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New Orleans A Town of Dreams Held Back By Race
“Every black person we speak to...many of our white friends - they fear it. Because they too realize the flavor of New Orleans is not just one type of ingredient. It's all of the different ingredients that we put into this gumbo. And if you exclude a portion of it the dish is not going to be the same.“
New Orleans… A town of fun New Orleans … A town of Fun “ That’s all many people see when they come to New Orleans but they don’t see the deeper meaning behind it all. That’s all many people see when they come to New Orleans but they don’t see the deeper meaning
The Deeper Meaning Many tourist that come to New Orleans don’t see the struggles that many African-Americans residents have to face . THE STRUGGLE OF RACE
Racism was present during the times of mercantile colonialism. Mercantilism is when all economic activities should be regulated by the state for benefit of the state. The idea of mercantile colonialism began in the 1700’s by the French. One of their first settlements was the territory of Louisiana. The French were under the illusion that they were the ones who “discovered” the land when the land was originally swamp and marshland inhabited by a collect of Indian tribes. After colonizing the marshland of Louisiana they started a process in which the French used people as property and wholly subjected them to another person. This was the process that racism is derived from. The process was SLAVERY.
The French enslaved Indian and African people. The Indians and Africans came to the realization that if they band together they would have a higher chance of attaining freedom. When the French came across this tactic called the Indian-African Alliance they formed their own tactic called divide and conquer. This was a strategy used to cease further collaboration between the two groups and to create animosity between these two races.
“Every time a black child is born in Louisiana, there’s already a bed waiting for him at Angola state prison”.-Robert Goodman, an activist for criminal justice reform
Racism did not stop there; it is still present in New Orleans centuries later. Even before hurricane Katrina it was present. For poor black children living in Louisiana the education system serves as a pipeline to prison. In 2004 $96,713 were spent on incarceration of children in detention and $4,724 were spent on educating children in Louisiana. Like Robert Goodman stated every time a black child is born in Louisiana, there’s a bed waiting for him at Angola state prison”. Back in 1999 95% of detained youth were Black. Many people thought that racism in New Orleans could get no worst, but they were pleasantly surprised when the government showed the poverty stricken areas of New Orleans how racist it could be.
It’s a hell of a coincidence that the major levee breaches were in heavily black and poor neighborhoods.”-Monique Matthews
On, August 29, 2005 one of the most catastrophic storms in American history hit New Orleans. This was a category 5 storm with winds exceeding 145 mph. This storm was nothing New Orleans has ever seen before. This storm was HURRICANE KATRINA. When Katrina was showing her cruelty to the city of New Orleans so was the government. Before Katrina everyone was aware that the storm was going to hit New Orleans in the coming days however the government did not make any form of transportation for poor and black residents who had no means of evacuating the city. Many phone calls were made by Black people who needed relief during the actual hurricane. Some of these phone calls sounded as such:
Operator: Operator, How may I help you?Caller: Yea, We are stuck in an attic because the water is rising and we need help getting to higher ground.Operator: Well there is no one in the area here to help you.Caller: We need help. We have two kids, an elderly woman and we ran out of food .We are stuck and we need help.Operator: Well there is no way we can help there is no one available.Caller: So what are we supposed to do?Operator: I don’t know.
Most of the racist actions took place during the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. An organization named Federal Emergency Management Agency also known as F.E.M.A promised to help all displaced hurricane Katrina victims (which happen to be black) with a check for $2,000.They didn’t follow through on this promise because most victims didn’t receive this check and the ones that did received them months or even years after hurricane Katrina. Post Katrina racism was present in the rebuilding of the city. Many of the poor and black neighborhoods are still disheveled from the Hurricane while the tourist and mostly white areas such as the French Quarter are back to its original state.
Racism has been around for 100’s of years in New Orleans. And many Black residents of the city have felt the backlash of it. The racism that existed in the 1700’s is now different that the racism exhibit now. Racism was one of the main reasons for the hurricane Katrina disaster
“In rich white neighborhoods, the levees were twice as high. Race calls the shots. If you saw the news, you saw the faces. Why did it take so long for the government to get in there? Had those faces been a different color, I wonder if the results would have been the same.”-Monique Matthews “It’s a story that I think elucidates in a very powerful and graphic way the fact that man does not have dominion over nature and when he deludes himself to think that he does that is when these things happen”- Joe and Lucianne Carmichael
