Assisted Resettlement and Community Viability on Louisiana's Gulf Coast Proceedings of a Workshop (2023) / Chapter Skim
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4 Community Perspectives on Displacement, Assisted Resettlement, and Receiving Communities in Louisiana
4 Community Perspectives on Displacement, Assisted Resettlement, and Receiving Communities in Louisiana
Pages 33-44
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From page 33... ...
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 D uring 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 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.
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From page 34... ...
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.
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From page 35... ...
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)
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From page 36... ...
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.
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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.
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From page 38... ...
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.
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From page 39... ...
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 37 More details about Louisiana's Coastal Master Plan are available at: https://coastal.la.gov/ our-plan/
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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.
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. that's when we truly are the welcoming com munity 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.
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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.
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From page 43... ...
• The academic language used in Louisiana's Coastal Master Plan can be difficult for coastal residents to understand.
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