sforem1
Disco's
Bitch
Registered: Feb
2003
Location: bumpkin
rouge
|
Bringing the uniformed
up to speed:
Tonight I had
my sister Jenny call me from Dallas sobbing, breaking down
into hysterics over the situation unfolding in New Orleans, in
the surrounding areas, and the nations reaction to it. Being
from Lafayette, we were both fairly unaware of New Orleans
history, but having had the occasion to date a Y’at for almost
a year, I would like to share my perspective of both an
“out-of-towner” and a “new orleanian”. Many people are
completely unaware of New Orleans extensive history, and it is
my opinion that one must know where one is coming from in
order to understand ones engagement in the world around them,
and where we are all headed. As such, I would like to present
a brief history.
In the beginning, the area know as
the French Quarter was used by the local Native American
tribes as they found it the shortest distance over dry land to
move their goods from the Mississippi to Lake Ponchatrain via
Bayou St. John, and on to the other Native American tribes on
the North Shore. The Conquistadors of Spain recognized this,
and capitalized on it. I have heard many people say that the
French Quarter should really be called the Spanish Quarter
because the architecture and overall layout of the area is
truly Spanish in origin. Then came the French, which brought
about naming the area New Orleans, and establishing French
language, and culture in the region. Couple this with the
widely accepted use of slavery, and you have rise of a culture
which is indigenous to New Orleans alone; Creole. Then came
the sale of the Louisiana Purchase to the newly forming United
States, and Manifest Destiny.
The new nation grew
exceedingly wealthy by utilizing the already existing slave
trade routes, and capitalizing on free labor. Then came the
civil war. After the defeat of the Confederacy, the phase
known as Reconstruction began, with the populace of New
Orleans and the entire state of Louisiana being forced to
accommodate “property” once treated as draft animals as human
beings, which many found unbearable. As such, you have had
racial tension brewing for decades, even centuries, to this
very day. The Capital of Louisiana was moved from New Orleans
to Baton Rouge, with much animosity from old families in New
Orleans feeling that they had the right to decide their own
destiny, despite what policies this upstart city tried to
impose on how New Orleans chose to conduct its business, which
in my opinion, has continued to this day, and is a primary
cause of the disconnect between leadership and direction in
the region.
Then, after the explosion of activity in
Louisiana and the Gulf region due to the discovery of vast oil
reserves both on land and off shore, the region regained
prominence, and enjoyed an economic revival. Then came the Oil
Bust of the mid 80’s. Oil prices were at an all-time low, and
many major oil companies, included peripheral companies,
namely, Exxon, Chevron, Conoco-Phillips, Schlumberger, just to
name a few, relocated their operations to the Houston area for
two reasons. Houston offers access to both the Gulf of Mexico,
and the oil fields of West Texas, where as New Orleans only
offered access to the Gulf. This delivered a huge blow to the
economy of New Orleans, and Louisiana as a whole, from which
the region still has not recovered. Hence, the continued
economic hardship of the region, and pardon me for saying so,
but the whoring out of New Orleans to the continental United
States and the world as a whole in order to attract tourist
dollars to keep the city afloat. Couple this with an
uneducated population living on the dime of the state, whose
numbers were exploding exponentially and still are, and you
have an economic disaster waiting to be unleashed.
Then came the view of the our current federal
leadership, and I am ashamed to say it, but my shared view,
that New Orleans had absolutely no contemporary relevance to
the nation. It was viewed as an adults playground, and nothing
more. Why spend money educating people, when the only jobs
they would be able to get would be in the hotel/hospitality
industries? Spend money where money is being made; hotels,
street cars, the airport, the zoo, the aquarium, just to name
a few. All of which has done nothing to improve the lives of
the citizens of Orleans Parish. The lack of funding from the
Bush administration only exasperated the situation by cutting
the funding to the levee boards for three straight years. The
Army Corp of Engineers, the same guys responsible for digging
the Intercoastal canal, and allowing a little thing called
saltwater intrusion to ravage Louisiana wetlands and barrier
islands, further weakening Louisiana’s natural defenses
against hurricanes, performed a “cost-benefit” analysis of the
levee infrastructure, and decided that reinforcing the levees
of New Orleans was too costly, given the probabilistic
analysis of a direct hit on the area. The Army Corp of
Engineers makes me ashamed to say that I myself an am
engineer.
Well, the .5% change that the area would
suffer a direct hit from a severe tropical cyclone came to
pass on August 29, 2005. Not only did the inadequate
reinforcements on the levee give way, but a powder keg of
issues that have been stirring in the city that was considered
the Northern-most point on the Caribbean erupted. Look at the
language being used by the media to describe the people
leaving New Orleans. They are calling them refugees. How are
you a refugee in your own damn country? They are evacuees.
Calling them refugees is a Freudian-slip, illustrating that
the white power base in American still considers black people
foreigners, or at the very least, second class citizens.
Then came the paltry response to this unraveling
travesty. And how kind of President Bush to point out that the
response is “unacceptable”, when it is also his response to
the situation which is unacceptable. I’m not giving Gov.
Blanco a carte-blanche to relieve her of culpability in this
situation, but what people have to understand is that Baton
Rouge lost power for nearly 24 hours because of Hurricane
Katrina. There are still parts on Baton Rouge without power
today. This severely hampered the ability of the authorities
to orchestrate a response to a city that has been viewed as
little more than a major tourist attraction to the majority of
people in this country. A communications disruption of
unprecedented scale has led to chaos among those responsible
for bringing order to region. Couple this with a total loss of
activity in the nations second largest port, a loss of 25% of
the nations crude production, and 7% of its refining capacity,
and you have a double fuck economically. Not only does the
disaster require money, but that infrastructure which provides
you with money is gone. And remember that Louisiana is not
Washington, Oregon, California, Texas, or New York; all
economic powerhouses. It is the third poorest state in the
Union.
Now the struggle between the New Orleans power
structure, and the state structure has began to unfold, with
no clear direct leadership. The FEMA director has stated many
times that FEMA is there to make available to the local and
state governments what ever resources are necessary… upon
request. Mayor Nagin is trying to call for certain resources;
Governor Blanco is calling for different resources, giving
rise to a breakdown of leadership and direction on what should
be a concerted effort to help those people trapped in the
city, illustrating a centuries old struggle between the
authority seated in Baton Rouge, and the willfulness of New
Orleans.
I am now 25, but have been partying in New
Orleans since I was 16. Even under the best of situations, New
Orleans is a logistical nightmare. This has given rise to
severe delays in evacuations, deliveries of emergency
supplies, and to a populace that is living day to day by the
hand outs of the state; it only exasperates the dire straights
in which they find themselves. I know that many people are
shooting at rescue workers. I know that many women are getting
rapped. I am not excusing, condoning, or qualifying any of
these actions. But what gets the attention of the media more;
an old woman dying in the sweltering Louisiana sun, or a
stolen television? A baby slowly dying of starvation, or a
building on fire?
And so in moving forward, there are
one of two things that are going to happen. Either the money
will, or it will not. Just because the 10.5 billion in
recovery aid has passed does not mean that the further 90
billion needed to rebuild the area will. Let no one be unclear
about that. We will get those people out. But what then? I
liken this situation to squeezing a spiders’ nest, and the
baby spiders are spreading by the hundreds of thousands. The
population of Baton Rouge alone has gone from 350, 000 to
almost a million over night. It is now the seat of East Baton
Rouge Parish, Jefferson Parish, Orleans Parish governments,
the state of Louisiana, and Federal government agencies
responding to this situation. Every Red Cross shelter in a
five hour driving radius around New Orleans is brimming to
capacity, and there are more still coming.
IP:
68.11.199.183 |
09-03-2005 02:30
PM
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