You people in Uptown and wherever you are
Now, I think Nagin’s speech on Monday was just as crazy as anyone else. The transcript revealed even more cockamamie stuff then the soundbites on CNN, most notably Nagin’s ability to somehow communicate with the deceased Martin Luther King. It was just plain embarrassing. However, one of the lines that most people take issue with, the “I don’t care what people are saying Uptown,” that one kinda made me smile. It was met with shock from many uptown residents, recoiling at the notion that they might somehow be considered as oppressors.
But having lived uptown since Katrina, there is no doubt to me that there is a thinly veiled sense of racism that’s readily evident in the uptown area. Admittedly, Nagin’s speech was completely and unnecessarily divisive, but there needs to be more discussion about this. From the blatant “THANKS HOUSTON” bumper stickers to the passing “It’s so nice to be able to walk alone at night now that that element is gone” comments and the soaring apartment prices, there is no doubt that uptown has changed. That’s not to say that there is some massive underground conspiracy to keep blacks out, but there is no doubt in my mind that a newfound sense of entitlement and purpose exists in the minds of much of the uptown bourgeoisies to preserve this area as a playground for white collar professionals and other “respectable” folk.
This is nothing new. It was going on before the hurricane hit, but now it’s in overdrive. Naturally, people want crime free neighborhoods and clean streets so their property values can stay healthy, but this sense of entitlement, this sense of triumph is sickening. If you’re so tolerant and pro-rebuilding, why don’t you want FEMA trailer parks in your neighborhoods? And to tell anyone “we don’t want you back” whether they were drug dealers, murderers, people living in projects, or working homeowners in the 9th ward, is just an awful, shitty thing to say. What makes this city yours any more than it was theirs? What gives you the right to say something like that? It almost makes me wish the crime was back just to keep your Lexus driving, Magazine Street clogging asses in check. Statements like “we don’t want you back” are what’s spurring Nagin to make speeches like this, and if the people who are back now don’t have a little more tolerance and respect for those who aren’t able to come back just yet, it’s going to come around and bite you on the ass one day. Change starts at the top, folks, not at the bottom. You’re not going to eliminate crime and poverty by keeping the criminals and the poor at bay.
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OMFG Chris thank you…… thank you…… lets see if this post gets as many responses as the others. Lets keep crime out but not people….
I don’t disagree with you completely, but on a few points I do disagree.
I agree that the uptown area has changed and not for the better. I’ve started referring to it as the ‘uptown pretension’. I don’t have any numbers to suport the following claim but I think it has to do with the influx of lakeviewers. It’s just a gut feeling. The pretension may come from the feeling of being victimized and categorized with people they’d felt superior to. Statments like the affluent lakeview and the impoverished lower 9th ward were devastated by flooding due to levee breaches. We’ve all heard variations on this.
Enough of that, here’s where I disagree. As I’ve come to understand it, it seems that a city, tribe society, etc can only sustain a certain amount of crime, drug abuse, violence, etc. In other words, any group of people can only handle so much dead weight before it gets pulled under. Pre K New Orleans was supporting too much dead weight which is evident by the homelessness, crackheads, junkies, murders, etc. I think we would all somewhat agree that there was too much of that stuff going on for a city our size. But we all got along (except the half a dozen or so people murdered each week).
But now the city is weak and broke and socially unstable at best. So anyone coming back to New Orleans has to have a few things in order to not be a burden to the weakened city. For example, you should be coming back with the intention of getting or retaining a job. I think this is a must since if you aren’t going to work (voluneering counts - don’t jump my nuts). Secondly, you should be able to get by financially without criminal behavior (this doesn’t mean you have to have a certain amount of money - what it does mean is don’t come back to sit at the corner asking for money).
The first thing will help the city recover. The second thing will keep you from being a burden to the already strained resources of the city. But beyond that, if you’re coming back ot New Orleans to be a junkie and contribute nothing. If you were leeching the system before and you’re returning to continue leeching the system then I think more than a right to say ‘we don’t want you back’, we have an obligation to say ‘we don’t want you back’.
Too many people on both sides want to make it a race thing. It’s like neither side wants to be lumped in with the other and race is the only decernable difference either can find. The only differences that interest me are the differences in those that contribute something to society and those who decidedly or situationally do not. If too many of the leechers come back before the contributors then why would the contributors come back? I fear that’s what’s happening now. Crime almost seems to be making more of a comeback than the city itself.
word.
thanks for this. i couldn’t agree with you more.
I think I am mis-understanding Chris. How is it shitty to tell a murderer or a drug dealer that we don’t want you back?
Everyone - black, white asian whatever shouldn’t want drug dealers and murderers back no matter what skin tone they may have.
I was appalled by Nagin’s speech, but I’m equally shocked by the virulent reaction. People are accusing Nagin of racism. White folks around the country are saying they don’t feel welcome in New Orleans now. That’s absurd. He clearly was trying to reassure our displaced black citizenry that they are welcome to return. Poorly executed, but his heart’s in the right place.
I didn’t vote for Nagin six years ago, and I won’t vote for him in April. I’m not a fan. But even I can see what he meant.
I believe this rush to characterize Nagin as a racist is itself a racist reaction.
It’s intersting to note that, right now, there is no racial majority in Orleans Parish.
Am I completely out of it, but aren’t the “Thanks Houston” bumper stickers just reflective of the gratitude that particular driver feels for the city’s generosity during the evacuation. Houston was (and still is) a center for New Orleans ex-pats. I didn’t know those bumper stickers were tainted with racial meanings as well…shucks.
I may be completely out of it, but aren’t the “Thanks Houston” bumper stickers just reflective of the gratitude that particular driver feels for the city’s generosity during the evacuation? Houston was (and still is) a center for New Orleans ex-pats. I didn’t know those bumper stickers were tainted with racial meanings as well…shucks.
Chris - that was really thought-provoking post. In Memphis, there are regulars who stand at the high-traffic from the white flight burbs corners asking for money - of all ethnicites, BTW. I’m generous to a fault and am generally a soft touch. But I have to admit, it is much easier to give to the guy who washes my windshield than the guy who fakes a limp until he thinks he’s out of sight and then sprints to the next corner. My children ask “why did/did not you give money to him?” - it’s hard to answer when I’m going on gut instinct to determine if I’m genuinely helping or enabling a crack habit. I think most, but not all, crime is a product of the socio-economic environment. If those underlying issues are not addressed for the long term, then the cycle will continue to repeat itself. Additionally, an underclass is a necessary component of our capitalist society. If the previous underclass does not return to N.O., a new one will develop to replace it. That’s a fact - the color of its skin is irrelevant.
Memphis is also high crime - I want to whack some of our neighbors in ‘burbia that make comments I’m sure parrallel those purported to be common in Uptown these days. But, I also agree with Jack on several levels - no one wants, nor should be expected, to encourage criminal behavior in their city. Rachel Maddow on Air America had a great analysis of the false arguments concerning race in America on today’s show - most people are not willing to address the ISSUE of racism; they only want to condem its invocation i.e it’s not bad to be racist per se- it’s only bad to accuse someone of being one. Look at the reaction to Hillary Clinton’s statement- no one denies that the House is run in a repressive, good ole’ boy fashion. She was “out of bounds” for saying it was.
Anyway - I’m starting to blather. :-}
A.
What Nagin said was racially biased. There is no way around it. He was preachifying at the podium and getting caught up in black unity, then it snowballed into an asinine comment. The people we need to return are the workers. Those that contribute to the tax base. Criminals and welfare beneficiaries don’t help the city. The FACT of the matter is that NOLA lost many, many of those people. It’s not racist to point that out either. Facts are not racist. Also, what if Jay Batt or another white politico had said anything about a “chocolate city” before Nagin used the term? Jesse Jackson would have been on the next plane down here, that’s for sure.
Sorry Chris, but not wanting drug dealers, murderers, and crackheads to come back is not automatically racist. Why should I, hardworking & tax-paying, want scum living off of law-abiding citizens? You have to admit, Chris, that the crime Pre-K was out of control. We now have a chance to clean up the city and make it safe for everyone. I’m not too crushed that a certain segment of the population cannot come back, be they white-skinned, brown-skinned, purple-skinned or rainbow-skinned.
I am a N.O. resident now relocated in Texas outside of Houston. I have two points to comment on: the generously of Houston and the Black Population feeling alienated from New Orleans. First Houston did do a great job of taking our residents in. But now our residents are being blamed for the crime in Houston and are basically being told to go home. I live near Houston and I see the news daily. And it’s not what it’s being made to seem. Some N.O. residents have been killed by carjackers and some have been made homeless again by alot unexplained fires. I’m not saying our criminal element hasn’t found it’s way here. But this seems like the criminal Houstonian population has found out about the Fema checks. I know we had alot of murders in N.O. but what’s going on here has been lots of fires, robberies and kidnappings. Someone forgot to tell Houston they had a high crime rate before we got here. And as for the feelings of not being wanted back in N.O. I have to tell you, when we hear how much it cost to rent an apartment/house or see how little progress has been made to clean up the poorer sections of the city, it speaks volumes. The poor did contribute to society not just the rich. Just because you may have had a hard life and you need help purchasing groceries or paying bills, that doesn’t make you a leech on society. I think that statement was asinine.
An overall theme here seems to be that the suggestion by uptown residents that it is nice to have “that element” gone and be able to walk around at night safely … is a racist statement. Why is the desire to be safe in one’s own surroundings racist?
Fact is “that element” is responsible for the lack of safety all over the city. “That element” causes fear and a desire for basic self preservation. In New Orleans, fact is, historically, “that element” has been predominantly African-American given the make-up of the residents in the city… but “That element” is not, and never has been, considered ONLY African-American. Asians, African-Americans, Hispanics and (Yes) caucasion’s all belong in the make-up of “That element”.
Your assumption is that uptown wants the black community gone. Uptown New Orleans wants to be safe. Uptown New Orleans wants their children to be able to ride their bikes and walk to a friend’s house without fear of being jumped or harrassed by thugs, drug addicts and sexual offenders.
Uptown New Orleans takes a hard rap. Your assumptions are stereotypical, but incorrect.
We don’t want FEMA trailers in Audubon park or any other public park in our area because these are the few places we can bring our children for recreation. Also, as is proven with the FEMA hotel situation, those trailers won’t be gone in 18 months. Our fear is that they will house those residents who are not returning to work… but are returning for more of the FEMA dole. If you can guarantee that those in the FEMA trailers in our parks are working citizens… then residents of uptown would welcome them.
Check out what this guy wrote about it:
http://mcbourniescolumn.blogspot.com/
So after we rule out people with drug problems and people who break other laws and people who get government assistance and those pesky Lakeviewers, who we got left? All you wonderful, law abiding, squeaky clean, homogenized Uptowners? Ya’ll going to have to get your hands dirty if you want to improve the crime problem. It ain’t just about being against crime. You have to actually do something in your community. There’s more to it than having a good job and spending a bunch of disposable income at local bars and restaurants You will not run off “the element.” Wait and see.
I’m saying just because you had the money and the luck to be able to come back, does that mean you’ve inherited this city? Does it mean you’re entitled to vocalize who can and can’t come back? If so then you’re a pompous, self-righteous fuck.
None of us want the crime to return, but crime and criminals are a byproduct of desperation and a lack of opportunity, and until you create opportunity, there will always be crime. Telling drug dealers and murderers “we don’t want you back” is about as effective as me telling a bunch of doctors and lawyers that I don’t want them back. If the right circumstances are in place, crime is going to come back. As a city we need to change those circumstances rather than just trying to prevent “that element” from returning.
If this whole thing has taught us anything it should be that you can’t sit in your ivory tower and ignore a city’s problems. But it seems the prevailing attitude of the people who are back is just to build the ivory tower higher and with thicker walls.
Again, you have stereotyped me and are incorrect. I am not sitting in a white tower at home judging who can and cannot come back. I am a mother of two who’s home did not flood, but was damaged due to a hole in the roof. I have relocated to another city with my children until my home is fixed. I am separated from my husband who returned home for work. And I have lost my job in New Orleans since the storm.
My 72 year old mother lost everything in the flood and my brother lost 1/2 of everything.
You criticize me for wanting more for my children?
Crime in uptown was bad enough before the storm. What I seek is to find a way to improve the previous situation… not set ourselves up for a worse situation.
Quick question for you “searching”. If you have “wanted more for your children” why did you live in New Orleans in the first place? You always had the option to make a better life for your children prior to Katrina. Like I said in another post, If you chose to live in chocoville prek then why are you bitching about possibly having to live in chocoville again? If you dont like it why not just tell your husband to meet you where you are and you can build your ideal suburbian lifestyle there? Its a city, cities are diverse, get over it already.
I DON’T UNDERSTAND THE RACISM……..
I’ll start off by saying I’m white and I don’t appreciate the stuck up racist people of New Orleans. New Orleans wouldn’t be the same without its african american people. You might say “no it’d be better”, but if you want the population to be mostly white, go somewhere else. There are tons of cities in the United States that have a population made up of mainly white people. New Orleans is known for it’s african american culture.. from jazz to blues, from uptown to downtown. We should welcome back our fellow New Orleanians no matter what. I don’t care what race or sex they are. They all have just as much of a right to come back to the city.
What does racism do for any of us? All it does is hold us back. We are all people, and we are all American’s and even more importantly we are all LOCALS. I’m 24 years old and I grew up in a mixed city, and thats what I want to go back to. If I wanted to live in a white city I’d move somewhere else. If I wanted to live in a different culture I’d move somewhere else. New Orleans would be completely different culture wise without it’s african american citizens. Why would you want a different city? Why try to make it different? Why not just move somewhere else where it is already what you want if you want that.
I’ll take some of the heat off of “searching” and stick my neck out here. I think a good many of you are being pompous asses. Let’s look at this word crime. People who commit crimes break the law. Now how many people on this blog bitched about curfew and ignored it? drinking and driving? Don’t you see, it doesn’t matter how you break the law, it’s if you break the law. It’s not right to play God and decide what laws can be broken or who can break them. How do you let some crime in and not other crimes? Who is deciding? Couldn’t everyone have just gone three months being considerate and obeying the law? This then makes it harder for those people who commit more atrocious crimes to return. I love this City, I miss it, I was so happy..my whole life had just fallen together and clicked right before Katrina. Maybe in time it will again but I’ve had to give up so much. And you people are there and can really do something but it really does start with yourself and emmanate(is that a word?) outwards. We did this with the Lake and we did this in my neighborhood…one block, one piece of trash, one crabtrap at a time ….and we were all colors and all races. A crime element like a storm seems to take the path of least resistance. So maybe just maybe a little bit of the “easy” in the big easy may have to be sacrificed for awhile in order to bring the City back without a huge crime element. Y’know at least “searching” stayed and is writing. Her husband is in the City working. These people are needed, too. And yes, from what has been told to me by friends, some of them are pretty obnoxious.
How is it shitty to tell a murderer or a drug dealer that we don’t want you back?
How do you tell a murderer or a drug dealer just by looking at them? Yes, there is a chance that if the Lower Ninth is rebuilt, a lot of its people will move back, and the criminal element with it. But, underlying this, I don’t like conflating black with criminal.
Also, when you have a majority black city, a lots of its crime will be perpetrated by black people. Same with a white, brown, purple or polka-dotted city.
African-American. Asians, African-Americans, Hispanics and (Yes) caucasion’s all belong in the make-up of “That element”
And a lot of people in that economic demographic were also the janitors and sweepers of our city. Do you want to clean the toilets in my building downtown? Every society needs a stable base before it topples.
I’m more worried about getting the levies fixed right like in Holland so this historic city can be saved PERMANENTLY. This next year’s hurricane season has the potential to wipe out EVERYBODY - black AND white, poor AND rich, criminal AND law-abiding citizen. THAT will be a tragedy that far surpasses even Katrina and Rita. My family’s been in town since the 1700s and, having been a public high school history teacher, I ADORE EVERYONE who was there before this mess, including the probable 5000 or more DEAD. Quit the bitchin’ and help EVERYONE get back to SOME normality!
All my love and prayers for EVERYBODY AND the city, buildings, elan, music, food, and spirit,
A sad and anxious old disabled person from Cincinnati
“Thanks Houston” bumper stickers were made by McDermott for their employees to show their gratitude to the City of Houston for taking them in during their time of need. Next time find out where those stickers came from and why they were made instead of jumping on some BS racist diatribe.
“there is a chance that if the Lower Ninth is rebuilt, a lot of its people will move back, and the criminal element with it.”
Ya’ll don’t get out much if you think the Lower 9th is the only place where the criminal element could come back, or previously existed, or the only place that is now without its population base.
As far as I can tell african-americans are living in uptown just as they were prior to katrina. Take a right or left off magazine and check it out. I live just off jefferson and my black neighbors are back. I doubt if there is a white neighborhood uptown that is not within 5 or 6 blocks of a viable, or soon to be viable, black neighborhood. Uptown never was and never will be an exclusive ‘playground’ for whites. It has always been a patchwork of white and black neighborhoods, as well as a few mixed neighborhoods. That has never been a problem to white or black uptowners.
I have met no white uptowner with a sense of ‘triumph’…How can anyone in this situation feel triumphant?
Sure people feel safer. There is very little crime! We should want more crime?
There are Fema trailers up and down my street. Along side, in front and behind houses that are being repaired. No one is objecting to that. Trailers in parks and playgrounds? Yes I object to that when there are acres of vacant land that could easily be improved for higher density trailer ‘villages’.
As to murderers, I’ll say emphatically…I don’t want them back. If you believe they have a right to return, please invite them to your neighborhood.
Wow,
I’ve read this comment and have drawn the conclusion that the author is obviously a “Have Not”. When you are a “Have Not” it is not uncommon to be angy with the “Haves” of society. Unforntunately for the author, it is the “Haves” that provide everything for the “Have Nots”. They provide the jobs, the products and the taxes that are eventualy given over by the government to the “Have Nots”. The Uptown “Haves” have every right to not want the “Have Nots” back in their enviroment because that “Have Nots” have a bad habbit of always trying to take, usually by force, from the “Haves”. The downfall of New Orleans came long before huricane Katrina, it came in the form of large scale government subsidy and social programs. The government started giving the “Have Nots” almost everything they needed, and wanted, by simply taking it from the “Haves”. This is an age old practice of vote buying. Now that the majority of the “Have Nots” have found a drier spot on the dog to start sucking the life out of, the “Haves” don’t want them back. Those that view this as a bad thing must be on the recieving end of this line of thinking. For the city to begin growing once again it cannot afford to start handing out money to those that are unwilling to earn it themselves, the city must concentrate its efforts on rebuilding. The “Have Nots” have no interest in rebuilding, just regaining their status as freeloaders in a city rapped by crime and violence.
Earl… Take your “Haves” move to an island, Build a wall, and fuck off…
How is it racist to not want a crazy crime rate? Last summer, in plain sight, someone got shot in the face 2 doors down from where my friend and I were sitting on her porch, and that same week the shop across from mine got held up at gunpoint @ noon w/ 6 customers in it. Do you remember last summer with weekend murder totals at 15 and 16 every week. That is no way to live, and to make a flip comment about wanting crime back to keep traffic down, and Lexuses in check is stupid. I’m not going to feel guilty that I do feel safer, and it’s a nice feeling. In some ways who moves back is not as important, as how the city, and officials deal with those people. The reason New Orleans crime problem was so horrendous isn’t because they bussed in full blown crack-heads, and murderers and dropped them here. It’s because New Orleans has been set up perfectly to grow and foster those kinds of problems. Think schools, the job market, wages, corruption, poor infrastructure… These are the things that need to change in order to keep crime in check. New Orleans needs to get their shit together. Anyway…
Ok, this will smack of self-promotion, but please read my last post here: http://wetbankguide.blogspot.com. Then come yell and it and tell me I’m a delusional Kumbaya dweeb (as a few folks of my acquiantance have privately).
But this comment thread sure seems to go right to my point. “Can’t we all just get along” (minus, of course, the real criminal element, not the easy, color-coded one the Gretna Police Chief sees.
i don’t think it’s about picking out individuals and telling them they can’t come back. that’s against the law itself and is highly unconstitutional. i think it’s more about an attitude of not letting crime return to where it was, about communities standing up and letting go of their fear. i don’t think there’s anything wrong with this in any way. uptown is getting a lot of shit, but uptown is the first to say it because they’re the first ones to return. i would hope that every neighborhood, uptown, pidgeontown, girtown, or bucktown, will take the same stand. crime, as a social issue, is a result of economic factors, but this has little to do with crime as it occurs. that is the choice of individuals. the fact is that we have to address both, the cause (economic factors) and the results (actual crimes and criminals). by communities expressing their intolerance for crime and criminals in general, they are showing criminals that they are not wanted; but this can only be a beginning, but it’s a good beginning — no community should have to live in fear of crime and by standing up to it, they break the spell that criminals feed off of and that emboldens them to commit the crimes they do. (example, the widespread reports of a pre-k n.o. where whole neighborhoods were living in fear of being criminal witnesses b/c they were afraid they’d get killed). at the same time, this isn’t enough; we need to have better schools, more and better jobs, better housing, and better social programs. otherwise, more criminals will be made. we ignore either at our own peril.
unfortunately, like much else in the south, this is all gets mixed up with race. it’s impossible to talk about crime without talking about race, just like it’s impossible to talk about politics without race getting involved. we should be honest and acknowledge this. by using guilty euphemisms, we only conflate the issue. we can’t let racists out there win out by equating “african-american” with “criminal.”
If all these comments are any indication, it is clear that New Orleans has a serious race relations issue. It needs to be addressed.
And that, JW, was my point. That’s the first step to doing something about the root causes of crime.
In the words of the late Tupac Shakur…
Take the evil out of the people, they’ll be acting right/’Cause BOTH Black and White will be smoking crack tonight…
It’s not so much a race issue….it’s also talking about “do we want want those homeless, white crackheads, drunks, and other “trailer park trash types”(who are ALSO a big thorn in the side of New Orleans as well..do your reasearch) to come back to New Orleans???
My apologies…I forgot to put “as well” at the end of my statement…
So here it is again…
In the words of the late Tupac Shakur…
Take the evil out of the people, they’ll be acting right/’Cause BOTH Black and White will be smoking crack tonight…
It’s not so much a race issue….it’s also talking about “do we want want those homeless, white crackheads, drunks, and other “trailer park trash types”(who are ALSO a big thorn in the side of New Orleans as well..do your reasearch) to come back to New Orleans as well???
….again, sorry bout that…
The “Thanks Houston” bumper stickers are not racist. They are intended to thank Houstonians for the hospitality they showed to displaced New Orleans who lived there during the evacuation. The bumper stickers have nothing to do with race or crime and do not send that message.
Uptown has always been racist. As a African American woman, I am frequently on Magazine Street shopping, doing errands etc. and I can count sooo many times I’ve been given funny looks in the antique shops and clothing stores, and specifically the furniture store across the street from Pippen. Snotty, Awful service. Elitist racist Whites live Uptown and that’s the way it’s always been. They can’t fathom that an African American would have the same amount money, education, home, cars as them. Get with it people. You don’t live in a bubble. You don’t own New Orleans. Blacks live here, too. This is our home. Deal with it and deal with your subtle and not so subtle racism.