In August 2004, I moved to New Orleans to attend seminary. In August 2005, I left thinking I’d be back in a few days. It took nine months. June 1, 2006, actually, was the day I moved back. The first day of hurricane season. It’s been a year now. Ray Nagin was re-elected. So was William Jefferson. And Cynthia Hedge-Morrell. The National Guard were deployed here. I still remember the strange feeling that I was in a war zone when I saw the first convoy of Guardsmen driving in. That was just in the first month. At one point, we started selling t-shirts asking, “C. Ray Nagin? Not me.” At least we have a sense of humor.
In August 2006 the city tested our newly installed pumps (which are technically supposed to pump water out of the city when it floods. You see, since we’re a bowl, we built levees to keep the water out. But the levees also tend to keep water in.) Apparently nobody told us that didn’t go as well as it should have. We found out in March that they were faulty. Then we found out last week that, at least, only one is still broken. But as some of our friends at my church in the Filmore neighborhood learned last week- pumps are only good if they are turned on. Not to mention that someone discovered all those FEMA trailers were toxic.
As for our crime rate, well, it seems to be back up. Less people, same crime. Eddie Jordan, the DA here, is a class act, having fired a dozen white employees and replacing them all with African-Americans. More importantly, he’s had trouble keeping criminals in jail- most offenders are released to repeat the same crimes again. But at least the Appeals Court has kept the ones who did go to jail in there. For now. In January, we had a huge rally against crime- Silence Is Violence. So at least some of us care (even though, for the record, I missed the rally). There was a moving speech given that day. And it didn’t come out of the mouth of Willie Wonka.
And then there was that tornado that carved out a swath from the West Bank to Lake Pontchartrain. I stepped outside about 5 minutes after it woke me up that night. It just missed the homes of several of my friends. Only a few blocks to my east it killed several people.
Anyway, I just wanted to say all that in response to the billboard on Gentilly Blvd. across from campus. “You’re not crazy.” I beg to differ.
