New Orleans, priorites, and the fight continues...

Last night, January 7, 2008, the national championship football game was contested in New Orleans. The game was played in the Superdome. The Superdome! The very same stadium that housed thousands of displaced residents of New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005. The very same stadium that was featured on Monday night football in 2006 when the New Orleans Saints made their national debut with newly drafted and super hyped USC grad Reggie Bush. There were fireworks on Monday night football in 2006 and their were fireworks, confetti and a raucous celebration last night when the LSU Tigers beat Ohio State for the national championship. I am also sure that millions of dollars were spent in New Orleans thanks to the presence of this game. But here's my question: what percentage of that money will go towards the actual rebuilding of the city? I don't mean the tourist sections. I mean the Lower 5th Ward and other areas formerly inhabited by Black people.

People have forgotten New Orleans, it seems. No one says a word. Hell, is Ray Nagin still the mayor? I haven't seen or heard from him in months. Have you, dear reader? Please let me know.

I see that Brad Pitt is helping to rebuild the city's poorer neighborhoods and for that he deserves kudos. But what about the US governement's response. Where is it? How can our president not be on the case? Okay, that's a rhetorical question. The only case he is on is Iraq. That's all he knows. Here's a better question. Why aren't the American people asking about the situation? Why aren't we demanding results? With the presidential election around the corner, why isn't New Orleans on the docket? Can you imagine the response if a tragedy such as Katrina and the ensuing flood had hit The Hamptoms? What if the homes of the rich, powerful and famous had been destroyed? Would Bush be sitting on his ass on that? Would the insurance companies balk at paying the insured? The answers are no and no. That community would look better after a tragey than it did before. The nation would not tolerate a rich, white community being treated as New Orleans has been treadted.

This country doesn't care what happens to Black people. Our land, our homes, our livelihoods, our very souls are irrelevant. We are just afterthoughts to the majority of the country. Hell, we are afterthoughts to ourselves most of the time. We've been conditioned to believe our lives and needs and wants aren't important. Sure, we will speak up and march when an issue is fresh. But once we get some tiny bit of resolution or once the issue gets a bit aged, we forget about it. And we are never proactive with meeting our needs. What is the five, ten, fifteen and twenty year plan? What are we going to do as a people? What are you going to do as an individual? What do you want out of your life? What are you mad about? Have you even thought about your displaced brothers and sisters from New Orleans? Or has that crisis come and gone in your mind, too?

We can't be complacent about our position. Lots of people are feeling optimistic because we have a Black man doing well in the run for the White House. I'm optimistic, too. But if he wins, and I sincerly hope he does, that doesn't mean we have arrived. It does mean things have gotten better. I think we all know things have gotten better, though. But things are not good enough, not by a long shot. We have to have success on a daily basis for ordinary, working Black people before we can stop fighting. We will always have high profile successes. That's always been true for the most part. And I don't discount that success but don't fall into the trap that because we have Oprah, Denzel, Barack, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, etc. we have widespread success. Don't let a few rappers on "MTV Cribs" living large fool you. Because for every Black person who has a net worth of one million dollars, there are 100 whites with a net worth of 100 million dollars or more. Don't let the powers that be use those people and others as examples of how far we have come and tell you to stop fighting, complaining, striving for more. We have to start by at least getting the displaced residents of New Orleans back home.