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KERRY
KENNEDY,
founder of the RFK Center for Human
Rights, daughter of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and Contributor to MaximsNews.com,
addresses New Orleans ACORN members in
demanding equitable flood protection for New Orleans. Photo: ACORN |
“Regardless
of race, income or which neighborhood you live in, we all equally share
the right to life, health and security,” Kennedy said. “These
residents demand their right to be respected with equitable flood
protection.”
Predominantly
Black neighborhoods remain vulnerable while predominantly white
communities receive increased protection, she said.
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KERRY
KENNEDY IN NEW ORLEANS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND FAIR FLOOD PROTECTION: 02/8/2007
(MaximsNews.com,
U.N.)
UNITED NATIONS - / www.MaximsNews.com@
U.N./
- 02 August 2007 – Kerry
Kennedy and hundreds of
New Orleans
residents and their supporters assembled along the
Monticello
Canal
last Saturday to form a “Human Levee” demanding residents’ right to
equitable flood protection.
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“Regardless
of race, income or which neighborhood you live in, we all equally share the
right to life, health and security,” Kennedy said.
“These
residents demand their right to be respected with equitable flood
protection.”
Predominantly
Black neighborhoods remain vulnerable while predominantly white communities
receive increased protection, she said.
A reinforced levee and floodwall protects Jefferson Parish, a
demographically whiter and wealthier neighbor of Orleans Parish, from the
Monticello
Canal
.
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The Orleans Parish side of the canal has virtually no flood
protection.
The current city drainage system pumps more water into the canal than is
pumped out, often flooding the predominantly working class African-American
Orleans Parish neighborhood of Carrollton-Hollygrove.
“This
neighborhood has always flooded during heavy rains,” longtime resident and
ACORN neighborhood chair Joe Sherman told protesters. “Our community is left
vulnerable while the state, the Corps of Engineers and the Water and Sewerage
Board keep pointing fingers.”
Stephen
Bradberry, Louisiana ACORN head organizer and 2005 Robert F. Kennedy Human
Rights Award winner noted, “The risks increase for these residents because
there is protection on one side, and no protection on the other.”
To
expose the inequity and garner attention to the dangers of inadequate protection
that lower income residents face, demonstrators formed a human levee stretching
over a third of a mile.
Dr.
Robert Bea, lead investigator on the National Science Foundation’s inquiry
into
New Orleans
’ flood protection system, confirmed that placing a levee and floodwall on one
side along the
Monticello
Canal
but not the other had no grounding in science.
“It
is perfect example of the disconnected incomplete nature of this flood
protection system,” said Dr. Bea. “Much of what happened [there] during
Katrina represents the left-overs from the age of slavery in the south.”
Kerry Kennedy
, board member of the RFK Memorial, told protesters of how African slaves 200
years ago in
New Orleans
were stacked one on top of one another, forming a “human levee”, to protect
white properties from oncoming floodwaters.
Kennedy
equated this to the current discriminatory flood protection system where
Carrollton-Hollygrove and other predominantly black neighborhoods remain
vulnerable while predominantly white communities receive increased protection.
Residents
have demanded action for years but had been told time and again their community
was not a priority.
Even
in the
New Orleans
recovery planning process, despite residents setting flood protection as a top
priority, planners determined it would not be addressed for five years or more
in Carrollton-Hollygrove.
While
many of
New Orleans
’ displaced residents want to return, they fear the risks of inadequate flood
protection in Carrollton-Hollygrove and other areas across the city.
Continued
government inaction to provide equitable flood protection violates international
human rights laws on internal displacement.
During
the rally, residents demanded a temporary floodwall be built immediately. New
Orleans City Councilwoman Shelley Midura promised residents that a study to
determine the cause of the flooding would begin soon and lead to action by the
Sewerage and Water Board.
As
residents return and rebuild, ACORN members and
New Orleans
residents remain ready to stand up for their human rights and to hold their
government officials accountable. Local, state and federal officials must help
residents to realize their human rights and assure equity as
New Orleans
and the
Gulf
Coast
rebuilds.
RFK
Center
will continue to work with ACORN in its efforts to help displaced residents to
realize their right to return to
New Orleans
and participate in the rebuilding process.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Labels: United
Nations, U.N.,
~~~~~
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