The haves and have nots in N.O.
Before Hurricane Katrina and the devastation that happened to New Orleans (N.O.) I really didn’t pay attention much to that state except when it came time to Mardi Gras because that was featured on television a lot. Then of course there were the movies about N.O. or the musicians and the movie stars who were originally from there.
I knew N.O. was a diverse state (racially) but I wasn’t aware the black population was higher than any other group, 67%, has mentioned by Citallion who gave an informative response to one of Little Whip’s blog recently. Truthfully, I never really sat and contemplated which state had what percentage of Whites, Blacks, Latinos or Asians, and of course any other ethnic group I didn’t mention. Who really sits and contemplate that? Only the people who take census surely!
In N.O., like many cities in our great country, there are the dirt poor, poor, working poor, middle class, upper middle class (and of course I could technically put the word “working” in front of both middle classes), the rich, filthy rich, the extremely wealthy and the multi-millionaires. Ok maybe I stretched that a bit too much. What I’m getting at though is that there is a vast difference between the people who have money and/or assets and those who do not.
This fact was presented to me (and the millions who watch GMA) this morning as I watched yet another broadcast about the people of New Orleans. Featured was a gentleman (whose name I won’t mention – especially since I can’t remember it, LOL!) he was still in N.O. in his home where he was still quite comfortable and had no need to worry. His home wasn’t damaged by the hurricane or subsequent flooding. He had an abundant supply of water, food and ammunition. He was one of N.O. elites. He and many like him refuse to leave and thinks that evacuating the state isn’t necessary and he wishes the government would leave him and people like him alone because they don’t need them! He said that if he catches anyone on his property (especially looters) he was not going to hesitate to protect himself. He just wants to be left alone so he could go on with his life.
The program showed others who were like him, some behind the walls of their gated communities left unaffected by the tragedy of recent events. Some have even hired armed guards to protect them and their properties. They don’t have to leave N.O. and they refuse to leave. However it was also reported that some of those people did give in when they realized that their weapons was nothing compared to those of the army rescuers.
There are still people who are waiting to be rescued and that cannot happen soon enough for them. They are amongst the thousands who don’t have the money and/or assets that their wealthy neighbors do. Regardless of why they too are still in their homes, waiting on roof tops, or in attics, they don’t have the luxury of a generator, or an abundant supply of food and water. If they did have the food and water at the beginning, they’ve obviously ran out by now.
They also interviewed people who were now safely in Texas, people who said they had always been working and supporting themselves and their families and who were now wondering how they were going to do that? They didn’t just want hand outs, they wanted a job and a place to live, a means of re-building their lives and moving on.
While the news media may have presented to the world the side of N.O. which were made up of mostly the poor, sick, old, indigent people and of course the criminals. There actually is another side to the city that most people didn’t know about or didn’t see, especially those people who live in other parts of the world.
The images they saw of our America were a terrible one. Especially the images of those blacks who chose to have a crime spree because they could without interference from the law. And as we all know they were not representative of the N.O. community or all blacks, but somehow they seem to have been. The rest of the N.O. community are law abiding, working and respectful people who just want to have some semblance of the former lives they had; perhaps for some their lives may get even better. This in some respects is their “wake up” call.
So while the city of New Orleans is at the moment in a very bad way, there is the hope of its’ citizens who love her that she will once again be a city that had it’s many sides, the good side, the historical side, the beautiful side, the party side, that kept droves of tourists from here and all over the world, coming again and again.
It will take a long time but I too hope that they will be able to re-build. My prayers are with these people and I hope there will be Mardi Gras celebration again in the years to come.