Search

In New Orleans, African American communities were not only hit hard by Katrina's floods, but also by violent policing during the catastrophe and a disaster "recovery" effort that was fundamentally Anti-Black (closing of publich housing and the privatization of schools and health care). Recovery efforts were not organized along ideals of racial justice that would have addressed gaps in educational and health care resources. Instead, they were imagined along neoliberal principles that systematically excluded the city's Black population. I am interested in looking into how the Anti-Blackness of Katrina "recovery" set the stage for the virulent way COVID 19 is affecting New Orleans' African American communities.

In the US Virgin Islands, Hurricanes Maria and Irma decimated what were already decrepit public school and public health systems. Public schools and hospitals had not been property repaired and remained under-supported as of early March 2020. In places like the Island of St. Croix, residents reported the hospital having only one physicial on staff, and indicated fear of misdiagnosis and prolonged waiting times kept them from seeking health care there. The clientelle of the public health system is predominantly Afro and Hispanic Caribbean. Meanwhile, US "mainlanders" (who are predominantly white) are reported to seek their healthcare off island, something only those with ample financial resources can do. Infection rates and fatality rates for the USVI seem rather low from official reports, but it is important to find out if this is because testing itself is not readily avialable in the territory.

Media coverage from hard-hit cities suggests there is a disproportionate number of arrests and citations related to enforcement of social distancing among racial minorities.

Also, police response seems to have followed very different patterns in the case of "re-open" protests and anti-police brutality protests.

"The Fukushima Effect: A New Geopolitan Terrain", edited by Richard A. Hindmarsh, Rebecca Priestley. 

The author is Byron Good, Ph.D. He is an American anthropologist and teaches medical anthropology at Harvard Medical School. His main focus is mental illness and the cultural meanings of it. He also explores patient narratives and the perspectives of non-Western medical knowledge and compareds different mental health systems. He has done research in Iran, Indonesia, and the US. He has several publications including papers, books, and editted volumes.

Brian Concannon, executive director of the Insitute of Justice and Democracy in Haiti, a nonprofit in Boston. Fights for human rights on the island of Haiti. 

Carrie Kahn, NPR. National Public Radio, news source. 

President Michel Martelly, Haitain president. 

United Nations

Nepalese soldiers - brought with them cholera to Haiti. Sent from UN.

Ban Ki-moon - U.N. Secretary-General - led plan to eradicate cholera. 

Haitain Ministries of Health and Environment - not trusted by the world to control a trust fund

Jake Johnson - Center for Economic Policy and Research - Washington 

US Government Accountability Office - pricing the cost of building new housing too high

Mission of Hope - NGO helping build houses

US Congressmen - demaing UN Secretary-General take responsibility for outbreak

US District Court Judge J. Paul Oetken - rejected class-action lawsuit that saught to compel the UN to compensate victims and fund cholera eradication

Beatrice Lindstrom - lawter at the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti