4
Community Perspectives on Displacement, Assisted Resettlement, and Receiving Communities in Louisiana
“Indigenous people have called this land home for literally thousands of years. And I want you to understand how special this place is. There is human-made architecture in coastal Louisiana that is older than the Pyramids of Giza. And there are so few places in the entire world that monumental architecture of that scale predates agriculture. Coastal Louisiana, as you may already know, was built by the Mississippi River and as long as the land has been there, so have the Indigenous people.”
Native Land Acknowledgement
Genie Ardoin
During the second day of the workshop, on July 28, 2022, in Houma, Louisiana, stories were shared by community members who have contemplated resettlement, have experienced displacement or relocation, or have experience in a community that has received people displaced or resettled from environmentally high-risk areas. The facilitator, Jonathan Foret, Executive Director of the South Louisiana Wetlands Discovery Center, opened the panel by noting that Louisiana, more than any other state, has the highest number of residents that were born in the state and still reside in the state—what Foret referred to as “native-born residents.”32 Furthermore, Foret said, Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes have some of the highest numbers of native-born residents compared to
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32 A map of nationwide migration patterns since 1900 in the United States is available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/16/upshot/mapping-migration-in-the-united-states-since-1900.html?abt=0002&abg=0&_r=0
other parishes in Louisiana. Historically, many people migrated north within the same watershed, which is often locally referred to as moving “up the bayou.” As migration to other areas occurs, many community connections have been lost as people have moved away from the resources and places with which they are most familiar. Foret suggested finding ways to reignite community connections to strengthen communities and make them more resilient.
COMMUNITY STORIES OF DISPLACEMENT AND RESETTLEMENT
Genie Ardoin, Bayou Regional Arts Council, and Board Member of the Helio Foundation
Ardoin said she did not realize until later how growing up in Chauvin, Louisiana would affect her. After living elsewhere, she moved back twenty-five years ago so her children could grow up with the same culture and sense of community that she had. After Hurricane Ike destroyed their home in 2008, they migrated two miles north on the same bayou. Later, they moved another mile north—and eventually, they moved to Houma. She noted that in past hurricanes, most residents knew how to fix their homes if they were damaged from flooding, and the community members helped one another to recover. During Hurricane Ida in 2021, the levee system protected some areas from flooding, but strong winds damaged so many homes that many residents could not participate in community efforts to help one another. She added that many residents were not able to fix their roofs, and this inability to repair their homes led to their ultimately choosing to leave.
Ardoin acknowledged that communities are becoming more fragmented, and it is “hard for other people to understand why we don’t just move away.” However, people are working to keep traditions alive so that culture is not lost as more people move. Ardoin agreed with Foret’s comment that in the past, it took little effort for grandparents and other adults to pass along traditions to children when spending time with them—but now, the passing along of traditions has to be done more intentionally. Ardoin noted that she would like to see schools teaching about culture and traditions such as trolling and fishing.
Cherry Wilmore, Case Manager, Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office, and Sherry Wilmore, Department of Corrections Community Coordinator for Reentry through Goodwill Industry of Southeast Louisiana
Cherry and Sherry Wilmore are known on social media as Everybody’s Favorite Twins.33 They were brought to Houma through the Louisiana foster care system when they were ten years old. According to Cherry Wilmore, it was traumatic because they were separated in Houma for a year. They were then adopted together and raised by a “grandmother mama” from Houma. They lived in Mechanicville, a majority Black community in Houma, where the whole community helped take care of them.
They emphasized that vital to understanding the area is understanding that Black people lived in America before slavery. Sherry Wilmore explained: “Black people do not consider themselves Cajun, and older generations did not have a choice but to live together, so it is a community, but in a different sense.” Sherry explained that the vernacular of place names and referring to bayou directions (i.e., up or down the bayou) is not how Black people refer to places. “We have to understand that when you talk about this area as being particularly Terrebonne or Lafourche, and you refer to [a] place like Chauvin, Black people are going to refer to Smith Ridge . . . When you speak about Houma, you may speak about ‘up the bayous’. . . [but] African Americans are going to ask you, ‘Are you from the Mechanicville area, are you from the Alley, are you from Deweyville, are you from Gibson?’ because that is how they represent themselves.” In another example, many older Black people refer to places by the name of the plantation on which they lived. Sherry went on to underscore that other groups who also have strong communities—including Asians and Hispanics—are often not recognized and are left out of the conversation when we characterize the people that live here. Cherry and Sherry Wilmore would like to see increased understanding and openness for everyone. Sherry mentioned that she saw their community recover after Hurricane Katrina, but over time businesses and people have left for numerous reasons, such as better opportunities or for lower taxes. Additionally, Cherry noted that “being a Black person in Houma is not always easy,” and sometimes people with forward-thinking and progressive minds feel the need to leave this area so that they can face less discrimination and become more successful, “because sometimes you get tired of fighting the same battles over and over, and not feeling like you’re not getting anything accomplished.”
Cherry said their community was prepared for flooding, but no one was ready for Hurricane Ida’s damaging winds, destruction from which acceler-
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33 More information on Everybody’s Favorite Twins is available at: https://www.facebook.com/Everybodyfavoritetwins
ated people leaving the area. Sherry said many residents went four to six weeks without electricity, gas, water, cable, and internet. There was little access to information, and for many with limited income and resources, their ability to rebound and recover was diminished. Sherry said that a large percentage of the homes were damaged, so there are now campers and tent cities. Cherry commented that many people wanted to come back, but rising insurance rates and difficulties obtaining reimbursement have contributed to people choosing to relocate. Due to limited access to resources since Hurricane Ida, she has seen increased environmental, mental health, and substance abuse issues. Cherry concluded by saying that people need to do a better job of getting to know their neighbors and checking on them.
Bette Billiot, Administrative Assistant, United Houma Nation
Billiot has been involved with the United Houma Nation tribal population that was relocated to Terrebonne and Lafourche “due to forced migration from northern Louisiana, on down.”34 Raised by neighbors and other family members with a “unique one-of-a-kind culture,” she grew up closely connected to the bayou in the small community of Dulac, just south of Houma. As an adult, she has lived in many places but wanted her children to grow up as she did. She now lives on the east side of Houma—where not only is the land subsiding, but also, the cost of living is higher. Many businesses are leaving and rebuilding on the west side of town. She commented, “To save the west side, we have to save the east side,” pointing out that if people have to relocate, many will move one town over, which in this case will be the west side of Houma.
Hurricanes, flooding, and recovery are a part of their culture. She recalled telling her children, “If you want to live in Louisiana, you need to learn how to tarp a roof for a hurricane.” Her community knows how to rebuild after a hurricane and does not wait for help or governmental assistance. She went on to point out that, at the same time, many of those who are part of the younger generation are leaving since it is not feasible for them to stay and keep rebuilding. The majority of people who do remain are elders who are not interested in starting over somewhere else; they stay “because this is home, because of what they’re going to be losing.” She acknowledged that Dulac is no longer the same; the younger generations are not experiencing the culture she did, and traditions are fading. She recalled
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34 Following the arrival of both French and Spanish colonial powers to Louisiana in the late 1600s and 1700s, the Houma tribe moved south to the coastal Louisiana marshlands by the early 1800s. As a result, they avoided the mass forced relocation that occurred in the Trail of Tears in the following decades. Gannon, B. (n.d.). The Houma’s migration. Garde Voir Ci. https://gardevoirci.nicholls.edu/2021/the-peoples-migration/
a conversation with a younger fourth-generation fisherman who wanted a different life for his children because making a living by fishing was such a struggle for him.
Thaddeus (Mike) Pellegrin, Local Resident
Pellegrin has lived most of his life in Chauvin, Louisiana, and worked in the shrimping industry, just like his father and grandfather did. Every year when they went to the shrimp drying platforms, they would see less and less land. He noted that Louisiana has been shrinking as far back as anyone can remember, but in the past, the Mississippi River had replenished and rebuilt the land. That is no longer the case, which is one of the reasons he was able to purchase property from the South Coast Corporation in 1973. Pellegrin said his father heard they wanted to sell low-lying areas of the parish in response to a study that showed loss of land occurring at alarming rates. The property he bought is where he raised his family.
His grandson loves the area and purchased Pellegrin’s home from him. Unfortunately, two months later, Hurricane Ida hit and caused considerable damage to the house. Due to his grandson’s love for the area, his grandson decided to stay and rebuild. Further, because of land loss, subsidence, and sea level rise impact communities such as Chauvin, Pellegrin has witnessed people moving further north to get out of harm’s way. Other changes are also occurring, such as more people building camps instead of homes. He expressed hopes that projects such as the Morganza to the Gulf system will allow his grandson to be able to raise his family in Chauvin.
Bonnie Theriot, Local Resident
After living six decades along the bayou in Chauvin and Houma, Theriot moved to Tennessee. After two years, she missed her family and felt it was time to come home to Louisiana. Two months before Hurricane Ida, she purchased a home and moved back to Chauvin. Her home was severely damaged during Ida and is still not completely repaired. Her 94-year-old mother and 91-year-old aunt both lost their homes, and two of her sisters’ homes and her son’s business were damaged. Due to the scale of the damage—she estimated that the vast majority of the structures in her community were damaged—her family and her community could not help one another since they all experienced damage at the same time. Instead of being the unifying event that previous hurricanes had been, Hurricane Ida increased the number of people who chose to permanently relocate out of the area.
IMPLICATIONS OF DISPLACEMENT AND RESETTLEMENT ON MENTAL HEALTH AND COMMUNITY WELL-BEING
A roundtable discussion with the above panelists followed the individual presentations. Foret began the session by stating that, due to the pandemic, Hurricane Ida, and inflation, “as a community, our mental health is really suffering right now.” He asked participants to share their perspectives on mental health-related issues and their community’s sense of well-being as it relates to displacement or resettlement. Ardoin replied that she has seen many people referred for counseling. However, at the same time, she feels many people are carrying untreated trauma, and she suggested yearly mental health checks could be helpful. Billiot commented that even before the storm there were many mental health issues due to land loss. Losing homes and land is “like losing a family member,” Billiot said, and many people suffer from grief as a result of losing a home or land. In her community, even rain can cause flooding, which also affects mental health. Billiot noted that mental health problems are evident but not always discussed—and overall, mental health problems are undertreated in Houma. Sherry Wilmore chimed in to say that though many mental health resources are available, they are often underutilized. She emphasized the value of making and keeping connections with neighbors and remembering that “resilience has a breaking point.”
CULTURAL AWARENESS IN EDUCATION AND POLICIES
An audience member asked how to include local culture and local knowledge in policies and education. Foret said he is working on efforts to bring different ethnic groups and cultures together. One way he is doing this is by intentionally sharing stories on a narrative stage through Houma’s upcoming Rougarou Fest,35 which celebrates Southeast Louisiana’s bayou culture. Sherry Wilmore mentioned a traveling artist event36 that used storytelling to connect to the past and build cultural awareness. Cherry Wilmore noted that as segregated as some communities may appear, there are many commonalities, such as everyone valuing family and food.
Gary LaFleur, an audience member, has seen land restoration occurring, but not many efforts to save a community’s culture. LaFleur suggested that since state policy makers have put so much effort into saving the land, the next step could be to devise plans and strategies to preserve local culture. Billiot noted that people, businesses, schools, and resources, which used to bring people together, are leaving her community. She also commented that
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35 More information about the Rougarou Fest is available at: https://rougaroufest.org/
36 More information about the traveling artist event is available at: https://houmatravel.com/blog/post/white-boot-storytelling
the people who have remained are not communicating as much as they have in the past, contributing to a growing sense of disconnection. Foret said that if these places are lost—which he is not completely sure will happen—resources need to be developed to give people a place to mourn.
In response to a question from Craig Colten, a committee member, about whether people are encouraging their children to stay or leave, Billiot replied that she is aware of children being encouraged to leave in order to receive an education so that they can find ways to help the community. The fisherman she spoke about earlier wanted his children to keep the tradition of fishing alive but not become dependent on fishing for making a living.
IMPACT OF COASTAL RESTORATION EFFORTS ON DECISION MAKING
Colten asked if Louisiana’s Coastal Master Plan37 and state efforts to restore and protect the coast have influenced people’s decisions to stay or leave. Pellegrin replied that Louisiana needs a national-scale effort to preserve the wetlands. Billiot remarked that in all projected tidal surge scenarios contained in the Master Plan, Terrebonne and Lafourche parish would no longer be there in fifty years. She noted that while she understands the severity of the situation and knows what the future looks like, she feels many in her community will stay as long as possible because “my people are water people.” According to Ardoin, some people in her community have decided to stay as a result of increased protection, but more protection is needed.
Several panelists highlighted how the majority of people do not know that a Master Plan even exists. These panelists feel, for this reason, it is unlikely that there would be many people who will make the decision to stay or go based on it. Sherry Wilmore pointed out that it is difficult for people to understand not only the academic language used in the plan but also its implications for the general public. She went on to say, “we are aware that we have a coast that needs to be saved, and most people want to stay here because there is no way of life like living here.” Billiot added that not all the projects listed in the Master Plan will be funded. Foret suggested there is a need to go beyond the Master Plan to help people make the decision to either continue living in coastal Louisiana or relocate.
INSURANCE IN THE CONTEXT OF DISPLACEMENT
Foret, Ardoin, and Cherry Wilmore pointed out that insurance companies—whether by design or chance—are incentivizing people to
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37 More details about Louisiana’s Coastal Master Plan are available at: https://coastal.la.gov/our-plan/
move away from coastal threats by increasing the cost to buy and insure homes. According to Cherry Wilmore, the area has always dealt with land loss—approximately the equivalent of a football field being lost each hour38—but most people want to stay. She went on to say, however, that if a home cannot be insured and residents cannot afford to pay out of pocket to repair their homes, it will likely become unrealistic for many people to stay. Ardoin pointed out that after Hurricane Ida, the Helio Foundation could not help the families with insurance because there were so many families without any assistance from insurance that needed help. She added that “none of them could afford the insurance; it’s not affordable.” Audience member Jenny Schexnayder pointed out that many people, for various reasons—including a lack of insurance or proof of home ownership—could not get assistance from the federal government after Hurricane Ida. She also noted that many businesses are not eligible to receive assistance because they have not been properly legally established, either due to a lack of resources or ability, or because they were intended as informal businesses.
WELCOMING RECEIVING COMMUNITIES
Foret commented that it is vital to figure out what a welcoming receiving community looks like. He suggested important elements are educational opportunities as well as opportunities to meet and build relationships. These elements can help to alleviate tensions that may arise from community differences. Foret described a local example of whether storing crab traps in residential front yards—as some communities “down the bayou” are allowed to do—is acceptable. Foret noted that while regulations allow this in some communities, in others that might be receiving communities, residents do not store crab traps on their lawns because zoning regulations prevent it. Community events, like festivals, can help to reduce these conflicts because “it’s harder to hate someone when you’ve become friends.” Foret said being displaced is already a traumatic process, so finding a way to view “people as resources instead of drains on resources” could help reduce conflict. Cherry Wilmore mentioned that an example of a way to be more welcoming is the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program®,39 which
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38 According to Couvillion and colleagues (2011), “trend analyses from 1985 to 2010 show a wetland loss rate of 16.57 mi2 per year. If this loss were to occur at a constant rate, it would equate to Louisiana losing an area the size of one football field per hour.” Couvillion, B.R., Barras, J.A., Steyer, G.D., Sleavin, W., Fischer, M., Beck, H., Trahan, N., Griffin, B., and Heckman, D. (2011). Land area change in coastal Louisiana from 1932 to 2010. U.S. Department of the Interior and U.S. Geological Survey. https://biotech.law.lsu.edu/blog/SIM3164_Pamphlet.pdf
39 More information about the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program® is available at: https://www.insideoutcenter.org/
brings together two groups of people: students in higher education and incarcerated individuals. The program aims to allow participants to recognize their similarities and common ground. Sherry Wilmore added that “when we are intentional . . . that’s when we truly are the welcoming community that we want to be.”
GAPS IN KNOWLEDGE FOR RESIDENTS AND DECISION MAKERS
Michael Esealuka, an audience member, pointed out that the Master Plan and managed retreat “have both been criticized as happening to communities and not by them.” Esealuka asked if coastal planning and any associated conversations relating to relocation and retreat do in fact reflect the local knowledge, ingenuity, and solutions generated by the people living in coastal communities. Along these same lines, she wondered how to bridge the divide between state planning and community-driven solutions. Foret replied that he had seen efforts made to include community members in the process of the Master Plan, but he acknowledged there is still a disconnect between translating the plan to community members and including enough of [Indigenous people’s] traditional ecological knowledge. Pellegrin suggested that decision makers should consider these three questions: “Where do I go? How do I get there? What the heck do I do once I get there?”
Cherry Wilmore explained that in the past, knowledge passed from one generation to another, but there is now a generation of people who do not know how to prepare for a hurricane. Since there had not been a hurricane the magnitude of Hurricane Ida in a long time, she believes this led many people to get comfortable and not evacuate. Cherry said that since it takes a lot less rain for flooding and damage to occur than it used to, there is a need to teach the basics on how to survive in this area.
SENSE OF PLACE AND MULTI-LOCAL CONSIDERATIONS
Thomas Thornton, Director for the Board on Environmental Change and Society, asked if consideration should be given to help people to become multi-local so they do not lose the values and sense of place that might be associated with a geographic location. Thornton explained “multi-local” as the idea that people might move up the bayou to join another community but have a desire or ways to visit and stay connected to their previous communities, perhaps by utilizing a camp or motor home, visiting, or fishing. Thornton asked if helping people become multi-local might be a strategy to retain “the values that might be associated with a geographic place . . . including the networks, the social capital, and other assets that support regional identity.” Theriot responded by stating that “family” is
what drew her back to Louisiana, so she emphasized finding ways to bring communities back together. Pellegrin talked about his love of the place where he grew up and how he feels fortunate that his grandson feels the same way. He questions whether these communities can remain in the same physical place, but believes they can survive emotionally and culturally in a new geographical location. Ardoin noted that out of 1,000 people she spoke with, 998 did not want to leave. She added that many people cannot move on their own anyway due to their financial situation. Financial considerations, Foret pointed out, are a challenge to becoming multi-local. Sherry Wilmore made the last point, commenting on the loss of many “connectors,” such as grandparents, who used to bring people together.
CLOSING REMARKS
To close the morning activity, Debra Butler, a committee member, shared some themes she heard throughout the panel:
- Over time, the migration of people seeking to find safe places—which can involve moving away from their family and culture—has occurred both into and out of coastal Louisiana.
- Coastal Louisiana is unique in the variety and difference found in the individual communities that comprise it; but at the same time, many similarities exist across these communities.
- Indigenous knowledge and knowledge of place is a legacy for these communities. Communities and people are embedded in “the assemblage of the land and water.”
- Structural barriers can prevent the passing on of culture, language, skills, customs, rituals, and traditions to the next generation. Being resilient and trying “to stay in place” involves assessing how we can remove those structural barriers.
- Instead of waiting for government involvement, many individuals and communities have undertaken efforts on their own.
- Many elders are the “glue that kind of holds the community together,” and they want to stay in place.
- Decisions can be made at the national level to contribute resources towards protecting coastal Louisiana.
- There are structural challenges to recovery after hurricanes and flooding. When a community is distressed, recovery is not limited to rebuilding homes and physical infrastructure, but can also involve restoring jobs, energy, power, food access, communication, schools, and community connections.
- Many people in the area have experienced multiple traumas and often cannot mourn for what was lost.
- Due to the destruction caused by Hurricane Ida, many places were damaged that would typically have been used for shelter.
- Lack of proof of property ownership can hinder federal and state assistance.
- The academic language used in Louisiana’s Coastal Master Plan can be difficult for coastal residents to understand.
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