If you have ever seen the beauty of the former New Orleans or its Creole people; listened to celestial jazz at night; eaten Creole gumbo, then you know for these reasons alone New Orleans will be worth its restoration.
Despite his re-election Ray Nagin’s statement about not caring whether or not Bush mentioned Katrina in his speech made no sense. Luckily others who are not the mayor of New Orleans do care. I don’t think he really meant what he said, but he said it. And, like some of his comments before, he shouldn’t have said it. But I am outraged that Bush did not mention it. Why? Because it is worthy, despite its enormous political and generational-poverty issues.
I was writing a book at the time Katrina hit. I included many of my memories of that city and my family. A place where I spent two years of infancy, and later lived there for two years as an adult. My middle-class paternal family were generations in Chicago (where I was born and raised). By sharp contrast, my maternal family, was generations in New Orleans. They were originally from the now-infamous 9th ward. They built a small home there, with luscious fruit trees in the backyard. There were fourteen family members inhabiting the small interior. Despite these humble roots, (we tended trees rather than goats) they helped to elect the first black mayor of New Orleans. There have been no white mayors of New Orleans since. My family has continued to play an active role in NOLA’s grassroots political scene.
So, when Katrina hit, we lost many homes and treasured items. Family members helped others stranded by the flood after taking their own families to safety. They worked by boat and truck to bring dozens of poor people to higher ground. We did not loose any family members. We have not lost our memories of generations spent there. The area I once lived in, near Dillard University, is just gone with the wind. Post-Katrina federal allocations in the billions were put on the table within weeks of this destruction. The logistical mistakes made by Nagin and FEMA were also laid bare.
Article comments
1 - Rob
I am so sick of hearing about N.O. No where in the constitution does it say anything about the federal government having to re-build a city destroyed by a hurricane. We (the rest of America)sent money by the truck load to N.O. after Katrina.My 7 year old's school held drive after drive to raise money,clothes,toys and food to send to N.O.How can you not have the money you need? Forget re-building, put a monument up and move to Texas.
2 - Heloise
Well of course you are.
Obama made a good comparison between Chicago (my birthplace) and New Orleans (my other hometown): the Chicago fire destroyed a ragged city. The people rebuilt that city, not the government.
Why the government in Katrina's case: Because the proper levees were never built in the first place. That is the job of the government to protect. They were not protected in the first place. The land was also abused and the wetlands destroyed.
THe Chicago fire was not a parallel case, yet people helped to rebuild it. I did move to Texas. But New Orleans will be rebuilt.
Heloise
3 - Rob
But Heloise everyone has known for 30 years that a cat 4 or greater storm could break the levees, yet no one, feds, state or city did anything to fix the problem.I don't mean to sound harsh but after a year and a half the people of N.O. need to make some hard decisions. When hurricane Ivan came through North Carolina we had a culvert collapse and the only road out of our cove was gone. No one here cried for help. Had we waited for our joke of a state government to fix it we would have all died back here. Instead we all banded together the resources we had and had the road fixed in less than 6 hours.The people of New Orleans must do the same. If the city is to be re-built it must be done by those that wish to live there.I wish you luck,and hope you understand my position that my tax money should not be used to re-build a city I may never visit again.However my charity and hope was sent almost two years ago.
Rob
4 - Matthew
The city is being rebuilt by the people who wish to live here, the problem is government on all levels keep getting in the way. FEMA tells the city that they are going to have the police stations rebuilt by a certain date, and that date comes and nothing is done. People go into the schools to help clean them up and the school board sends the police out to arrest the people for breaking into the schools.
What we need is for our government both state and federal to cut out the red tape and get things moving. Everyone is so worried about fraud that things just get held up forever.
People are rebuilding there homes, it is just happening one home at a time. New Orleans is back and will be better than ever, but it will take some time. You can see progress being made everyday.
5 - Heloise
But answer this? Is not the city, state and feds responsible for public safety and city safety?
Must everyone be an activist before they get results?
This sounds like a case of blaming the people. But it may be warranted, not saying it isn't.
I am in a good mood today. Why? Because Texas just sent me a letter to lease the gas under my property. That's why I like Texas. I agree people should move here. Just not illegals.
More later
Heloise
6 - Heloise
Matthew,
Thanks for sharing your experience. My aunt is talking about going there. Why? Well, just before Katrina hit, her daughter bought the house from her. No one was living there at the time of the storm.
Then guess what? Because NO ONe was living there, they are getting ZERO dollars...nothing, nada, zip. That's the kind of stuff that's going on there. The house was livable before the storm. It was near the beach so it was gone completely.
Heloise