The Neoliberal Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, Late Capitalism, and the Remaking of New Orleans

6. Black and White, Unite and Fight? Identity Politics and New Orleans’s Post-Katrina Public Housing Movement

· 152 ·· CHAPTER 6 · Black and White, Unite and Fight? Identity Politics and New Orleans’s Post-Katrina Public Housing Movement John Arena Those who oppose neoliberalization must do more than merely point to its contradictions. . . . We must also find and make known the resistance that is already taking place. . . . We must understand and learn from their experiences, and we must contribute to their success. —Mark Purcell, Recapturing Democracy Inhisprovocativeessay,“WhyIsThereNoBlackPoliticalMovement?” political scientist Adolph Reed defines a political movement as a “force that has shown a capability, over time, of mobilizing popular support for programs that expressly seek to alter the patterns of public policy or economic relations.” Based on this definition, Reed, writing in the late 1990s, concludesthat,atleastatthenationallevel,“Theresimplyisnosuchentity in black American life at this point.”1 In this article I use Reed’s working definition of a political movement and maintain his focus on policy issues particularly relevant to African Americans but alter the question and level of analysis. Drawing from the experience of the public housing movement in post-Katrina New Orleans, I ask “Why is there is some black political movement?” Thatis,howandwhy—inthefaceofastormwhoseaftermath one reporter predicted would facilitate “the biggest, most brutal urbanrenewal project black America has ever seen”—did a movement emerge to challenge a key component of that frightening agenda: the drive by local and federal officials to demolish thousands of badly needed public housing apartments? At the same time, what were the key BLACK AND WHITE, UNITE AND FIGHT? 153 impediments that blocked the movement from achieving its central, immediate goal—stopping demolition?2 In short, why was there some movement, one that was able to partly, but not completely, change the patterns of public policy? Several levels of analysis are required to fully evaluate the post-Katrina public housing movement, including the ideological role played by academics that demonized public housing residents and activists, and the state repression the movement faced, including the arrest of more than thirty activists between December 2005 and March 2008. While these are all important aspects of the story, in this study I hone in on the critical , but understudied, “intramovement,” or “intraclass,” component of the public housing movement. That is, I highlight the actions, decisions, analyses, and ideologies of the social movement organizations and actors who aided and undermined the effectiveness of the post-Katrina public housing movement. To address these concerns, I begin by highlighting the grassroots organization Community Concern Compassion (C3)/Hands Off Iberville (hereafter C3) and their efforts to defend public housing in pre-Katrina New Orleans. This initiative, at the same time, clashed with the neoliberal development agenda of the city’s post–civil rights black political leadership to radically downsize the city’s public housing stock over the past twenty years, a policy that paralleled national, neoliberal trends. Nonetheless, despite this unfavorable environment, I explain how C3 was able to defeat an important component of the neoliberal agenda before Hurricane Katrina. This section concludes by making the case for the necessity of not only defending but expanding and improving public housing. In the second section, I address how Katrina created a favorable opportunity structure to advance the neoliberal transformation of the city and the policy measures and ideological legitimation used to advance a key component of that elite vision—the elimination of public housing. Attempts at transformation from above generated challenge from below, and I highlight this resistance, identifying the various organizations and personalities that emerged and the challenges they mounted and assess the mixed results of the public housing movement as of early 2009. The final section evaluates the period from September 2005 to November 2007, highlighting four critical strengths of the public housing movement and the actors, decisions, and ideologies , rooted in identity politics, that challenged and undermined these 154 JOHN ARENA movement foundations. I conclude by identifying the broader theoretical and strategic insights the post-Katrina public housing case provides for a renewal of antiracist struggles in the United States. The primary data source for this study was garnered from four years (2004 through 2008) as a central participant and observer of New Orleans’s public housing movement. I attended, helped organize, and took notes of scores of meetings, public hearings, demonstrations, and forums, and I participated in many of the key discussions over strategy and tactics of one key organization in the movement—C3/Hands off Iberville—as well as in the broader collection...