The C.O.W.S. KATRINA: AFTER THE FLOOD Part IX

The Context of White Supremacy hosts the ninth study session on Gary Rivlin’s Katrina: After The Flood. Mr. Rivlin is a White man; while employed at the New York Times he covered the infamous engineering failure and negligence that obliterated New Orleans in August of 2005. His 2015 bestseller reviews a decade of asymmetrical “recovery.” To make it plain, ten years of black New Orleanians being racially dislocated and purposely impaired from rebuilding their lives. Rivlin dissects all areas of people activity: the institution of charter schools, the destruction of public housing, and the looting of funds designated for flood victims. Last week’s session detailed how some White families in Lakeview had returned to their houses and completed the upgrades on their homes within months of the storm. By contrast, black families struggled to gain access to their property and had to pray for working toilets. Rivlin included the extraordinary efforts of former black panther Malik Rahim. When powerful Whites declined to aid black New Orleanians, Rahim founded Common Ground, which provided food, medical attention and housing repairs for tens of thousands. We hope this text will offer a more complete understanding of Hurricane Katrina and it’s aftermath as a meticulously planned campaign of genocide against black New Orleanians.