The Man Who Can’t Be Moved
I came back because that’s where my house- my family were… I would have loved to have been anywhere else but this is my home. I was born and raised. This is all I know is New Orleans.
James Robertson escaped the city just in time. “That was the hardest blow we ever got, from Katrina. They say, ‘If you ever hear something sounding like a train, get out of the way.’ You know it sounds like a real train!” He was separated from his family when they were all put on different buses evacuating the city. “When they put us on the buses we all went separate ways. They didn’t tell us where we were going they just put us on the buses and shuffled us out of there before the water and the storm.”
He ended up in Fort Worth, Texas, and stayed for two months. When he returned, his sister’s home was gone, swept away by the storm. They weren’t the only ones to return to nothing – but what’s interesting is Robertson decided to stay.
In August of 2005, Hurricane Katrina displaced nearly the entire population of New Orleans from their homes. Nearly 80% of the city was in water, homes, streets and neighborhoods destroyed by the mass amounts of water and wind (Fussell, Sastry, VanLandingham).
At the end of September 2005, only residents of un-flooded areas were allowed to return. Then, as restoration in the city progressed, more and more residents were able to return. However, just like Robertson and his sister, some came back to find their homes too severely damaged to live in.
A year after the storm, a study called the Displaced New Orleans Residents Pilot Study (DNORPS) was conducted to investigate the rate of return of individuals who lived in the city before the hurricane. The results concluded that housing damage was the major factor that slowed the return of New Orleans residents, especially among black residents and those of low socioeconomic status (Fussell, Sastry, VanLandingham).
In the past, New Orleans was known as the least segregated large American city. However, by 2000, in New Orleans reached and then exceeded the national average of the standard index of black-white segregation. When Hurricane Katrina struck, the predominantly black neighborhoods were also the most extreme-poverty neighborhoods (PRB).
Due to patterns of residential segregation that occurred in New Orleans in the late twentieth century, black residents occupied the lower-lying sections of the city. These sections experienced the most damage due to being closer to sea level (PRB).
He ended up in Fort Worth, Texas, and stayed for two months. When he returned, his sister’s home was gone, swept away by the storm. They weren’t the only ones to return to nothing – but what’s interesting is Robertson decided to stay.
In August of 2005, Hurricane Katrina displaced nearly the entire population of New Orleans from their homes. Nearly 80% of the city was in water, homes, streets and neighborhoods destroyed by the mass amounts of water and wind (Fussell, Sastry, VanLandingham).
At the end of September 2005, only residents of un-flooded areas were allowed to return. Then, as restoration in the city progressed, more and more residents were able to return. However, just like Robertson and his sister, some came back to find their homes too severely damaged to live in.
A year after the storm, a study called the Displaced New Orleans Residents Pilot Study (DNORPS) was conducted to investigate the rate of return of individuals who lived in the city before the hurricane. The results concluded that housing damage was the major factor that slowed the return of New Orleans residents, especially among black residents and those of low socioeconomic status (Fussell, Sastry, VanLandingham).
In the past, New Orleans was known as the least segregated large American city. However, by 2000, in New Orleans reached and then exceeded the national average of the standard index of black-white segregation. When Hurricane Katrina struck, the predominantly black neighborhoods were also the most extreme-poverty neighborhoods (PRB).
Due to patterns of residential segregation that occurred in New Orleans in the late twentieth century, black residents occupied the lower-lying sections of the city. These sections experienced the most damage due to being closer to sea level (PRB).
A lot of my family, they aren’t coming back because they don’t want to come back to this no more. Because we get storms every so often you know? So scared to risk their life again.