New Orleans Grew More Unequal After Hurricane Katrina: Report

The repaired Lower Ninth Ward levee wall is seen at dusk August 28, 2010 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Reconstruction efforts after Hurricane Katrina left the city with greater economic inequality than before, according to a new report.

After Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans came back more unequal than before.

That's the conclusion of a recent report from the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy, a left-leaning legal organization. The report's authors argue that in the wake of the 2005 storm, reconstruction efforts were handled in such a way as to broaden the gap between whites and minorities in the region, and to make it harder for local people of color to find jobs.

"The limitations on labor and equal opportunity protections, as well as the inequitable application of federal resources, significantly diminished the opportunities and heightened the inequalities in the Gulf Coast," the report states.

That inequality has since become a matter of national record. A Census Bureau report issued last year found that in the period from 2005 to 2009, New Orleans had the second highest level of income inequality of any large American city. According to the Census report, only Atlanta had a higher wealth gap.

Race plays a huge role in economic disparity in the U.S., with blacks almost twice as likely as whites to be unemployed, and with white households possessing a median level of wealth 20 times as high as black households.

One might expect that in New Orleans, a city 60 percent black and 33 percent white, inequalities across different strata of society would be especially pronounced. At the national level, the income gap between whites and blacks recently grew to its greatest width in more than a decade.

And that's part of a larger story -- namely, that income inequality has been growing more and more conspicuous over the past 30 years, not just in New Orleans but everywhere in America. Working- and middle-class wages have remained essentially flat since 1980 or so, while the country's highest earners have seen their paychecks grow bigger and bigger.

Comments

[stillstandingkickingbutt]

11:48 AM on 08/26/2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA6FFnjvvmg

I love this man his bakery is and was a staple We lived there during Katrina in 2005 and as a nurse i will ever forget it We were both there
My husband was a res from childhood to college and we make that treck every 4-5 months just to keep it real.And to thank Yemaya for her blessings and the people who gave us love from the beginning MINUS the Bushwacker
Go see it

[Upset Canuck]

12:59 PM on 07/11/2012

If I were a member of the "Bush" administration I would live in shame for the rest of my life and pray to God every day to forgive me for my ignorance and my disregard for the people that you SWORE to protect.

The President at the time of this terrible catastrophe should have been down on the ground trying to help and getting the real facts and doing his JOB, which is to use any means available to the US Government and FEMA IMMEDIATELY after the Katrina passed.

My heart and prayers go out to all of you survivors and also to the countless lives lost needlessly.
If anyone would like to chat or talk about or have information that they would like to share with me about any of the atrocities that were committed by any of the officials that were elected, hired or picked to protect and serve. My e-mail is [e-mail] please feel free to just rant or vent or anything at all I promise to respond as fast as I can to any and all of your e-mails and if there is ANYTHING I can do to help any of you please ask and I will do my best to help.

I can promise you that there will be a day of reckoning where the negligent people and the others who committed atrocities during and after Katrina will one day have to answer for their sins and will be judged.

[Upset Canuck]

12:58 PM on 07/11/2012

I was so proud of my fellow Countrymen our Royal Canadian Mounted Police from all over Canada were there and came so quickly to help in any way they could. I consider myself lucky to live in Canada and I pray to our Lord and savior Jesus to help them recover and see through the blatant disregard of how your government showed just how much they care about their people. If I have offended anyone from New Orleans then I truly apologize but my intentions are not to offend you but to pull the shades from your eyes and I hope and pray that anyone affected by this terrible terrible tragedy that could have been better handled and avoided if your Government would have cared more and done it's job which is to SERVE the people of the United States and not to oppress or stand idly by and do nothing or for that matter HOW DARE YOU THREATEN TO OPEN FIRE ON YOUR OWN PEOPLE THAT WERE TRYING TO GET TO SAFETY AND MEDICAL ATTENTION THAT COULD HAVE SAVED MANY MANY LIVES.

[Upset Canuck]

12:56 PM on 07/11/2012

After just watching the Spike Lee Movie about Hurricane Katrina and the effects and the how disgraceful the federal government and FEMA treated the people of New Orleans, I as a Canadian Citizen am disgusted that our Royal Mounted Police and various other Organizations from Canada that responded before the United States Government could and also how one of the most DISGRACEFUL Presidents of the US did NOTHING even after flying over New Orleans after the 2nd day of the disaster and still did NOTHING until DAYS after, with starving, special needs people and desperately needed medical supplies and even the things such as water and food could not even be dropped off to these people makes me sick that the U.S. Federal Government, The President who could have easily overridden any sort of restrictions being placed on the stranded and starving people such as the armed force threatening to shoot anyone who attempted to cross the bridge to get to safety and to receive the medical attention that could have and SHOULD have been given to them makes me wonder how the U.S. can involve themselves in countries that are thousands of miles away from them but not involve themselves in saving their own people, the very people that helped elect a man who swore an oath to uphold the constitution and to protect not some of the citizens, but ALL of the citizens and how ignorant and selfish he was post Katrina.

[dbrett480]

02:03 PM on 05/02/2012

Correct me if I am wrong, but the hurricane hit the poorest areas of New Orleans. Since it hit the poorest of areas and caused the most damage there, wouldn't that automatically increase the inequality regardless of any government (in)action?

[Bienville]

11:21 AM on 06/07/2012

You are wrong.

The flooding destroyed about 80% of the housing without regard to finacial circumstances.

The greatest determinant of how soon or how well ...or, if ever... you recovered was the liquidity of your finances. The people with the most liquidity were able to repair and rebuild their homes and businesses and those with the least were not.

[Azlegit]

09:47 AM on 04/27/2012

According to most left leaning organizations there will never be the equality they imagine..

[PatriotPaul]

09:02 AM on 04/27/2012

I think most of us as kids were told by our parents, "It takes money to make money". And of course after any disaster those with less will have an even harder time to recuperate, so unfortunately this is no surprise.

Why we buy into the notion that this is the land of equal opportunity when so many of us have extra opportunities simply because we have either inherited some wealth from our ancestors or we have been able to afford much better educations, is beyond me. The disparities actually start during pre-natal care for many of us, so while we may be the land of different opportunities we have never been the land of equal opportunity.

For those who thought New Orleans could not or should not survive after the manmade disaster of the levee flooding, you were wrong, and how many of you can say your city has survived for almost 300 years?

Paul Harris
Author, "Diary From the Dome, Reflections on Fear and Privilege During Katrina"

[DMDAY44]

09:24 AM on 04/27/2012

"how many of you can say your city has survived for almost 300 years?"

Here are a few examples just from the US alone:

Charleston, SC
St. Augustine, FL
Boston, MA
Providence, RI
Albuquerque, NM
Philadelphia, PA
New York City

[Azlegit]

09:56 AM on 04/27/2012

Sorry Paul but I was born with numerous congenital birth defects and spent most of the first 7 years of my life in and out of hospitals. Thank God for the Shriners. My parents did not come from wealth nor were they left any as my Dad was a chef and my mother a school teacher. I was taught that I was no different than others other than the fact some things might be a bit more difficult to accomplish physically. I worked my way through college at a hospital, working the graveyard shift and then going straight to class in the morning. I passed though not with any "laude" but went on to work for a corporation and eventually retired after 32 years as a quality assurance engineer. No, things are not always as equal as we may hope for but my mother always told me if I complained or whined too much about something that it was your attitude, not your aptitude that will help you go far.

[Right Girl]

08:58 AM on 04/27/2012

I'm sure this must be President Bush's fault. He planned Katrina, knowing that the poor wouldn't have any insurance to help them rebuild and that the wealthy could keep them downtrodden after the cleanup. What a diabolical, evil plan!

[den1953]

08:51 AM on 04/27/2012

Gee they must have gotten the idea after Mrs Bush 41 said why bother about the 9th ward? The Republican mantra of screw the black poor and make sure the upper class neighborhoods get rebuilt!

[mikey09]

08:41 AM on 04/27/2012

So who is making the decisions in New Orleans...this is a city with a Democrat Mayor, then and now, and mostly democrat city officials....so the local government is the one making the decisions.

[intotheabyss]

08:31 AM on 04/27/2012

The Shock Doctrine at work. Take advantage of any disaster, whether natural or man made to push through your agenda. That's why it's called "disaster capitalism". If you think it can't affect you in a negative way, you are hopelessly naive.

[tinyrainbows]

08:10 AM on 04/27/2012

They should have blown those levees 20 years ago. Why don't we just let it sink?

[Ryan Tippens]

08:14 AM on 04/27/2012

we dont let it sink because its one of the most important ports in the nations history with 40% of the wheat we ship out of the country going through there.The wheat is nothing compared to most things that ship through there...its a really really important city for the USA.

[Right Girl]

09:00 AM on 04/27/2012

Who was the genius that chiseled out a city in the shape of a bathtub, set it on a coastline, then filled it with democrats and waited for a Hurricane to hit?

[Bienville]

11:34 AM on 04/28/2012

You should visit. YOu would see it is not chiseled out of anything, it is not the shape of a bathtub, it is not on a coastline and it is not filled with Democrats.

[bayside]

08:04 AM on 04/27/2012

I believe this was the plan.. Look at poor neighborhoods ,still without affordable help to restore their own homes plus lost their incomes..Even insurance companies tried and suceeded to scam them..

[Ryan Tippens]

08:17 AM on 04/27/2012

the thing is if my home gets destroyed I dont need help restoring it,I built it myself to begin with.Thats the thing,so many people have their hand out in this country that its amazing.There isnt much pride left in the USA.

[tinyrainbows]

08:21 AM on 04/27/2012

That is what liberals want you to do.

[JoeTheProgrammer]

08:48 AM on 04/27/2012

Liberals can't stand people like you. Self sufficiency is evil. Since you have the ability, you should be spending your time and money for those according to their need.

[mikey09]

08:39 AM on 04/27/2012

Most of the people who aren't being helped with replacement homes were renters or people without insurance...those who owned their homes will have an easier time getting a replacement compared to someone who rented...the property owner might not want to rebuild, maybe just wants to sell the lot to someone who will build on it, etc

[RogueStates]

07:40 AM on 04/27/2012

Go gentrification! You only have a "right" to the type of housing you can afford. although no one should be denied the opportunity to buy the house of their dreams if they can afford it, if you cannot afford the housing in a certain area, then look somewhere else.

Government housing support only works where the residents of said programs appreciate the Value of the benefit they receive - and act accordingly.

[FireThemAll2012]

07:29 AM on 04/27/2012

the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy, a left-leaning legal organization.

stopped reading at the end of that sentence.

[Dmich10255]

08:36 AM on 04/27/2012

I didn't stop reading and it was everything that you assumed.... just more race baiting propaganda on income inequality.

[Six Mill]

10:59 AM on 04/27/2012

we will never have income equality and we don't need it. I work hard to maintain that separation.