Kerry Kennedy joins ACORN members in demanding equitable flood protection for New Orleans.

NEW ORLEANS – Nearly 200 ACORN members and their supporters joined hands on the morning of July 28 to form a “human levee” along the Monticello Canal and demand fair flood protection for their neighborhood. 

For residents of the predominantly working-class, African-American Carrollton-Hollygrove neighborhood, it’s an insulting double standard: the Monticello Canal’s reinforced levee and flood wall protects the statistically wealthier and whiter Jefferson Parish on one side, but officials acknowledge there are no plans to gird the vulnerable Orleans Parish side in the next five years.

That’s why ACORN organized Carrollton-Hollygrove residents, along with allies from The Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights, to send a poignant message that piecemeal flood protection will not be tolerated.

The “human levee” stretched for four city blocks along the Monticello Canal, which boasts a 12-foot flood wall on its Jefferson Parish side but virtually no flood protection at all along the Orleans Parish side.

The adjacent neighborhood often floods after simple rainstorms, and the problem is compounded because city pumping systems push more water into the area after it collects in canal drains.

“This neighborhood has always flooded during heavy rains,” said Joe Sherman, chairman of ACORN’s Carrollton-Hollygrove chapter. “Our community is left vulnerable while the state, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Sewerage and Water Board (of New Orleans) keep pointing fingers.”

Kerry Kennedy, founder of the RFK Center for Human Rights and daughter of the organization’s namesake, was on hand to support ACORN members.

“Regardless of race, income or which neighborhood you live in, we all equally share the right to life, health and security,” Kennedy said. “These residents demand their right to be respected with equitable flood protection.”