans into three zones –
including one – return to nature
1878New
Orleans
200,000people
2000
1949
1920
1880
1722
Legend
city of history
source: Campanella 2002, ULI Analysis
December 2005
Protests & Litigation
9th Ward Opened to residents for “look see” only
December 2005Governor postpones New
Orleans elections
Times-Picayune calls foul
Need swift elections to show normalcy
“They did it in Baghdad.”
Christmas Eve – 2005City of New Orleans announces
plans to bulldoze houses without notice
Federal constitutional case filedwith Advancement Project
Report on Housing
Discrimination against Katrina
survivors released
January2006
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 HospitalsFeb 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 20066 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 of4500
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 KatrinaRoutinely 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 WorkersAbuse (cont)
INJUSTICE FOR ALL
Report byAdvancement
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 StrainSt. Tammany Parish
Noose Around New Orleans for African-American and Moderate Income Renters
UN Human Rights CommitteeIssues Report
“Poor People and African Americans Disadvantaged
under USA Rescue, Evacuation &
Reconstruction”
July 2006
August 20061 Year
August 2006 – Ninth Ward
Lower 9th 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 AtlantaMost 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?
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.
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
9th 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 AreaDiscriminate
Against African-
Americans
April 2007Greater N.O. Fair Housing Action Center
Over 70,000 Families in Gulf in 240 sq ft. Trailers – April 07
Homeowners in New OrleansOppose 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 GuardStill 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.
LA looks to lose 1 of 7 congressional seats
• Louisiana is likely to lose one of its seven congressional seats due to loss of population according to 2006 Census population estimates.
September 2007
U Cal BerkeleyPledges to Rebuild Gulf
Coast
Signs of Hope
“This is why we joined the service
– to help people!”
Our Hearts Must BeTotally Open
to Injustice and Painand
Totally Opento Hope and Love
Community Organizations Pushe.g. ACORN
Church Groups Organize e.g. Jeremiah Group
People Keep Fighting to Come Home
AuthoritiesListen
to the People
(just kidding)
Guest Workers Organize and Protest Passport Confiscations
Our Friends = Solidarity
InternationalConnections
Human RightsAnalysis
The Right to Return
Five Weeks After KatrinaSoutheast Asia Earthquake
- 73,000 People DiedMillions Homeless
October 5, 2005 – Kashmir
Response?
Increased attention to environment
Those Left Behind When Katrina Hit
Are Being Left Behind Again
Justice Challenge? Never Again!
www.loyno.edu/~quigley/