The Rebuilt New Orleans: With Blacks or Without Blacks? 
“New Orleans was once a center of world culture, a place where people could come and see old fashioned living and experience good food. Now a trip to New Orleans will show how disaster can change the social structure in even the most powerful of nations.” Adrian Avila, Jun 14, 2006
New Orleans is located in Louisiana in the south east of the United States. It is the major port city of US and is historically called the largest and oldest city in United States. New Orleans has always had a multicultural society and is well –known for its music and special cuisine. Jazz music was born in New Orleans. Tourism is said to be an important factor in New Orleans economy. About 14 million people each year visit New Orleans. Unlikely to what many people would think, New Orleans has a high rate of homicide and is ranked among the top five cities with a high crime rate since 1980 along with Detroit, St. Louis and Atlanta. Blacks make up about two third (70%) of New Orleans population and its current mayor Ray Nigon is as well a black. New Orleans once being famous for its tourism, now is known by the Katrina Hurricanes that destructed the whole city on August 29, 2005. New Orleans population was approximately 1.4 million people prior to the Katrina Hurricane and with city limits it was 484,674 people (according to the 2000 U.S. census) and after Hurricane it estimated to something between 187,525 and 287,000. in january 2006, around 200,000 people were back living in their homes, a number even less than half of the population before the storm.
“New Orleans was once a center of world culture, a place where people could come and see old fashioned living and experience good food. Now a trip to New Orleans will show how disaster can change the social structure in even the most powerful of nations.” Adrian Avila, Jun 14, 2006New Orleans is located in Louisiana in the south east of the United States. It is the major port city of US and is historically called the largest and oldest city in United States. New Orleans has always had a multicultural society and is well –known for its music and special cuisine. Jazz music was born in New Orleans. Tourism is said to be an important factor in New Orleans economy. About 14 million people each year visit New Orleans. Unlikely to what many people would think, New Orleans has a high rate of homicide and is ranked among the top five cities with a high crime rate since 1980 along with Detroit, St. Louis and Atlanta. Blacks make up about two third (70%) of New Orleans population and its current mayor Ray Nigon is as well a black. New Orleans once being famous for its tourism, now is known by the Katrina Hurricanes that destructed the whole city on August 29, 2005. New Orleans population was approximately 1.4 million people prior to the Katrina Hurricane and with city limits it was 484,674 people (according to the 2000 U.S. census) and after Hurricane it estimated to something between 187,525 and 287,000. in january 2006, around 200,000 people were back living in their homes, a number even less than half of the population before the storm.
Katrina Hurricane was one of the most horrific, deadliest and costliest natural disasters even happened in the history of the United States. Although there have been late warnings, many people, around 80%, evacuated but the rest remained. Most of the attention of the authorities was to rescue people and control the violence and lootings. There was great economic loss due to the hurricane as this year’s $105 billion budget to reconstruct and repair do not compensate for the whole depth of destruction. Days after the Katrina the debate over the mismanagement and irresponsibility of local, state and federal government’s role arouse. The event generated criticism on the notion of racism that was revealed through the international press. UK Mirror quoted that “"Many things about the United States are wonderful, but it has a vile underbelly which is usually kept well out of sight. Now in New Orleans it has been exposed to the world." It is interesting that natural disaster magnified the practiced inequality in US. The New Orleans tragedy created a debate over the underlying causes of black suffering and oppression. Emergency grioups are accuesd of assisting whites in rich neighborhoods neglecting blacks in impoverished residencies. The percentage of black victims among storm-related deaths (49%) was below their proportion in the area's population (approx. 60%). It is reported that black hurricane victims in New Orleans have begun eating corpses to survive. One African American said after Bush 2006 trip to New Orleans:” I am a sixty-four year old African-American. New Orleans marks the end of the America I strove for. I am hopeless. I am sad. I am angry against my country for doing nothing when it mattered.” Among the discriminations done to the blacks in New Orleans was that FEMA’s assistance was allotted for middle- income white households and it was difficult for low-income blacks of Katrina to access the government’s assistance. SBA also refused the request of loans by black as it is said that “Well-off neighborhoods like Lakeview have received 47 percent of the loan approvals, while poverty-stricken neighborhoods have gotten 7 percent. Middle-class black neighborhoods in the eastern part of the city have lower loan rates.”
One of the issues related to the Katrina Hurricane was the cooperation of other ethnic groups mainly Latino with blacks in the reconstruction of New Orleans. Latino immigrants, legal or illegal, flowed to New Orleans to help rebuild the city forsaken by government. Although, there were sayings about the tensions between blacks and Latinos, it was a symbol of unity and many African Americans were thankful to Latinos.
What is once again striking about the New Orleans is the recent social conflict confronting New Orleans. There is traditional Sunday parading for blacks in new Orleans that is sponsored by clubs and is held every year under the control of police as it sometimes end in violence. The “second line” clubs of New Orleans say they feel threatened by new police fees and assume this increase in fee as the latest sign of conflict between old customs here and the altered social landscape left by Hurricane Katrina. The Police Department counters by saying that given the thousands of people who gather, it had no choice but to increase the number of escorting officers, to 20 from 6. “Second lines are noted for the violence of the crowd afterwards — shootings, stabbings and fights,” said John Bryson, deputy police superintendent. “There are too many people for six officers.” Some protester groups believe that the officials here attempt to exclude blacks while rebuilding New Orleans. There club owners are middle class black families who desire to come back to the city and reunite their friends all around. “The second lines have been even more important after the storm,” said Helen A. Regis, an associate professor of anthropology at Louisiana State University, who has written about the tradition. “If you go to a parade, you’ll see people exchanging phone numbers. It’s a really important way to reconnect with people.” The second- liners strongly believe their celebration will not draw criminals. “It’s a culture thing, bringing back a lot of spirit,” said Corey Woods, one of the plaintiffs challenging the fee increase. “It brings everybody together. It’s like a reunion. We get to see everybody we haven’t seen in a long time. And it’s just a lot of fun.”
What is once again striking about the New Orleans is the recent social conflict confronting New Orleans. There is traditional Sunday parading for blacks in new Orleans that is sponsored by clubs and is held every year under the control of police as it sometimes end in violence. The “second line” clubs of New Orleans say they feel threatened by new police fees and assume this increase in fee as the latest sign of conflict between old customs here and the altered social landscape left by Hurricane Katrina. The Police Department counters by saying that given the thousands of people who gather, it had no choice but to increase the number of escorting officers, to 20 from 6. “Second lines are noted for the violence of the crowd afterwards — shootings, stabbings and fights,” said John Bryson, deputy police superintendent. “There are too many people for six officers.” Some protester groups believe that the officials here attempt to exclude blacks while rebuilding New Orleans. There club owners are middle class black families who desire to come back to the city and reunite their friends all around. “The second lines have been even more important after the storm,” said Helen A. Regis, an associate professor of anthropology at Louisiana State University, who has written about the tradition. “If you go to a parade, you’ll see people exchanging phone numbers. It’s a really important way to reconnect with people.” The second- liners strongly believe their celebration will not draw criminals. “It’s a culture thing, bringing back a lot of spirit,” said Corey Woods, one of the plaintiffs challenging the fee increase. “It brings everybody together. It’s like a reunion. We get to see everybody we haven’t seen in a long time. And it’s just a lot of fun.”
After controversial talks on the US government failure to serve blacks and the US institutionalized discrimination aftermath of the storm, this new claim to ban the blacks tradition in New Orleans assumed as a way to come back to life provokes blacks once again. Now as the multi-billion dollar rebuilding effort goes on, there are accusations that whites are again getting preferential treatment. Resentment to Bush and his administration is increasing day by day Vis-a vis his pursuit of war in Iraq. There is a consensus in US that Bush is indifferent to black Americans in general. Bush's claim to export freedom to the Middle East was questioned by his inability to serve its people Middle America. Bush administration in its last two years should act more tactfully in order not to fuel the flames of the hidden angers of minorities in US.
posted by Azadeh Ghahghaei at 9:31 AM
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