Contemplating the Katrina Whirlwind: From "Apocalypse Now" to Solidarity for the Common Good
First published in the Seattle Journal for Social Justice, Volume 7 Issue 1 (2008).
Edward B. Arroyo, S.J.
Christian Social Responsibility in a Post-Katrina City
"Christian Social Responsibility in a Post-Katrina City" was the title of a presentation facilitated by Fr. Ted Arroyo, SJ, JSRI director, on Thursday, March 28,2008 in Loyola University's Nunemaker Hall. Approximately 140 visiting high school students and their mentors came together to reflect on their service and immersion experiences in post-Katrina New Orleans. These groups came from 9 Catholic High Schools from all over the United States.
The jury is still out
<p>New Orleans stands at the crossroads of a new opportunity to create a city jail that reflects values of fairness, equality, and justice for all.</p>
<p>This opportunity, partially made possible by the destruction of the old jail wrought by Hurricane Katrina, means the city looks forward to taking full advantage of Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) subsidies for the costs of a building a new jail.</p>
<p>Yet the wisdom of this opportunity to achieve values of fairness and equality may be missed, if the people of New Orleans simply allow the city and the sheriff to build a new 5,800 bed jail and reinforce an old, broken, and failed criminal justice system.</p>
Criminal chaos or community justice in Orleans Parish?
By Alex Mikulich, Ph.D. Research Fellow 1
New Orleans stands at the crossroads of a new opportunity to create a city jail that reflects values of fairness, equality, and justice for all.
Latino Immigration in New Orleans
By Dr. Manuel A. Vásquez
The following is an excerpt from the November 3, 2009, address on Latino Immigration in the South of Dr. Vásquez to the People on the Move Conference sponsored by JSRI on the Loyola University campus.
The widespread devastation and dislocation produced in New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina is a reality sui generis, producing a population shift that has few parallels in U.S. history. In what follows, I will summarize some the key findings of the emerging literature on Latinos in New Orleans.
Post-Katrina New Orleans: A Welcoming Community?
<p>On Saturday, September 11, 2010, we presented Post-Katrina New Orleans: A Welcoming Community? In this report, we include the presentations of our two morning keynoters, Jarvis DeBerry of The Times Picayune and Dr. Allison Plyer of the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center.</p>
As we contemplated the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina (August 29, 2010), it seemed to our staff that a key prism through which to view these five years was how New Orleans was or was not a welcoming community—first, to the poor, the elderly, and people of color who often were least able to weather the storm and its aftermath; and, second, how we welcomed those migrants who came to help rebuild our homes, our offices, and our communities.
Testimony on HB342-E-Verify-by Dr. Susan Weishar
Louisiana governor vetoes homeless assistance bill
<p>On July 7, 2009, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal vetoed HB 781, Homeless Assistance and Prevention Act which created the first statewide Director of Homeless Assistance and Prevention, as well as the Interagency Council on Homelessness.</p>
Governor Jindal and proponents disagree over costs
On July 7, 2009, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal vetoed HB 781, Homeless Assistance and Prevention Act which created the first statewide Director of Homeless Assistance and Prevention, as well as the Interagency Council on Homelessness.
A July 7, an Associated Press report by Doug Simpson indicated the following:
Louisiana Incarceration Rate Highest among 50 states
Louisiana incarcerates more of its citizens than any other state. One of every 55 Louisiana residents is incarcerated according to a new Pew Center for the States study. Mississippi is ranked second, Texas fifth, Alabama sixth, and Florida eighth. The same study, One in 31: The Long Reach of American Corrections, finds that one of every 31 U.S. adults is under some form of correctional supervision. Whereas 2.1 million people were in the correctional system in 1982, that number has grown to 7.3 million today. The national rate of incarceration has increased by 272 percent since 1982.
Nineteen more Haitians deported from Louisiana on Friday, April 15
<p>Despite vigorous protestations from human rights and immigrant advocacy groups across the country, the U.S. government resumed deportations to Haiti on Friday, April 15. At approximately 10 AM that morning 19 Haitians who had been held in detention centers in Louisiana since early December, 2010, were put on a flight to Port-au-Prince. On January 20, 2011, the U.S. conducted the first deportations to Haiti since the January 2010 massive earthquake when it sent back 27 detainees, who were subsequently detained in Haiti in filthy police sub-stations holding cells without food, medical care, toilet facilities, or clean water. Less than 10 days after the January flight one of the detainees, Wildrick Guerrier, was dead from cholera-like symptoms.</p>
U.S. Government resumes deportations to devastated and diseased country
by Sue Weishar, Ph.D.
"Secure Communities" are deportation dragnet
<p><span>Secure Communities</span> is a program of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that allows state and local law enforcement to check the fingerprints of a person they have booked into a jail against Department of Homeland Security (DHS) immigration databases. If there is a match with fingerprints in an immigration database, ICE is automatically notified, regardless of whether the person has been convicted of any criminal act.</p>
Jefferson Parish leads the nation
By Susan Weishar, Ph.D.