New Orleans

2005-09-04

Like the rest of America, and probably a large number of people around the world, I’ve spent the better part of the past week watching the events unfold in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.

This powerful natural disaster reminds all of us that life is unpredictable, often out of our control, and can lead to scary, horrifying outcomes.

What is probably the saddest about this catastrophe is that it may not have been entirely preventable, but had the right amount of attention and resources been put in place when those who were asking for them made them known, it is likely that it would not have been nearly as devastating as it was.

I try my best to keep the Rhino site as much about music and entertainment as possible and to leave partisan politics out of the mix. There are Republicans who are serious about jazz, and Democrats who are serious about funk – I like to think there’s room for us all in the Rhino playground. If you want punditry of this kind there are dozens and dozens of sites out there that will satisfy your need to be strongly for or against Republicans or Democrats.

My original intention of writing something was to focus on what New Orleans has meant to me over the years, and I will get to that, but not before I have my say about our current leadership.

Our government has once again failed us. This event has brought several things into sharp focus that I can only hope will raise serious, relentless questioning that will not only shed the proper light on who was to blame, but will lead to genuinely substantive change.

I’ve been hearing a lot lately about how “pointing fingers and assessing blame is not helpful, there will be a time for that, but not now. ” I’m sorry, but I don’t subscribe to this philosophy.

With potentially thousands of American lives at risk, we have to ask ourselves “did we do everything possible to prevent this from happening?” If we can say, yes, then we have to live with the consequences of being a fragile species on a planet that is decidedly in control.

If the answer is no, we must do something about it. I’m not saying George Bush is solely responsible, but he is the man in charge, and he has some serious explaining to do. I’m also not saying this was entirely the result of global warming. While I believe global warming is a reality and not some “theory,” there have probably been enormous hurricanes prior to the industrial revolution, leading one to conclude that this might have happened if we were all still riding in horse-drawn carriages.

What I’m driving at are those things that are completely within our control.

When we look at this situation and realize that our federal government cut funding for infrastructure projects that would have helped avoid this; when we’ve sent thousands of troops who could have been on the scene to help, to fight a war in Iraq that even by Republican-based polling organizations show most now say was pointless; when we’ve created tax incentive after tax incentive for the wealthy with none of the money trickling down (as it’s “supposed” to do); and when we see that so many of our fellow Americans live in such abominable poverty that merely stating “Get out of town!” are just words without meaning (for those who still don’t get it, these people COULDN’T LEAVE BECAUSE THEY HAD NO MEANS TO), even the most partisan of us has to see that things are not right.

New Orleans has always had a special place I my heart, and unlike most cities around the world, this one lives life much larger than it’s population would dictate. There are many cities that are bigger than New Orleans, but none possess its flair. New Orleans is a brand: you mention the Big Easy to anyone, almost anywhere in the world and they know why it’s famous.

The unique, amazing style of food that exists nowhere else in the world is certainly part of this. The bacchanalian fest that makes up a typical evening in the French Quarter is too, and like our President, I’ve personally had my share of living it up on Bourbon Street. But I’d have to say it’s the music that separates New Orleans from being just another party city. Las Vegas is a party city, but it doesn’t have its own style of music.

And that music is so incredibly special, so inspiring, uplifting, and contagious, that it’s hard to imagine someone who doesn’t like it.

I’d could write pages and pages about all the important artists from the city and region, as well as live shows I’ve seen there (an especially memorable show was the Neville Brothers a number of years ago at the original Tipitina’s), and I may do that at some point in the future.

Right now though, I’m angry. Angry because I don’t know if New Orleans will ever be the same again; angry because the French Quarter is completely under water; angry because a number of people didn’t give enough of a damn to ensure that we were protecting a national treasure.

Everyone knew that New Orleans was a city that sat below sea level, they make a point of telling all the tourists this on every tour they offer. There’s also an enormous amount of commerce that New Orleans supports both as a port city, and as the final conduit through which the Mississippi river flows.

Why then did our government allow this to happen?

It’s incumbent upon all of us to ask the questions now. Who knows, it could be your city next.