New Orleans--Black Right of Return

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Author Message   Chrishayden "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Chrishayden Post Number: 1811 Registered: 03-2004 Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) Posted on Tuesday, January 31, 2006 - 03:58 pm:        Back to the Radio BC Master Page Home Text of Radio BC audio commentary September 8 2005 New Orleans Population has the Right of Return Listen Now The people of New Orleans have a right to return. It is not too early to say so. In fact, it is imperative that we demand the Right of Return now, before the circumstances of the displacement of this population create facts on the ground that cannot be reversed. We have seen, elsewhere in the world, how those who have been displaced are effectively shut out from returning to their origins, and how quickly the public says, well, that’s just water under the bridge – or over the levee. Others, newcomers, will benefit from the tragedy of the previous population’s displacement. This cannot be allowed to occur in New Orleans. Not only does the Black two-thirds of the city have the right to return, but the federal government has an obligation to direct every resource to making it possible and practical for them to return, and to live productive lives in the city from which they were driven. The circumstances of displacement are clear. The Bush regime set New Orleans up for a fall, cutting back on funding for the levees in every year of George Bush’s administration. The scenario for precisely the catastrophe that Hurricane Katrina wrought was played out in a regional and federal computerized hurricane war game, just last year, involving a hypothetical Hurricane called “Pam.” The Bush men chose to ignore the data. In legal terms, they showed a depraved indifference to human life – or worse. After the deluge, this official depravity was compounded by the Bush men’s indifference – or worse – to the plight of those who had no choice but to stay in New Orleans. The facts of federal depravity are so manifest, there is no need to elaborate in this commentary. But the New Orleans diaspora is spreading, uncharted, with no paper trail, and only an ad hoc, improvised charitable money trail. The displaced persons of New Orleans, like the Blanche DuBois character in the Tennessee Williams play, “Streetcar Named Desire,” are now largely dependent on “the kindness of strangers.” That is nothing to celebrate about. The people of New Orleans have the right to be made whole, again. They are citizens, wounded by their own government. The rights of citizens cannot be privatized, or churched-out, or Salvation-Armyed out. All help is appreciated, but we must also focus on rights – the right to not be permanently displaced by depraved government policies or the corporate greed that will certainly try to swallow New Orleans whole – just as whole as did the waters of Lake Pontchartrain. Displacement based on race is a form of genocide, as recognized under the Geneva Conventions. Destruction of a people’s culture, by official action or depraved inaction, is an offense against humanity, under international law. New Orleans – the whole city, and its people – is an indispensable component of African American culture and history. It is clear that the displaced people of New Orleans are being outsourced – to everywhere, and nowhere. They are not nowhere people. They are citizens of the United States, which is obligated to right the wrongs of the Bush regime, and it’s unnatural disaster. Charity is fine. Rights are better. The people of New Orleans have the Right to Return – on Uncle Sam’s tab. For Radio BC, I’m Glen Ford. You can visit the Radio BC page to listen to any of our audio commentaries voiced by Co-Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, Glen Ford. We publish the text of the radio commentary each week along with the audio program. Your comments are always welcome. Visit the Contact Us page to send e-Mail or Feedback or Click here to send e-Mail to Publisher@BlackCommentator.com e-Mail re-print notice If you send us an e-Mail message we may publish all or part of it, unless you tell us it is not for publication. You may also request that we withhold your name. Thank you very much for your readership. Home   Anunaki3600 "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Anunaki3600 Post Number: 140 Registered: 04-2005 Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) Posted on Wednesday, February 01, 2006 - 02:57 am:        If poor Black people from N.O. get better opportunities in other cities, they should not go back to N.O. where there are no jobs and better housing and opportunities waiting for them. Americans always move to greener pastures. My two cents.   Chrishayden "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Chrishayden Post Number: 1812 Registered: 03-2004 Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) Posted on Wednesday, February 01, 2006 - 02:07 pm:        That's fine--what about those who own real property there--should they just let people take it?   Abm "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Abm Post Number: 4125 Registered: 04-2004 Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) Posted on Thursday, February 02, 2006 - 12:14 am:        Chris, I think foks should get whatever they can for their property. But, really, if you're NOT going to be able to get in on the moneymaking end of the New Orleans' new ecomonic paradigm, you're probably going to end up being treated like a cheap prostitute...which apparently is how A LOT of Black foks were being treated PRIOR to Katrina.