Baltimore County Public Schools
Office of Secondary English Language Arts
Unit 3: Three Phase Composition
Research: Overcoming Oppression
Model Business Letter
July 17, 2013
The Honorable Mitchell J. Landrieu
Mayor of New Orleans
1300 Perdido St
2nd Floor
New Orleans, LA 70112
Re: Systemic Change Post-Katrina
Dear Mayor Landrieu,
New Orleans is an American treasure, a uniquely beloved amalgamation of culture, geography
and history. I write to you with a call to sustain that distinction against the threats of underlying
systemic oppression in your city brought to light by Hurricane Katrina. This experience has
brought to light systemic racial and economic oppression that you must address to uphold New
Orleans’ distinct cultural prestige.
Following the Hurricane’s flood waters there was a flood of volunteers and capital to help
stabilize the city’s infrastructure. Your leadership is needed to raise the levels of political will to
stabilize the underlying social and economic waters. The devastation to the Lower 9th Ward
highlighted the inequity of its majority African-American, impoverished residents. These were
the harrowing faces of desperation adorning magazine pages in Katrina’s wake. Today, 8 years
later, the Lower 9th remains the neediest neighborhood of the city, partially due to being the
hardest hit, but complicated by poverty and inaction from government officials. This is a moral
obligation on the part of your administration to be responsive to those of greatest need, those
who have been systematically oppressed for years prior to Katrina, those living in quiet
desperation.
My research into the experience of your citizens comes in combination with a study of the
personal accounts of oppression in Elie Weisel’s Night and Julia Alvarez’s In the Time of the
Butterflies. These texts highlight the grueling personal challenges and internal fury that develops
when one is oppressed. As Elie is haunted by the visions of flames and night that “turned [his]
dreams to ashes” I imagine the dreams of your residents, who saw their dreams washed away in
Katrina’s flood waters. Alvarez’s novel depicts the fear and fury that comes from political and
social oppression. One of her characters laments, “I'm tempted to curl up in the corner like a hurt
Baltimore County Public Schools
Office of Secondary English Language Arts
Unit 3: Three Phase Composition
Research: Overcoming Oppression
animal, whimpering, wanting to be safe.” Tonight, there are residents of your city, likely in
Lower 9th ward, who will curl hope and want to be safe in a good home in a safe neighborhood.
I know that your administration has made strides to help these residents. You have committed
$45 million toward housing projects and $65 million toward a new high school, police station
and community center. These are steps in the right direction. The issue is attracting businesses
to provide job opportunities and a navigable urban environment that does not require a car for
residents. The Lower 9th current population is a shell of its former 14,000 prior to Katrina. The
few thousand there now are spread too far for a centralized shopping or business district that
could provide jobs to residents. I urge you to develop more mixed-income duplexes and
townhomes to centralize residents. I also urge you to reinvest in job-training and workforce
development opportunities in the area.
Your city has done an excellent job putting a new face on its infrastructure, highlighted when
you hosted the Super Bowl this year. America saw a city back from the brink, but it did not see
these residents still living on the cusp of their breaking point. Mr. Mayor you have done a fine
job to this point, but it is time to recommit to finishing the work.
Sincerely,
Johnny Student
Johnny Student