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This Message Is Reprinted Under The Fair Use
Doctrine Of International Copyright Law:
_http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html_
(http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html)
************************************************** ************
FROM: INDIAN COUNTRY TODAY NEWSPAPER
_http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?feature=yes&id=1096411520_
(http://www.indiancountry.com/content...&id=1096411520)
New Orleans Lessons Mirror American History
(javascript:PrintWindow();) Posted: September 06, 2005 by: _Brenda
Norrell_ (http://www.indiancountry.com/author.cfm?id=448) / Indian Country Today
_Click to Enlarge_ (http://www.indiancountry.com/pix/1096411520_large.jpg)
(http://www.indiancountry.com/pix/1096411520_large.jpg) KRT photo by
Jim Macmillan/Philadelphia Daily News HOUSTON, Texas - Thousands of evacuees
from Hurricane Katrina remain sheltered on the floor of the Astrodome in
Houston, Texas, on Sept. 5. Analysis
NEW ORLEANS - President Bush and members of Congress vowed to begin probes
into the delayed response of the emergency evacuation of New Orleans in the aft
ermath of Hurricane Katrina.
As stranded people waved for rescue with no help in sight the week after the
hurricane struck southeastern Louisiana, Jefferson Parish President Aaron
Broussard said, ''We have been abandoned by our own country ... Bureaucracy has
committed murder here in the greater New Orleans area, and bureaucracy has
to stand trial before Congress now.''
Now described by reporters as the ''soggy tomb'' that was once the vibrant
city of New Orleans, American Indian activists say racism within the U.S.
government was exposed in the face of human misery in the aftermath of the
hurricane.
New Orleans' survivors were still waiting on rooftops six days later to be
rescued. Elderly drowned in nursing homes waiting to be saved from rising
waters. In the Superdome, three babies died from heat exhaustion, women were
raped, one man committed suicide and another was beaten to death with a pipe.
Corpses were thrown out the door because of the stench, evacuees inside the
Superdome told television reporters.
Thousands rescued were placed under a bridge for days and then, when they
searched for food, faced guns pointed at them, evacuees said.
The U.S. surgeon general warned those remaining in New Orleans, and refusing
to evacuate during the second week, of the contaminated water.
Described by health officials as ''toxic sewage,'' the flood waters
contained dead bodies, feces, petroleum and garbage - creating a breeding ground for
infectious diseases. The coastline area was already home to rats,
mosquitoes, alligators and poisonous snakes.
More than 90 percent of those who remained in the flooding city were black
and other minorities.
American Indians are among the poor in New Orleans and other storm-ravaged
cities.
Robert Free Galvan, offering his home to a dozen Mississippi Choctaw willing
to relocate to Seattle, said American Indians have experienced the racism
that hurricane refugees now face.
''Indians have a long history of slow federal response to any crisis in
Indian country and a long history of being the last to get help,'' Galvan told
Indian Country Today.
Farrell Jerome Davidson, Mississippi Choctaw sociology student at the
University of New Mexico, said the long waits to be rescued on New Orleans'
rooftops exposed racism.
''It is still here in America. It is a different form of racism, but it is
obvious,'' said Davidson.
Davidson's home community of Tucker, Miss., was among the tribal communities
recovering from downed trees and power lines. Water and telephone service to
Tucker, five miles south of Philadelphia, had not been restored by Sept. 5,
Labor Day.
''Carter Camp, Ponca tribal member from Oklahoma and longtime American
Indian activist, said, ''Indian people are an invisible minority across the South,
but we're there.''
Camp said his cousin retired in New Orleans after a lifetime spent working
the offshore oil fields. Now, his house is gone, but fortunately he evacuated
in time to save his life.
''We live on and off reservations across the south and our people suffer
even worse discrimination than most because of our small numbers and political
weakness in southern states,'' Camp told ICT.
''But the truth is the infamous 'relocation policy' of the BIA means that
Indian people are present among the poor of every major city and state in the
United States.
''So as you watch the masses of poor people struggling to survive the
disaster, just remember some of them are Indians who were first displaced by the
Americans from their homelands and are now doomed to suffer the ravages of
being poor.''
Charles Cambridge, a Navajo holding a doctorate degree and college faculty
member in Denver, was home on the Navajo Nation working on his family land,
without electricity or running water, living in the same conditions into which
many hurricane refugees were cast. When Cambridge saw the news in nearby
Durango, Colo., he was amazed.
''While seeing the television scenes, I grew angry seeing the abandonment of
people, but clearly I understood the reasons why the poor were being
socially discarded.
''My first thoughts were that the poor blacks and others left in New Orleans
would be lucky to survive, given the many Indian experiences of white folks
being racists.''
Cambridge remembers as a child when his parents were asked to leave
businesses in New Mexico and Colorado, businesses which refused to serve Navajos and
other Indians.
''This clear racism, for the most part, has been replaced by an
administrative racism which is not as clear and can easily be hidden by bureaucratic
rules and regulations.
''Time delays are only one aspect of this administrative racism which has
been used against the poor in New Orleans. Time delays and delays in providing
shelter and assistance would never happen if rich white folks were in the
same situation as New Orleans' poor.
''We have so many examples of administrative racism against Indian people
found in tribal governments, the BIA, federal courts and the federal
government. And, for many of us, we can only find refuge in the isolation of the
reservation and the avoidance of white people.
''Many of us are without electricity, running water, sewage facilities and
other modern conveniences that are normal for white people. Being poor, having
a different skin color and being a part of a defined difference in social
class, only brands us for racism.''
''As I work on my outhouse next week, I will be thinking that there is very
little difference between the poor blacks of New Orleans and the Indian poor
on the non-casino reservations.
Andrew R. Marsh, a medical doctor living and working in the New Orleans
region, weathered the storm and served the sick and injured. Marsh told ICT that
racism is not the crux of the problem.
''I am a crazy, humble, warrior medicine man from Cherokee, Okla., and am in
the thick of things,'' Marsh said in an e-mail on Sept. 5.
''As for racism, for shame. There is no, I repeat no racism. We are all
dying. The media has done a grave disservice to all of us in that New Orleans is
flooded and was not the main impact, the levees failed.
''From Slidell, where I am now working east to Biloxi, the coast is gone
with thousands dead, missing and unaccounted for, including tribal members from
Tunica-Biloxi. There are million-dollar white people homes decimated here and
there are no helicopters here assisting them to the degree that you see in
New Orleans,'' Marsh said.
''We need to stop blaming and pointing fingers and need to help each other
with open arms, in the Indian way.''
A spokesperson for the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe in Marksville said all tribal
members were accounted for on Sept. 6.
While some pointed to racism for the lack of rescues during the first week,
others pointed to poor coordination between local, state and federal agencies
and a lack of preparedness by the federal government.
''What if they were white?'' was the question asked by many in Indian
country.
This Message Is Reprinted Under The Fair Use
Doctrine Of International Copyright Law:
_http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html_
(http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html)
************************************************** ************
FROM: INDIAN COUNTRY TODAY NEWSPAPER
_http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?feature=yes&id=1096411520_
(http://www.indiancountry.com/content...&id=1096411520)
New Orleans Lessons Mirror American History
(javascript:PrintWindow();) Posted: September 06, 2005 by: _Brenda
Norrell_ (http://www.indiancountry.com/author.cfm?id=448) / Indian Country Today
_Click to Enlarge_ (http://www.indiancountry.com/pix/1096411520_large.jpg)
(http://www.indiancountry.com/pix/1096411520_large.jpg) KRT photo by
Jim Macmillan/Philadelphia Daily News HOUSTON, Texas - Thousands of evacuees
from Hurricane Katrina remain sheltered on the floor of the Astrodome in
Houston, Texas, on Sept. 5. Analysis
NEW ORLEANS - President Bush and members of Congress vowed to begin probes
into the delayed response of the emergency evacuation of New Orleans in the aft
ermath of Hurricane Katrina.
As stranded people waved for rescue with no help in sight the week after the
hurricane struck southeastern Louisiana, Jefferson Parish President Aaron
Broussard said, ''We have been abandoned by our own country ... Bureaucracy has
committed murder here in the greater New Orleans area, and bureaucracy has
to stand trial before Congress now.''
Now described by reporters as the ''soggy tomb'' that was once the vibrant
city of New Orleans, American Indian activists say racism within the U.S.
government was exposed in the face of human misery in the aftermath of the
hurricane.
New Orleans' survivors were still waiting on rooftops six days later to be
rescued. Elderly drowned in nursing homes waiting to be saved from rising
waters. In the Superdome, three babies died from heat exhaustion, women were
raped, one man committed suicide and another was beaten to death with a pipe.
Corpses were thrown out the door because of the stench, evacuees inside the
Superdome told television reporters.
Thousands rescued were placed under a bridge for days and then, when they
searched for food, faced guns pointed at them, evacuees said.
The U.S. surgeon general warned those remaining in New Orleans, and refusing
to evacuate during the second week, of the contaminated water.
Described by health officials as ''toxic sewage,'' the flood waters
contained dead bodies, feces, petroleum and garbage - creating a breeding ground for
infectious diseases. The coastline area was already home to rats,
mosquitoes, alligators and poisonous snakes.
More than 90 percent of those who remained in the flooding city were black
and other minorities.
American Indians are among the poor in New Orleans and other storm-ravaged
cities.
Robert Free Galvan, offering his home to a dozen Mississippi Choctaw willing
to relocate to Seattle, said American Indians have experienced the racism
that hurricane refugees now face.
''Indians have a long history of slow federal response to any crisis in
Indian country and a long history of being the last to get help,'' Galvan told
Indian Country Today.
Farrell Jerome Davidson, Mississippi Choctaw sociology student at the
University of New Mexico, said the long waits to be rescued on New Orleans'
rooftops exposed racism.
''It is still here in America. It is a different form of racism, but it is
obvious,'' said Davidson.
Davidson's home community of Tucker, Miss., was among the tribal communities
recovering from downed trees and power lines. Water and telephone service to
Tucker, five miles south of Philadelphia, had not been restored by Sept. 5,
Labor Day.
''Carter Camp, Ponca tribal member from Oklahoma and longtime American
Indian activist, said, ''Indian people are an invisible minority across the South,
but we're there.''
Camp said his cousin retired in New Orleans after a lifetime spent working
the offshore oil fields. Now, his house is gone, but fortunately he evacuated
in time to save his life.
''We live on and off reservations across the south and our people suffer
even worse discrimination than most because of our small numbers and political
weakness in southern states,'' Camp told ICT.
''But the truth is the infamous 'relocation policy' of the BIA means that
Indian people are present among the poor of every major city and state in the
United States.
''So as you watch the masses of poor people struggling to survive the
disaster, just remember some of them are Indians who were first displaced by the
Americans from their homelands and are now doomed to suffer the ravages of
being poor.''
Charles Cambridge, a Navajo holding a doctorate degree and college faculty
member in Denver, was home on the Navajo Nation working on his family land,
without electricity or running water, living in the same conditions into which
many hurricane refugees were cast. When Cambridge saw the news in nearby
Durango, Colo., he was amazed.
''While seeing the television scenes, I grew angry seeing the abandonment of
people, but clearly I understood the reasons why the poor were being
socially discarded.
''My first thoughts were that the poor blacks and others left in New Orleans
would be lucky to survive, given the many Indian experiences of white folks
being racists.''
Cambridge remembers as a child when his parents were asked to leave
businesses in New Mexico and Colorado, businesses which refused to serve Navajos and
other Indians.
''This clear racism, for the most part, has been replaced by an
administrative racism which is not as clear and can easily be hidden by bureaucratic
rules and regulations.
''Time delays are only one aspect of this administrative racism which has
been used against the poor in New Orleans. Time delays and delays in providing
shelter and assistance would never happen if rich white folks were in the
same situation as New Orleans' poor.
''We have so many examples of administrative racism against Indian people
found in tribal governments, the BIA, federal courts and the federal
government. And, for many of us, we can only find refuge in the isolation of the
reservation and the avoidance of white people.
''Many of us are without electricity, running water, sewage facilities and
other modern conveniences that are normal for white people. Being poor, having
a different skin color and being a part of a defined difference in social
class, only brands us for racism.''
''As I work on my outhouse next week, I will be thinking that there is very
little difference between the poor blacks of New Orleans and the Indian poor
on the non-casino reservations.
Andrew R. Marsh, a medical doctor living and working in the New Orleans
region, weathered the storm and served the sick and injured. Marsh told ICT that
racism is not the crux of the problem.
''I am a crazy, humble, warrior medicine man from Cherokee, Okla., and am in
the thick of things,'' Marsh said in an e-mail on Sept. 5.
''As for racism, for shame. There is no, I repeat no racism. We are all
dying. The media has done a grave disservice to all of us in that New Orleans is
flooded and was not the main impact, the levees failed.
''From Slidell, where I am now working east to Biloxi, the coast is gone
with thousands dead, missing and unaccounted for, including tribal members from
Tunica-Biloxi. There are million-dollar white people homes decimated here and
there are no helicopters here assisting them to the degree that you see in
New Orleans,'' Marsh said.
''We need to stop blaming and pointing fingers and need to help each other
with open arms, in the Indian way.''
A spokesperson for the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe in Marksville said all tribal
members were accounted for on Sept. 6.
While some pointed to racism for the lack of rescues during the first week,
others pointed to poor coordination between local, state and federal agencies
and a lack of preparedness by the federal government.
''What if they were white?'' was the question asked by many in Indian
country.
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