The Forgotten
By Marcie Dickson
Oct 27, 2009 - 12:00 AM
Rebuilding the city is a complicated puzzle, and no one knows yet what the final picture will look like.
Last week I had a chance to drop in on a symposium at Loyola University titled “What is New Orleans?” When the issue of how to revive public housing came up, a man from the audience stepped to the microphone and cautiously asked why the city should strive to welcome back “those people” who are displaced, those who once occupied the projects and other decaying parts of the city. Perhaps his query had another meaning, but he seemed to indicate that because “those people” were directly responsible for endemic issues of high crime and poverty, they shouldn’t be allowed to return home to hinder new growth and development. He seemed to indicate a line of thought that I fear resonates with many others, namely that, in essence, the city should forget about the forgotten and rebuild without them.
How exactly is it possible to redefine and rebuild a city without its natives? How is it possible to rebuild without the legacies that constitute a community’s very foundation? How is it possible to preserve the great cultural paradigm that is New Orleans without vestiges of its past?
Of course the ongoing discussion of New Orleans’ recovery should revolve around certain key issues: coastal restoration, flood defense, green building, corporate reinvestment, eradication of political corruption and so forth. But at this point in a protracted recovery process, is there still a commitment to include displaced New Orleanians in the new New Orleans?
Since my first days as a resident of this city, I’ve heard people denounce the national perception of New Orleans as a kitschy cesspool that’s sliding toward Disneyfication. In the next breath they also say it’s great to have so many newcomers in the city to revive its spirit. Both are obviously true, but, again, how do the forgotten natives fit into this renewal?
As a non-native, I feel almost obligated to ask these questions.
At the symposium, Tulane urban geographer Richard Campanella presented his research findings that suggest the city is less native than it’s ever been, that despite the increasing population, a high percentage of natives have not returned.
This is promising news from an economic standpoint, as the city is significantly more diverse, more mobile, more decentralized and less parochial. But what about the city’s cultural foundations, “those people” whose ancestors carved out the ironwork that adorns city dwellings; whose ancestors passed down traditions of jazz funerals and ethnic cuisine; who steered thriving communities of musicians, artisans and craftsmen?
Nowadays when I drive through Tremé or other areas flagged with attendant social issues (crime, economic disenfranchisement, underachieving schools, etc.), I can’t help but think it’s a half-portrait of what it used to be. There’s something missing, elements amiss.
Granted, there’s no panacea for what ails New Orleans, and perhaps no one can outline a principled plan for tackling all these issues. And it seems easy enough to say that certain people, “those people,” should be excluded from any such plan. But this is their home. And this is where they belong, more so than me or any other newcomer for that matter.
Somehow I feel complicit in this problem: As long as I volunteer, pay taxes and contribute to the city’s favorable social fabric, I help rebuild the city. But this is my own false narrative and yours, as well.
Email
Print
Feed
Reader Comments:
It's not that simple and "they" shouldn't come back.
I think all the new people that have come to this city to help rebuild and have stayed to make it their new home are residents that contribute to New Orleans' success. To redevelop public housing just to move back people that feed off the system just does not make since. As long as the plan for public housing is changed to give people a chance to make it and get on their feet then I am all for the forgotten, as you call them, but not just to bring them back to continue to be a drain on society.
While we are including "vestiges of its past" in the recovery of New Orleans, let's not exclude other well known local vestiges. Let' bring back Edwin Edwards to improve our national reputation. Let's bring back the public officials that assured that our levees were poorly constructed. Let's bring back Huey Long. How far back to you want to go to include vestiges? Pre-Civil War vestiges?
New Orleans needs to compete with Houston, Atlanta and Charlotte. Even before Katrina, the best of the city emigrated to these other Southern cities to find opportunity. Let's create a city that give the achievers a reason to return, not the leeches.
I’m sorry but I totally disagree with you. And before anyone throws the “race” card at me, I like to state that the forgotten people you refer to are of no value to our community. Why should we bring them back so they push the city into further decline. While I appreciate your naïve, “non-native” perspective, you don’t know how bad it was and how bad it would be if they were to come back.
I’m sorry but I totally disagree with you. And before anyone throws the “race” card at me, I like to state that the forgotten people you refer to are of no value to our community. Why should we bring them back so they push the city into further decline. While I appreciate your naïve, “non-native” perspective, you don’t know how bad it was and how bad it would be if they were to come back.
You would have to be from here to understand. I attended public schools and now I would not want to be around any of them when they let out.
Many of our returning locals--especially the teens --come here without their parents who reside elsewhere after the storm. They run loose without supervision or control from their parent(s). Many of those returning teens come home to bring their gang and drug turf wars back with them. Some locals who left decided not to come back because they found better schools and lifestyles in their new states.
Everything here is looked through the prism of racism. There can be no cohesiveness until this prism is removed. I do not think it will happen. It is not "let's go forward together" time, it is still "payback time". Since we are a Chocolate City,I think the onus is on the black population to change this paradigm.
May I ask why should you feel complicit? As long as you continue to volunteer, pay taxes (which means you work), and contribute to the social fabric (in a positive way)you should not feel guilty in any way. For this city to rebuild and be a better place we need clear, realistic, tuff love - - - not touchy feely bleeding hearts. Yes, "those people" have a legacy, but it's not one you want to bring back here. I for one would rather forget about them and move on. Actually , no one is barring anyone from coming back to this city. Just like in any major upheaval, individuals who want to return must work hard to get back on their own. What are you proposing...that we somehow pay for their return, put a roof over their heads and feed them FOREVER, just so we can feel good about ourselves??? By the way. this city IS being defined and rebuilt by its natives. Damned good ones, too! If "those people" want to be a part of that, let them come back and do some rebuilding of their own. But, don't hold your breath for that to happen. I say keep moving forward and let's make this a great city like it once was.
This topic you've chosen to tackle is so incredibly complex. Unless you plan to tackle it each week, it’s not worth doing. It’s seriously not. There are many underlying factors that contribute to why there’s so much crime, poverty, and institutional racism. The federal and local officials can barely handle rebuilding the city’s infrastructure on a very basic level, so how do you expect them to tackle such an enduring. The reality is that the displaced people who have been removed from the discussion of rebuilding are not worth bringing back. It’ s a harsh but true reality.
I don't believe in using any such phrase as "those people". That implies many things, at least it does to me. My comment would be that people who intended to return to the New Orleans area have returned. Case Closed. However, those of us who want to leave but can't--due to one or more complicated reasons--are the ones that should be courted to stay here. I've lived here for 29 years and to be honest, New Orleans is ok, pre- and post-Katrina, but it's not all that it is cracked up to be. There's many wonderful places here in the United States (there's many problematic places, too), and I look forward to leaving at some time in the future...going somewhere where I'll never have to hear the name Katrina again.
All men are created equal and all should be given an equal opportunity to affordable housing, jobs, education, etc. When individuals are given opportunities they tend not to make decisions that do not contribute to the economic development of where they reside. New Orleans is a very unique city with very unique cultures and it should not be "twisted" that "those" people added something to the city that made the city different. The fact is that most crime did not happen from the residence that lived in the project. No one should be thought of or placed in another category from a perception or from an idea that all things that took place that were bad were because of "them". We all participate and contribute in our own ways to this great city and we all need to become more aware, educated and engaged in a conversion of inclusion. Until we embrace "them" instead of label "them" than the racism continues. We don't want to deal with something or someone we feel we are not comfortable with or someone who does not look like us, think like us, have jobs like us, etc. "Those" people are "human" they are Americans they have a right to live anywhere they seem fit to live. There are no gates in the city keeping "them" out. How would you feel if you traveled to a foreign country and you were isolated from others because of the way you did not fit in, the way you looked, your way of thinking but you can't imagine that because you have all have a mind frame that those things could never ever happen to you. You carry a self-righteous, honorary knapsack which gives you the right to call the "shots". Gives you the right to think of "them" they way you do. We all all God's children and when you get to the "pearly gates" how you look, what you have on, where you lived, how much money you had, what type of job you had, all those things won't matter. God doesn't see color He sees and knows your heart. May God have mercy on all of you.