Survivors have a voice

I spent all of today in a church in Jackson, Mississippi for the Katrina Survivor's Assembly. The meeting, organized by the People's Hurricane Relief Fund, was composed of some 150 survivors from around the country, and about the same number of allies from Oregon to New York and all points in-between.

For the last 100 days since Katrina hit, we've heard plenty from the politicians about what they think the hurrican survivors need, and what they're going to provide. It was refreshing to hear from those affected what they think the real issues are.

For example: A woman from Biloxi, MS -- one of the towns most severely hit by the hurricanes, but which has received scant national media attention -- noted that most of the "rebuilding" efforts have centered on business development, jump-starting commerce, getting "economic activity" going again. Homeowners are at a standstill, waiting on reluctant insurance companies, an absent FEMA, somebody to help them with rebuilding that would allow them to return.

The priorities are not only morally questionable, they don't make much economic sense, either. As she observered, "Who do they think are going to shop at the stores?"

The survivors assembled also wanted to know what happened to the billions allocated to FEMA, and raised by charities like the Red Cross. Both agencies refused to provide aid to many distressed areas because of "security concerns" (and FEMA outposts are still heavily guarded by multiple public and private security forces, for threats that aren't clear).

Another over-riding issue: the "right of return," which has been denied to many families in neighborhoods like the devastated Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans. The "Lower Nine" was opened just last week, and even now can only be accessed by residents making visits to check on their property.

The issue is a hotly contested one, even among progressive activists. A good number see the Lower 9 as so devastated, so toxic, and so vulnerable to future storms, that investing in returning families there would be to throw them into a risky public health situation, and put them at the mercy of future storms. On the other side are survivors who see the principle of self-determination to be the most important, the need to respect the wishes of the families to return to the places they call home.

These first-hand perspectives are hard to find in the mainstream media. The survivors assembled today seemed keenly aware that they have been portrayed as pious surferers or, worse, undeserving or criminal. Usually their stories are told in isolation, with no sense of a common agenda to shape their own destiny.

Of course, this meeting only touched a small fraction of those affected. The Fund plans to take this approach on the road early next year, hearing from thousands more. They will need all the support they can get.