New Orleans True Video

19 min. ~ Download iPod ~ Full Screen ~ Bandwidth Challenged ~
embed it from Revver, BlipTV or U2B ~
The Bio Liberty relief / redevelopment camp in Slidell Louisiana is pioneering sustainable, off the grid, weather resistant and affordable housing solutions for the hurricane ravaged Gulf Coast region. The property itself was a landing/launching pad for numerous groups of grassroots hurricane relief workers and is now being developed as a model for Solar, Geothermal and BioDiesel powered communities.

Related Links ::: Bio Liberty, Plenty International, Common Ground Collective, Emergency Communities, H.A.W.C., Cultural Warrior, Mr. Dibbs, About Mobile Broadcast News

Click Image to Download the VIDEO 32 mgs 9 minutes
(please be patient - it may take a minute to download)

New Orleans ~ Post-Katrina Populist Funk
SPECIAL SHOWING: Modern Museum of Art, NYC Documentary Fortnight, February 21, ‘07 at 8PM.

Third World Newsreel is proud to announce that our Katrina Chronicles Series has been invited to MoMA’s prestigious Documentary Fortnight this coming month of February 2007. The Katrina Chronicles Series features short documentaries about the city and people of New Orleans in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
*******************************************
Katrina Chronicles Series

PEOPLE SAY:
>Disastrous Hurricanes, maritial law & curfews, housing crisis, toxic earth, closed schools and hospitals, abandoned elders, centuries of festering racism, a neo-police state… while the “New” New Orleans struggles to survive and exist outside of the the American illusion of democracy, the most dynamic grass roots efforts in the country claim the streets, deliver food, celebrate, build homes and tell the truth in this visual collage set to the song “People Say” by the legendary Nola band, the funky Meters.

This is no Red Cross special:

Fight For Your Rights & Please Support Self-Determaination and Equality for the Gulf South and all Peoples.

Related Links ::: Common Ground Collective, People’s Hurricane Relief Fund & Oversight Coalition, N.O. H.E.A.T., Resource Action Group, Mary Queen of Vietnam ChurchMississippi Muslim Association, NOAH Coalition, Hip Hop Caucus, People’s Institute for Survival & Beyond

“This insightful video montage embodies the full range of images, sights and emotions which followed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. It also depicts the people’s hope, compassion and commitment to the city of New Orleans.
Mary Beth Black, 2005, 5 minutes” ~ Third World Newsreel

N.O. EAST ~ also by M.B.Black
Two months after Hurricane Katrina destroyed their homes and communities, residents of New Orleans East are willing to rebuild their neighborhood with the support of city and federal agencies. But there is no water or electricity in New Orleans East and politicians promoting the rebuilding of the city forget to include this poor neighborhood in their grand plans. In this call for help, black and Vietnamese residents voice their concerns while they also try to return back home with the help of grassroots community organizations.
Mary Beth Black, 2005, 10 minutes

Also showing, more videos about post-Katrina New Orleans:

FINDING COMMON GROUND IN NEW ORLEANS
In this short documentary, activist and poet Walidah Imarisha travels to New Orleans and other neighboring towns shortly after Hurricane Katrina devastated the area. In her path she encounter grassroots organizations like Common Ground and Soul Patrol that were formed in response to the government’s failure to manage evacuation and relief efforts before, during and after the hurricane. She also finds Camp Amtrak, a makeshift jail and court room at an old bus station where inmates are sentenced to community service. Finally, she meets people in neighboring towns that are still waiting for FEMA to pays them a visit. Through interviews with residents, activists and city officials, Imarisha succinctly captures the pain, loss and hope of the people of New Orleans.
Walidah Imarisha, 2006, 23 minutes

I WON’T DROW IN THAT LEVEE AND YOU AIN’T GOING TO BREAK MY BACK
This short documentary began with an invitation to travel to New Orleans as part of a delegation to investigate what actually happened at the Orleans Parish Prison during and after Hurricane Katrina. What came up was not only a botched and deadly evacuation of the prison, but a broader climate of racial tension and brutality throughout the local and Federal response to the disaster, where the population was divided into survivors and looters along lines of race

Mr. Ollie Jackson, 85 year old New Orleans East Senior Citizen who stayed during hurricanes Katrina and Rita with no government aid for 5 months and counting.
Click Image to Download the Video

UPDATE: January 18, 2007
SCREENING at the Modern Museum of Art, NYC Documentary Fortnight February 2007 W/ other New Orleans shorts sponsored by Third World Newsreel

UPDATE: February 1, 2006

Mr. Ollie Jackson is living in the same circumstances in New Orleans East, without electricity and drinking water. His health is worsening and he needs heart medication and medical care. He does not have transportation, a telephone, mail delivery and he cannot read or write. He still needs assistance accessing his benefits and the relief due to him as well as finding safe housing in his community. To provide support for Mr. Ollie, please contact: holographicferriswheel@yahoo.com.

New Orleans East: October & November 2005

New Orleans East is a large part of New Orleans and totally flooded and devastated by Hurricane Katrina. This predominantly African-American and Southeast Asian community to this day remains in the shadows of house-high piles of trash and waste. Utities, including water and electricity, are intermittant - if at all, and residents openly ask for recognition and aid. Some community elders, who stayed since the hurricane, remain without governmental aid, including contact with Red Cross or FEMA. Neighbors and community members are the first responders, with relief support from grass roots organizations and the Mary Queen of Vietnam Church, which drew thousands of Versailles community members from Houston and other evacuee areas to its re-opening in October.

This video documents some of these voices and the relief efforts of Resource Action Group

Related Links ::: Resource Action Group

VIDEO re-Mix: A Small Band of Public Housing Rights Advocates gathered at the Iberville Projects and Marched down Canal Street calling for the Re-opening of habitable public housing and schools
Click Image to Download the VIDEO 8 mgs 3 minutes

HOUSING IS A HUMAN RIGHT! Public Housing Update, January 15, 2007:

SURVIVORS VILLAGE

MLK Day: St. Bernard Residents Go through Fence, Clean Out Apartments
New Orleans, LA (January 15, 2007) -With mops and buckets in hand,
displaced residents of the St. Bernard Public Housing Project will go
through the barbed wire fence surrounding their homes to clean and
rehabilitate them. On Monday, January 15, Martin Luther King Day, the
residents will rally at 12:00pm at Bynum Drugs Store, 3838 St. Bernard
Ave, and then enter the property to restore their homes at 12:30.

“Our homes are livable, and we are cleaning them out so that we can
live in them,” says Sharon Seans Jasper, a St. Bernard resident and
organizer. “We will not let the city destroy them.”

“The residents who will be cleaning their apartments have current
leases and therefore have a legal right to enter their homes,” says
rally organizer Endesha Juakali of Survivors Village. “However, the
police may not honor this right. Therefore public housing residents
will be evoking the spirit of Dr. King on this Martin Luther King
Day.”

HANO and HUD plan to demolish over 5000 units of affordable public
housing, housing that is desperately needed for families that wish to
move back to New Orleans. In a market where rents have increased
between 70 and 300 percent since Katrina, inflated rents and the lack
of subsidized housing has been a major factor in preventing evacuees
from returning to their homes. Finding private landlords that accept
housing vouchers is extremely difficult, and finding affordable
housing without subsidization is nearly impossible for public housing
recipients.

HUD’s own cost analysis reveals that their plan to demolish and
rebuild will waste taxpayers’ money. A recent motion for summary
judgment filed in a current suit to reopen the development (available
at: http://justiceforneworleans.org) cites HUD documents that show the
demolition and redevelopment of public housing “will end up costing
over $175 million more than extensively modernizing the developments,
and upwards of $450 million more than simply repairing them would
cost.” The motion also argues that the demolitions have racial
implications. “Prior to Katrina over 5,100 African-American families
lived in New Orleans’ public housing. Nearly 14 months later, only
approximately 1,000 have been allowed to return. HANO’s actions
clearly have disproportionately harmed African-Americans and have lead
to the overall decline in the city’s African American population since
Katrina.”

Despite overwhelming support for the re-opening of public housing,
HANO and HUD have consistently ignored public opinion and advocated
for its demolition. HANO has received a resounding and unquestionable
“NO!” to their plans from public housing residents at their recent
court-mandated ‘resident consultation meeting’. Angry residents
accused HANO of “ethnic cleansing,” and told them “being poor is not a
crime.”

Media contact: Endesha Juakali / survivorsvillage@gmail.com /
504.239.2907 or 504.284.6975
Stephanie Mingo / vmingo@bellsouth.net / 504.529.3171
January 15, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

VIDEO: repost: On Saturday, December 3, 2005, immediately following the Hurricanes of infamy, a band of housing rights advocates gathered at the Iberville Projects on Basin St. Saturday in support of New Orleans residents’ right to return to their homes and called for the re-opening of the city’s public schools (2 or 3 public schools are open in Orleans Parish now). With 80% of the city flooded from hurricanes Katrina & Rita, and over a million Gulf South residents dislocated from their lives, the housing shortage, rapidly rising rents, and lack of sustainable government supports faces many thousands of people who wish to return to their homes and rebuild their lives. Evictions - both illegal and legal - are epidemic in the New Orleans area and returning home or the lack of ability to return to a home, rain down further struggles on the survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In particular, people who needed public assistance to meet basic needs and the right to their home find the rug pulled out from under them as the city makes plans to tear down public housing, closing even livable and marginally damaged housing with little or no dialogue with displaced residents.

Less than 20% of pre-hurricane residents actually reside in New Orleans now, which currently hosts thousands of new building contractors, laborors, developers and gaggles of various military, security and law enforcement personel now set up shop in the no-flood zones, in a former arts high school, on enormous cruise ships and in public spaces in the city centers. With 80% of the city flooded and by devastating hurricanes, evictions, both illegal and legal, happen quickly, often with little or no legal formality with as few as 5 days or no notice at all in this tumultuous housing market and with little or no regard for any notion of housing rights. Residents of the cities extensive public housing wish to return home and reclaim their lives - or at least check on their home - however there is little dialogue with the Housing Aughority of New Orleans and information that HANO housing will be closed and bulldozed circulates fear and anger from displaced survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Despite the fact that most New Orleans residents are out of town, a few dozen marchers gathered in front of the Iberville Public Housing projects just outside of the French Quarter to show support for the city’s poor and working people and marched freely down Canal Street to the Federal encampment by the Mississippi Riverwalk. The marchers called for the re-opening of habitable public housing and public schools, dialogue and the right of residents to return home. The Coalition to Save Iberville, New Orleans Housing Emergency Action Team (NO HEAT), the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, and Common Ground Eviction Defense represented at the march and can be contacted for support of Housing Rights.

Housing Is A Human Right.

Related Links ::: Common Ground Collective, Loyola Law Clinic Katrina Help Site, People’s Hurricane Relief Fund & Oversight Coalition

Click Image to Download the VIDEO 77 mgs 20 minutes
Here’s a Bandwidth Challenged Version 6 mgs

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963

They assassinated King, April 4, 1968
On April 4, 2006 St Bernard public housing residents returned from forced exile, to clean up and reclaim their homes.

For more info: call 504-520-9521 or 504-319-3564
Related Links ::: Bill Quigley, C3 NOLA, H.A.N.O., Privatizing New Orleans,
Fair Housing Action Center

Click Image to Download the VIDEO 33 mgs 9 minutes
Here’s a Big Phat Version 72 mgs (2006, Re-Posted by M.B.Black ‘cuz the Heat’s Still On)

Take a step back in time at the B. W. Cooper Housing Projects with Malik Rahim cofounder of the Common Ground Collective hurricane relief organization and former Black Panther. Malik speaks of the history of the Black Panther Party and the cultural significance of the Projects.

B.W. Cooper Projects are slated for destruction while much of the city’s returned citizens are sleeping in cars or tents .. or in outlying areas. Thousands of people could be living there right now yet the city will not allow them to reopen.

Related Links ::: Common Ground Collective, History of the Black Panther Party

Click Image to Download the VIDEO, please be patient: video is 40 MG, 42 minutes .mov quicktime.

VOICES OF THE EVICTED follow-up information:

Thanks to the Louisburg Square apartment tenants, the hotel residents, and the housing rights activists who support displaced residents and human rights. Thanks also to the Peoples Video Network & Glass Bead Collective for supporting this video.

LOUISBURG SQUARE APARTMENT EVICTIONS:

The tenants still residing at Louisburg Square Apartment were ordered to vacate by court order of Jefferson Parish Civil Court Justice of Peace Wiltie, final exit date the end of December 2005. Tenants Rights activist Jeremy Prickett reports that protest actions by the Boston Tenants Coalition against Trustee of LES Realty Trust, Inc., which owns Louisburg Square Apartments, Leonard J. Samia in Boston prompted him to agree to offer displaced tenants their old apartments after remodeling at the old price. No agreement has been made to compensate tenants whose belongings were thrown in the streets.

HOTEL EVICTIONS, NEW ORLEANS:

92 Hotels in the greater new Orleans area have contracts to accept residents displaced from their homes who have been issued hotel vouchers paid for by FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency). Housing Rights advocates are in negotiations with the Decatur Hotel Group, which owns the Cotton Exchange Hotel and others, to allow tenants to stay until the FEMA deadline of February 6, 2006. The Decatur Hotel Group receives payment from FEMA for 1800 rooms in 11 hotels which have been dedicated to receive payment for FEMA voucher hotel rooms for displaced New Orleans residents; although definite numbers of displaced residents with vouchers or of total area hotel rooms paid for by FEMA are not available, activists estimate that the Decatur Hotel Group statistics to be representative of the other 81 hotels.

After pickets and court injunctions by eviction defense activists, Decatur Hotel Group owner Frank Quinn voluntarily agreed to maintain housing for people with FEMA hotel vouchers until February 7th; however, as of January 28th, 2006, the Decatur Group and Frank Quinn have not returned phone calls to attorney Tracey Washington. Tracey Washington is a leading attorney who advocates on behalf of tenants and migrant workers and represents the displaced residents in hotel issues in the federal case McWaters vs. FEMA.
LAWSUIT STATS:
McWaters vs. FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency)
McWaters v. Federal Emergency Management Agency , No. 2:05-cv-5488 (E.D. La. January 12, 2005) [Clearinghouse Number 55,992]
www.povertylaw.org/legalresearch/cases/

When grass roots housing rights advocates from Common Ground were asked if they were in negotiations with FEMA representatives as well about housing for the displaced residents, they reported that they did not have access to decision makers within the agency about the issues of evictions.

These Housing Rights activists also report that hotels are turning away people w/ FEMA vouchers. As more people return to the region, the residents in need of housing with vouchers are estimated to outnumber of rooms available. And as Mardi Gras approaches, an influx of tourists puts greater demands on the economically powerful Hotel industry, which journalist Rebecca Mowbray describes as a “logistical nightmare” which could make thousands homeless in days in an article for the Times Picayune posted at nola.com:
nola.com Rebecca Mowery Times Picayune article
“But for hotels in Orleans and Jefferson parishes, which, according to FEMA, have evacuees staying in about 4,900 of their 22,000 rooms, the ruling could be a disaster”. “Court is scheduled to resume Feb. 23. The case is Beatrice B. McWaters et al v. Federal Emergency Management Agency”
(”Storm victims can stay put in hotels: Inns put in bind as Carnival nears” Friday, January 13, 2006 by Rebecca Mowbray, business writer: rmowbray@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3417).

In New York City, the final date given for FEMA vouchered hotel rooms for evacuees of hurricanes Katrina and Rita is March 6, 2006. Tens of thousands of displaced residents of the Gulf South who cannot return home, have not been supported in returning home, or have no more home to return to, stay in hotel rooms paid for by FEMA around the country. Uncertain futures and another circumstance of homelessness face thousands of hurricane survivors.

SCOUT ISLAND, CITY PARK, NEW ORLEANS:

Peoples Hurricane Relief Fund has been supporting Scout Island migrant workers in advocating on behalf of migrant worker rights and better living conditions and placing the camp’s tenants’ demands before City Park officials and contracted management. PHRF Scout Island report

The Apaches paid “a white woman” who had come to the White Mountain Reservation to solicit labor, money to bring them to New Orleans with a promise of work and housing. She kept their money and left them at City Park without paying the rent for their camp site or returning to arrange work. Peoples Hurricane Relief Fund helped negotiate rent and conditions for the Apaches with City Park officials.

Vie Kessay spoke with Tiokasin Ghosthorse about the Apache camp in New Orleans, how the Apache Nation members came to work in New Orleans and what their living and working conditions are like on WBAI’s “Wake-up Call” in New York on Friday, January 27th, 2006. She also said that many of the Apache Nation members camped at City Park are returning to the reservation. In January (19th or 20th), Storm Force Inc., the contracted Scout Island camp management tried to break up a meeting between tenants and organziers and stop press recording. Over the weekend, the Apache Nation camp was relocated to another part of City Park, “under an overpass”, reported Vie Kessay of the Apache nation. Apache Elmer Rolland Jr. was reported arrested on Thursday January 12th by members of his family. Family and legal assistance have not been able to locate him in the prison system, and he has not been heard from since.

HOUSING IS A HUMAN RIGHT:
Self-determination and collective and social well-being is essential to democracy. Please support the housing rights of all people, all peoples’ right to return home, and the re-opening of public schools in New Orleans.

CONTACT HOUSING RIGHTS ACTIVISTS IN NEW ORLEANS:

To reach Housing Rights activists in New Orleans regarding public housing defense, housing rights advocates and eviction defense, please contact: Loyola Law Clinic Katrina Help
additionally, Attorney Tracey Washington represents many tenants rights in these issues and the Mississippi Workers Rights Alliance provides support of eviction defense as well. Jennifer Lai of the Peoples Hurricane Relief Fund and other volunteer law students are also involved in supporting migrant worker and tenants rights. The Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance (MIRA) works on behalf of immigrant workers rights throughout the Gulf South Region. about Mississippi Rights Alliance

Related Links ::: Common Ground Collective, N.O. H.E.A.T., People’s Hurricane Relief Fund & Oversight Coalition

Watch the video 27 minutes - 70 mgs - QuickTime
Here’s a super Big Phat Version 207 mgs
Here’s a Crappy Bandwidth Challenged Version 8 mgs RealPlayer

When considering the rebuilding of New Orleans, every issue eventually boils down to housing. Housing for those who’ve evacuated, housing for those who’ve returned, housing for contractors …

Evacuees are growing weary of getting jerked around with no real long term solutions being offered. Meanwhile the city is attempting to close down most of the Public Housing Developments in New Orleans even though they recieved VERY LITTLE damage. Landlords have been getting in on the act by throwing tenants property into the street, breaking leases and jacking the rent up on the profiteers that are dividing up New Orleans like Haliburton is dividing up Baghdad. This is a fine example of how perverse it is to put Profit over People.

This video includes interviews from evacuees in NY and those who’ve returned to New Orleans. This issue is currently effecting the lives of thousands of people and it’s still not too late to help put pressure where it needs to be put to force the goverenment to deal with these people properly.

Related Links ::: Katrina Action, N.O. H.E.A.T., On the Ground, Common Ground Collective, Community Labor United, Kahvi, Ben Frank, The Katrina Files

What You Need To Know About Your Government in Times of Crisis

Click Image to Download the VIDEO 61 mgs 15 minutes
Here’s a Big Phat Version 121 mgs
Here’s a Crappy Bandwidth Challenged Version 5 mgs RealPlayerThis video started out as a simple little “let’s show this guy’s story” kinda piece and turned into a scathing expose of what people can expect from government endorsed relief efforts in time of crisis. Arrested for art, threatened with arrest for helping people, spending all your own money to help others because Red Cross was Not Allowed, lying to retain rights that are inalienable to Free People, government corruption and inexplainable lack of competence from those who are suppose to be helping the survivors. Please stop giving your “cash contributions” to organizations that will waste your money. Donate to grass roots relief efforts where the money will be used to help people.

Related Links ::: Toxic Art, l’art noir new orleans, Get Your Act On!, Karmagrrrl, David Leeson, Storm Chaser Video, Remote Area Medical, DONATE HERE

Click Image to Download the VIDEO 36 mgs 10 minutes
Here’s a Big Phat Version 73 mgs

Skeleton Chief Al Morris was illegally evicted from his New Orleans home by Igor Margan. Igor and his employee’s are in possession of Chief Al’s personal property and tools, severely limiting his ability to earn a living. This is not an isolated incident; many more are being illegally evicted in their absence. In this case, Chief Al never left and helped many survive.
This is a direct action case video.

Boycott Igor Margan’s businesses.
Check Point Charlie’s and adjoining tattoo Shop,
Igor’s, Garlic Clove, Buddha Belly & Lucky’s

Related Links ::: What’s a Skeleton Chief?,
Common Ground Relief, N.O. H.E.A.T., On the Ground

Click Image to Download the VIDEO 20 mgs 6 minutes
Here’s a Big Phat Version 42 mgs

Eviction is the word of the day in New Orleans. Many landlords have taken to throwing tenants personal belonings on the sidewalk after an eviction notice has been tacked on their door for 5 days. Under normal conditions 5 days seems a little harsh if there is a lease involved; but in post Katrina New Orleans 5 days don’t mean shit.

The most optimistic number I’ve heard for the current population of the city is 20%. that means 80% of the city will be unaware of the eviction notice going up on their door. Why aren’t they home yet, you may wonder… Well, there are still vast sections of the city that do not have electric even though the structures received minimal damage. Many people were too poor to leave on their own; how do expect them to get back when they’re not provided transportation. Much of the rebuilding effort seems to be coming from outside contractors employing transient non native labor and immigrent workers, so the job and housing issues are relevant to those living pay check to pay check.

Related Links ::: Katrina Action, N.O. H.E.A.T., On the Ground