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December 7. 2005
M ichelle Thomas and her daughters, A'Shanti and Maia in their rental house in Abita Springs, La.
The family was displaced from New Orleans by Katrina. (AP photo)
Holidays Stressful for Katrina Victims
Thousands homeless
months after disaster
For three months after Hurricane K atrina’s waters
consumed her home. Michelle Thomas locked her stress
deep inside and put on a brave face for her husband and
tw o daughters.
She focused on the positive: Her Ninth W ard home
was destroyed and her hospital job was gone, but her
husband and children, ages 7 and 16, were alive and the
family was together.
Then came Thanksgiving, celebrated in her m other’s
cramped home in a small Louisiana town. Since then, the
family has moved into a modest rental house they
owned in a com munity an hour from New Orleans. As
Christm as approaches, the 36-year-old woman is feel
ing anything but joyful. Like many survivors, Thomas
has the blues.
I go in to a fee lin g o f h o p e le ssn e ss, an d I c r y ,”
she say s.
T he ho lid ay season m ay m ake d ealin g w ith
K atrin a’s fallout even tougher, m ental health e x
perts say, especially when there are few doctors,
cou n selo rs or hospitals to help people deal w ith the
loss o f hom es, jo b s and lives.
“It’s almost like a shotgun blast as opposed to a
single bullet to social stability,” said Bryan Gros, a
Baton Rouge psychologist who works for the Mental
Health Association o f Louisiana. “People are having a
hard tim e.”
Thousands rem ain hom eless along the G u lf Coast,
where the hurricane hit Aug. 29 and killed m ore than
1,300 people. It ripped apart families and com m uni
ties, and wrecked businesses.
About half a m illion people — both survivors and
the em ergency w orkers who w ent to their aid — may
need mental health services, the U.S. D epartm ent of
Health and Human Services estim ates.
Seven percent o f Louisiana residents have sought
psychological counseling as a result o f the storm s,
according to a survey by Louisiana State U niversity,
and 53 percent reported feeling depressed. A K atrina
crisis hot line in M ississippi got 1,100calls in its first
two months, said Tessie Sm ith, spokesw om an for the
state’s mental health departm ent.
Before Katrina, the N ational Suicide Prevention
hot line got an average o f about 3,000 calls a m onth
from all over the country. Since the storm , monthly
calls have more than doubled — 7,(XK) in O ctober
alone — with most new calls com ing from Katrina-
affected areas, said spokesw om an April Naturale.
G ros said suicides have spiked in Baton Rouge,
and New O rleans coroner Dr. Frank M inyard who
review ed two suicide cases in one recent w eek fears
more as the Christm as holiday nears.
“We don’t have our m edical system here. It’s
gone. T hat’s a big problem ,” M inyard said. “I think
it’s going to end tragically for som e o f our citizens,
not only here, but w ho are spread out all over the
country.”
Racism Blamed for Slow Aid
white bird psu
dance series
N Z 0
Emotions
flare as black
survivors testify
(AP) — Black survivors o f H ur
ricane Katrina said Tuesday that
racism contributed to the slow d i
saster response, at times likening
themselves in emotional congres
sional testimony to victims of geno
cide and the Holocaust.
The com parison is inappropri
ate, according to Rep. Jeff Miller, R-
Fla. “N ot a single person was
marched into a gas chamber and
killed,” M iller told the survivors.
“They died from abject neglect,”
retorted com munity activist Leah
Hodges. “We left body bags be
hind.”
Angry evacuees described being
trapped in temporary shelters where
one New Orleans resident said she
was “one sunrise from being con
sumed by maggots and flies." An
other woman said military troops
focused machine gun laser targets
on her granddaughter’s forehead.
Others said their famil ies were cal led
racial epithets by police.
“No one is going to tell me it
w asn’t a race issue,” said New O r
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leans evacuee Patricia Thom pson,
53, who is now living in College
Station, Texas. “Yes, it was an issue
of race. Because o f one thing: when
the city had pretty m uch been
evacuated, the people that were left
there mostly was black.”
Not all lawm akers seemed per
suaded.
“I don’t want to be offensive when
you’ve gone though such incred
ible challenges,” said Rep. Christo-
pherShays.R-Conn. But referring to
some of the victims' charges, said “1
just don’t frankly believe it."
“You believe w hat you w ant,”
T hom pson said.
The hearing was held by a spe
cial H ouse com m ittee, chaired by
Rep. Tom Davis, R -V a„ investigat
ing the governm ent’s preparations
and response to Katrina. It was
r e q u e s te d b y R e p . C y n th ia
M cKinney, D-Ga.. a m em ber o f the
C ongressional Black Caucus.
“Racism is som ething we d o n ’t
like to talk about, but we have to
acknow ledge it," M cKinney said.
“A nd the world saw the effects o f
American-sty le racism in the dram a
as it was outplayed by the Katrina
survivors.”
Baghdad Police Academy Attacked
m ize casualties, all o f whom
were police officers or cadets.
The first bom ber struck near
a group o f students outside a
classroom , a U.S. m ilitary
statem ent said.
U.S. and Iraqi officials have
(A P)— Tw o suicide bomb
w
arned
o f an increase in in
ers detonated explosives in
surgent
attacks ahead o f the
side Baghdad's main police
Dec.
15
elections Residents
academy Tuesday, killing at
of
Ramadi
reported seeing fli
least 43 people and wounding U. S. m ilitary personnel on alert after bomb
ers
Tuesday
in the nam e o f al-
more than 70, police said. Al- ers detonated explosives inside Baghdad s
Q
aida
in
Iraq
w arning people
Qaida in Iraq claim ed respon main police academy in Iraq. (AP photo)
not
to
vote
and
threatening
sibility for the attack, the
to
bom
b
polling
stations.
Late
Tuesday,
another
suicide
capital's deadliest in months.
A lso Tuesday, the U.S. m ilitary
The bombing came as Al-Jazeera bomber blew himself up in a cafe
aired an insurgent video claiming frequented by police in aShiite neigh- saidasoldierassignedtoT a.sk Force
to have kidnapped a U.S. security borhood. killing three people and Baghdad was killed w hen a patrol
consultant - the seventh W esterner wounding 20. police said. One of the hit a roadside bom b Sunday. At
abducted in Iraq since Nov. 26 - and dead and three of the wounded were least 2,129 members of the U.S. mili
tary have died since the Iraq war
the U.S. military reported another policemen, officials said.
The assault on the police acad started in M arch 2003. according to
American soldier killed in a road
emy was carefully planned to maxi- an A ssociated Press count.
side bombing in Baghdad.
New round of
kidnappings
feared
___
New O rleans' resident Leah Hodges cries while telling Congress
that Katrina victim s “died from abject n e g le c t." (AP photo)
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