Gustav Evacuees Can't Go Home

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Produced by: 
KBOO
Program:: 
Air date: 
Sun, 09/07/2008 - 5:00pm


The Federal Emergency Management Agency has spent the last week praising itself for supposedly responding well to Hurricane Gustav.
But low-income residents of New Orleans who were evacuated to former Sam's Clubs and Walmarts around the state have not been allowed to return home.
In Shreveport, Louisiana, a group of residents held a protest outside of the state-run shelter in a former Sam's Club where they were taken by bus from New Orleans.
Here's a recording from that protest - the residents begin by chanting "Jindal, Jindal, you're a crook - a reference to Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal:

That was a recording of a protest in Shreveport, Louisiana.  The director of Emergency Operations in Shreveport said that the state Department of Social Services set up the shelter without local input, and that a permanent shelter should be constructed in Shreveport.
The state of Louisiana currently pays thousands of dollars a month to Sam's Club and Walmart to hold their former stores as emergency shelters.

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