A visit to the Lower
9th Ward almost six years after Hurricane Katrina is revealing to how humans exacerbated
the crisis. Before the hurricane, the neighbourhood was no utopia. It had its
share of poverty, unemployment, crime, alcoholism and drugs. But despite all
this when talking to the residents, there was a sense of community and people
knowing each other, a state that no longer exists among the people who live
there now.
The Lower 9th Ward is
struggling with its new identity and purpose. For the moment, it is a mixed
patchwork of plots of land where houses once stood but were demolished and are
now susceptible to weeds and grass, homes that are now restored, and homes
called by local's the 'Brad Pitt' houses as he did contribute funds and
coordination with architectural firms to build homes where homes were
demolished (see the photo below). Occasionally it is possible to see a home
that remains from the hurricane's damage that has not been razed to the ground.
The future of the lower
9th Ward is still undecided. It was the home of predominantly African Americans
but given the desires of developers and city planners to gentrify and add value
to land, there is concern that African Americans will be pushed further to the
fringes of New Orleans and deprived of their land rights and ability to rebuild
their community in the Lower 9th Ward.
