On the anniversary of Katrina, I attended a candle light vigil held on the Haynes Boulevard Levee in New Orleans East.
On this night in NOLA East church leaders, elected officials and ordinary Americans came out to remember and honor the dead and what else was lost to the storm, commemorate the struggle each has endured and renew their commitment to New Orleans East as a viable and essential part of the new New Orleans. The churches of New Orleans East were one of the driving forces in the repopulation of this area of the city and formed the grassroots essential for so many to return.
Cynthia Willard-Lewis, New Orleans council member from District E, officiated at the candlelight vigil. Many other New Orleans council members and local officials were also present at the vigil.
This vlog covers some of the remarks by the elected officials and church leaders as we stood on the levee in commemoration of the storm.
Just to the northeast of the city proper in St Bernard Parish lies New Orleans East. NOLA East was one of the last places to be settled in the area and is bounded by Lake Pontchartrain on the north. The neighborhoods are mixed and varied. Home to people of moderate means and very high end properties, NOLA East is a diverse part of the city with a country feel even supporting farm land in some areas. It is also home to a very large and active Vietnamese American population in the Versailles neighborhood not well known before the storm. visit Greater New Orleans Community Data Center for a treasure trove of information about many neighborhoods in NOLA both before and after the storm.
Today just like all over the flooded areas of Orleans and St. Bernard parishes the residents struggle to retake their homes from the devastation.
During the flooding, this part of the city was hit as hard if not harder than any of the other neighborhoods that got high water like the Ninth Ward, Lakeview and Gentilly. The area is bounded by: the Industrial Canal to the west and Gentilly; the Intercoastal waterway and "funnel" to the south; the Haynes Boulevard levee and Lake Pontchartrain to the north and another levee to the east on Paris Blvd. can someone from the area help me out here I can't find the name of this levee
The Intercoastal waterway in the south was one of the first structures to be overtopped and breeched by the storm surge caused by Hurricane Katrina on Monday morning August 29, 2007. NOLA East also suffered flooding from a section of the Haynes Blvd. levee just south of the Airport when it was overtopped, "the water came from every direction," and many evacuated to University of New Orleans in Gentilly. -- source Flash animation of the levees failures in NOLA.
Some context to the comments that you will read or see in this vlog is offered here. Since NOLA East is geographically isolated from the city proper, attempts were made to bar the return of any residents. NOLA East was to become either a buffer zone in the event of future catastrophes, a green space or an airport, but the people who lived there said: No, we're coming back. Those with the means to return and rebuild have done so. Early on in the recovery neighborhoods were made to prove their viability or residents faced a complete buyout of their properties by the state and federal governments. So a lot of people that you'll see in the NOLA East vlogs were particularly concerned that they were not going to be able to come home at all in the months after Katrina.
Video: Candlelight Vigil New Orleans East (8:51)
We want to be united. We will light the candles, place the wreath, ring the bell...
On behalf on council members Cynthia Hedge-Morrell and myself, joined by our council president the honorable Arnie Fielkow along with the honorable William Bill Jefferson, our Congressman, as well as our district attorney, we welcome each and every one of you to the second year reflection and anniversary of the greatest natural disaster. Our state senator the honorable Anne DuPlesses stands with us as we, your New Orleans East team of women, fight for a strong and stable and viable New Orleans East; we do this to the glory of God and the strength of our families.
Tonight we stand on the levees. The levees that did not fail. The levees that enabled us as beaten down and battered as they were giving us protection so that Haynes Boulevard could be brought back to life in 30 days. Our families were here going through the national guard checkpoints. They were here saying, "just give me my lights. I'm tired of using a generator." They were here indicating the strength that we have all been known for around the world.
Again for some context. Power was restored to this part of the city three months after Katrina and though that may seem like a great job on the part of Entergy, residents back and living in makeshift homes were concerned that the city was still trying to force them out by starving their grid. We all know that when the lights come back on it's a relief and you feel like you can get back to normal, but when the lights of NOLA East came back on it was a joyous occasion for those that were back because they felt their community took a giant step towards viability at that moment.
Father Luke Nguyen of Mary Queen of Vietnam church then leads the group in the opening prayer.
A great piece about the Vietnamese community in NOLA East including interviews with residents, volunteers and Father Luke from April of 2007 can be streamed at the National Radio Project.
I've also heard that this enclave of New Orleans has the best bread in the world.
From that piece:
- About 25,000 Vietnamese live in Louisiana and half of them live in New Orleans East.
- The community is predominately Catholic and the church estimates that 85% have returned since the storm, one of the highest neighborhood rates in the city.
- The Versailles neighborhood in New Orleans East is named for the Versailles Arms Public Housing projects that was the residents' first home.
- Nguyen's church was an essential element to the rebuild and served as a base of operations; former residents who would come back on the weekends and volunteers used the church to gut and rebuild houses in their neighborhood
- This enclave of Vietnamese refugees was installed in the city in the mid 70's; it was not well known by other Vietnamese immigrants to this country until after the storm
- The Vietnamese Americans in this part of the city are universally respected all over New Orleans and acknowledged to have paved the way for so many others to return since many from this parish got back as early as October of 2005 and cleaned everything up by themselves facing the uncertainty of survival and viability
- They ain't going anywhere
When Councilwoman Cynthia Willard-Lewis gets the mic back to introduce Rev. Tom Watson she mentions the Book of Acts in the Bible and how disciples were urged to tell their stories. She extrapolates to the situation that her neighborhood and city find themselves in today:
We can not but continue to talk about what we have seen and what we have heard. For two years we have seen great confusion and a sense of abandonment. And so we continue to tell the stories that hope beyond hope drives the people of Eastern New Orleans.
Reverend Watson used his church to establish a FEMA campsite for all of our families and it was his church not the government, not FEMA, not the Corps that provided all of the essential social services for the children and the elderly.
Rev. Watson has been a strong advocate for the right to return and has served as the chairman on Mayor Nagin's committee to repopulate the city of New Orleans. He feels privileged to have been of such service to his community and he ain't going anywhere. Returned from exile in Texas and firmly ensconced as a strong and inspirational leader and advocate for "his flock" he stood on the levee and said this:
When we heard, right after the storm, that the city was considering not even opening the New Orleans East area again we were challenged by the spirit of God and so grateful to be helped to set up a lighthouse and a way station where lives could be changed. And even today we're continuing on with the hope of knowing and believing that this part of our city will return greater and better.
And for that we are so thankful this evening.
wiki: Tom Watson
Pastor Tom Watson, an influential leader of the Greater New Orleans Coalition of Ministers, is active in programs to help youths in the city's poor neighborhoods. Watson has long been a critic of Nagin, and after declaring his candidacy on February 17 [2006] he became Nagin's first African American challenger. Watson focused his campaign on the return of the New Orleans Diaspora still scattered around the country after Hurricane Katrina, a constituency he says other candidates have neglected. He also planned to address the racial and class divisions that impede the city's recovery and to reform the NOPD, which he characterizes as "corrupt and brutal." He also proposed a cap on rents, which have skyrocketed since Katrina.
State Senator Ann Duplessis wraps up our vlog with the essential point that I would like to make in this diary:
Everything that needs to be said has been said, but I just want everyone out here and in the world to see what we have here on this levee. This is a true community. Look at the types of people, the diversity of people: black; white; Vietnamese; old; young... This is what building a city is all about. And I'm just extremely proud to be part of the rebuild. A part of the team of Cynthia and Cynthia, and the rest of the council. And on behalf of the state of Louisiana and maybe the new governor (laughter) we'll be able to bring back Eastern New Orleans as we've been saying bigger and better than before.
In the next few vlogs you'll meet: Jennifer, a Vietnamese American and part of the Vietnamese American Young Leadership Program of New Orleans; Eva, a Yankee from Massachusetts and thirty year resident of the city; Pearl, amazing and vivacious Pearl; Margie who lost two homes and worked as a nurse for thirty years in New Orleans and then you'll meet Cynthia. Cynthia was a hard one. Cynthia really got under my skin.