Now More Than Ever New Orleans Rebuilding Open to Blacks

Two and a half million citizens were spread throughout the United States like destitute refugees. May this tragedy never repeat itself.

As the storm approached the United States, FEMA sat at the table and began cutting up the huge no-bid contracts. The recipients were mostly part of the Military Industrial Complex (MIC), the same guys milking Iraq for no-bid contracts while your children are put in harms way are now enjoying the fruits of rebuilding.

Billions of dollars have been handed over to those members of the MIC or new players who hired the right lobbying firms. An example is Ashbritt, a Florida firm rather new at the disaster recovery game. They hired the lobbying firm of Haley Barbour, the governor of Mississippi, and miraculously are now receiving contracts approaching a billion dollars.

Initially, the MIC members had the lock on what was available. If a Black business owner wanted work, they had to approach them.

The MIC members raked off their desired profit from the top of a pending project and then shopped the actual work on the street for a desired reduced price. The second tier would come in and then emulate the same practice to a third tier. Some of these levels went on for four or five rounds. The last tier would be the “sucker." This would be the firm removing debris for $16 a square yard while the MIC member got $40 for the same square yard. The levels in between took their reduced share and finally the “sucker” did the actual work for little profit. In some cases he would not be paid at all.

Many of the lower tiers were quickly-formed limited liability companies that would pile up the debt while the profit went to the actual organizers. The “sucker” would be scrambling around trying to get paid and the LLC organizers had left the state, never to be found.

This happened too many times. But there are some success stories. Business owners with background in debris removal and the contracting process approached the big boys like Shaw, Bechtel, etc. on a second-tier level and performed straight up business.

A nice Black couple in Mississippi has been doing very well. Perhaps the best is my guy Vern in Louisiana. Vern grew up in the debris hauling and trucking business. He worked the hurricanes Camille, Andrew, Hugo and others. To date, Vern’s company has done more than $68 million in debris removal and has hired just about his entire church and neighborhood.

More
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=e8040d4b569526843daa7ace44a1ebb0