levees
GRITtv: Rebuilding New Orleans: Promises and Pain
"We can't spray dispersant on poor people and expect they go away," Tracie Washington says, calling attention at once to the plight of the people of New Orleans, still struggling to rebuild, and the ongoing issues with the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico. ; Like the oil that BP claims to have cleaned up, the problems left behind by Hurricane Katrina are still there, just a little bit harder to see.It's been five years now since the levees broke, and the changes to New Orleans are many: around 150,000 people haven't been able to return, the city has more charter schools than anywhere in the country, and it's not hard to guess who's been left behind by the policies. Bill Quigley of the Center for Constitutional Rights and Tracie Washington join us to discuss the challenges New Orleans faces, half a decade after the storm.
Email this pageGRITtv: August 30, 2010
"We can't spray dispersant on poor people and expect they go away," Tracie Washington says, calling attention at once to the plight of the people of New Orleans, still struggling to rebuild, and the ongoing issues with the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico. ; Like the oil that BP claims to have cleaned up, the problems left behind by Hurricane Katrina are still there, just a little bit harder to see.It's been five years now since the levees broke, and the changes to New Orleans are many: around 150,000 people haven't been able to return, the city has more charter schools than anywhere in the country, and it's not hard to guess who's been left behind by the policies. Bill Quigley of the Center for Constitutional Rights and Tracie Washington join us to discuss the challenges New Orleans faces, half a decade after the storm. Actress Melissa Leo didn't know much about New Orleans before moving there to shoot a season of HBO's Tremé, but she quickly fell in love with the city, its music, and its resilient people. The show's focus on the music and culture of the city has brought national attention once again to the unique jazz scene, and filming in New Orleans has brought money and jobs to a city badly in need of both. Melissa joins us via Skype to talk about her experience in New Orleans as an outsider, and why it's important for pop culture to remind us of people's struggles. Finally, Laura has some thoughts about what we can do to make sure that the next time disaster strikes, there's help for all affected.
GRITtv: The F Word: Man-Made Disaster in New Orleans
This week a federal district judge finally ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers was indeed responsible for part of the devastation in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward and parts of St. Bernard Parish. The failure of the Corps to recognize the hazards wetland destruction had created was "clearly negligent on the part of the Corps," said U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval Jr. No judgment, of course, will bring back the Ninth Ward, which years after Katrina and Rita is still largely a ghost town. But this acknowledgment that the destruction didn't have to happen is important. You want national security? Stimulus? Jobs? That's it, and this is the time.
