“We just want to go home”

view this report with pictures at www.lovinrevolution.org/beta/

“We just want to go home”
Report from Kansas Mutual Aid’s return to the Greensburg Area
By Joe Carr
28 May 2007

“We’re trying to create some semblance of community”, a Greensburg evacuee
told me as we sat a Memorial Day barbecue outside their brand new FEMA
trailer park. About 30 trailers now make up what residents are calling
“Little Greensburg”, housed in an industrial area on the outskirts of
Bucklin, 20 miles west of Greensburg. It’s one of two FEMA trailer parks
set up last week as all the shelters were closed.

The first evacuees moved into the trailers a week and half ago, and others
arrived as recently as today. They’re told they have 18 months to get back
on their feet; meanwhile FEMA will cover their rent, electricity and
water. Local churches have been providing basic necessities such as food,
clothing, toiletries, cleaning supplies, bedding, and toys.

Getting a trailer or aid at all apparently requires a mountain of
paperwork. One man said it took him seven days to complete it all. After
he’d finally submitted it, FEMA told him he wasn’t eligible for any aid
since he’d been temporarily staying with his parents, but after calls to
state and federal congressional representatives and the threat of an
interview with a Wichita TV station, FEMA caved and gave him a trailer.
Another man, confined to a wheelchair, got his trailer because he’d gone
to pick up some bug spray when he ran into a FEMA official he knew. FEMA
trailers had just been made available and his friend helped arrange one
for him on the spot.

Once moved in, residents have been inundated with phone calls from FEMA
asking the same questions over and over again. One woman, living in a
trailer with her husband, three children and dog, said FEMA had called
five times that day asking if they still needed housing, even though
they’d been in a FEMA trailer for over a week.

Over beer and charcoal fumes, evacuees told us their horror stories.
Though the tornado was devastating, our conversation focused largely on
the problems with the response from FEMA and law enforcement. “They
treated us like shit that first night,” one evacuee complained, “they
wouldn’t even let in my friends and family coming to help.” Others
reported being threatened with arrest if they tried to return to their
homes without authorization, meanwhile out-of-state license plates role
through their town un-impeded.

Last weekend, members of Kansas Mutual Aid were detained by police and
forced out of the city because of their political beliefs while they were
helping residents clean out their homes. Evacuees weren’t at all surprised
to hear about this. “They’re spending so much time keeping us out that
they won’t let in people to volunteer or repair the utilities” a resident
noted. She had personally been mistreated by police despite fresh trauma
from the storm and the tragic death of her neighbor, Colleen. “We dug her
out of the rubble, her legs were mangled and she was bloody and dying. We
ran to emergency services and begged them to come help her, but they said
they couldn’t and she bled to death.”

She wanted it clearly noted that they very much appreciate the trailers
and assistance and don’t mean to complain, but really they just want to
return to their homes and rebuild. “People have been wonderful,” she
praised, “but they can’t give us what we really need, only the state and
city government can give us that.” Some remarked how quickly housing
developments can be built if made priority; most of us have seen hundreds
of homes built in a matter of months when there’s money to be made.

The residents question the state’s real priorities. “They want to build a
four-lane highway through the city, through our former homes, but nobody
has asked us what we think about it.” Plans for the highway have been in
the works since before the storm, and now it’s sounding like they’re
rapidly moving forward, but concrete facts are scarce. Residents are left
with rumors and random bits of information, and complain of having no idea
when they’ll be allowed to begin rebuilding and are unable to plan. They
feel excluded from decision-making, and like FEMA and state officials are
trying to show off for the media while providing very little help.

None of them had heard about Governor Sebilius’s plans to make Greensburg
a “green city”, and they were skeptical of what kind of big business this
might be designed to attract.

And none of them mentioned the reports of high formaldehyde levels in the
trailers currently causing health problems for Katrina evacuees.
“Unfortunately, testing has shown a large percentage of these trailers
have levels of formaldehyde that make people sick,” Mississippi Sierra
Club vice chairwoman Becky Gillette told the Kansas City Star. Crystal
Peyton, FEMA spokeswoman in Greensburg, denies the problem, “It’s like a
new-car smell, it eventually evaporates.” she told the Kansas City Star.
Sierra Club has offered free testing kits to any Greensburg evacuee living
in these trailers and KMA will be working to see that more residents know
about this risk.

In addition to speaking with residents, a group of 18 KMA volunteers spent
the weekend clearing trash and debris from farmland surrounding
Greensburg. Thousands of acres of crops would be un-harvestable if it
weren’t for volunteers painstakingly combing these fields. We will be
organizing future trips to continue this work, and to try and address the
situation of evacuees in the trailer parks and else ware.

“We need a swing set for the children” one suggested, others liked the
idea of garden plots and flowers. But, “We really just want to go home”,
they said. And KMA is dedicated to working for their right to return.


--
Joe Carr
Kansas Mutual Aid
www.lovinrevolution.org

:cry:

What do our Kansas DUers know about this?

This is a report from a group that went down to Greensburg. Last weekend, they were escorted out of Greensburg by the cops.

and seems like it's ignored by the MSM: sooooo last month.

But I would be glad to see any media pick this story up.

which said they wouldn't let people in because of their political beliefs?

Does one have to be a GOPer before FEMA will recognize them?

and said they were dangerous because of their political beliefs.

Yes, it really happened.

Jeez, these guys are just communists.

Interesting that the cop confirms no one has the right to habeas corpus anymore. Scary. Funny even the cop says it is scary.

:wtf:

Can you elaborate any, proud2Blib?

They hold rallies against the war and do street theater. They are kids with a lot of passion. Thsy have also been a real thorn in the side of the local recruiters. Several have been arrested more than a few times.

Their leader is a young kid who has been to Palestine and Iraq. He was friends with Rachel Corrie, the girl who was killed by the bulldozer in Palestine. I think he was with her when she died.

They went down to Greensburg and were kicked out by the cops. They think they are subversives.

The ACLU is looking at this now. Hopefully they will take the case and go after the cops who kicked these kids out of Greensburg.

...they went to Greensburg in flower-covered VW vans, smoking weed and waving IMPEACH BUSH signs and generally making a ruckus as they handed out food and water. But I knew it was going to turn out to be some deplorable undeserved bias from the authorities that saw them turned away.

There will come a time when those cops won't have the luxury of being so picky about who gets to lend help and who doesn't...and I bet these kids will still be at the head of the line to volunteer.

:evilgrin:

:)