The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

Opening Remarks of Dr. Mary Frances Berry

Speech on October 28, 2005. 

Good morning and welcome to the first of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund's public policy series on the impact of Hurricane Katrina.

My name is Dr. Mary Frances Berry.

I am a board member of the LCCREF and former chair of the United States Commission on Civil Rights.

With me are Francis Guess, a former member of the Commission and executive vice president of the Danner Company; Cecilia Munoz, vice president of the Office of Research, Advocacy and Legislation of the National Council of La Raza; and Vincent Eng, deputy director of the Asian American Justice Center.

For too many Americans, Hurricane Katrina provided their first look at the faces of poverty and race in this country. Appalled by the images of neglect and devastation and by the government's inability to respond, Americans from across racial, economic and political spectrums saw Katrina and its devastation as an opportunity not only to examine what went wrong, but also to rebuild in a way that addressed long-festering problems of discrimination, disenfranchisement and poverty experienced by large numbers of people in the gulf coast region.

According to just-released poll results, eliminating poverty in america has emerged as a more important priority than fighting terrorism, and that it is incumbent on our government to do everything in its power to achieve that goal. These results cut across all four of the country's major ethnic and racial groups--Anglos, African Americans, Hispanics and Asians. Searing images on our television screens of thousands of poor families abandoned at the superdome and on overpasses on interstate 10 clearly had an enormous impact on the way many Americans view the issue of poverty and what the country should do about it.

The immediate suffering showed that when the federal government's role is diminished, the least among us suffer most. The same can be said of the rebuilding of lives and communities that will take place over the next few years. It is critical that the civil rights community closely track, monitor, and publicize the location and conditions of the evacuees, and the government's response to the needs of the individuals and communities devastated by the hurricane.

With the inequities so glaringly exposed in Katrina's wake providing a rare window of opportunity to address policy priorities that have resulted in two Americas, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund (LCCREF) believes that public education efforts on the need for a comprehensive public policy agenda to address poverty and racial isolation should be a priority.

But, recent weeks have already shown that new issues and events will begin to take precedence over the aftermath of Katrina in the public's and the media's eyes. Thus, it is critically important to keep a civil rights spotlight on the relocation and rebuilding efforts.

To help keep these issues at the forefront of the nation's public policy agenda, LCCREF is beginning today a series of forums that will focus on the condition of individuals and communities affected by the hurricane and the need for strong public policies to address poverty and racial isolation.

Our inaugural forum, Rebuilding the Gulf Coast Region: The Civil and Human Rights Implications brings together a distinguished and diverse group of experts, advocates, and victims of the gulf coast hurricane. Together, we will examine the conditions of individuals displaced by the hurricane; and the policies needed to rebuild lives and communities.

In recent weeks, as private and government entities have moved into the region and plans, both short and long term, have been debated and implemented, many questions are emerging that are of particular concern to the civil rights community:

Are relief efforts being handled equitably?

Are people being denied assistance based on race, ethnicity, poverty or where they live?

Are resources and services being delivered where they are needed most?

Are people in need being given the assistance necessary to enable them to take advantage of the services and resources available to help them rebuild their lives?

Those questions--and more--arise in the context of the ongoing relief efforts.

Media accounts and eye witness reports--several of which we will hear today--suggest that the answers to those questions are not always positive.

On September 15 in New Orleans' Jackson Square, President Bush acknowledged what all of us were seeing on our television screens, that there is "deep, persistent poverty in this region," with "roots in a history of racial discrimination." The president pledged "to help citizens rebuild their communities and their lives." We intend to hold him and his administration to his word.

There are critical steps in housing, employment, health care and business development that must be taken to fulfill the promise of the president's words. LCCREF's forums will play an important role in educating about and advocating for government policies that will help revitalize the lives and communities affected by Katrina, and integrate them into the economic well-being of the country.

We begin by hearing three different, but equally compelling, eye witness accounts from individuals who survived the hurricane and are struggling to rebuild their lives, their homes, their jobs and their communities. I would like to welcome all of them and extend thanks on behalf of the LCCREF and my fellow co-conveners for their willingness to be here with us today. After all three have presented their statements, our panel here will ask a few questions.