Miller, Lee M. “Receiving Communities and Persons Displaced by Hurricane Katrina.” In L. Weber and L. Peek. eds. Displaced: Voices from the Katrina Diaspora. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. Forthcoming 2011.
Part I: Section Introduction Receiving Communities and Persons Displaced by Hurricane Katrina Lee M. Miller
People displaced by Hurricane Katrina landed in communities across the United States, and the six chapters in this section represent nearly a dozen such locations. Some of the receiving communities described in this volume were similar to New Orleans in terms of racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic composition (e.g., Columbia, South Carolina [Weber, this volume] 1) while in others there were significant differences (for example Denver, Colorado [Peek, this volume] 2). But in none of the locations was the particular combination of city size, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic composition, poverty levels, regional dialect, and cultural heritage the same as the home these displaced New Orleanians left behind. Whether because of the national awareness of the failure of the government’s response to the storm and flood that followed, because they were U.S. citizens, or because of the extreme nature of the disaster, many communities across the nation welcomed Katrina’s displaced with open arms—even hailing them as their “guests” (Weber, this volume).3 The welcome was not without tensions, however. For example, a portion of long-term residents who relied on social services were disadvantaged by the influx of displaced people and in some cases expressed resentment toward the newcomers who moved ahead of them in social service queues (Lein, Angel, Beausoleil, and Bell, this volume; Weber, this volume).4 The extraordinary destruction that was caused by Hurricane Katrina and the failure of the levee system surrounding the city of New Orleans prompted a massive internal migration. Yet for the residents who were stranded and depended on government rescue and removal efforts, where the displaced were sent seems to have been largely determined by whether or not a 1
Miller, Lee M. “Receiving Communities and Persons Displaced by Hurricane Katrina.” In L. Weber and L. Peek. eds. Displaced: Voices from the Katrina Diaspora. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. Forthcoming 2011.
community would accept them. Many people displaced by Katrina, especially the most vulnerable, the poor, elderly, and female-headed families—those who had no place to go—had little or no choice in where they were taken. They were airlifted or bussed out of the drowned city—often not even informed of their destination until well into the trip or even after arrival. Although grateful to be out of the “flooded hell” that was post-Katrina New Orleans, evacuees quickly realized that the places where they were, in their words, “shipped,” all too often did not have the desired characteristics, the social or cultural environment, or the necessary resources that displaced people often wanted or desperately needed. The destinations described in the chapters in this section shared many, if not all, of the following characteristics. Many places did not have jobs for newcomers to fill (and if they did have jobs, the displaced often did not have the necessary documentation or credentials for the positions available). For example, many lost photo identification, social security cards, birth certificates and medical records in the flood. Infrastructure and services accessible to people with limited income were already strained by pre-existing local demand. Housing was unaffordable and hence unsustainable in the long-term, once government assistance for evacuees ran out. Public transportation was often unreliable, at best, and unavailable, at worst, further limiting access to scarce and desperately needed resources. Some of the communities receiving displaced people lacked some, or all, of the usual “pull” factors that traditionally draw immigrants or other mobile Americans in search of a better life. While some people were able to choose locations and moved near family and/or job relocation opportunities, the most disenfranchised, again, often did not have these options. If they had been able to evaluate these destinations before arriving, it is unlikely that these places
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Miller, Lee M. “Receiving Communities and Persons Displaced by Hurricane Katrina.” In L. Weber and L. Peek. eds. Displaced: Voices from the Katrina Diaspora. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. Forthcoming 2011.
would have been chosen, with the possible exception of some evacuees to Denver, Colorado as described by Peek in this volume. The Receiving Communities The chapters that follow present several different angles of vision on how the context of the receiving community shaped the reception of Katrina’s displaced. Several authors present the perspectives of people—including both children and adults—displaced by Katrina (in this volume, see Lein et al.; Pardee; Fothergill and Peek).5 The chapters by Peek, Lein and colleagues, and Weber present the voices of the displaced as well as those of the host community service providers, and Miller’s chapter describes the reaction of a small town host community. Lori Peek’s research on families displaced to Denver, Colorado challenges the notion of “Katrina fatigue.” Through extensive field observations and in-depth interviews with children and their parents, Peek describes the varied paths people took to Denver and the reception they received. Adjustment to a very different geographic, physical, climatic, economic, and social environment in the receiving community was a challenge for many, despite the initial warm and generous welcome. As time went on and the displaced did not, or could not, return home, evacuee case managers claimed that “Katrina fatigue” had set in. Members of the receiving community began to wonder why the displaced were still there and still needy. The displaced found themselves faced with indifference, suspicion, and even overt hostility as they searched for work, housing, and schools for their children. Laura Lein, Ron Angel, Julie Beausoleil, and Holly Bell describe what happened when people who lived at or near the poverty level in New Orleans experienced the disaster and displacement to Austin, Texas: they entered the “basement of poverty.” The two families whose experiences Lein and colleagues chronicle are representative of many displaced, and these 3
Miller, Lee M. “Receiving Communities and Persons Displaced by Hurricane Katrina.” In L. Weber and L. Peek. eds. Displaced: Voices from the Katrina Diaspora. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. Forthcoming 2011.
families’ struggles illustrate how a single event like Katrina can push people into the “basement of poverty” from which it is exceedingly difficult to escape. Through these detailed stories, Lein and her co-researchers elucidate the combined impact of labor markets, housing, health care availability, poverty programs, and negative public perceptions on the lives and recovery prospects for America’s poor. While this volume documents that resources available to survivors of the storm in all the places they landed were exhausted long before needs were met, Lein and her colleagues’ research describes how fragile financial survival can be even in “normal” times and the dire consequences when the working poor are torn from their geographically rooted informal support networks. This research illustrates the impact of a piecemeal welfare system, inadequate to substantively help people in normal times and unable to respond effectively in the aftermath of a disaster. Jessica Pardee describes low-income African American women’s experiences in locating affordable housing and in accessing social services in their new communities. Expanding her research on residents of government subsidized housing in New Orleans before the storm, Pardee examines the fundamental problem of a shortage of low-income housing and how this shapes displacement. Although Hurricane Katrina displaced people from all types of housing, those living in subsidized housing have faced unique obstacles in returning to New Orleans. Due to the flooding, there was literally no place to go home to, as estimates suggest that 70 percent of housing in New Orleans experienced some level of damage, rendering many properties uninhabitable. Proposed, but hotly contested, housing demolition projects were rapidly pushed through the New Orleans City Council, effectively destroying four large low-income housing projects. This loss of affordable housing in conjunction with city-wide rent increases of approximately 35 percent created a structural barrier that prevented working poor and low4
Miller, Lee M. “Receiving Communities and Persons Displaced by Hurricane Katrina.” In L. Weber and L. Peek. eds. Displaced: Voices from the Katrina Diaspora. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. Forthcoming 2011.
income families from finding housing in post-Katrina New Orleans. In fact, Pardee documents that many people faced multiple moves—what we refer to as repetitive displacement in the volume. Not only does Pardee’s research contribute to a wider discussion of flawed national housing policies, it also points to how New Orleans itself became a receiving community to its own displaced: inhospitable and unrecognizable to many of its former residents. For them, the “new New Orleans” is no longer home. By combining the perspectives of the displaced with those of the communities receiving them, Lynn Weber’s research reveals how the macro trends of globalization and the privatization, deregulation, and reductions in social spending resulting from the neoliberal economic policies of the last 30 years shape the reception of the displaced in local communities today. Through a detailed consideration of the social, economic, and political context of Columbia, South Carolina, Weber’s research highlights how long term disinvestment in social reproduction—including low-income housing, public transportation, and social welfare—shapes everyday life for the most disadvantaged in America’s cities and renders those cities unable to successfully absorb disadvantaged newcomers for any length of time. Further, recent migration of new populations to Columbia and West Columbia (including African Americans, Latinos from Mexico and Central America, Russians, and Somali refugees) spurred by economic globalization form the backdrop to how newcomers from Louisiana were viewed. In sum, Weber’s research reveals how the conditions of our cities and towns, especially regarding their abilities to meet the needs of poor, low-income, and immigrant communities, largely shaped by neoliberal economic policies, pose significant problems for both the receiving communities and disasters’ displaced.
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Miller, Lee M. “Receiving Communities and Persons Displaced by Hurricane Katrina.” In L. Weber and L. Peek. eds. Displaced: Voices from the Katrina Diaspora. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. Forthcoming 2011.
Lee Miller’s research, like Weber’s, explores the role and character of the receiving community in shaping the reception of Katrina’s displaced. Given her vantage point from East Texas, however, Miller offers a picture of how a rural community experienced the arrival of people fleeing New Orleans. Seen from the perspective of the local community leaders responsible for managing the sheltering, housing, and assistance efforts for the newcomers, Miller documents the challenges that scarce resources posed for a receiving community and the displaced who landed in it. Miller notes that community leaders’ attitudes toward the displaced shifted over time from welcome to suspicion and finally to overt hostility. Community leaders expected that after a brief time of unsettledness, people should be self-sufficient (no matter what their pre- or post-disaster circumstances), suggesting that empathy was a time-limited phenomenon. The deep devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina and the lengthy period it has required for uprooted and dispossessed people to resettle underscores the need to rethink what we mean by “recovery” and points to a need to recognize that traditional timeframes may not apply to catastrophes. Alice Fothergill and Lori Peek examine the worlds of children who were displaced to a handful of different communities in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. Fothergill and Peek draw on the voices of children to describe the challenges and opportunities that the youngest survivors of Katrina faced in their new neighborhoods and school classrooms. The children’s own voices offer poignant accounts of their evacuation and displacement experience. While many children were supported by family, friends, or helpful advocates during the displacement, they often faced unsupportive, discriminatory, and hostile reactions in their new surroundings. In addition, children were living apart from family members and friends, often for the first time, and they struggled with this painful separation. Throughout the chapter, we also witness the children’s 6
Miller, Lee M. “Receiving Communities and Persons Displaced by Hurricane Katrina.” In L. Weber and L. Peek. eds. Displaced: Voices from the Katrina Diaspora. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. Forthcoming 2011.
resilience as they discuss their experiences of change and adaptation. Those children in the study landed in unfamiliar communities, but they often emphasized the positive aspects of seeing new places and meeting new friends. By comparing the experiences of children who remained displaced years after the storm, and those who eventually returned to New Orleans with their family members, Fothergill and Peek shed light on the varied and complex challenges and opportunities inherent in staying displaced versus returning to a changed New Orleans. As plans are made for future disasters, the research presented here suggests simply moving the most vulnerable out of harm’s way is not enough. Plans must be in place that provide for coordinated transportation and information about the receiving communities to which they are relocated. Advance verification that the necessary infrastructure and services are available to the newcomers is required. Employment and affordable housing options must also be available. Furthermore, public transportation must be a viable way to move around the host community to access jobs, schools, shopping, and healthcare facilities if the displaced are without private vehicles. Finally, local service agencies should be supported in the event that the newcomers must stay for an extended period. In short, place matters. In the future it may matter even more. As we witness the continued devolution of services from government to private or non-profit service organizations, contexts of reception will become increasingly varied and economically unstable. The chapters in this volume make clear that as increased devolution of policies to states and localities make each context unique, displacement will be more difficult and survival strategies will become necessarily more place specific. Careful analysis of the potential contexts of reception prior to disasters is a necessary step in disaster planning and response.
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Miller, Lee M. “Receiving Communities and Persons Displaced by Hurricane Katrina.” In L. Weber and L. Peek. eds. Displaced: Voices from the Katrina Diaspora. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. Forthcoming 2011.
Part I: Section Introduction Notes 1
Weber, this volume
2
Peek, this volume
3
Weber, this volume
4
Lein, Angel, Beausoleil, and Bell, this volume; Weber, this volume.
5
In this volume, see Fothergill and Peek; Lein et al.; Pardee.
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