Comments on: Saints or scabs? The impact of volunteer labour in New Orleans http://briarpatchmagazine.com/volunteer-labour-in-new-orleans/ Mon, 15 Mar 2010 07:50:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Adam Gorley http://briarpatchmagazine.com/volunteer-labour-in-new-orleans/comment-page-1/#comment-1079 Adam Gorley Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:37:36 +0000 http://briarpatchmagazine.com/?p=1219#comment-1079 Great article Sara. I wonder if the policies you mention—e.g., importing pre-fab homes to New Orleans rather than building them locally—come from continued deep-seated racism; like: "those poor people can't *build* anything for themselves". Chris, thanks for your clarification! I don't think the author was saying that volunteers shouldn't help rebuild, rather that volunteers have a very important role to play, but the city needs true (effective) political change, not just feel-good charity. Thanks for the update on the post-Katrina situation! Great article Sara. I wonder if the policies you mention—e.g., importing pre-fab homes to New Orleans rather than building them locally—come from continued deep-seated racism; like: “those poor people can’t *build* anything for themselves”.

Chris, thanks for your clarification! I don’t think the author was saying that volunteers shouldn’t help rebuild, rather that volunteers have a very important role to play, but the city needs true (effective) political change, not just feel-good charity.

Thanks for the update on the post-Katrina situation!

]]> By: chris http://briarpatchmagazine.com/volunteer-labour-in-new-orleans/comment-page-1/#comment-1009 chris Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:53:48 +0000 http://briarpatchmagazine.com/?p=1219#comment-1009 Hi, I'm a New Orleanian studying in Boston, and I consider myself an affordable housing advocate. I agree with this article on many levels but there are glaring falsehoods that I have trouble getting past. First off, the Garden District and French Quarter hardly even were flooded, so saying that "much of the city has been rebuilt, particularly in the wealthy Garden District and French Quarter" is purely false. This is not to mention the fact that most of the city has not been rebuilt at all. I'm not trying to argue that white areas weren't better off than black areas, because they were. Lakeview, St. Bernard, and Metairie came back much quickly for two reasons - personal income to supplement insurance, and home ownership. There are deep-seated, structural problems in New Orleans, which have placed blacks at an extreme disadvantage, and the pre-Katrina housing projects did nothing but help that prosper. These types of developments show countless patterns of ghettoization and segregation. Why would the government rebuild these New Deal projects rather than taking the opportunity to use newer, proven approaches? Until this happens, why should volunteers not rebuild? Hi, I’m a New Orleanian studying in Boston, and I consider myself an affordable housing advocate. I agree with this article on many levels but there are glaring falsehoods that I have trouble getting past.
First off, the Garden District and French Quarter hardly even were flooded, so saying that “much of the city has been rebuilt, particularly in the wealthy Garden District and French Quarter” is purely false. This is not to mention the fact that most of the city has not been rebuilt at all. I’m not trying to argue that white areas weren’t better off than black areas, because they were. Lakeview, St. Bernard, and Metairie came back much quickly for two reasons - personal income to supplement insurance, and home ownership.
There are deep-seated, structural problems in New Orleans, which have placed blacks at an extreme disadvantage, and the pre-Katrina housing projects did nothing but help that prosper. These types of developments show countless patterns of ghettoization and segregation. Why would the government rebuild these New Deal projects rather than taking the opportunity to use newer, proven approaches?
Until this happens, why should volunteers not rebuild?

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