I wonder what happened, or will happen, to Nelson Washington, who I met in New Orleans last year.

[eyesroll]

I wrote this while working for Common Ground Legal Aid, on a National Lawyers Guild/Marquette University Law School spring break 2007 trip, in New Orleans.

***

I met him while collecting signatures and flyering for a legislative initiative -- the legal collective will be lobbying hard for legislation capping rents (right now, landlords are charging 2-3 times what they were, and what they should be, for housing) and setting up fair eviction laws (until the storm, a landlord could evict -- change the locks, dump the personal property, everything -- for "abandonment' if their tenant was gone for more than three days and didn't answer a letter -- that got extended to 45 days, but that doesn't work so well either these days). Anyhow.

I met Nelson Washington on Canal Street, in the central business district, across from the Sheraton Hotel. If you examined the business area of Canal Street in a vacuum, you'd see a slightly economically depressed downtown -- much like many areas of Downtown Milwaukee, actually. There are some boarded storefronts, not really from direct storm damage but from economic effects.

I met Nelson Washington on Canal Street. He was sitting by his bicycle, eating a pork chop from a nearby restaurant. I sat down next to him and explained what I was doing. He nodded and signed the petition...then paused when he got to "address," then looked at the Sheraton and wrote down its address. I realized then, he didn't mean he was staying in a room there. He lived on Canal Street, near his bicycle, near the pork chop restaurant.

Nelson Washington is probably in his 40s, but looks a lot older. I asked him if he was displaced from the storm, following script.

"Yes. And no." He offered me some of his fries.

Nelson Washington was incarcerated during the storm -- he didn't say for what, and I didn't ask. The prisons weren't evacuated durign the storm...well, that's not entirely true. The officers evacuated, after they locked down the cells and left the thousands of inmates for four days. (This is corroborated by more than 800 witness accounts. The sheriff says they are all lying. Who are you going to believe?) They left Nelson Washington to die, without food, without water except for the sewage that he didn't know wouldn't rise to the ceiling. He subsisted on mayonnaise packets; that's all he could find.

He lost everything he had in jail. He ended up on the street. I gave him a flyer with shelter and medical information. He thanked me, and asked me to patronize the pork chop restaurant; they'd been good to him. (I did and had a very good and inexpensive chicken pita.)

I met Nelson Washington today; he has a clean shirt and a story, and a bicycle and a pair of jeans. He has a flyer and a pork chop, and, like most of the homeless people I've met, a better attitude than I have, and a better attitude than some of the princesses who came to New Orleans to build their resumes while rebuilding homes while wondering if plugging in their hair dryer will really, really mess the power up (short answer: yes).

There are thousands of Nelson Washingtons on the streets of New Orleans. This Nelson Washington probably won't call or visit a shelter (how would he call? how would he get there?), but at least he has a name, and a story, and that's all I can give him today, and I guess that has to be enough for now.

***

Now, I really don't know what happened to Nelson Washington--he could be back in prison, or dead. I really have no way of knowing--his name brings up nothing relevant on Google, and inmates and homeless people don't often get printed obituaries.

Tomorrow morning, New Orleans will be under a mandatory evacuation order...but what happens to people like Nelson Washington? I know some people will say those in prison, on drugs, or on the street aren't as deserving of help as other, more sympathetic residents who have disabilities or are poor or are both and cannot help themselves...but they still are human.

To everyone in Gustav's path: Check on your neighbors--if there's room in your car, take those who can't drive themselves. Let someone else use your other car, if you have one. If you have time, leave the food that will spoil in your fridge for someone who might not be able to leave. Stay safe.

[greatauntoftriplets]

1. K&R.

My younger niece (a psychiatric nurse/practitioner) went to Louisiana in October/November of 2005. She worked at the Katrina Find Family Call Center in Baton Rouge (never got into NOLA, but did give her camera to a team member who was headed there one day....OMG, the photos).

Because my niece had a psychiatric background, she was the one assigned to talk to the people who needed to talk to someone with training. It was one hell of an experience for her...and for you, as well, though from a different perspective, of course.

I saw her this evening and the subject did not arise. Now I am wondering if she will want to return to help.

Like you, I know she did good.

Thanks for your service down there.

[eyesroll]

2. Thanks...I was only there for a week but it took me longer than that to fully get "back."

Things tend to bounce off me pretty easily, but this just stuck. I don't think I'll be back as a student (MULS is supposed to do a trip again in March, but who knows what will even be there this time)...but as a practitioner, we'll see.

[greatauntoftriplets]

3. My niece was there for two weeks.

It was a major event in her life, as it surely was in yours.