Another one that ignores Mississippi, Louisiana & Alabama Coast

[merh]

Lee focuses on New Orleans, peeks at Coast
By PETE TATTERSALL
[e-mail]
NEW ORLEANS - Spike Lee's four-hour Hurricane Katrina documentary premiered in New Orleans on Wednesday, and the filmmaker held a press conference to discuss the impact the movie could have on audiences in the United States and around the world.

"When The Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts" will air on HBO at 8 p.m. Monday (Parts I and II) and 8 p.m. Tuesday (Parts III and IV), and will repeat on Aug. 29 from 7-11 p.m.

(snip)

When the Sun Herald pointed out that there is a perception on the Mississippi Gulf Coast that the national media focus is on New Orleans, and asked if the film touched upon the Coast, Lee said: "We, early on, say that we are going to deal specifically with New Orleans. We have a couple of scenes that take place in Gulfport, Miss.

"But because of the historical significance of this, this is a great city, a world city, we choose to focus here. And again, that was my vision. It's not to belittle any other places of the Gulf region that were hit by Katrina. I wanted to concentrate on New Orleans."

(snip)

http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/local/15292374.htm

Don't use the excuse of the historical significance of New Orleans, it just shows ignorance. Biloxi is an older city than New Orleans and just as rich in culture. As a matter of fact, it was the settlers that had set up a community in Biloxi that actually founded New Orleans.

The French established the first European settlement in the lower Mississippi valley in 1699 across the bay at Old Biloxi (now Ocean Springs). New Biloxi, founded in 1719, was the capital of French Louisiana until 1722, when New Orleans replaced it.
http://www.bartleby.com/65/bi/Biloxi.html

The crime continues, the neglect of the government, the government turning its back on the poor and the minorities, those most in need of assistance. The poor and the underprivileged are being neglected and forced out, hell, they are even closing affordable housing projects that survived the storm.

Editorial Posted on Thu, Aug. 17, 2006

This is a terrible time to demolish public housing

With thousands of South Mississippians still displaced by Hurricane Katrina, now is a terrible time for a government agency to toss as many as 400 families out of public housing.

Yet that is just what the Mississippi Regional Housing Authority VIII intends to do, by selling the L.C. Jones property in Gulfport and transferring the W.M. Ladnier property in Gulfport and Charles Warner in Pascagoula to the nonprofit South Mississippi Housing and Development Corporation.

The housing authority has told its tenants that it can no longer maintain the properties as public housing because of a lack of insurance proceeds and funding from HUD. But rather than ask HUD for more funding, the authority has asked HUD for permission to proceed with the sale and transfers.

The Jones property may or may not be redeveloped as affordable housing. The Ladnier and Warner properties will be, but in stages.

In the meantime, what are the hundreds of families now living in those housing units supposed to do?

The housing authority suggests that its soon-to-be-former-tenants use vouchers to obtain substitute accommodations. Duh! Are the folks at Region VIII really that out of touch with the shortage of shelter in Harrison and Jackson counties?

This is no time to demolish usable housing anywhere in South Mississippi and this effort must be stopped.

http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/editorial/15292390.htm

If you are going to focus on Katrina, focus on it all - we are all survivors trying to get back our lives. New Orleans' survivors struggles are just as difficult as the struggles of the survivors in the rest of the communities in Louisiana and along the Mississippi and Alabama Gulf Coast.

At least be honest, Mr. Lee, tell us you want to focus on the Katrina flood and the anger associated with the levies, tell us it makes for better filming and sensational story. But do not try to blow smoke up our asses, historically, Biloxi beats out New Orleans, we have been here longer, New Orleans has our culture and our people are in just as much pain.



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Post found in LBN thread at http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2461520

[uppityperson]

1. hi merh, thanks for posting this, and info on Biloxi.

New Orleans gets the coverage, is much sexier than Mississippi or Alabama. Has your area gotten the official word on heights to rebuild at? What's up with your place, your rebuilding? I hate to see you having to sit in that mansion waiting for the city/FEMA to get their heads out..., politely, to rule an official rebuild height while you wait and wait and wait some more. People clean, gut, wait, housing shutting down, argh. I got a note recently from someone who wanted to know of an inexpensive place to rent near Biloxi, wanted to move down, settle in, etc, figured places would be going for cheap now. I did not really quite know what to say except that they should be prepared to help rebuild.

What is up with rebuilding for you? How are the flies? How ARE you managing right now?