Some refugees say they won't return to New Orleans

[sabra]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N03584654.htm

Some refugees say they won't return to New Orleans

HOUSTON, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Kentrell Hill commandeered a boat to get his family to higher ground so they could be rescued by helicopter from flooded New Orleans. Like some of the poor, black refugees taken to Houston, he said he would not return to the famed birthplace of jazz.

Hill, 23, lost his home in the floods that followed Hurricane Katrina, and with reconstruction expected to take months, many said they were permanently leaving a city that was their family home for generations.

A worker in a New Orleans coffee plant, Hill wants to go back to school and find a job as an electrician in either Atlanta or Houston.

Jeffery Joseph, a 49-year-old truck driver, echoed Hill's comments. "What am I going back to? My house is gone. I lost everything," he said. "I'm planning on staying here."

[rocktivity]

1. He couldn't if he wanted to

Like on the Jersey shore, any rebuilding will be for the homeless RICH people.

:headbang:
rocknation

[Justitia]

2. They are welcome to become permanent Texans! - A Houstonian -eom

[DrZeeLit]

3. They are NOT refugees. They are AMERICANS! Sheesh! n/t

[marshall]

7. When did the term refugee become pejorative?

I don't see how calling somebody a refugee means they are not Americans. And at any rate some of them are Mexican and Honduran nationals who are undocumented. I think using the term refugee gives a sense of urgency to the situation and encourages the rest of the country to pitch in and help.

[NNN0LHI]

12. Since someone realized that the term refugee was not accurate

http://www.answers.com/refugee&r=67

ref·u·gee (rĕf'yʊ-jç')
n
One who flees in search of refuge, as in times of war, political oppression, or religious persecution.






Thesaurus

refugee

noun

One who flees, as from home, confinement, captivity, or justice: escapee, fugitive, runaway. See seek/avoid.



Encyclopedia

refugee, one who leaves one's native land either because of expulsion or to escape persecution. The legal problem of accepting refugees is discussed under asylum; this article considers only mass dislocations and the organizations that help refugees.

[mike_c]

10. you mean they are NOT in need of refuge?!

Wow, that puts a whole different face on things....

[marshall]

13. origin of the word

The word as originally used in English certainly did have a political conotation--it was used to describe French Hugenots who fled to England to escape the persecution in France. However the word has developed beyond those early uses. Last year when the term was being used by the UN to describe tsunami victims who were displaced from their homes into makeshift tent cities there was no outcry over the use of the word. Personally I find the word compelling and appropriate and hopefully it conveys the sense of urgency and need that these people are in.

[Igel]

16. Sort of like saying "I'm not an evacuee, I'm an American."

One of those utterances that has some built-in assumptions that escape me.

[JoFerret]

4. There's going to be some mighty nasty

....reactions to all this re-location/ dislocation.
Talk about a traumatic social upheavel.
We need a Marshall plan.

[rodeodance]

5. Does Tx need a cheap labor force? if so, ......

I do not know anything about the labor force in TX and do not mean to offend anyone. But......

[Justitia]

8. We do have cheap labor, in spite of the Minutemen's attempt soon

to change that. They were expected to come to Houston next month.

But, we have both very large and very small cities.

They could fan out all over the state and we could absorb them as Texans very easily - we absolutely have the capacity for all of them.

I, actually, would like to see them relocate ALL OVER the state - large and small towns.

[Justitia]

6. I really want them to feel welcome to stay here (Houston)

but I am sympathetic to the idea they may want to go back to where they know as "home" too.

We'll help them to stay and become Texans, or we'll help them to get back to Louisiana ultimately.

In either case, they are probably traumatized forever.

[GoldenOldie]

9. Re-Open some of the Military Bases

The majority of these Americans had strong community ties. Their families and friends went to the same churchs. They helped each other out during good and bad times. There is also now have a stronger bond as they have gone through the most harrowing tradgedy of their collective lives.

By keeping them together where they and their children can help each other through the emotional and mental roller coaster they will all be going through, would be better therapy than any psych could give them.

Military Bases have schools, stores, medical facilities, church's, and most important homes/barracks that could be restored by the locals who want to help their fellow Americans who have lost so much.

[Justitia]

11. Kelly AFB in San Antonio has been re-opened to evacuees.

Although I don't think it was the barracks, as those bldgs have been too long abandoned to be inhabitable.

I believe they opened up the bldgs on base that still had usuable facilities, which indicates a group living situation.

[Karla Marx]

14. The birthplace of jazz is dead.

How indescribably sad.

[funkybutt]

15. This refugee is determined to return

and rebuild. I just don't want to think of living somewhere else permanently.

Most of our friends have the same determination. We will not give up on our great city.

On a positive note. Some of those who don't return may be doing their children a great service b/c of the condition of NO public schools. The opportunity to have their children educated in a better system may be the best thing that ever happened to them. *just a thought*

[Igel]

17. More and more I'm thinking that FEMA should

have the same policy that was adopted a decade or two ago concerning houses built in flood-plains.

Whatever insurance the people have, fine; but cough up additional free federal insurance for them for the land and for rebuilding. Stipulate that the additional money's only available if they deed over the land that was flooded for use as flood plain/flood control. It was highly controversial at the time; but it's a good idea, nonetheless.

Rebuild parts of NOLA; but not the highest-risk portions.