Heart of Darkness: Common Ground Relief in the Lower Ninth Ward

The Lower Ninth Ward is the heart of darkness -- the most-devastated neighborhood in New Orleans. But is the true heart of darkness found in the power center of a society that continues to deny residents of the Lower Ninth Ward, and the rest of the Gulf Coast, the hope of returning to rebuild their homes and their lives? This 1/09/2006 interview with organizer Brandon Darby explores the efforts undertaken by Common Ground volunteers to provide relief to Lower Ninth Ward residents, and to help them gut and rehab their homes.

Listen to the Indymedia podcast. This aired today on 91.5 FM, WTUL New Orleans. Each segment is about 28 minutes long.


The view of downtown beyond the Claiborne Avenue drawbridge, from the canal side of the Industrial Canal levee breach.



Looking into the Lower Ninth Ward from the Industrial Canal, the barge which rested on top of the levee is just behind sheetpiling that was ripped open by storm surge.



The devastation in front of the Industrial Canal breach is nearly total. Little more than hulking piles of debris, upturned cars, and shredded trees remain.



At night, the only sign of life are tugboats drifting down the canal, and stray dogs.



Brandon Darby (seated) and other Common Ground volunteers, inside the house they're rehabbing not more than a couple hundred yards from the Industrial Canal breach.


More photos and podcasts can be found in these earlier PGR posts, here and here.


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.

1/21/06 update: The part 1 file is a higher bit rate, and therefore larger in size (37 MB) than intended. The problem might be fixed by editing the Indymedia submission -- waiting to hear from them. If the submission can't be edited, an additional submission will be made to Indymedia with a smaller file.

1/23/06 update: A resubmitted, smaller part 1 file can be heard in this Indymedia podcast.