| Katrina
Commentary
Ethnic
media keep a worried eye on Katrina’s wake
By
Rene Ciria-Cruz
SAN
FRANCISCO - Black, Hispanic and Asian media
are nervously tracking hurricane Katrina’s impact
on their respective communities and raising funds
for the victims of the disaster. Not surprisingly,
African American media are most bitter about what
they see as the federal government’s environmental
negligence and half-hearted response to the emergency.
AP PHOTO/DAVE MARTIN
Sheila Dixon of New Orleans weeps as she clutches
her 18-monthold daughter Emily as they sit on the
side of Interstate-10 after being airlifted out of
flood besieged New Orleans on Wednesday, Aug. 31,
2005. Dixon wept uncontrollably, saying that everything
she had was lost and she had no idea where she was
being taken.
“I am angry because they
were warned last November that New Orleans was one
of the disasters waiting to happen,” writes
George E. Curry, editor-in-chief of National Newspaper
Publishers Association News Service and BlackPressUsa.com.
Curry cites a National Hazards Observer article, “What
If Hurricane Ivan Had Not Missed New Orleans?”
written by Shirley Laska of the Center for Hazards
Assessment, Response and Technology at the University
of New Orleans.
Laska had warned of the consequences
of a direct hit by hurricane. She wrote about the
likelihood of a storm surge into Lake Pontchartrain,
failing levees letting in floodwaters and the thousands
of residents who would not or could not leave before
the storm and would have to be evacuated. “Those
that dismiss environmentalists as kooks should pay
special attention to the observation about marshes,”
rails Curry, referring to Laska’s warning.
Laska had noted that: “Loss
of the coastal marshes that dampened earlier storm
surges puts the city at increasing risk to hurricanes.”
She had warned that 80 years of river leveeing, marsh
excavation linked to oil and gas exploration and transportation
canals for the petrochemical industry “have
threatened marsh integrity.”
Even before Katrina, the soil,
air and water in areas heavily populated by African
Americans had been seriously tainted by oil and petrochemical
byproducts, reports BET’s Mary M. Chapman, citing
renowned environmental expert Robert Bullard, author
of “Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class and Environmental
Quality.” Bullard criticizes southern states
for environmental racism, using “look the other
way” environmental policies and giveaway tax
breaks.
Chapman reported that many residents
trapped in New Orleans held service jobs and had little
means to leave the city and stay in hotels. Hispanics
and Asians are among the thousands displaced by Katrina.
The Spanish-language daily La Opinion
reports that an estimated 40,000 Hispanics in the
New Orleans area were directly affected by the hurricane.
Up to 150,000 Hondurans live in the area, making it
the country’s largest Honduran community, along
with more than 100,000 Mexican Hispanics. The Honduran
consulate has moved its offices to Baton Rouge, Louisiana
and has been inundated with phone calls.
Latino organizations are trying
to get aid to Katrina’s Hispanic victims, says
the Chicago daily La Raza, using a Spanish EFE wire
report. The Red Cross has bilingual volunteers in
all its refugee camps and a Spanish telephone line
to receive donations from the Latino community.
The Washington, D.C.-based National
Council of La Raza, is reaching out to organizations
in displaced Hispanic residents, especially the undocumented
immigrants who may be afraid to seek help, with information
about services available to them. The Central American
Resource Center (CARECEN) is preparing to receive
thousands of victims.
Some 300 Koreans living in New
Orleans have evacuated to Baton Rouge and Houston
where they are being lodged in Korean churches or
in the homes of Korean hosts, report the Korea Times
and the Korea Daily. Others fled as far as Philadelphia.
An official from the Korean Council of Houston said
there were many Koreans in Biloxi, where more than
30 deaths have been reported. The majority of Koreans
living in the Gulf region as smallbusiness owners
and many fear not only the loss of their homes, but
also their livelihoods.
Dozens of Vietnamese are still
stranded in a small town near New Orleans called Versailles,
where more than 10,000 Vietnamese settled after the
Vietnam war, report the Saigon Broadcasting Television
Network and the Vietnamese Calitoday. Many of the
stranded are senior citizens who don’t have
relatives to help them. The refugees are among those
who took shelter in the Lavang church of Father Vien
The Nguyen. Responding to reports published in New
California Media’s website, reader Hung Nguyen
blogs that “300 Vietnamese people stranded in
sewage water” are gathered and waiting for help
at the Mary Queen of Vietnam Church at 5069 Willowbrook
Drive in New Orleans. Most of the Vietnamese in Biloxi
and Gulfport have been evacuated to Alabama and Atlanta.
In Houston, the population of Da
Minh Convent, in just a few day increased more than
threefold, reports the Nguoi Viet newspaper. The convent,
which housed 50 nuns, received more than 100 refugees
and “more are coming.” Sister Hang Pham
said, “The first few days, Vietnamese arrived
to Houston not knowing where to stay. Some were sleeping
in their cars and others sleeping on the sidewalks.
So we, along with other organizations, offered some
to come to our convent,” she laughed. “But
don’t worry, we are not asking them to convert!”
she told the Nguoi Viet reporter.
“The slow progress in rescuing
Katrina’s victims is caused by more than federal
and local government’s lack of preparedness,”
writes the Chinese-language Singtao Daily’s
editor-in-chief Joseph Leung.
“In the worst-hit area of
New Orleans, 70 percent of the residents are black.
Officials did not respond with more sensitivity because
most of the people who stayed were poor blacks, who
did not have the resources to leave their home.”
Singtao Daily has pledged $100,000 for the hurricane’s
victims and so far has raised $3,000 from readers.
Houston’s Chinese community
groups are housing Chinese immigrants and students,
reports the Chinese-language daily The World Journal.
Lee Chuling of the Houston Chinese Overseas Center
says housing with host families is being arranged
for several hundred Chinese immigrants and students
who live in New Orleans.
The World Journal has set up a
relief fund. Lee Hohuai, director of World Journal’s
North American Division, says “the amount of
donation is not important; it is important for Asian
Americans to respond immediately to what’s happening
in mainstream society.” |
