July 2007 Archives

July 17 at the Center for Constitutional Rights in Manhattan community organizers from Louisiana, progressive attorneys and elected officials announced that the International Tribunal on Hurricanes Katrina and Rita will be held in New Orleans from Aug. 29 to Sept. 2, marking the second anniversary of the Katrina disaster. The tribunal will include hurricane survivors, expert witnesses, international delegations, a team of human rights and civil rights prosecutors, and a panel of U.S.-based and international judges.

Attorney Joan Gibbs of Medgar Evers Center for Law and Social Justice, who will also be part of the prosecution team, chaired the news conference. Speakers included Kwame Kalimara of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement; former Georgia Congress Member Cynthia McKinney; New York City Council Member Charles Barron; Kali Akuno of the Peoples Hurricane Relief Fund; and Viola François-Washington, an organizer with the Peoples Hurricane Relief Fund and Executive Director for the Welfare Rights Organization.

Kalimara opened by announcing that President George W. Bush and Governors Kathleen Blanco and Haley Barbour (of Louisiana and Mississippi respectively) had all been officially advised that the Tribunal would be trying the U.S. government for crimes against humanity and genocide under the U.N. Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and other relevant international agreements following the hurricanes that hit the Gulf Coast almost two years ago.

McKinney cited as an example of the crimes committed the incident at the Gretna Bridge, when more than a hundred hungry and thirsty Katrina survivors—mostly African-American—tried to flee across to dry land right after New Orleans was flooded in 2005 and were prevented from crossing by racist Gretna police officers, who fired on the crowd and shouted racist epithets.

McKinney also cited the suspension of the Second Amendment right to bear arms by Michael Chertoff, secretary of Homeland Security. Survivors found that their own weapons were confiscated, while mercenaries from Blackwater and other corporations were sent in to patrol the streets. “Instead of sending food, they sent men with guns,” McKinney said.

She pointed out that the blame for the ongoing disaster falls on both major political parties. “Bush was criticized for not mentioning Katrina in his 2007 State of the Union address, but Pelosi also failed to mention it in the Democratic Party’s first one hundred days in power.”

Barron said that the tribunal would be an opportunity to shed light on important institutional issues, including race, class and gender issues. He said, “We need to put enough pressure to put Katrina on the top of the agenda. Black people cannot let the government get away with what they did, because they left our people to die.”

Viola François-Washington, a Katrina survivor on the Gretna Bridge during the infamous incident, reported on the complete lack of any assistance during and after the storm. “We saw helicopters flying all over the city, but no one was helping us,” she said.

The racism that denied help to people during the disaster is still very much a reality. “We still have two cities,” François-Washington said. “One is getting help and the other has not.”

Tribunal to raise issues of inhumane treatment relating to storms.

It’s been two years since Hurricane Katrina and Rita ripped through the belly of the South, and survivors, along with various scholars and activists, are seeking to hold the US government responsible in a tribunal court hearing scheduled for this August.

On Tuesday (July 17), New York City Councilman Charles Barron and former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney met at Manhattan’s Center for Constitutional Rights for a press conference to discuss the upcoming trial. The tribunal will target President Bush, the US government, State of Louisiana, State of Mississippi, and various other agencies who were involved in the Katrina and Rita relief efforts.

The Tribunal will include a team of human and civil rights prosecutors, including Joan Gibbs from the Center of Law & Social Justice and Kali Akuno, from the Peoples Hurricane Relief Fund.

Overall, the Tribunal’s main goal is holding the US government accountable for their reaction to the 2005 storms.

"Some people are being held accountable," said Former Congresswoman McKinney. "But what about [US Secretary of Homeland Security] Michael Chertoff? I’m wondering why he still has a job!"

Councilman Barron believes potential Democratic leaders have not raised the issue enough. "We can’t let Barack Obama and Hillary, and all these so-called Democrats, whisper about what happened with Katrina," he said. "America needs a revolution."

"I’m a survivor," said Viola Washington, in a thick New Orleans drawl. "I was there. We had racism, and a whole lot of -isms before the storm, but it don’t excuse what happened during the storm. We had helicopters flying over the city and nobody came to help us. We were begging for help."

Like Washington, other survivors will give their testimonies during the hearing, detailing abusive and humiliating treatment during delayed relief efforts.

"They put me in a wilderness, in a place I never heard of in my life," another, graying survivor added.

When Katrina hit, that woman was raising her three grandchildren, after her daughter was murdered. "They [National Guard] were putting guns on you just to ask a question. This is America! It took us from Tuesday to Friday to get out of there," she said.

At the time, the woman owned her home. Her biggest concerned after the storm was returning to it. "But FEMA told me I was supposed to get back to my home or I’ll lose my assistance," she said. "What am I supposed to do with three children?"

In addition to survivor testimonies, foreign nations have lent their support to the International Tribunal effort, including Cuba, Mexico, France, and Brazil.

The Mexican government released the following statement: "The Katrina disaster was a disaster organized by a political and economic system rooted in racism, exploitation and oppression. The massive deaths and human suffering could have been avoided were it not for the racism of the U.S. government at all levels."

The hearing will be held August 29 in New Orleans, marking the two-year anniversary of the hurricane tragedy.