Much of the media coverage of Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath has centered largely on the rebuilding challenges of residents in the Lower Ninth Ward area of New Orleans, widely considered to be the epicenter of the disaster. But as we approach the fifth anniversary of the most destructive and costliest natural disaster in our nation’s history, homeowners in the historic African-American community where I grew up in another part of the Ninth Ward are also struggling to rebuild their houses, lives and deeply-rooted community ties.
With more than 1,000 modest ranch homes, wide curving streets and 200 acres of green space, Pontchartrain Park was our very own “mocha Mayberry” built around a golf course that later included a Little League ballpark, tennis courts and two historically black colleges. This community, built during the Jim Crow era of racial segregation in Louisiana, was a safe haven for working-class and upper-income blacks. In many ways it shielded us from the harsh realities of racism and prejudice that pervaded just beyond its borders.
Before Katrina, one-third of Pontchartrain Park residents were senior citizens, including my 80-year-old grandmother Mildred Williams, who lived with me in Atlanta for three years after the storm. Instead of enjoying her remaining golden years, she and her neighbors were thrust into the arduous task of trying to restore the very same community that they’d spent nearly 50 years building up into one of the most stable neighborhoods in America. Not many communities can tout a 98 percent home ownership rate for nearly five decades.
That’s why when I accepted a 2010 Kiplinger Public Affairs Journalism Fellowship at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, I had no problem deciding to focus this multimedia video project series on the rebuilding of “The Park”in tribute to the many families of Pontchartrain Park who made my childhood there so special. They did everything right; they worked all their lives, owned their homes, put their kids through school, paid their taxes (and insurance) and now many can’t afford to return.
The Park: An Historic African-American Community Rebuilding Itself Five Years After Hurricane Katrina runs this week on theGrio.com._
