Louisiana's coastal tribes appeal for Help

[Okwes]

PLEASE HELP: Louisiana's coastal tribes appeal for help

> LOUISIANA’S COASTAL TRIBES APPEAL FOR HELP
>
> PRESS ADVISORY
> For Immediate Release: 25 January 2006
>
> LOUISIANA’S COASTAL TRIBES APPEAL FOR HELP
>
> Unique Cultures On Edge of Extinction From Storms, Neglect
>
> Southern Louisiana – Four of Louisiana’s coastal Native American
> tribes issued an urgent appeal for support in the aftermath of Hurricane’s
> Katrina and Rita. Despite the buzz of recovery activity in New Orleans and
> on other parts of the Gulf coast, tribal leaders say they have been
> forgotten and their people continue to suffer:
>
> We understand the focus of the nation has been on the New Orleans
> area in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. But the smaller
> communities, especially the American Indian communities, are still in dire
> need. We are grateful for all the donations that have been received, but
> the amount is only enough to work on a few houses in each community. Much
> more money is needed for our recovery efforts. If we do not get additional
> support, our cultures will be lost.
>
> The four tribes who issued the appeal are the Bayou Lafourche, Grand
> Caillou/Dulac and Isle de Jean Charles Bands of the Biloxi-Chitimacha
> (BCCM) as well as the Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe (PACIT). Located in
> Terrebonne and Lafourche Parishes, their small communities, situated on
> high ridges that extend like fingers into Louisiana’s coastal wetlands,
> are reeling from years of socio-economic neglect, coastal land loss, and
> an absence of storm relief assistance.
>
> “We are appealing to the foundations and large donors to support our
> recovery efforts,” said Randy Verdun, Chief of the Bayou Lafourche Band of
> the Biloxi-Chitimacha. “It’s a call to action, a call that we hope is
> heard. Help us preserve our distinct cultures and traditions. Without
> help, they will surely be lost.”
>
> On the forefront of Louisiana’s much publicized land loss, tribal
> communities that were historically dry are now flooding even during small
> storms. Land that once held gardens and pastures has become salt marsh or
> open water. Because of continued flooding and lack of resources to repair
> and raise homes, tribal members are leaving the traditional communities
> causing dispersion of culture and tribal cohesion.
>
> “There is no money and no materials. We don’t want to loose all our
> people,” said Albert Naquin, Chief of Isle de Jean Charles Band of the
> Biloxi-Chitimacha. Once thriving, Isle de Jean Charles, or The Island, has
> become marshland marked by skeletons of dead oaks and abandoned houses.
>
> Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe Co-Chair Donald Dardar added, “All of
> our homes have to be raised. We need money to elevate these homes.”
>
> Raising homes onto stilts would prevent flood damage but costs begin
> at around $25,000 per home. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, up to 80%
> of Native Americans in the area live below the poverty line, and few move
> on to college. Income supported by traditional fishing is also threatened
> by cheap imported seafood and rising fuel costs. Few have the funds to
> raise homes.
>
> “Help! Help! Help!” Exclaimed Marlene Foret of the Grand Caillou
> Dulac Band of the Biloxi Chitimacha, the largest of the four tribes. “We
> need all the things that make homes livable- building supplies, bedding,
> appliances, and furniture.”
>
> Terrebonne Parish estimates that 10,000 homes were flooded by
> Hurricane Rita. Most of these were in the lower bayou where the indian
> communities are located. Additional homes in Terrebonne and Lafourche
> received wind damage from Katrina. While some storm relief has come in,
> only a handful of relief organizations are working with the tribes.
>
> Four Directions Relief Project is one such organization. Created in
> early October to support the needs of the bayou tribes, Four Directions
> has helped to facilitate food and material donations as well as volunteer
> workers for trash pick-up and home repair.
>
> “With everyone focused on the city of New Orleans, we don’t get
> numbers of volunteers or large financial donations,” said Four Directions
> Coordinator Naomi Archer. “The people who live here are proud and
> determined, but their determination can only go so far when there aren’t
> the resources or skilled volunteers to rebuild.”
>
> Federal storm relief has also been minimal. Red Cross distribution
> ended months ago, insurance checks are slow, and FEMA trailers are only
> beginning to trickle in to these communities. For many coastal indians,
> basic housing is being denied by FEMA red tape or bureaucratic
> technicalities.
>
> “The thing is, if FEMA can’t put a trailer [at a house] because the
> sewage system isn’t just right, then why can’t they make it right for
> these people?” Chief Albert said angrily.
>
> While the relief effort moves at a snail’s pace for the tribes,
> community members are forced to live in moldy homes with leaky roofs. Some
> homes are filled with extended family members or other families. Spare
> money just isn’t there for the extensive home repairs or to buy new
> furniture and appliances. People are talking about moving away to avoid
> the same thing all over again.
>
> PACIT Chairman Charles Verdin added, "Knowing we have to go through
> it again - it's tough."
>
>
> TO MAKE A DONATION OR PROVIDE GRANT INFORMATION to the affected
> tribes or to the Four Directions Relief Project, vist www.eswn.org
> and/or please contact the following persons:
>
> Isle de Jean Charles Band of the BCCM, call Chief Albert Naquin at
> [phone].
> Grand Caillou/Dulac Band of the BCCM, call Chairwoman Marlene Foret
> at [phone].
> Bayou Lafourche Chief Band of the BCCM, call Chief Randy Verdun at
> 225-485-8765.
> For all three bands of the BCCM, call Secretary Sharon LeBouef at
> [phone].
> Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe, call Chairman Charles Verdin at (985)
> 856-5336.
> Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe, call Second Chair Donald Dardar at
> [phone].
> Four Directions Relief Project, call Naomi Archer, Coordinator, at
> 828.230.1404.
> ###
>

[blackcrowheart]

San Francisco Bayview <http://www.sfbayview.com/> , News Report, Staff
Report, Mar 13, 2006

For a full list of tribal contacts, website links and additional
information about the coastal tribes, visit www.eswn.org
<http://www.eswn.org>

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[blackcrowheart]

Gulf Coast Tribes Face Erosion, Lack of Aid

Gulf Coast Tribes Face Erosion, Lack of Aid
By Andrew Stelzer
The New Standard

Friday 17 March 2006

www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032706H.shtml

Native Americans in Southern Louisiana, still suffering from Hurricane
Rita's destruction, recount how wetland disappearance leaves them ever more
vulnerable to storms.

(Photo: The NewStandard)

www.truthout.org/imgs.art_01/3.032706H1_sm.jpg

Pointe-Au-Chien, Louisiana - More than six months after Hurricane Rita
flooded many of their homes, members of four Native American tribes on
Louisiana's coast are struggling to rebuild and survive.

With the 2006 hurricane season approaching and their land disappearing, the
Pointe-Au-Chien Tribe, along with three member tribes of the Biloxi-Chitimacha
Confederation of Muskogees (BCCM), have begun pooling their resources to try and
make up for a lack of state and federal aid.

Albert Naquin, chief of the Isle de Jean Charles band of the
Biloxi-Chitimacha, said Rita flooded 30 of his tribe's 52 homes; and two are
permanently destroyed. At first, he said, some people who could not afford
hotels and didn't want to stay at shelters just put blankets over their wet
mattresses and stayed home.

FEMA trailers have just begun to trickle into the area, and even those are
often unusable because some tribe members cannot afford the required sewer
system.

"If you can't afford an updated sewage system, well then you don't get your
FEMA trailer," explained Naquin. As a result, "the people are living in a house,
basically which is condemned. They live in this house with mold growin' in it,
but they have no place to go."

Randy Verdun, chief of the Bayou Lafourche Band of the Biloxi-Chitimacha,
living about an hour and a half Southwest of New Orleans, said that immediately
following Rita the Red Cross came in with food, and the National Guard put tarps
on some people's roofs. But since September, he said, the only steady assistance
with cleaning up, repairing and rebuilding of homes in his community has come
from volunteers with Mennonite Disaster Services, which has established a
volunteer project location in Pointe-Au-Chien.
Individual tribe members can apply for aid from FEMA, but because the Gulf Coast
tribes are not federally recognized, they are not eligible for federal aid as
groups.

Individual tribe members can apply for aid from FEMA, but because the Gulf
Coast tribes are not federally recognized, they are not eligible for federal aid
as groups. While they do receive some state aid - Louisiana recognized the BCCM
and Pointe-Au-Chien in 2004 - locals suspect part of their fair share is being
withheld. Marlene Foret, chairwoman of the Grand Caillou Dulac band of the
Biloxi-Chitimacha, told The NewStandard, "Everything is being focused on New
Orleans because New Orleans has a lot of resources."

Even obtaining basic necessities has been a challenge for local residents.
The single large grocery store in the area has closed permanently, and many of
the shrimp factories are not re-opening. Foret said she believes the government
is "saying for us to leave and not come back."

Foret said the benefits that come with federal recognition, such as
scholarships and healthcare, would free up some of the community's money to
invest in much-needed small businesses related to tourism or seafood processing.
The four tribes are hoping to receive word on their applications for federal
recognition by late 2006 or early next year. The Pointe-Au-Chien first submitted
its petition in 1996, the BCCM one year earlier.
Many of the chiefs say they think the flooding and damage could have been
prevented if the natural wetland marshes surrounding their homes had been better
preserved.

(Photo: The NewStandard)

www.truthout.org/imgs.art_01/3.032706H1_sm.jpg

The Pointe-Au-Chien tribe had 35 homes damaged by wind and another 35
damaged by flooding. Despite doctors' orders, many people chose to stay in their
moldy homes because they had no safer place to go.

Many of the chiefs say they think the flooding and damage could have been
prevented if the natural wetland marshes surrounding their homes had been better
preserved.

They tell how the levees built on the Mississippi River in the 1920s and the
canals that oil companies dug through the marshes damaged the wetlands, bringing
in more salthingyer and causing erosion of the barrier islands. Without sediment
deposits flowing in from the Mississippi, chiefs say, the land could not rebuild
itself.

"You get the salthingyer coming in through those canals, it starts eating away
at the marsh land, and basically it just starts falling into the Gulf,"
explained Chuckie Verdin, chairman of the Pointe-Au-Chien tribe. "There's no
vegetation there to hold the land together, so you just get this massive land
loss. And what used to be further south, it's creeped and creeped up and up to
the point where it's knocking on the back door."

Now after each big storm that hits the area, like Hurricanes Juan in 1985
and Andrew in 1992, people build their homes a few feet higher than the water
line. But each successive storm, facing less of a physical barrier, brings
higher water.

"You used to have a barrier or a buffer zone between us and the storm; we
are the buffer zone now," said Chief Verdun of the Bayou Lafourche Band. "I
don't know if it'll ever be like it was," he said.

The lack of fresh water has also led to the disappearance of crawfish, and
salthingyer seeps under the land, killing trees at their roots.

"What used to be where my grandfather had cows and had a house and had
chickens and had a yard and everything," said Chief Verdun "now you have dead
oak trees, and everything around it is dead, because the salt water's eating it
away. It's like a cancer. And until you do some serious chemotherapy, it's not
gonna stop."

(Photo: The NewStandard)

www.truthout.org/imgs.art_01/3.032706H3_sm.jpg

For his part, Chairman Verdin says the only thing that could help is the
fortification of the barrier islands, along with construction of levees to break
the storm surge before it reaches the Bayou. He suggests that even covering the
barrier islands with rocks and sand, or jury rigging levees next to those
islands out of old abandoned ships, would be better than nothing.

The Terrebonne Parish Levee Priority Advisory Committee estimated that it
would take up to ten years and cost $70-80 million to build new levees and bring
all portions of their existing levee system to an elevation of ten feet.

Although the Houma Terrebonne Chamber of Commerce's website brags that "a
rich Native American tradition continues to maintain a strong presence in this
area," Chief Verdun says not much is being done by the local or state
governments to preserve that tradition. "I still don't believe there's an
interest in the state to participate in the preservation of our people," he
said. "They've talked about coastal erosion for decades, and nothing has ever
really been done."

Oil companies have also taken over major areas of land since the 1920s, from
natives who lacked the resources to stop them. "A lot of this land where people
used to fish, now they can't go there anymore," said Chairman Verdin. "People
try to go on, but [the oil companies] threaten them with being arrested or being
kicked out; you have a lot of fights over land issues."

A lone bright spot in post-Rita rebuilding is cooperation between the tribes
for the first time. The BCCM and the Pointe-Au-Chien have set up a nonprofit
organization to accept donations and pool their resources. They say
contributions to a shared fund end up helping whichever family needs it most,
regardless of their tribal affiliation. The chiefs of the tribes have also been
meeting at least once a month at Live Oak Baptist church in Pointe-Au Chien,
which serves as a chance to collectively speak with Mennonite Disaster Services
volunteers, FEMA representatives or local government officials, and respond to
new developments collectively.

"We keep hoping that something good's gonna happen," said Chairman Verdin.
"I know I do."

[Okwes]

Mission team helps Native Americans on Gulf Coast

Jan. 25, 2007

NOTE: Photographs are available at umns.umc.org.

By United Methodist News Service

Native American communities in Louisiana and Mississippi still reeling from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita received a third visit by a United Methodist Native American disaster relief team.

"It's a God thing that they are willing to come to our community," said the Rev. Kirby Verret, pastor of Clanton Chapel United Methodist Church in Dulac, La.

A 10-member team from the Southeast Jurisdiction celebrated the New Year with their native brothers and sisters from Dec. 29-Jan. 4, said Darlene Jacobs, executive director of the Southeastern Jurisdictional Agency for Native American Ministries at Lake Junaluska, N.C. A team traveled to the Gulf Coast after the hurricanes hit in November 2005 and returned in April 2006.

"Many Native Americans live in poverty, and it has been my experience that we need to be intentional in ministering to our native brothers and sisters because many times they get overlooked when a crisis of this magnitude occurs," Jacobs said.

In addition to recovery work on homes, the team led a spiritual revival for the community at Clanton Chapel.

"We need help in every way, but we don't need to forget our focus and Creator, and that is God!" said Verret. "He continues to bless us in so many ways and opening doors for our community. Our people are excited that they (the team) came back again, not only to work but to hold a spiritual revival in our community. This has not happened before and we were thrilled!"

Team members hung drywall, built cabinets and installed insulation for Donna and Junior Naquin.

"Without their ministering to the community and to our family, we would not be able to move into our home," Donna said. "... If they had not come, it would be another year before we could move!"

"Excitement and astonishment can best describe this trip," said Wade Hunt, mission team leader and a member of Prospect United Methodist Church in the North Carolina Annual (regional) Conference. "We didn't have all the resources or materials for the work that needed to be done. We literally saw the Bible story where Jesus fed the 5,000 with two fishes and five loaves of bread play out before our very eyes!"

The team also worked on homes of the Mississippi Choctaw families living in the Gulf region and ministered to Indian families who re-located to Alabama from Louisiana.

Jacobs said Native American churches in the Southeast have contributed money, resources, prayers and labors of love.

"We went to the community to help, but there is the added blessing of meeting wonderful people, mission teams and forming lifelong relationships," she said. "This is what it is all about - the spiritual, social, physical and emotional care for people's lives and hearts."

The Southeastern Jurisdictional Agency for Native American Ministries is the advocate for 23 Native American congregations and three other ministries in the region. For additional information, contact Darlene Jacobs at [phone] or [e-mail].

News media contact: Kathy L. Gilbert, Nashville, Tenn., [phone] or [e-mail].

********************