[StBernard] The Battle Over Discriminatory Housing Laws in New Orleans

[Westley Annis]

The Battle Over Discriminatory Housing Laws in New Orleans 
By JORDAN FLAHERTY 

Rebuilding efforts in St. Bernard Parish, a small community just outside New
Orleans, have recently gotten a major boost. One nonprofit focused on
rebuilding in the area has received the endorsement of CNN, Alice Walker,
the touring production of the play The Color Purple, and even President
Obama. But an alliance of Gulf Coast and national organizations are now
raising questions about the cause these high profile names are supporting.

The dispute focuses on the responsibility of relief organizations to speak
out against injustice in the communities in which they work. Since September
of 2006, St. Bernard Parish has been aggressive in passing racially
discriminatory laws and ordinances. Although these laws have faced
condemnation in Federal court and in the media, rebuilding organizations
active in the parish have so far refused to take a public position.

Racial discrimination has a long history in St. Bernard politics. Judge
Leander Perez, a fiery leader who dominated the parish for almost 50 years,
was known nationally as a spokesman for racial segregation. The main road
through the Parish was named after Perez, and his legacy still has a hold on
the political scene there. Lynn Dean, a member of the St Bernard parish
council told reporter Lizzy Ratner, "They don't want the blacks back. What
they'd like to do now with Katrina is say, we'll wipe out all of them.
They're not gonna say that out in the open, but how do you say? Actions
speak louder than words. There's their action."

The action Lynn was referencing is a "blood relative" ordinance the council
passed in 2006. The law made it illegal for Parish homeowners to rent to
anyone not directly related to the renter. In St Bernard, which was 85%
white before Katrina hit, this effectively kept African Americans, many of
whom were still displaced from New Orleans and looking for nearby housing,
from moving in. The Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center sued the
Parish, saying the ordinance violated the 1968 Fair Housing Act. A judge
agreed, saying it was racially discriminatory in intent and impact.

The story doesn't end there. St. Bernard's government agreed to a
settlement, but the illegal ordinance was followed by another, blocking
multi-family construction in the Parish. Last month, U.S. District Judge
Ginger Berrigan found the Parish to be in contempt of court, saying, "The
Parish Council's intent.is and was racially discriminatory." An editorial in
the New Orleans Times-Picayune agreed, saying, "This ruling strips off the
camouflage and reveals St. Bernard's actions for what they really are: an
effort to keep lower-income people and African-Americans from moving into
the mostly white parish."

Relief Work Questioned

St. Bernard Parish was heavily damaged by flooding in the aftermath of
Katrina. Thirteen percent of households lived below the federal poverty
line, and every home took in water. Many organizations and volunteers have
come through to volunteer time and donate money, including United Way,
Salvation Army, and the Greater New Orleans Foundation.

An organization called the St. Bernard Project, which was founded in 2006 by
two transplants from Washington, DC, has become one of the most high profile
organizations active in the region, with millions of dollars in corporate
and individual donations and thousands of volunteers.

This has been a big couple of weeks for the St. Bernard Project. On August
29, President Obama mentioned them in his weekly address, saying, "The St.
Bernard Project has drawn together volunteers to rebuild hundreds of homes,
where people can live with dignity and security." Last week, the touring
production of the Broadway show The Color Purple, produced by Oprah Winfrey,
announced that they will be raising money for the organization, and that
author Alice Walker will be personally participating in the fundraising.
Last year, CNN named co-founder Liz McCartney its Hero of the Year.

But this national acclamation has only increased criticisms of the work
happening in the Parish. Lance Hill, the executive director of the Southern
Institute for Education and Research at Tulane University, first raised his
voice on the issue in 2006, after the ordinance was passed. Hill is quick to
point out that he is not against rebuilding work in the Parish. However, he
adds, "If they chose to rebuild homes that Blacks and Jews would be barred
from, at a minimum they have a moral obligation to inform volunteers of the
policies of the Parish. To not do so is to mislead volunteers and donors and
to become complicit with racism."

Hill is also one of the signatories of an open letter, released this week,
which expresses deep concerns over rebuilding efforts in the parish.
"Regrettably, many relief and volunteer organizations chose not to respond
to the 'blood relative' law, remaining silent on this issue," the letter
states. "With the benefit of hindsight, we now know that St. Bernard Parish
officials interpreted silence as consent, which has now emboldened this
rogue government to pursue other means to defy the Fair Housing Act."

Organizers say that the letter is intended to pressure organizations to
think about larger issues of injustice as they work in the region. "It is
time that we take a stand against housing discrimination in St. Bernard and
throughout the Gulf Coast," the letter states. "And make clear what the
moral imperatives are for all organizations that seek to rebuild the Gulf
Coast as a fair and just society." Among the signers of the letter are human
rights organizations like the National Economic and Social Rights
Initiative, regional groups like Moving Forward Gulf Coast, and local
initiatives like MayDay Nola, which works on housing in New Orleans.

Zack Rosenburg, the cofounder of St. Bernard Project, is angered by the
complaints of Hill and others. "We are not an advocacy group and we're not
commenting on that," he told me, referring to the laws of the Parish. "We're
helping people get home." Rosenburg added that at least 30% of the families
they have worked with have been African American, and he asked me to "think
about the Black families who are living in FEMA trailers and want to move
home, before writing this piece.try to build things up instead of pulling
things down." 

Lance Hill and other advocates claim that working on relief without
challenging systemic injustices actually exacerbates the problem. They point
out that the number of houses rebuilt for African Americans in the community
- perhaps two hundred at the most, if you include all nonprofits working in
the area - pales in comparison to the thousands that have potentially been
excluded by the laws of the parish. "The main reason that these relief
groups have had to disproportionately rebuild Black rentals," explains Hill,
"is because the Parish is tearing down or blocking construction of
affordable housing faster than the relief groups can rebuild."

"This is why this issue in St. Bernard has troubled me so much," adds Hill.
"Exclusion is at the core of the injustices of Katrina. The deliberate
efforts to prevent people from returning and the denial that these policies
and practices were in place has been the central issue. The exclusionary
ideology that was widespread in the white community in New Orleans became
law in St. Bernard."

Organizers hope that the multiple levels of pressure will ultimately
challenge elected officials in St. Bernard Parish to make the area an
example of rebuilding with justice for all. "Our silence doesn't help
anybody," says Hill. "It destroys more than the relief groups can ever dream
of building."

Jordan Flaherty is a journalist based in New Orleans, and an editor of Left
Turn Magazine. He was the first writer to bring the story of the Jena Six to
a national audience and his reporting on post-Katrina New Orleans shared a
journalism award from New America Media. He is also co-director of PATOIS:
The New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival. He can be reached
at neworleans at leftturn.org.