New Orleans Worries About Its Future

Today I am reading the news when I run across this story released today from the AP.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Clarence Rodriguez has ripped up the water-buckled floor tiles and is hard at work scraping mold off the walls of his home in the mostly black and impoverished Ninth Ward. But as for his neighbors, many have gathered up their belongings and left, with no intention of returning ... and that worries Rodriguez and others.

They worry that many poor, black residents of this hurricane-ravaged city simply cannot afford to come back. They worry, too, that the politicians, urban planners and developers responsible for the rebuilding of New Orleans will neglect to leave room for the poor in their master plan.
Worse, they fear civic leaders will see the disaster as a glorious opportunity to try to engineer poverty out of the city altogether.

Since Katrina, we have all heard the speeches of three prominent Louisiana politicians, the blaming and the maladaptive coping mechanisms of those doing the blaming, not withstanding. Mayor Nagin, Governor Blanco, and Sen. Landrieu have all had their moment in the limelight. All have had their chance to perform and play to the cameras.

The fact is, all three of these people will probably lose their jobs next election, unless miracles take place and real soon. But the AP report I linked to does not sound very optimistic about that happening. Is it because the city will lose its poor blacks?

The power base that these three politicians are supported by, are gone. They are living elsewhere and many may never be back. They will not have a poor black constituency to keep separate and to keep down, so they can win elections, by telling them how they will fight for their rights and well-being (at whatever level that fight is "supposed" to be taking place). Those that were kept dependent, were in fact dependent. And today, they are still dependent, but they dependent somewhere else. Many of these people that are gone, will like the communities they are currently living in, and will attach themselves to them.

And can you blame them? The people that claimed that they would take care of them (while they sit on their asses drawing a government check, in exchange for their vote), didn't. They let them all down, again.

And what about the working people? The people that didn't sit and wait for the check to arrive?

When all seems to be steadily crawling towards some kind of recovery, then comes the news of the three policemen beating the 64 year-old retired teacher, they claim was drunk and resisting arrest. And if that wasn't enough, we see one policeman threatening an AP TV producer, for recording the incident, on the very same tape.

I realize that not all police officers are thugs. Many are fine dedicated Americans that I can depend on to put their lives on the line, each and everyday. Not only that, I realize that these officers have been working under horrific conditions, under some unique and harsh circumstances. But from what I have been able to gather, and what I have read, seen, and heard, I believe that these officer were in the wrong and deserve to be prosecuted. And if they are found guilty, they should be punished.

So, if I am one of those hard-working individuals that actually did contribute something to the New Orleans community before the disaster, why would I want to come back to an area that was riddled with corruption before and clearly still has it, after? Why would I want to help rebuild another cesspool? Why would I want to come back and risk being roughed up by New Orleans cops "under stress"?

To rid your garden of weeds, you need to pull them up by the roots.

It will take new leadership and a new vision for the rebuilding of New Orleans. The old politicians need to go, reform in every agency is going to be necessary to attract people back. If it doesn't change, I don't see New Orleans ever being anything of any value, ever again.