No Room for Bundles of Alegria in New Orleans

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The ethnic cleansing of African-Americans in New Orleans continues: Last week, the city made the controversial decision to tear down 4,500 units of damaged public housing, leaving former residents with nowhere to go. (The developments to be destroyed represent half of all public housing available in New Orleans before the storm. Fewer than 1,100 units have been reopened.)

But the Latino workers who went to New Orleans after Katrina ravaged the city are still living there. And now they are having babies, which, the New York Times reports, is putting a strain on the few operational medical facilities in the city. Somehow, these babies are a big surprise to government employees despite the fact that the influx of work-hungry Latinos to New Orleans is no more than a funhouse mirror image of Latino immigration everywhere else in the United States—bigger, but still the same animal.

So, who’s the problem, again? The people of color who are trying to survive and procreate, or the people in charge who can’t seem to prepare for anything?

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GREAT JOURNALISM, SLOW FUNDRAISING

Our team has been on fire lately—publishing sweeping, one-of-a-kind investigations, ambitious, groundbreaking projects, and even releasing “the holy shit documentary of the year.” And that’s on top of protecting free and fair elections and standing up to bullies and BS when others in the media don’t.

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So, two things:

1) If you value the journalism we do but haven’t pitched in over the last few months, please consider doing so now—we urgently need a lot of help to make up for lost ground.

2) If you’re not ready to donate but you’re interested enough in our work to be reading this, please consider signing up for our free Mother Jones Daily newsletter to get to know us and our reporting better. Maybe once you do, you’ll see it’s something worth supporting.

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