We Are Not OK

[docbrite]

As a result of the whole Carlos Mencia flap, I posted this in my journal last night. Please repost it, forward it, and disseminate it. Please feel free to correct and update as needed. I've already found from comments and e-mails I received that plenty of people living elsewhere have no idea of the conditions here, and I think they need to.

Comments

[selphish]

I know recycling is probably the least of the city's concerns, but when I called a few months ago to ask about it, I was surprised that it was "suspended indefinitely"--and probably as good as gone.

Good read. Thanks.

[docbrite]

I hesitated before putting in the recycling bit, but then I thought about all the recent talk of "saving the wetlands," and all the potential recyclables that will instead go into landfills, and I decided to leave it.

[selphish]

I think it's still a very important point to make. I'm going to draft up a letter this weekend to send to my representatives regarding the recycling program and hope that something will be done about it soon.

I'm going to crosspost this--along with the Carlos Mencia rant--in my journal, if that's okay with you.

[docbrite]

Like I said, please crosspost, forward, and disseminate as widely as possible. It's hard for those of us living here to realize that lots of people elsewhere have no idea of this shit.

[jdquintette]

Any objections to my cut-and-pasting this entire thing (with appropriate credit) in my journal? You've got it under a cut here because that's the community regs, but I'd prefer to rub people's noses in it over in my joint. Cuts are too easy to scroll past, plus I have a lot of 'jdquintette-specific' traffic, either crosslinked with the column I do on Vancouverjazz.com, or because of my low-grade 'celebrity' status as a jazz musician.

[docbrite]

I just cut it here because of the community rules. Please repost it in your journal and anywhere else you like. I don't even care if I get credit; I just want people to know these things.

[jdquintette]

I hear you.

Here's the tag I stuck on the end of your piece.

For a long time now, I've been puzzled as to why this situation is not a source of national shame and embarrassment. It's finally dawned on me that to accept this situation as unacceptable would open the door to the notion that the United States might just not be the Greatest Nation on Earth, the "shining city on the hill" to which all the world's people aspire

Other big differences between New York and New Orleans

[cka3n]

Although the difference you mention (having someone else to blame) certainly mattered, there are other important differences:

1. Most everyone was surprised by the 9/11 attacks; predictions of hurricane-related doom in New Orleans were common knowledge.

2. New York, for better or for worse, has, amongst its great mix of people, many driven and accomplished people, who turned that energy and productivity towards recovering from the attacks; New Orleans has the reputation of largely being run and populated by people who are not as effective or driven, and that reputation and the facts underlying it have certainly hindered the response.

[saintfritz]

Great post...I'm glad you still have the energy to try and explain. As the months go by, I'm starting to take the stance of "they don't understand it, they don't want to understand it, and they never will." It's a defeatist mindset and one I should try to avoid. Even if we only manage to convince a few people of what's going on here, we could use all the folks on our side we can get

[jdquintette]

If they don't blame us for Katrina, then they have to face some seriously unpleasant truths about their country and the fact that if something bad happened to them, they might get hung out to dry too

Eggs-Ackly!

[cobaltgreen]

this is a wonderful assesment of the negative. which is important to point out. Personally I try to convey the hardships alongside the tremendous growth that has occured since the storm, particularly from local entrepreneurs and passionate local . We've helped ourselves. And - sadly - that's probably just the way it is. No big outside help has come, or likely will come.

I attribute the evolution that has been made to the unshakable optimism and devotion that's been displayed from some of the residents who have been hardest hit.

[theoldanarchist]

Thank you for this. I am not from New Orleans, but have visited numerous times, and your city is one of my favorite places on earth (only Dublin, Ireland is equal to the Crescent City in my heart), and seeing what has happened to it makes me sad, sick, and angry.

You're right---New Orleans is not alright. It's a disaster---and we all know the worst of it was not caused by Katrina, it was caused by politicians who could not give a damn, and bureaucrats and government functionaries who are inept. As a critic said a number of years ago in to Detroit, New Orleans was demolished by design.

Thank you again.