Levee Liability

I am a Trekkie, and loyally cling to all the great logic that Spock imparts in the series. In J.J. Abrams installment of the 2009 "Star Trek", Spock's homeworld is destroyed in an act of revenge from a future enemy. Minutes before Vulcan implodes on itself, Spock beams down to the planet to save the Counsel tasked with keeping the cultural history of his people.


On November 19, 2009, a federal court ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers failed to maintain a shipping channel linking New Orleans to the Gulf of Mexico, thereby allowing Hurricane Katrina to cause catastrophic flooding to the city.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said in a statement, "Although the ruling is liberating for thousands impacted by the devastation and tragedy of Hurricane Katrina, it is my hope that justice will prevail to help families make their lives whole again."

Unfortunately, not all the families in Louisiana affected by Hurricane Katrina
will have their lives made whole again, including the families of the very first settlers of an island called Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana. The islands' inhabitants are Indian, of the Biloxi-Chitimacha tribe, descendants of French and Indian settlers going back 170 years ago.



The inhabitants are being urged to move further inland because the island is doomed to slowly disappear due to hurricanes and the impact of oil drilling, logging and the Army Corps of Engineers' levee building on the Mississippi River. They, in turn, are requesting that the US Corps of Engineers include their island in its levee project to protect its inhabitants, thereby protecting its culture and history. Their island falls outside of the planned levee wall's path.


The Indian tribe currently lacks recognition as a Native American tribe. Were they to have this recognition, the United States Government would be forced to recognize their right of self-determination; including the tribes decision to relocate its people.

The government has offered to buy out the residents in the way of purchasing a tract of land and building homes for them in nearby Bourg, La. The Corps of Engineers has decided that there is only so much of South Louisiana that can be saved, and Isle de Jean Charles is not part of it.


What can be saved of the island and it's people is its cultural history. The leaders of this community must realize, as Spock did, that its identity lies with its people, not its location. In "Star Trek", of the 6 billion inhabitants of Vulcan, only 100,000 were rescued from Vulcan's fate. The Vulcan's set about finding a new home for their people to "live long and prosper".

Isle de Jean Charles' first valedictorian, William Billiot, said "God gives us life and puts the developing of our lives in our hands. Our life is whatever we make it. We ourselves develop ourselves. By our reactions to circumstances, we decide our character and our development. We take what is given to us and shape it. Life is most highly developed when educated."

I hope the residents of Isle de Jean Charles apply logic in their decision; realizing that the only way to save their heritage is to save their lives. Who they are is much more important than where they are. Otherwise, they and their culture, will be another levee liability.