As some of the poorest residents began to return to their flood damaged homes in New Orleans, thousands of college students chose to spend their spring break helping rebuild. Black neighborhoods like the Lower 9th Ward have seen minimal activity and government assistance despite being hardest hit by hurricane Katrina last August. This came as a shock to many students. "I thought I would...
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As some of the poorest residents began to return to their flood damaged homes in New Orleans, thousands of college students chose to spend their spring break helping rebuild. Black neighborhoods like the Lower 9th Ward have seen minimal activity and government assistance despite being hardest hit by hurricane Katrina last August. This came as a shock to many students. "I thought I would be painting houses," remarked one Duke University student. Instead he spent the week gutting homes, removing the damaged furniture, sheet rock, and wiring that flood waters had destroyed six months earlier. Residents and community activist speculate that the neglect is a deliberate attempt to displace African Americans from one of the first neighborhoods in the nation where they could own land. The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement was a key player in organizing students of color, hoping to to educate young people about the issues of racism alive in this country. The time spent volunteering and interacting with residents served to radicalized students of all colors. After touring the levees with PHRF, Abena Sackey, a student at Cornell University, said of the levee being rebuilt for the lower 9th ward, "That thing looks like shambles compared to all the other ones they are building... I guess if they [government officials] had their way, they would bulldoze everything." Some students began to strategize and see the long term benefits of the work they were doing over spring break. Tammy Freeman, also from Cornell, observed that "[The PHRF volunteers] have gutted 20 houses all together. That's not a lot, but you can't come and bulldoze straight through if there are two houses on each block completely done and they [the families who live there] won't sell. You can't bulldoze everything. That will stop it. We just need to do a house on each block."
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