by Malik Rahim

Malik Rahim, a veteran of the Black Panther Party
in New Orleans, for decades an organizer of
public housing tenants both there and in San
Francisco and a recent Green Party candidate for
New Orleans City Council, lives in the Algiers
neighborhood, the only part of New Orleans that
is not flooded. They have no power, but the water
is still good and the phones work. Their
neighborhood could be sheltering and feeding at
least 40,000 refugees, he says, but they are
allowed to help no one. What he describes is
nothing less than deliberate genocide against
Black and poor people. - Ed.

New Orleans, Sept. 1, 2005 - It's criminal. From
what you're hearing, the people trapped in New
Orleans are nothing but looters. We're told we
should be more "neighborly." But nobody talked
about being neighborly until after the people who
could afford to leave ¢G©° left.

If you ain't got no money in America, you're on
your own. People were told to go to the
Superdome, but they have no food, no water there.
And before they could get in, people had to stand
in line for 4-5 hours in the rain because
everybody was being searched one by one at the
entrance.

I can understand the chaos that happened after
the tsunami, because they had no warning, but
here there was plenty of warning. In the three
days before the hurricane hit, we knew it was
coming and everyone could have been evacuated.

We have Amtrak here that could have carried
everybody out of town. There were enough school
buses that could have evacuated 20,000 people
easily, but they just let them be flooded. My son
watched 40 buses go underwater - they just
wouldn't move them, afraid they'd be stolen.

People who could afford to leave were so afraid
someone would steal what they own that they just
let it all be flooded. They could have let a
family without a vehicle borrow their extra car,
but instead they left it behind to be destroyed.

There are gangs of white vigilantes near here
riding around in pickup trucks, all of them
armed, and any young Black they see who they
figure doesn't belong in their community, they
shoot him. I tell them, "Stop! You're going to
start a riot."

When you see all the poor people with no place to
go, feeling alone and helpless and angry, I say
this is a consequence of HOPE VI. New Orleans
took all the HUD money it could get to tear down
public housing, and families and neighbors who'd
relied on each other for generations were
uprooted and torn apart.

Most of the people who are going through this now
had already lost touch with the only community
they'd ever known. Their community was torn down
and they were scattered. They'd already lost
their real homes, the only place where they knew
everybody, and now the places they've been
staying are destroyed.

But nobody cares. They're just lawless looters
... dangerous.

The hurricane hit at the end of the month, the
time when poor people are most vulnerable. Food
stamps don't buy enough but for about three weeks
of the month, and by the end of the month
everyone runs out. Now they have no way to get
their food stamps or any money, so they just have
to take what they can to survive.

Many people are getting sick and very weak. From
the toxic water that people are walking through,
little scratches and sores are turning into major
wounds.

People whose homes and families were not
destroyed went into the city right away with
boats to bring the survivors out, but law
enforcement told them they weren't needed. They
are willing and able to rescue thousands, but
they're not allowed to.

Every day countless volunteers are trying to
help, but they're turned back. Almost all the
rescue that's been done has been done by
volunteers anyway.

My son and his family - his wife and kids, ages
1, 5 and 8 - were flooded out of their home when
the levee broke. They had to swim out until they
found an abandoned building with two rooms above
water level.

There were 21 people in those two rooms for a day
and a half. A guy in a boat who just said "I'm
going to help regardless" rescued them and took
them to Highway I-10 and dropped them there.

They sat on the freeway for about three hours,
because someone said they'd be rescued and taken
to the Superdome. Finally they just started
walking, had to walk six and a half miles.

When they got to the Superdome, my son wasn't
allowed in - I don't know why - so his wife and
kids wouldn't go in. They kept walking, and they
happened to run across a guy with a tow truck
that they knew, and he gave them his own personal
truck.

When they got here, they had no gas, so I had to
punch a hole in my gas tank to give them some
gas, and now I'm trapped. I'm getting around by
bicycle.

People from Placquemine Parish were rescued on a
ferry and dropped off on a dock near here. All
day they were sitting on the dock in the hot sun
with no food, no water. Many were in a daze;
they've lost everything.

They were all sitting there surrounded by armed
guards. We asked the guards could we bring them
water and food. My mother and all the other
church ladies were cooking for them, and we have
plenty of good water.

But the guards said, "No. If you don't have
enough water and food for everybody, you can't
give anything." Finally the people were hauled
off on school buses from other parishes.

You know Robert King Wilkerson (the only one of
the Angola 3 political prisoners who's been
released). He's been back in New Orleans working
hard, organizing, helping people. Now nobody
knows where he is. His house was destroyed.
Knowing him, I think he's out trying to save
lives, but I'm worried.

The people who could help are being shipped out.
People who want to stay, who have the skills to
save lives and rebuild are being forced to go to
Houston.

It's not like New Orleans was caught off guard.
This could have been prevented.

There's military right here in New Orleans, but
for three days they weren't even mobilized. You'd
think this was a Third World country.

I'm in the Algiers neighborhood of New Orleans,
the only part that isn't flooded. The water is
good. Our parks and schools could easily hold
40,000 people, and they're not using any of it.

This is criminal. These people are dying for no
other reason than the lack of organization.

Everything is needed, but we're still too
disorganized. I'm asking people to go ahead and
gather donations and relief supplies but to hold
on to them for a few days until we have a way to
put them to good use.

I'm challenging my party, the Green Party, to
come down here and help us just as soon as things
are a little more organized. The Republicans and
Democrats didn't do anything to prevent this or
plan for it and don't seem to care if everyone
dies.

Malik's phone is working. He welcomes calls
from old friends and anyone
with questions or ideas for saving lives. To
reach him, call the Bay View at (415) 671-0789.