The Saints go Marching In!

During one of several DC snow days, I am watching the New Orleans Saints take their "victory march" through the streets of New Orleans! What a meaningful day - for them and for the entire city and Gulf Coast region. I have visited New Orleans several times in earlier years - way back in 1980 I experienced Mardi Gras, when our father was working in the area. Then returned in December 1981 for my wedding, which was held at a Methodist church in suburban Slidell, followed by a reception dinner and a carriage ride through the French Quarter!

I visited New Orleans for a National School Boards Assn convention in the mid-1990's. On each of these visits, the good food, beautiful river views, and chickory coffee at the Cafe Du Monde were treats! Finally, Hurricane Katrina hit. I was out in Portland, OR, that August of 2005, getting ready to fly back to DC. My mother (who has since died after a 12-year battle with breast cancer) said that they were evacuating the city - finally, as it was already Sunday and the storm was due that night. The hurricane would be bigger than originally expected. When I flew across the country on Monday, Aug. 29, we went through some buffeting winds - I imagined that these were the remnants of Katrina, moving across the midwest.

Then we heard the city had flooded - that fires were breaking out - saw the images of people being lifted off roof-tops by the Coast Guard helicopter pilots. Heard Rev. Jesse Jackson say: "these are not refugees: they are American citizens who have been abandoned by their government!" On Weds-Thursday, saw network television reporters (Bob Woodward, Anderson Cooper) go to the Morial Convention Center (where I had attended the school board convention years earlier) and see people simply stranded there. No food, water, medical care. An unsafe situation: the City said that the convention center was not an "official" shelter, unlike the Superdome. (The Superdome itself was not much better.) Doctors attempting to care for patients at Charity Hospital, said that conditions were "worse than Third World medicine." Finally, on Friday morning, the 82nd Airborne Division swept in - established field hospitals, started running IV's and dispensing basic care. (This was probably in violation of the posse comitatus law, which says that active-duty military may not be used in domestic emergency operations - but this situation was beyond the considerations of the law.)

We also heard of large trucks sent by Wal-Mart - filled with water - which were turned back by an incompetent FEMA. In June-July 2006, less than one year after Katrina, I went to New Orleans for a 10-day work trip with my church (Foundry United Methodist). We worked in two groups, to renovate a home in Kenner and put up dry-wall at a home on Franklin Ave. in the 8th Ward. Keep in mind that houses were still undergoing the initial "gutting" during this summer - thousands of college students and activists had come to the city during the spring and summer of 2006, to gut homes, rebuild community centers and schools, and try to spark the resurgence of neighborhoods. Many took the semester off of school to devote to the city. I spent 3 days with Common Ground Relief, one of the most active of these groups - with them I got the "opportunity" to get up at 6 a.m. for a gutting project: we had to start early, because by 3 p.m. the heat was too bad to continue. Everyone slept on bunks at St. Mary's School in the Lower Ninth Ward; ate from a communal kitchen; and met caring folks from all over the country. The gutting process was amazing - throwing out food, appliances, kitchen magnets, everything from the first floor - all the way down to the posts and studs. The second floor, by contrast, was unscathed - carpeting, clothing and furniture was left as it was before the storm! Incredible.

Since then, I've come to know New Orleans evacuees in DC - they were among the 300 or so, brought to DC by then-mayor Anthony Williams. He set up cots, city services and hospitality in the DC Armory. In about a month, a number of the evacuees were given apartments at the Capitol Park Apartments in Southwest Washington. I connected with several of this group at Christmas time, as people working with them asked churches to welcome them for Christmas Eve services. I brought Isaiah Hickerson, Jeffery Davis, and 4 others to Foundry Methodist Church.

As I have a legal services background, I started monthly meetings in the Capitol Park Community Room, to try to connect them with services, but also just to provide hospitality and friendship. I and others from my church brought Popeyes chicken, organized Mardi Gras and Katrina parties, and Christmas gift-cards. About two-thirds of the original group either returned to New Orleans or moved on to other permanent housing in the DC area. About 20 applied for housing vouchers (Section 8) from the DC Housing Authority - but only a handful qualified. (We heard that there was resentment from DC residents, who had been on waiting lists for 5 years or more, to receive these vouchers.) New Orleans evacuees who were senior citizens or disabled, received vouchers under those HUD programs. Others were placed into public housing units - either as single adults or as families with children.

I saw through the eyes of these new friends, everything they had lost. They were forcibly evacuated from N.O. 5 or 6 days after the storm, often by force. The city was being evacuated, and they were taken to the airport and told they had to leave. Once up in the air, they were told they were going to "Dulles" - "Dallas"! they said. No, Dulles. Most had never been to Washington, DC. The apartments they lived in - many for the full 4 years of the rental subsidy - were in the shadow of the US Capitol and Washington Monument. They saw the new Nationals baseball stadium being built, and experienced the ups and downs of the Washington economy. Most had trouble getting any steady work: one worked as a union electrician; another worked steadily in hospitality/hotels. But most were unable to "make it," beyond living in the FEMA-subsidized apartment, and receiving food stamps and Medicaid. Most did not connect well with DC, which has a more businesslike model than New Orleans.

I did see how little they brought with them: one had retrieved a few photographs and valuable papers. All received basic furniture, linens, clothing and housewares, once they arrived. They received gift-cards from the Red Cross, a shopping trip to Wal Mart courtesy of Redskin Lavar Arrington, and furniture from area churches. But most arrived having lost everything they owned, in the floor.

Many of these people remain dear friends - including some who returned to New Orleans only in mid-2009, after all FEMA/HUD subsidies were ended. They are all die-hard Saints fans, and identify with the Saints and Hornets as symbols of the city's resurgence. Keep in mind that both franchises were in danger of being relocated from New Orleans. The NFL and Sugar Bowl Committee ensured that the Lousiana Superdome was rebuilt, so that the Saints and college bowl games would return. The Hornets split time between Oklahoma City (which now has the relocated Seattle Sonics franchise) and San Antonio. However, both teams are back now - many with scintillating stars of great character - Drew Brees, Sean Payton, Chris Paul.

The excitement and pride of the Saints' Super Bowl victory - especially given their history of losing seasons - makes this accomplishment even more momentous for the City. One commentator said that this victory has "awakened us to our own recovery" - in other words, New Orleans IS rebuilding, with a new charter school system, high-tech jobs which attract young people, a revitalized hospitality and tourism industry. Many neighborhoods still lie in ruins or not rebuilt: many homeowners and others who "paid their dues" are hurt and disappointed by the slowness and unresponsiveness of government. But many areas have been rebuilt and they say that 80% of the population has returned. The Saints have returned - and with them the hopes, dreams and aspirations of an entire region.