|
William P. Quigley,
Ending Poverty As We Know It: Guaranteeing a Right to a
Job at a Living Wage. Temple University Press, 2003
* * *
* *
A Message
from New Orleans Shelters
Bill Quigley and Debbie Dupre Quigley Thanks to the many people who have reached out to
us—it has been so satisfying. There have been many incredible
acts of generosity and courage. We saw them everywhere. We
were picked up at the hospital by two 25-year-old guys who put a
little motor on a rowboat and ferried people to safety. We
got on a truck with people who had gone back to find their
mentally disabled brother.
Families have come to look for family members in the
shelters.
Now that we are out of New Orleans, we are so disappointed
with the disproportionate attention paid to looters and to a few
hundred people who were acting criminally. Nobody in
Louisiana thinks that people are looters if they broke into
stores for diapers or food. People stealing TVs or shooting
others made up a fraction of a percent of the people in New
Orleans, but looting seems to have attracted attention in the
media out of all proportion.
The distorted emphasis on criminal behavior has stigmatized
the people who are now in shelters. Events this week exposed
racial, economic, and geographic segregation in our society that
includes inequality in planning and resources. People need
to stick up for the folks in the shelters. I guarantee
there’s a shelter coming to a city near you.
There are not enough places here for all these people.
The New Orleans community is like a glass paperweight that
was smashed by a fifty pound iron mallet. Poor people from
New Orleans are going to be everywhere.
People need to help them, not fear them. Our question
should not be, “Why was there looting,” but “How are your
families?” and “How can we help?”
There are a million stories of inspiration, love, hope,
affection and community from New Orleans. The focus should be on
the 99-1/2 percent of people who were brave and patient and who
managed to help others.
We are glad that so many people are reaching out to the very
poor people of New Orleans. Many people are not even a
paycheck away from poverty. We know schoolteachers whose
entire life savings was invested in their home, which is now
underwater. They have $200 in their pockets, and they’re
living in a shelter along with their extended family, hoping to
get food stamps. Many people have much less. All of
them have no idea what will happen to their lives and work and
homes they left behind.
The 100,000 or so people who were left behind in New Orleans
are a reflection of the people who are left behind in our
country and in the world. We need to turn this disaster
into an opportunity for the Nation to reevaluate our priorities
and invest in construction, both here and in the rest of the
world.
Thank God there is no one to bomb in retaliation. Instead of
wasting our resources on destruction, we should rededicate our
people, resources and creativity to addressing the fundamental
problems that were exposed when the superficial covering of New
Orleans was ripped away, leaving us struggling for survival as
people do in so many other countries.
We love you, and we appreciate the support that has come in
to us in so many ways.
Peace,
Bill & Debbie
Debbie Dupre Quigley is an oncology nurse. She
and her husband Bill, who is a law professor at Loyola
University New Orleans, spent four nights and five days in a
hospital in New Orleans before they were evacuated. They
can be reached at duprestars@yahoo.com
posted 10 September 2005
* *
* * *
* *
* * *
* *
* * *
updated 11 December 2007 |
