By William G. Archambeault, Ph.D,
School of Social Work, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Foreword
The original version of this paper was presented at the 48th Annual
Western Social Science Association Conference in Phoenix, AZ,
April 21, 2006, under the title, “Where Have All the Indians Gone.”
Its current revision has been shortened and includes information
one year after two of the most devastating hurricanes in United
States history – Katrina and Rita -- destroyed the Gulf Coast
from Biloxi, Mississippi, through Louisiana to Orange, Texas.
Introduction
On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina, devastated the Gulf Coast from Biloxi,
Mississippi, through the eastern half of the Louisiana Coast.
Although it technically only skirted the east side of New Orleans,
tidal surge destroyed parts of an outdated levee system that allowing
the brackish waters of Lake Ponchtrain poured into miles of low
lying New Orleans. Tens of thousands of New Orleans residents
fled the city, while other thousands were trapped for days until
federal and state rescue efforts could be mobilized and coordinated.
For weeks national news coverage filled the TV screens with images
of the hurricane’s devastation on both people and property. Three
weeks later, another hurricane, Rita, hit the Louisiana and Texas
Coasts causing additional devastation. Overlapping Katriana’s
areas of destruction, Rita destroyed the remainder of Louisiana
Coastline.
While the horrors – human and property – were nightly displayed on TV
sets the world over, New Orleans and its people were the primary
focus. Few reporters or reports focused on the damage inflicted
on the wetlands, fisheries and the multi-million dollar seafood
industry of Louisiana. Few reports focused on the stark reality
that parts of New Orleans and wetlands-coastal areas to the South
were annually sinking from one to six inches per year, or that
the equivalent several football fields of coastline normally disappeared
into the Gulf each day. With the effects of the two hurricanes,
this loss tripled. And virtually none of the national or international
reports focused on the devastation that the hurricanes inflicted
on the Indian populations that inhabit the coastal and wetlands
areas, and are the backbone of the Louisiana seafood, crabbing,
oystering, shrimping, hunting, alligator and fur processing industries.
While the plight of French Quarter and other Louisiana business
interests were highlighted in news stories, no mention was made
of the plight of Indian boat captains whose boats were washed
high on land. No mention was made of the destruction in seafood
and hide processing plants, nor the struggles of Indian people
to reclaim their homes from the muck and flood water.
Tribes and Communities Impacted
Katrina and Rita negatively impacted eight Indian tribes or communities
in Louisiana. These included: the United Houma Nation; the Chitimacha;
the Pointe au Chien; the Biloxi-Chitimacha Confederation of Muscogee,
(Which include three groups: Isle of de Jean Charles Band, Grand
Caillou/Dulac Band, and Bayou Lafourche Bank); Jena Band of Choctaw
and the Chanta. Of these, only the Chittimacha and the Jena Band
of Choctaw are federally recognized tribes. The United Houma Nation,
the Pointe au Chien; and the Biloxi-Chitimacha Confederation of
Muscogee are State-Only recognized tribes. The Chanta – a predominantly
Indian-African American Community – currently has neither state
nor federal recognition.
On October 3, 2005, in the aftermath of the dual hurricane disaster,
the Office of Indian Affairs, of the Louisiana Governor’s Office,
released the results of a survey of Indian tribes and communities
in Southern Louisiana. The report showed that approximately 10,000
Indian people were missing or displaced. Specifically, the report
released these figures of missing or displaced individuals or
families:
77 families of the Chitimacha and Jena Band of Choctaws
7,800 members of the United Houma Nation
1,000 individuals plus 11 families of the Biloxi Chitimacha Confederation (including Isle of de Jean Charles Band, Grand Caillou/Dulac Band, and Bayou Lafourche Bank)
10 families of the Pointe au Chien.
As of April, 2006,
all missing families and individuals have been accounted for.
Never-the-less, hundreds of families and individuals remain in
other states in other states. For example, the entire Chanta community
was evacuated to Arkansas where it remains today. Some were able
to returned to clean and rebuild their homes and lives, while
others were not.
A quick
look at any Louisiana map clearly explains why these groups of
Indians suffered so greatly during these hurricanes. All of these
communities are located on or near the bayous, marsh lands or
coastal areas of South Louisiana. These “lands” are either at
or below sea level. In some areas, flooding is common whenever
big storms hit the coast or even when excessively high tides are
experienced. When Katrina and Rita created twenty to twenty-five
feet walls of water, these “lands” were added to the waters of
the Gulf of Mexico.
The following
websites document with graphic detail the devastation experienced
by Houma and the Point au Chien Peoples. Their documented experiences
are typical of the damage Indian Peoples in the area suffered:
<http://www.unitedhoumanation.org/>
<http://www.freewebs.com/pacit/>.
If there
was a silver lining to this disaster, it was that Indian peoples
found that, while they were largely ignored by government and
many social agencies, they could depend upon other Indians. The
Chittimacha opened a senior citizen’s retirement home that was
half empty to Indian people who lost their homes. The Tunica-Biloxi
and the Coushatta who had hotels attached to their casinos opened
rooms and food services to displaced Indian peoples. National
Indian organizations have helped coordinate relief and rebuilding
efforts for many Indian peoples, especially those who lived along
the coast, in the bayous and wetlands which included the United
Houma Nation and the Biloxi Chitimacha Confederation (including
Isle of de Jean Charles Band, Grand Caillou/Dulac Band, and Bayou
Lafourche Bank).
While
some groups of evacuees screamed in the faces of reporters for
government or others to take care of them, Indian People took
a different path. Pleas for help and assistance which went forth
from tribal leaders, such as Brenda Dardar Roubichaux, Principal
Chief of the Houma, asked for mops, buckets, cleaning supplies,
construction materials, and other items that would allow community
members to clean and rebuild themselves with outside help. They
did not rely on government or anyone else to restore their lives
and their homes. They took charge of their own recovery.
One Year Later
One year
later, the areas devastated by the Hurricanes still bear their
marks both upon the continuing sinking land mass of South Louisiana
and upon the people who live there. In most communities, some
have been able to rebuild their lives and their homes. Others,
however, have not been so lucky. Some houses still stand in the
state of moldy ruin that they were in after the hurricanes passed
through. Most Indian Peoples have been able to return to the sea,
the bayous and wetlands and their way of life, while some others
have not.
Some
people criticize Indian People for continuing to live in areas
that are known to flood, arguing that Indian People in South Louisiana
are unnecessarily stubborn and hard headed, and should move elsewhere.
What these critics do not understand, however, is that for many
Indian families. the way of life in the marshlands, bayous and
coastal areas of South Louisiana has not changed substantially
for hundreds of years. Many generations of Indian Peoples have
scratched out a way of life in the muck and brackish waters of
the areas. Others, toward the western part of the state, work
for farmers, rice and cane growers, operate fish and crawfish
ponds, or work for ranchers. The land, even if it is sinking,
ties them to their ancestral past.
What
most people do not know is this. Except for members of federally
recognized tribes who were sent to boarding schools, most Indian
people were prevented from attending public schools until after
1964, and suffered racial discrimination similar to African-Americans.
Most people of these generations are unprepared to function anywhere,
except the lands of their birth.
Critics
also are unaware of the continued discrimination that Indian peoples
in Louisiana continue to endure. For example, one year later,
hundreds of thousands of research dollars have been made available
for the study of every imaginable minority group in Louisiana,
except American Indians. The foci of these grants examined the
post Katrina impact on people, especially those in the New Orleans
area, targeting economic, social, psychological and even spiritual
aspects of these populations. Yet, Louisiana’s American Indian
populations are ignored as if they do not exist. Additionally,
the category of “American Indian” or “Native American” are missing
from all state information forms, except those that deal with
federal funds. The polar Black-White politics of Louisiana refuses
to acknowledge Red. Sometimes is seems as if White political interests
do not what to have to deal with another minority, especially
one that exerts so little obvious political influence in state
politics. At the same time, African-American political interests
sometimes seem to feel that their own political interests are
undermined if American Indians are acknowledged. Perhaps the attention
given the Chanta People --a predominantly African-American mixed
Indian Community-- during and after the Katrina and Rita devastations
will change some attitudes, perhaps not.
In any
case, the Indian Peoples of Louisiana are here to stay and will
take care of their own.