U.S. Catches Criticism For Its Treatment of Katrina Victims

A U.N. panel says that America is discriminating by tearing down low-income homes
Rapper Kanye West once suggested that the U.S. government dissed Hurricane Katrina victims because President Bush doesn’t like Black people. Now, the United Nations is looking into whether the United States actually violated a treaty on racism based on the way the government is treating survivors of the killer storm of 2006. On Friday, a U.N. panel – egged on by two advisers who have called the U.S. government’s decision to raze a swath of ramshackle low-income homes in New Orleans “discriminatory” – will determine whether the violation occurred. But critics say that such a conclusion is not justified, arguing that the advisers never even bothered to visit New Orleans, and that they ignored the fact that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will retain several of the city’s other housing complexes. HUD even provided vouchers that former public-housing residents can use to rent apartments across the city, The Times-Picayune reports. For the past several months, activists have blasted the government for its decision to demolish four low-income housing projects in New Orleans, saying that such action makes it more difficult for poor and African-American residents to return home after leaving in the aftermath of Katrina and Rita’s destruction. Statements by U.N. panelists Miloon Kothari of New Delhi, India, the U.N. Human Rights Council’s specialist on adequate housing, and Gay McDougall of Washington, D.C., the U.N. independent expert on minority issues, sided with opponents of the demolition. Destroying the homes, they said, would end up “increasing poverty and homelessness,” especially for African-American hurricane victims. What’s needed, they noted, is more input from residents and former residents, the Times-Picayune reports. As for the U.S. housing department’s plans, they are too slow and insufficient for the 5,000 people who traditionally have relied on public housing, they said. The statement, which was released in Geneva, Switzerland, last week, didn’t help America’s image abroad. Today, the U.N. panel will determine whether the United States and 11 other nations, are adhering to the International Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. In the past, the United States has spoken out boldly against Australia’s treatment of Aborigines and the genocide in Darfur, in western Sudan. Do you agree that America is discriminating?