WASHINGTON
President Barack Obama lauded the resiliency of New Orleans and its people 10 years after a massive hurricane flooded much of the Gulf Coast city.
“You are an example of what is possible when, in the face of tragedy and in the face of hardship, good people come together to lend a hand,” Obama said to hundreds of residents a decade after Hurricane Katrina unleashed a deluge that overwhelmed New Orleans’ levee system, killing nearly 2,000 and forcing thousands more to flee.
“There’s something in you guys that is just irrepressible,” the American president added. “I’m here to say that on that larger project of a better, stronger, more just New Orleans, the progress that you have made is remarkable.”
In the aftermath of the devastation, many blamed the federal government, whose levee system failed to rout the tide that enveloped much of the historic city, and whose disaster response left many wanting basics necessities such as food and water, leading to mass looting as the waters receded.
Obama said if the disaster and its aftermath can be seen as a symbol of government failure, the recovery “has been an example of what’s possible when government works together”, pointing to successes in building a new $14 billion levee system, boosting employment, and improving education.
Still, he said that much work remains, noting that 40 percent of the city’s children still live in poverty, and typical black households earn half of what their white counterparts bring in.
“The storm laid bare a deeper tragedy that had been brewing for decades,” Obama said. “New Orleans, like so many cities and communities across the country, had for too long been plagued by structural inequalities that left too many people, especially poor people, especially people of color, without good jobs or affordable health care or decent housing.
“Our work is not done when there’s still too many people who have yet to find good, affordable housing, and too many people -- especially African American men -- who can’t find a job,” he added.
Obama had earlier toured the Faubourg Lafitte neighborhood where he went door-to-door, shaking hands and eating fried chicken from a local restaurant that was destroyed by the hurricane and later rebuilt.
During his remarks, Obama held the city up as a model for the larger economic recovery across the country.
“You're why I’m confident that we can recover from crisis and start to move forward,” he said. "If we stay focused on that common purpose, if we remember our responsibility to ourselves but also our responsibilities and obligations to one another, we will not just rebuild this city, we will rebuild this country," he added.
