EDITOR'S NOTE: "After the Storm – 18 Months Post-Katrina, Where Do Big Easy Blacks Stand?" is the final installation in BlackAmericaWeb.com's six-part State of Black America series.

Click here for "Part Five: Criminal-Minded – Getting at the Root of Violence and its Prevention."
Click here for "Part Four: Family Affairs – Is the Decline of the Black Family More Fiction Than Fact?"
Click here for "Part Three: The War at Home - What the Invasion of Iraq is Costing Us Stateside."
Click here for "Part Two: The Nation’s Debate Over Illegal Immigration and How it Impacts Us."
Click here for "Part One: Race Matters – or Does It? – in Growth, Progress of Black Community."

----------------------------------------------------

PODCAST: Senior Correspondent Michael Cottman talks with Hilary Shelton, who presently serves as Director to the NAACP’s Washington Bureau. 

----------------------------------------------------

Eighteen months after Hurricane Katrina unleashed a deadly fury across the city of New Orleans, many black residents of the Big Easy are still depressed, unemployed and struggling to repair their lives.

While some black residents are in various stages of rebuilding their homes, many are waiting for federal money to arrive, while others worry that since the New Orleans Saints are not advancing to the Super Bowl, media attention focusing on the myriad of problems after Katrina will quickly fade.

For most of America, some blacks fear, New Orleans is again out of sight and out of mind.

"There is still a tremendous need for mental health counseling," Dr. Silas Lee, a New Orleans-based pollster and political analyst, told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

"There are still too many people depressed, over-indulging and self-medicating with alcohol and drugs," Lee said. "In a survey I did for the city Planning Commission, 60 percent reported depression. It’s been 18 months since Katrina, but today, the challenges are ongoing."

On Monday, Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina careened into the Gulf Coast, forcing much of New Orleans underwater and bashing the Mississippi coast. The nation's most costly natural disaster killed more than 1,600 people, destroyed 200,000 Gulf Coast homes, displaced about one million people. News reports place insured property damage at $25.3 billion with 1.7 million insurance claims -- 975,000 of them in Louisiana.

The stark images of the black displaced are still etched in the minds of many Americans: Black people trapped on rooftops, families wading through toxic waist-high waters, bodies floating downstream and black children pleading for water and food outside a jammed and chaotic Louisiana Superdome, where a dead woman in a wheelchair was pushed to the side and covered with a dingy blanket.

"Hurricane Katrina represents, outside of 9/11, the bleakest and most despairing moment in recent U.S. history," Peter Groff, publisher of Blackpolicy.org and executive director of the Center for African American Policy at the University of Denver, told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

"Despite Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards’ flat announcement from the Ninth Ward," Groff said, "the fact that it seems to have slipped away from the larger national conscious sadly speaks volumes to the lessons we did and did not learn from that terrible disaster."

In a survey by BlackAmericaWeb.com, 80 percent of blacks surveyed said they are dissatisfied with the recovery effort in the Gulf; 77 percent of respondents said racism absolutely played a role in the federal government's response to the hurricane, and 50 percent said President George W. Bush should name a czar of sorts to oversee the Gulf Coast's reconstruction.

Federal officials say they have spent $110 billion on recovery in the Gulf Coast region. Louisiana has distributed less than $2 billion in federal aid to communities hit by Hurricane Katrina, drawing complaints from some New Orleans officials that the state is slowing their recovery.

"We’ve got to set up a Katrina federal fund to make people whole," Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (D-MI), chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, told BlackAmericaWeb.com. "If we can spend $5 billion in Iraq, we should take $1 billion for health care, infrastructure, fresh water and housing."

CHECK THE STATS: Scroll down to the bottom of this page to read the results of BlackAmericaWeb.com's poll on Katrina recovery in New Orleans.

Many black residents in New Orleans say rebuilding efforts have focused more on downtown revitalization and the renovation of the Superdome -- home to the New Orleans Saints -- instead of in the black community where the needs are greater and far more visible.

Kilpartick, who also serves on the House Appropriations Committee, said, "We need to look at how the money in New Orleans has been spent so far. Where is that money? Look at the Lower Ninth Ward. Where is the federal money? Some wealthy of communities are rebuilt and poorer communities are still leveled. It’s not fair."

Some black folks say they have lost faith in the Federal Emergency Management Agency system and were hoping for an uplifting --  if only temporary --  distraction if the Saints had advanced to the Super Bowl.   

Today, New Orleans is now a much smaller city after Katrina -- and much whiter. Once dominated by a significant black majority, the city's demographics have shifted toward whites -- and a more affluent white population.

Because thousands of black residents were displaced and are still scattered across the country, Hilary Shelton, Washington, D.C. bureau chief for the NAACP, called the mass relocation "the largest and most expansive gentrification project in history."

As more black residents slowly return to New Orleans, they are finding higher rents for apartments, a shortage of social services, public housing projects closed and plans for new residential housing they cannot afford.

Many blacks told BlackAmericaWeb.com they feel white developers and some business leaders are aggressively planning a New Orleans of the future that does not include low-income blacks. Civil rights activists say New Orleans needs a comprehensive economic plan to create jobs for black residents and get small businesses up and running again.

A federal lawsuit filed by New Orleans public housing tenants last June is still in U.S. District Court. The suit seeks to block the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development from closing thousands of apartments after Katrina.

And, Shelton added, black families in New Orleans are faced with extraordinary additional pressures: Living with more family members in less space and fewer financial resources.

"New Orleans is a tale of three cities," Lee said. "Some people have completed their rebuilding, some are in between, and some are still waiting to start rebuilding based on resources from the government."

Lee added that phony home-repair workers are now preying on unsuspecting residents.

"Contractors are taking people’s money," Lee said. "People are claiming to be legitimate contractors when they are not. Last month, there was a story about a contractor who took $80,000 from a black woman. Many black people have exhausted their resources and have had their money stolen."

But with all the challenges facing black people in New Orleans, the talk these days is about crime and the escalating murder rate.

Alarmed at the city's nearly one-a-day homicide rate, Mayor Ray Nagin declared a crackdown on violent crime, with more police on the streets, more surveillance cameras and a better effort to speed cases through the courts, but no curfew.

"We are drawing a line in the sand, saying enough is enough," Nagin told reporters last week. "We're going to put all our resources to focus on murder and violent crime."

The mayor addressed the city's continuing crime problem just a few steps from where blood stains mark the spot of the Jan. 1 killing of 28-year-old Corey Hayes, one of nine homicides in New Orleans in the first eight days of this year. The city counted 161 homicides in 2006.

With Mardi Gras just over a month away, tourism officials are worried. A row of signs in the city said it all: "It takes a thug to raze a village," one sign read, and "America's Baghdad."

"As Bush talks about safe zones in Iraq, where are the safe zones in New Orleans?" Shelton asked in an interview with BlackAmericaWeb.com. "What we have in New Orleans is a lack of order. Where is the law enforcement presence?"

Some activists blame mental illness for the city’s high crime rate, saying black men who are unemployed and despondent have not received mental health counseling because the majority of qualified health-care experts left the city after Katrina and have not returned.

Lawmakers and tourism officials urged the federal government to act fast to quell a wave of crime that has hit New Orleans.

"The situation demands action," said Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), who introduced a 10-point crime-fighting plan that would give law enforcement a boost as it combats shootings and other crime.

"All of this must be done without delay, without excuse and without red tape," she added.

Landrieu said she plans to send President Bush a letter urging for his support of her plan.

The plan calls for FEMA improvements, including turning over records of residents living in its trailers and trailer parks to police, speeding up construction of criminal justice facilities, more FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration agents, federal funding redirected to law enforcement programs and surveillance cameras to monitor crime and oversee police activity.

Beyond the rising crime rate, black residents in New Orleans are still stunned that many of the city’s hospitals have not reopened, some schools in black neighborhoods remain closed and rents for apartment have doubled.

And to make matters worse, the state’s The Road Home program, designed to help residents of Louisiana affected by Hurricane Katrina or Rita get back into their homes as quickly and fairly as possible, is being criticized by residents.

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, the Louisiana Recovery Authority and the Office of Community Development created The Road Home program with the approval of the Louisiana Legislature. The program affords eligible homeowners up to $150,000 in compensation for their losses to get back into their homes.

According to the New Orleans Times Picayune, "only about 13,000 of the 97,000 people, or 13 percent, who had applied to Blanco's Road Home program by Jan. 11 used an initial survey to say they planned to take the money and run, but nearly all of those said they'll stay in the state. Just 1,500 applicants, less than 2 percent of the total, have preliminarily indicated they'll leave the state."

"As the Road Home process drags on and neighborhood landscapes remain ill-defined, the newspaper reported, "the 8,300 applicants who have received final award letters and chosen the buyout or rebuild option are sticking to the trends in the survey."

"People are still upset with the city’s Road Home project because money people received was not adequate to rebuild," Silas Lee said. "The Road Home program never did not work effectively to get people back home."

When asked to list critical concerns facing black residents, many folks like Alice Kraft-Kerney talk of the difficulty getting access to quality health care.

Kraft-Kerney, a registered nurse, opened the Lower Ninth Ward Clinic late last year -- the only health-care clinic in the predominantly-black low-income neighborhood where splintered rubble, former homes, still sits. She said she was able to open the clinic with grants, donations and very limited city and state funding.

"People are dying every day because of a lack of medical services," Craft-Kerney told BlackAmericaWeb.com. "People were underserved before Katrina, so the situation has compounded. Many health care professionals have left the city for good. It’s been very upsetting."

"Prevention is key to better health outcomes," she said. "Therefore, it is imperative the Lower Ninth Ward Health Clinic maintain its mission of taking health care outside of the walls of the clinic and bring these much needed preventive services to the people who truly need them."

The clinic aims to offer health support to treat a range of ailments, including but not limited to hypertension, stress, diabetes, cardiac conditions, minor trauma, plus treating respiratory illness and infections related to exposure to toxins from the flood. In addition, immunizations, help in registering for government assistance (Medicaid and Medicare) and pharmaceutical assistance for chronic illnesses will be provided through the clinic.

Funding for health care and other critical needs are scarce. FEMA, for example, has paid Louisiana roughly $5.1 billion to reimburse communities for construction projects. But only 38 percent of that money has reached communities 18 months after the storm, officials said.

Nagin stopped short of blaming the state but said the city cannot afford to start many projects , like health care clinics, without advance payments.

"We're out of money right now," Nagin acknowledged.

But Groff told BlackAmericaWeb.com there are no checks and balances in place to hold officials accountable.

"What happened to the performance measures and benchmarks?" Groff asked. "There are foundational elements that are essential but seem missing from the slow recovery of the Gulf region as money is scarce, homes are still abandoned and the same pre-Katrina mistakes are re-emerging."

He added that the Katrina recovery effort is also a major challenge for Democrats and the Congressional Black Caucus.

"Politically, unresolved issues in Louisiana could literally change the make-up of Congress," Groff said. "If Democrats are eager to maintain a perpetual majority, they’ll need to place this issue back on the front burner, rather than watch it simmer on the backburner."

According to a new survey, the predominantly black neighborhoods in the Ninth Ward can be brought back largely as they existed before Hurricane Katrina flooded them. The finding contradicts the common perception that the neighborhoods are so damaged that they need to be rebuilt from scratch.

"The structural integrity of the buildings, even in the most devastated areas, are in much better condition than has been reported," said Kenneth Reardon, chair of Cornell University's city and regional planning department.

The survey found that more than 80 percent of the Ninth Ward structures "suffered no terminal structural damage" and that the majority of those structures were built atop piers, making it easier to raise them to meet new flood zone requirements.

Researchers and structural engineers based their assessment on the inspection of about 3,000 buildings.

Yet the neighborhoods are being repopulated very slowly because of the bureaucratic and financial hurdles residents face, the survey concluded after interviewing hundreds of residents. Only about 20 percent of the residents have returned home, the survey found.

"That data shows that it can be rebuilt, and rebuilt in a cost effective way. What is lacking are the resources," said Andrew Rumbach, a Cornell planner.

Many people in the Ninth Ward did not have flood insurance, and government rebuilding aid has been slow. A lack of schools, day-care centers, businesses and public services, as well as high rents, also are keeping people away.

In a survey by BlackAmericaWeb.com, 70 percent of respondents said federal officials are not doing their best to rebuild devastated areas since the storm.

"So many promises were made," said Shelton, "and so many promises were broken."

---

Associated Press contributed to this story.

---

HURRICANE KATRINA RECOVERY Poll Results

Did you volunteer time/send donations/take in evacuees or make any other charitable Hurricane Katrina efforts?

Yes: 79 percent
No: 21 percent

Over a year after Hurricane Katrina, what's your opinion of the recovery effort in the Gulf?

Satisfied: 1 percent
Slightly satisfied: 2 percent
Not sure: 6 percent
Slightly dissatisfied: 11 percent
Dissatisfied: 80 percent

What's your opinion on black political pressure on the federal government to ensure that hurricane recovery is a priority?

Satisfied: 7 percent
Slightly satisfied: 13 percent
Not sure: 15 percent
Slightly dissatisfied: 24 percent
Dissatisfied: 41 percent

What's your opinion on whether New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has effectively helped the city's black residents, post-Katrina?

Satisfied: 8 percent
Slightly satisfied: 17 percent
Not sure: 36 percent
Slightly dissatisfied: 20 percent
Dissatisfied: 18 percent

What's your opinion on whether Gov. Kathleen Blanco has effectively helped the state’s black residents, post-Katrina?

Satisfied: 1 percent
Slightly satisfied: 6 percent
Not sure: 30 percent
Slightly dissatisfied: 22 percent
Dissatisfied: 41 percent

What's your opinion on whether Rep. William Jefferson has effectively helped the Gulf remain a federal government priority?

Satisfied: 1 percent
Slightly satisfied: 5 percent
Not sure: 43 percent
Slightly dissatisfied: 17 percent
Dissatisfied: 34 percent

I blame the residents of New Orleans and its surrounding area for deserting the Gulf Coast and remaining largely silent about its slow recovery.

Agree: 4 percent
Slightly agree: 11 percent
Not sure: 11 percent
Slightly disagree: 16 percent
Disagree: 58 percent

I blame the black community across the nation for failing to demand attention/accountability in the post-storm environment and since.

Agree: 26 percent
Slightly agree: 29 percent
Not sure: 8 percent
Slightly disagree: 13 percent
Disagree: 23 percent

Racism absolutely played a role in the federal government's response to the hurricane.

Agree: 77 percent
Slightly agree: 16 percent
Not sure: 4 percent
Slightly disagree: 2 percent
Disagree: 2 percent

President Bush should name a czar of sorts to oversee the Gulf Coast's re-construction.

Agree: 50 percent
Slightly agree: 18 percent
Not sure: 16 percent
Slightly disagree: 5 percent
Disagree: 11 percent

It is solely the federal government's responsibility to rebuild the Gulf Coast.

Agree: 24 percent
Slightly agree: 26 percent
Not sure: 6 percent
Slightly disagree: 24 percent
Disagree: 20 percent

The feds are doing the best they can across the board to rebuild devastated areas since the storm.

Agree: 1 percent
Slightly agree: 3 percent
Not sure: 11 percent
Slightly disagree: 17 percent
Disagree: 67 percent

Katrina evacuees from New Orleans have disrupted the communities they've moved into.

Agree: 6 percent
Slightly agree: 19 percent
Not sure: 28 percent
Slightly disagree: 14 percent
Disagree: 33 percent

There are more pressing issues facing our community than the recovery of New Orleans.

Agree: 8 percent
Slightly agree: 19 percent
Not sure: 9 percent
Slightly disagree: 26 percent
Disagree: 38 percent