Panel Gathers Over Katrina

Over a year after Hurricane Katrina barreled through the Gulf Coast, the storm's repercussions are still echoing.

The Coalition Confronting Racism, a student group at the School of Social Work, hosted a packed panel discussion on Wednesday entitled "Katrina, One Year Later: Healing Trauma, Pursuing Justice." The speakers said that American racism, traceable to slavery, was apparent in the government's flubbed response to Katrina, and that rebuilding New Orleans must proceed with race in mind.

"The one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina is a crucial time to remind ourselves of the racial and socioeconomic injustices that continue," said panel co-organizer Natania Kremer, Social Work '07.

The audience, primarily social workers and students, overflowed the 150-seat venue.

Ron Chisom, executive director and co-founder of the anti-racist group People's Institute for Survival and Beyond, emphasized the need for a racially sensitive corps of volunteers in New Orleans.

"Otherwise, you're just a do-gooder," Chisom said.

"They're not a do-gooder, they're a no-gooder," fellow panelist Jerome Smith interjected to all-around laughter.

Smith, a New Orleans community activist, spoke passionately about institutional racism. He said the unsung heroes of the hurricane salvage effort are often the same people being arrested for crime.

"What is the value of playing by the social rules when I have not been accepted historically ever?" Smith said.

The panelists warned that New Orleans could lose its identity if conditions don't improve. University of New Orleans professor Rachel Luft said the redevelopment plans are "ominous." The average income has risen significantly in New Orleans this year, she said, but noted that this is less a sign of development than a sign that poorer residents are not returning home. And money promised by the government for rebuilding may be used up by opportunistic developers before it reaches families, they said.

Kremer traveled to New Orleans last January with a field course, an experience she called "mind-wrecking."

In the spring 2006 edition of the Journal of Student Social Work, she wrote with fellow student Gabriella Cassandra, Social Work '07: "Throughout the experience, we were struck by the similarity between the systemic issues highlighted by Hurricane Katrina and the social justice issue ... in New York City and across the nation."