This Racial Issue

You won't often see me get angry or critical. I try to be gentle, kind and fair, and I don't feel that I personally have any need to engage in controversial discussions. For the most part, many controversial issues are divided by a line that separates common sense from the misinformed. It's when I see something that is being misrepresented and is causing damage that I will speak up.

The racial issue that has become very inflamed since Katrina devasted the Gulf Coast is one of those issues. I'm weary of reading such articles as this one (this link may expire soon, it's a posted news article):

http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/010706ccklrWWLnola.561e1943.html
By ERIN TEXEIRA / AP National Writer

Erin Texeira's articles are usually about ethnic issues and culture. But I'm right here in the middle of all this...I see what New Orleans is like. It's irresponsible and dangerous to try to inflame racial issues what that's NOT what is happening here. Erin and so many others want to make a racial issue of this. Much of the racism that exists in this area right now is because of this sort of exacerbation.

Erin writes that the black neighborhoods are the ones that aren't being rebuilt. Her article insinuates that black neighborhoods are being neglected in the rebuilding efforts ... because they're black. She says that Uptown and the Garden District are being rebuilt because they're predominantly white.

C'mon, Erin. Don't make the ignorance worse. I've been in those neighborhoods. First, Uptown and the Garden District are being "rebuilt" because the damage was a LOT less severe. The city MUST get back on it's feet and Uptown, the Garden District and the French Quarter are the areas that could resume more normal functioning a lot faster. The areas in question referred to as "black" neighborhoods (New Orleans East and the Lower 9th Ward), are going to take a lot of time, a lot of money, and a lot of effort to rebuild. She says in her article that MONTHS later (4 months) there is STILL no electricity, gas, water, or any other services in those neighborhoods.

Erin, it's not because those neighborhoods were black. It's because they were DESTROYED. It will take YEARS to get those areas functioning again. I've been there, I've driven through those streets. There is no repair that needs to be done. Everything has to be rebuilt from the ground up. It's GONE.

It's not because those neighborhoods were black that it will take a long time to rebuild. It's because nobody is really coming back to them. Who's going to run millions of dollars of power, sewer and gas to a dozen people? It's not because they were black. It's because the infrastructure that provides services to those areas was ruined and must be rebuilt.

Uptown and the Garden District are getting the attention because they can be repaired. These areas suffered exponentially less damage than the others. And in some cases where there was major repair or rebuilding, the residents could afford it.

Erin mentions in her article that the demographics of the rebuilding plan show predominantly black neighborhoods being recommended as last to be rebuilt ... if they're rebuilt at all. Erin (and the rest of you out there who want to inflame racial prejudices), it's NOT a division between black and white. It's a division between wealthy and poor, not race. That's very, very different.

Richer neighborhoods have residents who can afford to rebuild. Poorer neighborhoods do not. Richer neighborhoods, built by people who have money, grew in the most desireable areas of the city ... the higher ground that didn't flood. Homes for the wealthy are often built better because the owners can afford to build them that way. Anywhere a city has ever been built, the most desireable land has been settled by the people with more money, and less desireable lands settled by people who have less money.

It's the same in the New Orleans. Poorer neighborhoods developed where they did because the only land people could afford was the cheaper land in lower elevations. If anyone wants to criticize people for building in those areas, I'll likely break my rule of politeness and diplomacy, and tell that person to just shut up. People want to own land, and they will buy what they can afford. Personally, I think that one of the things that drew so many people here WAS the unique ethnic diversity ... the rich cultural mix that made New Orleans famous. People wanted to settle this area, deserved to settle this area, and made the best choices they could.

If you think those poorer neighborhoods were black because they were poor, or poor because they were black, that's a completely different topic.

The issue of rebuilding New Orleans is a delicate one because we're talking about people's lives here ... and the heartbreaking destruction of their dreams and ambitions and the fruits of their entire years of labor, regardless of their net worth or social status. But another reason the subject is so delicate is that people such as Erin Teseira will sometimes get confused and try to make a racial issue from something that is purely based on common sense and practical planning. Every day down here, I'm seeing racial tensions inflamed by the media when they're not necessary.

I'm not saying Erin's not a good reporter. In fact, I very much admire that she will tackle such difficult subjects and be an advocate for people when they truly ARE being discriminated against. I just feel that in this case, Erin's judgement, and anyone else who is trying to read racial issues into the rebuilding of New Orleans, is very misguided.

Racism exists. It's disgusting and it's ugly and I have no tolerance for it. But let's not try to create it where it didn't exist. The demographics of the rebuilding of New Orleans are based purely on the damage. And if most of the damage occurred in poorer neighborhoods, it's because that land in lower elevations was all those people could afford. It's the quality of the land that made the neighborhoods poor, not the color of the residents.

Despite my criticism of Erin's article, I very, very much applaud her efforts to make a difference in the important fight against the ignorance called racism. And I hope that, if she were to read my little blog here, that she'd realize I honor her by addressing this issue using her words as an example. Moths are attracted to the brighter flame ... ::Grin::

The truth is, her article really is just a good example of misconception. Let's not do injustice to the fight against racism by creating it where it doesn't exist. That is counterproductive.

Let's pray that the less fortunate are able to find their homes again in the places that they want. And I hope that the hurt and loss can fade into the past as soon as possible.