Today's Guest Blogger is Father Vien thé Nguyen, pastor of Mary Queen of Vietnam Catholic Church in East New Orleans.
One cannot describe America without illustrating
this country with the ideas of “free” or “opportunity.” The reality of
this picture lies largely in the promise that our government will keep
us safe, listen to our concerns and provide us a fair chance to move
forward. When that promise is fulfilled, we all rise together. When
it’s broken, the entire country suffers. So what do we, as the people,
do when the fulfillment of that promise is not on the right path?
Right now, we are suffering. This is especially
apparent here in New Orleans where we are attempting to recover from
one of the country’s worst disasters. After experiencing a
disappointing response effort that left many people behind and rarely
sought the input of the people affected most, I will admit that I have
lost some faith and trust in the government. Ultimately, the success
of our rebuilding effort depends on repairing our partnership with our
government, at all levels, and in reinvesting in its ability to serve
us well and protect our safety and opportunity.
As a member of the Vietnamese community in New
Orleans, the promise of opportunity is particularly important to
me—especially for a person who has escaped deliberate communism to the
land of the free. It drew us all to this country. We took advantage
of the resources available, and because of it, our community has grown
and thrived for over 30 years. We have built homes, businesses,
churches and a full sense of community. We’re proud to call the city
of New Orleans and this country home.
After Hurricane Katrina, we were one of the first
communities to return. Our leaders came back, took stock, and
determined the needs of the community. As a result of this work, we
are making great strides toward recovery. In the East New Orleans
community, over three quarters of our businesses have reopened. Our
church offered rent-free land for 199 FEMA trailers that are filled
with residents anxious to return and rebuild their lives. We are on
our way.
However, the efforts of the business and faith
sector have not been matched by the government. We need the
government’s full partnership to address the barriers to our
community’s full restoration. For instance, while we enthusiastically
welcomed the arrival of our FEMA trailers, only 65 of 200 interested
households have been approved for occupancy. Also, almost a year
later, FEMA still has not assigned a site manager for maintenance
care. At the same time, not enough schools have reopened to
accommodate our children’s need to stay on track educationally. Our
water pumps and the entire infrastructure of East New Orleans still
need to be repaired as well. There is plenty of work to be done.
Despite the return of more than half of the Vietnamese-American
original population and many others, no hospitals are open in East New
Orleans, making it unsafe for many elderly or ill community members to
return. Meanwhile, the health issues that plague the city were
recently exacerbated here with the opening of a landfill at the edge of
our community to accommodate debris from the clean-up; we were silenced
in the decision of the opening of the landfill. In addition to
threatening our air quality and groundwater, the potentially toxic
contents of the dumpsite could also seep into the canals that feed our
gardens.
While these disappointments have certainly given me pause, I know that
we can be successful in restoring the promise of the land of
opportunity. Recent events have shown us how badly we all suffer when
that promise is compromised. When the government doesn’t listen to
us, doesn’t step forward when it’s needed, and when years of
disinvestment in its infrastructures cause the kind of failures we’re
witnessing today, the consequences are dire.
America’s history shows that when we ensure a
voice for everyone in public decisions and invest in effective
government systems that serve all communities fairly, everyone
benefits. In our case, that means more transparent and inclusive
decision-making, amplified public resources and staffing, and a more
equitable distribution of the burdens and benefits of the rebuilding
process.
Impediments of the past year have made clear how
important it is to invest in our government, to work on our
partnership, to consistently strengthen our democracy so that, when
another Katrina comes along, we can all rise and move forward together.
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