Do You Know What It Means to Lose New Orleans?

[Onyx]

I wondered if Anne Rice would have something to say. Here are her thoughts:

============

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/04/opinion/04rice.html

By ANNE RICE

Published: September 4, 2005

La Jolla, Calif.

WHAT do people really know about New Orleans?

Do they take away with them an awareness that it has always been not only a great white metropolis but also a great black city, a city where African-Americans have come together again and again to form the strongest African-American culture in the land?

The first literary magazine ever published in Louisiana was the work of black men, French-speaking poets and writers who brought together their work in three issues of a little book called L'Album Littéraire. That was in the 1840's, and by that time the city had a prosperous class of free black artisans, sculptors, businessmen, property owners, skilled laborers in all fields. Thousands of slaves lived on their own in the city, too, making a living at various jobs, and sending home a few dollars to their owners in the country at the end of the month.

This is not to diminish the horror of the slave market in the middle of the famous St. Louis Hotel, or the injustice of the slave labor on plantations from one end of the state to the other. It is merely to say that it was never all "have or have not" in this strange and beautiful city.

Later in the 19th century, as the Irish immigrants poured in by the thousands, filling the holds of ships that had emptied their cargoes of cotton in Liverpool, and as the German and Italian immigrants soon followed, a vital and complex culture emerged. Huge churches went up to serve the great faith of the city's European-born Catholics; convents and schools and orphanages were built for the newly arrived and the struggling; the city expanded in all directions with new neighborhoods of large, graceful houses, or areas of more humble cottages, even the smallest of which, with their floor-length shutters and deep-pitched roofs, possessed an undeniable Caribbean charm.

Through this all, black culture never declined in Louisiana. In fact, New Orleans became home to blacks in a way, perhaps, that few other American cities have ever been. Dillard University and Xavier University became two of the most outstanding black colleges in America; and once the battles of desegregation had been won, black New Orleanians entered all levels of life, building a visible middle class that is absent in far too many Western and Northern American cities to this day.

The influence of blacks on the music of the city and the nation is too immense and too well known to be described. It was black musicians coming down to New Orleans for work who nicknamed the city "the Big Easy" because it was a place where they could always find a job. But it's not fair to the nature of New Orleans to think of jazz and the blues as the poor man's music, or the music of the oppressed.

Something else was going on in New Orleans. The living was good there. The clock ticked more slowly; people laughed more easily; people kissed; people loved; there was joy.

Which is why so many New Orleanians, black and white, never went north. They didn't want to leave a place where they felt at home in neighborhoods that dated back centuries; they didn't want to leave families whose rounds of weddings, births and funerals had become the fabric of their lives. They didn't want to leave a city where tolerance had always been able to outweigh prejudice, where patience had always been able to outweigh rage. They didn't want to leave a place that was theirs.

And so New Orleans prospered, slowly, unevenly, but surely - home to Protestants and Catholics, including the Irish parading through the old neighborhood on St. Patrick's Day as they hand out cabbages and potatoes and onions to the eager crowds; including the Italians, with their lavish St. Joseph's altars spread out with cakes and cookies in homes and restaurants and churches every March; including the uptown traditionalists who seek to preserve the peace and beauty of the Garden District; including the Germans with their clubs and traditions; including the black population playing an ever increasing role in the city's civic affairs.

Now nature has done what the Civil War couldn't do. Nature has done what the labor riots of the 1920's couldn't do. Nature had done what "modern life" with its relentless pursuit of efficiency couldn't do. It has done what racism couldn't do, and what segregation couldn't do either. Nature has laid the city waste - with a scope that brings to mind the end of Pompeii.

I share this history for a reason - and to answer questions that have arisen these last few days. Almost as soon as the cameras began panning over the rooftops, and the helicopters began chopping free those trapped in their attics, a chorus of voices rose. "Why didn't they leave?" people asked both on and off camera. "Why did they stay there when they knew a storm was coming?" One reporter even asked me, "Why do people live in such a place?"

Then as conditions became unbearable, the looters took to the streets. Windows were smashed, jewelry snatched, stores broken open, water and food and televisions carried out by fierce and uninhibited crowds.

Now the voices grew even louder. How could these thieves loot and pillage in a time of such crisis? How could people shoot one another? Because the faces of those drowning and the faces of those looting were largely black faces, race came into the picture. What kind of people are these, the people of New Orleans, who stay in a city about to be flooded, and then turn on one another?

Well, here's an answer. Thousands didn't leave New Orleans because they couldn't leave. They didn't have the money. They didn't have the vehicles. They didn't have any place to go. They are the poor, black and white, who dwell in any city in great numbers; and they did what they felt they could do - they huddled together in the strongest houses they could find. There was no way to up and leave and check into the nearest Ramada Inn.

What's more, thousands more who could have left stayed behind to help others. They went out in the helicopters and pulled the survivors off rooftops; they went through the flooded streets in their boats trying to gather those they could find. Meanwhile, city officials tried desperately to alleviate the worsening conditions in the Superdome, while makeshift shelters and hotels and hospitals struggled.

And where was everyone else during all this? Oh, help is coming, New Orleans was told. We are a rich country. Congress is acting. Someone will come to stop the looting and care for the refugees.

And it's true: eventually, help did come. But how many times did Gov. Kathleen Blanco have to say that the situation was desperate? How many times did Mayor Ray Nagin have to call for aid? Why did America ask a city cherished by millions and excoriated by some, but ignored by no one, to fight for its own life for so long? That's my question.

I know that New Orleans will win its fight in the end. I was born in the city and lived there for many years. It shaped who and what I am. Never have I experienced a place where people knew more about love, about family, about loyalty and about getting along than the people of New Orleans. It is perhaps their very gentleness that gives them their endurance.

They will rebuild as they have after storms of the past; and they will stay in New Orleans because it is where they have always lived, where their mothers and their fathers lived, where their churches were built by their ancestors, where their family graves carry names that go back 200 years. They will stay in New Orleans where they can enjoy a sweetness of family life that other communities lost long ago.

But to my country I want to say this: During this crisis you failed us. You looked down on us; you dismissed our victims; you dismissed us. You want our Jazz Fest, you want our Mardi Gras, you want our cooking and our music. Then when you saw us in real trouble, when you saw a tiny minority preying on the weak among us, you called us "Sin City," and turned your backs.

Well, we are a lot more than all that. And though we may seem the most exotic, the most atmospheric and, at times, the most downtrodden part of this land, we are still part of it. We are Americans. We are you.

[paradox]

wow

[Aralis]

I watched Oprah today and it was my first time seeing all the damage and loss Katrina has caused. It was heart breaking to hear the peoples' stories and see what they are going through there. It was very upsetting.

A great city has been devastasted and it will never be the same again. That alone is saddening enough to me as I had yet to make it there.

They did mention that the French Quarters did not flood so I think that was about the only positive thing I heard between Oprah and Current Affair.

My heart and prayers go out to all that were affected by this. No one should have to deal with such pain and loss.

[The_Dark]

Don't get me wrong.. this saddens me greatly.. but everyone seems to be forgeting that Nola was the most corrupt government this country has.

[SomeDanGuy]

Don't get me wrong.. this saddens me greatly.. but everyone seems to be forgeting that Nola was the most corrupt government this country has.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Detroit has an opportunity to sneak into the lead

[Shade Everdark]

Don't get me wrong.. this saddens me greatly.. but everyone seems to be forgeting that Nola was the most corrupt government this country has.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

So, that means that all of the lay poeple have to suffer? Including the ones who felt, one or the other, that they COULD not leave?

[The_Dark]

Did I say anything like that at all? No, I did not.

All I said is that it's not the paradise some people portray it to be. There was much about Nola that was very bad.

[Mikielikesit]

Yeah fuck those people they were bad people ...............get a grip those people are us and that could have just as easily been anyone of us up to our necks in flood water and anytime we lose our history, our heritige and people its a sad sad day. And It really saddens me that it took our own country so long to help its own people but it will step up to help other countries as soon as things like this happen elsewhere........I am so confused, "Did these people not deserve our nations help full force?" It is my belief what happened on friday and saturday should of happened on monday and tuesday, am I wrong in this?...Ok I'm done ranting sorry

[The_Dark]

It would have been nice. Not sure how it could have been done... your talking about moving a lot of people and equipment into place. Perhaps the mayor of Nola should have enacted Nolas hurricane plan.

http://www.cityofno.com/portal.aspx?portal=46&tabid=26

Might have saved a few lives.

[detroitrequiem]

Celine Dion was on Larry King carrying on about the event even though she kept sliding in how she has already donated $1 million to the area. She was crying about how she has been so upset she cant even sing. However, at the end of the interview Larry King asks, "Hey since you're here, would you like to sing for us?" to which she replied of course.

I hate these celebritys going down there as a publicity stunt. Sean Penn took a photographer with him. And were was Opra when things were happening? Doing a segment on horse whispering but she's there now of course.

I was in New Orleans when I was younger with my family. It was once of the best experiences I had from high school. Went to Ann Rice's house, was pretty cool.

You know I also hear they're still going to do Covergence 12 there!

crazy world

[Jarodaka]

A great city has been devastasted and it will never be the same again.  That alone is saddening enough to me as I had yet to make it there.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

...then again, it's not such a bad thing that it will change. Maybe they'll design a levee/dam/etc. system that will actually keep the city dry. Perhaps they'll even restore some of the much-vaunted natural barrier of the Mississippi delta. Unless, of course, you meant the general attitude and feel of the city and not just the physical appearance...

[Amerist]

...then again, it's not such a bad thing that it will change.  Maybe they'll design a levee/dam/etc. system that will actually keep the city dry.  Perhaps they'll even restore some of the much-vaunted natural barrier of the Mississippi delta.  Unless, of course, you meant the general attitude and feel of the city and not just the physical appearance...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I can just imagine that there will be new types of fiction cropping up in 10 years. NOLA Antediluvian; NOLA Postdiluvian... The city before and after the floods.

For some reason, I kept thinking of "If I were a city; who would I be..." when I read Anne Rice's spiel, history, and anthropological study of the whole city, and what basically has been smashed and washed away. It's a strange sort of refugee flight right now, and it's hard to say what's going to happen to that city...

I'm sure they're going to want to rebuild it.

Perhaps the new one will have a lot of scars, strange escarpments where the water would be channeled away from neighborhoods, and bizarre ponds where houses used to be. The quiet croaking of the bayou frogs during late night corporate sessions, drinking coffee to stay awake with the swish of water outside the window, watching the ocean -- still warily.

I've never been there. It would have been nice to know the city before Katrina.

[Lilith]

I just hope that some how Katrinia has led these people to a better way of life some place down the road. Woke some people up to the realitys of our world and cause some of those people to help change and shape our future in a better way. I dont htink is any secret that there has been so many things people have felt was wrong with our world, country, people maybe this can be the start of something new and better for atleast some.

Lilith

[Paint it Black]

I wondered if Anne Rice would have something to say.  Here are her thoughts:

And it's true: eventually, help did come. But how many times did Gov. Kathleen Blanco have to say that the situation was desperate? How many times did Mayor Ray Nagin have to call for aid? Why did America ask a city cherished by millions and excoriated by some, but ignored by no one, to fight for its own life for so long? That's my question.

Because the mayor and governor dropped the proverbial ball and the result was thousands dead and un-used buses which could have saved some of them sitting idly underwater.

But to my country I want to say this: During this crisis you failed us. You looked down on us; you dismissed our victims; you dismissed us. You want our Jazz Fest, you want our Mardi Gras, you want our cooking and our music. Then when you saw us in real trouble, when you saw a tiny minority preying on the weak among us, you called us "Sin City," and turned your backs.

Look in the mirror, Anne. Your local government failed you. Your governor failed you.

Anne Rice does, indeed, write great fiction.

And in this case I must say that, with all due respect, she is full of shit.

[Nienna]

I pretty much look for Anne Rice's opinion on alot of things. She's a smart lady even if her views are usually somewhat extreme. If anything, it will be said in an eloquent fashion.

New Orleans for me has always been largely about the rich imagery from her books. My initial reaction was horror for the people who live there, but later I was sad that a city I'd always wanted to visit would never be the same. It'll have to stay fiction in my mind forever now. What a loss...

[Draco1958]

I had the pleasure of visiting New Orleans back in Nov of 99. Beautiful people, friendly. Spent time in the French Quarter. Went to 2 Goth bars, the Crystal and the Dungeon. Always hoped to go back and once things are settled, I plan on going back.

Now for my rant....I am sooooo tired of the finger pointing, who should have done what, when and where. Point is that that is all mute. We should now concentrate on positive thoughts and prayers (to whoever you pray to) that this can be prevented from happenning again. Hind sight is always 20/20, finger pointing is so easy. It does not help anyone to finger point. It just causes hurt feelings and anger. It's time for all of us to heal so let's look forward not backward.

Done ranting, we now return you to your regular postings.

[ZhukovCodeslinger]

....Ann Rice absolves all the bad behavior because "conditions were unbearable" 12 mintues after the hurricane had passed... sitting in one of her other mansions she must not be aware that the levees broke and the flood started 2 days after the hurricane and the looting started.

Question.... didnt Ann Rice see fit to "steal" all the Vampires genitalia? (I dont know because I dont read much fiction....)

If so, WTF is wrong with her? How can you like vampires without sex....?

"oh they are so tortured... the live for ever... but cant hump.... so they make out with eachother... and then... they become Rockstars... and then the Movies get even worse.... " EEEEEEP

I prefer "Chairman of the Board" (Courtney Thorne-Smith's Best movie)

postscript.... Did she just take away the sex because the first draft of "Interview with the vampire" was one of her Gay Porn books.... which became popular/famous once she got rid of the "Ragingly Overt Gay stuff"