Katrina
survivors speak out as Millions MoreThe devastation and destruction of Hurricane Katrina has shocked America and changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people forever—from New Orleans to Houston, from Baton Rouge to
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| (L-r) Joshua Farrakhan, Minister Louis Farrakhan and Congressman Al Green listen to the stories of the evacuees. Photos: Stacey Muhammad |
Dallas and other areas in the Gulf Coast Region to other regions across the country. The current crisis has left many unanswered questions regarding Hurricane Katrina, the role and the response of the U.S. government and private relief agencies. On Sept. 11, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and a delegation from the Millions More Movement toured affected areas to begin a fact-finding mission and listen to the suffering voices of the survivors to truly understand the breadth and depth of their needs.
Minister Farrakhan described the day as a “whirlwind” mission, wherein he traveled to Dallas, for a private meeting with New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, who is currently residing with his family there; to Houston to tour the relief centers and listen to survivors at a town hall meeting; to Baton Rouge, La., to address an audience of clergymen and community leaders and finally to Jackson, Miss., to meet with many of the Black mayors of smaller cities and towns in that area that have been devastated by Katrina but ignored by federal relief agencies, as well as the media.
In a press
conference the following day in Charlotte, N.C.—the 17th city on
his 23-city tour mobilizing the Millions More Movement, Minister
Farrakhan informed of one of the most pressing issues discussed
throughout the mission.
“If they are evacuees, don’t they have the right to return, or
are they being disbursed in a new Diaspora so that the other
cities and towns can absorb this Black people, so that when New
Orleans is rebuilt as a mainly White city, so that never again
can New Orleans have a Black mayor, and Black police chief?” he
asked.
He also revealed to the press a report that he received, from a
“very reliable source” he said, that there was a 25-foot hole
under one of the levees that broke, which suggested it may have
been busted on purpose to destroy the part of the city where
Black people lived.
“This is a horrible thing to think that somebody would do,” he
observed, “but all one needs to understand is our history, and
Black-White relations in this country, and what some are capable
of doing out of envy and desire for political and economic
advancement.”
He reminded the press of the only time that bombs ever fell on
the soil of the United States—May 31, 1921, the bombing of
“Black Wall Street” in Tulsa, Okla., one of the most
economically prosperous and independent Black communities ever
developed. He recounted that an incident over a Black person
“insulting” a White person was fabricated and fomented the
farmers’ hatred and envy enough to take to the skies in their
planes and drop bombs to burn the Black community to the ground,
killing 300 people and wiping the entire district off the map.
The United States has some “very wicked people in high places if
you look at our history,” he added.
A tour of comfort
Upon their arrival in Houston, Congressman Al Green (TX-9)
warmly received the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and the
members of the delegation for a tour of the George R. Brown
Convention Center, which is one of many locations where
survivors are given relief assistance.
The Millions More Movement delegation included Dr. Julianne
Malveaux, Bob Law, Attorney Malik Zulu Shabazz, Minister Akbar
Muhammad, Reverend Willie Wilson, Dr. Barbara Skinner, Erykah
Badu, Charles Steele and Minister Benjamin Chavis Muhammad.
Chief of Staff for the NOI Leonard Muhammad, who had been in the
city for nearly a week prior conducting research and preliminary
fact-finding meetings, he joined the delegation on the ground.
As the delegation toured the living area, the sight of Minister
Farrakhan brought smiles to lonely survivors who shared their
pain with him. Evacuee Michael Jackson approached the delegation
to request help in finding his two missing girls and Minister
Farrakhan talked with him on how it can be accomplished.
Councilmember Adrian Garcia and the Mexican Red Cross were on
site providing relief service and Minister Farrakhan thanked
them for their hard work. The delegation then toured the upper
level eating area, where hundreds of Muslim volunteers rushed to
shake the hands of Minister Farrakhan. Over 2,000 volunteers
from the Houston Muslim Relief Group, which is comprised of a
coalition of 20 mosques and local Islamic organizations in
Houston, were on site to serve food and work registration tables
and they were excited by the arrival of the delegation. Copies
of Holy Qur’ans and Bibles were made available for the evacuees
to have free of charge. Muslim doctors were given guidance from
Minister Farrakhan and he shared with them the importance of the
Prophet Muhammad’s hadith that “half of your bowl of soup
belongs to your brother.”
As word of Minister Farrakhan’s presence in the convention
center spread, the crowd around him grew, as people wanted to
share their stories with him. He hugged teary-eyed survivors,
shook hundreds of hands and stopped to make prayer with others.
After the convention center tour, a near-capacity crowd filled
the Power Center for a National Town Hall Meeting to hear untold
stories of fear, anxieties, survival and heroic efforts from
those affected by Hurricane Katrina. Survivors were bussed from
the Astrodome-Reliant Center and the George R. Brown Convention
Center to share their personal spiritual, psychological and
economic challenges and traumas to the panel of leaders who were
focused on hearing their pain.
From whence cometh their help?
Maxine Johnson who lives in Houston has taken 47 people
into her home but has not been able to receive
assistance.
“I am here to let
you know that I’m very depressed. I am so angry and devastated I
don’t know what to do! I’m not an alcoholic, I’m going to tell
you the truth, but since this thing has happened to me I started
drinking to deal with this problem! It’s not getting better!”
yelled Sylvia George. “I am not ashamed to tell the whole
world!”
Her and her family ran out gas several times on their way to
Houston and one time had to push their car for 30 minutes. “I
had a car, but everywhere I went the gas stations were closed
down.”
Another survivor, Shaun, shared that he did what he had to do in
order to escape the horror of the hurricane.
“One volunteer gave me a cold frozen sandwich,” he recounted,
“and I asked him, how was I going to eat a frozen sandwich? He
told me to put it in my pocket and it will get warm.”
Ms. Collins told the town hall meeting of her living “hell.”
“I have never been in hell like this in my life! I have slept on
cardboards and wet floors,” she shared. “I now have nothing.
They are not helping us, they are giving us peanuts. Could you
all please help us!?”
Story after story of fear and pain were shared.
“I am scared and I am hurting. I’m not used to hand-me-downs. I
was moments from blowing my head off from frustration!” shared
Lavern McFadden through tears. “This is mentally abusing!”
“We were out of food and water for seven days strong. We didn’t
have any food. We saw helicopters and we put a red flag in the
air to flag them down and they did nothing!” shared Aisha
Williams, who is the mother of two children. “If it were not for
the Black Panthers coming with those buses, we would have died!
I am not going back to Louisiana, because they tried to kill us
the first time.”
“I feel a release just to be heard,” said Annette Addison, who
was thankful for the opportunity to speak. She is struggling to
get assistance to feed and clothe her four children and two
nieces. She said she received a debit card from the American Red
Cross, but the money had not shown posted. “No one wants to give
help.”
Maria Farrakhan Muhammad, the National Directress of the Louis
Farrakhan Prostate Cancer Foundation, traveled from Chicago to
attend the townhall meeting. She told The Final Call that she
felt compelled to get up out of her seat and go to the podium to
hold and comfort a love lorn mother who was missing her child.
“I had a two-story home with two-and-a-half bathrooms and
everything is gone, it’s underwater. I’m still missing a son,
I’m having crying spells for no reason,” the mother lamented.
“I’m trying to find my son. A mother’s love is deep,” she cried.
Sister Maria stated that, as a mother herself, she felt the
woman’s pain and had to rush to comfort her.
‘We have to be proactive!’
After listening to several more reports, Minister Farrakhan
addressed the audience with sincere compassion for the survivors
of Hurricane Katrina.
“A trial always brings out the best and the worst in those being
tried,” he taught. “New Orleans is special because it is
teaching a lesson. The tragedy has taught us all that we cannot
depend on others, we must depend on ourselves.”
He expressed that it was an honor to listen to the survivors,
the stories of which he said are inspiring to him and the
delegation. He then pledged that the Millions More Movement will
do everything in its power to ease the suffering of our Brothers
and Sisters.
“There has never been progress or advancement in society,
science, religion and medicine without the loss of life. It
seems as though, in the plans of God, some always die that
others may live,” he explained. “This is a trial of great
magnitude, not only on the citizens of Louisiana, Alabama and
Mississippi, but this is a trial on the government of the United
States of America—local government, state government and federal
government. This is also a trial on those of us who are not
afflicted—but are afflicted because you are afflicted.
“Now the question is, with God watching, how much do we love our
people? How much do we care? Others have never cared about us.
But how much do we care about what we are hearing today?”
He stressed that it is not enough for people to just send some
money, shoes and clothing, and insisted that people must not
simply watch and do nothing.
“I’m not talking about television cameras. I’m not talking about
press conferences. I’m not talking about eloquence of speech.
What I heard today does not need talk but something needs to be
done,” said Minister Farrakhan to the leaders present.
He revealed that millions of dollars are being allocated to
companies to clean up the debris in New Orleans, but urged the
importance of able-bodied men from our community to return to
the city and get involved in the rebuilding process.
“We have to be proactive!” he declared.
He noted that over $700 million had been given to the American
Red Cross and other charities, and called for the Millions More
Movement to develop an oversight committee to “force them to
open their books and show us the money that the American people
have raised and where did that money go.”
He also pointed out the need for Black contractors to become a
part of the rebuilding process.
“FEMA is too White to represent us and so is the Red Cross. So
we are going to demand our place at the table,” he insisted.
“They think we are asleep, but Katrina woke up Black America and
Katrina woke up the whole Black world.”
Members of the panel who joined the Millions More Movement
delegation included Congressman Al Green, Leonard Muhammad,
Mayor Frank Jackson, Kofi Taharka, Councilmember Ronald Green,
Deloyd Parker, Jim Jones of the Diplomats, Rev. Dezee Coldfield,
State Rep. Alma Allen, State Rep. Al Edwards, Minister Willie
Muhammad of Muhammad’s Mosque No. 46 in New Orleans, La., Lateef
Salley, State Rep. Garnet Coleman, among others.
God’s Plan
After leaving the survivors with a message of hope and
encouragement, the delegation traveled to the campus of Southern
University in Baton Rouge, where Minister Farrakhan spoke to a
crowd of over 300 people, which included community leaders and
educators and concerned citizens from Baton Rouge and
surrounding areas.
Minister Farrakhan spoke about the plan of Allah (God) as it
related to the wickedness of America. Referencing the scriptures
of Paul, he said, “We war not against flesh and blood, but
against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of
the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high
places.” He taught that God’s plan is the destruction of the
wicked who rule however, he noted, the primary victims of
Hurricane Katrina are Black people.
He also announced the plans of the Millions More Movement to
form an oversight committee of the country’s charities, and
informed that he had received a report that the levy system in
New Orleans, which keeps surrounding waters from flooding the
city, was purposefully destroyed to save the business district
and affluent areas of New Orleans. To the doubtful, he advised
not to put it past the wicked to allow thousands to die for the
benefit of the wealthy who rule.
(Dora Muhammad contributed to this report from Charlotte, N.C.,
and Minister Andrew Muhammad contributed to this report from
Baton Rouge, La.)
Source: FinalCall.com