[altroots] Re: Jose Torres Tama and the Latino experience of Katrina on NPR's "La tino USA" news journal

Dear national arts community and New Orlenians in exile, 
Ass you may well be aware, there has been very little mention in the national 
press about the Latino community of New Orleans and how they fared in the wake 
of Katrina?s fury and the social chaos. Most of you may know that the New 
Orleans suburb of Kenner has been home to the biggest concentrations of Latinos 
of Honduran descent. This community dates back to the days of the United Fruit 
Company, and its numbers near the two-hundred thousand mark.
The news radio journal program called "Latino USA" is a syndicated NPR show 
that is heard on about 190 stations across the country. Last week they 
dedicated most of their half-hour program to offer a Latino perspective on the 
effects of Katrina. Myself and Nicolas Castellanos, who happens to live around 
the corner from me in the Marigny, were interviewed by the premiere Latina 
journalist in the county Maria Hinojosa on what we experienced while being 
sequestered in the city after Katrina. In addition, they feature an interview 
with the Honduran Ambassador on the plight of many Hondurans and their human 
losses as Kenner was flooded badly after the storm.
You can go to www.latinousa.org and hear the program on line 
or look to see if your local PR station carries it.
I will be writing more about the fact that the New Orleans Latino community has 
been invisible in the news coverage of Katrina even while this community has 
grown quite a bit over the last decade in numbers while representing a diverse 
Latino Diaspora. Latinos in New Orleans are as diverse a group as can be found 
in many cities across the U.S., and they include Mexicans, Cubans, Puerto 
Ricans, Dominicans, El Salvadorians, Costa Ricans, Guatemalans, Nicaraguans, 
Hondurans, Ecuadorians and a recent influx of Colombians who all call this 
northern most point of the Caribbean su casa. 
Gracias,
Jose Torres Tama
Latinousa.org program #846 broadcast from Sept. 9-15, 2005 
Maria Hinojosa shares how the destruction left by Hurricane Katrina sparked 
memories of September 11th. 
Maria Hinojosa speaks with Hurricane Katrina Survivors and New Orleans 
residents Nicolas Castellanos and Jose Torres Tama. 
Maria Hinojosa speaks with Honduran Ambassador Norman Garcia on the status of 
Honduran survivors in Louisiana.

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