Where were they last year?
When people sat without hope upon their rooftops waving to television news helicopters for help. When corpses floated down a newly made river in the middle of the Ninth Ward. Where were they when thousands of Americans crammed into the Superdome for longer than any American should have?
Where were they then?
And yet, they were all there last Monday night. In front of a nationally televised audience they showed their support for the city of New Orleans. They wore shirts and ties and ribbons. They bowed their heads in prayer at those lost in a catastrophe the likes in which this country has never seen.
But it was all for show.
The biggest show on Earth.
***
Rewind a year.
We all saw the images of the Superdome. Thousands outside waiting to get in - the image of the man holding his newborn up to the camera and pleading for someone to bring food. The Superdome's roof being shaken and destroyed by Hurricane Katrina's strength. People inside, terrified, not knowing if help would ever arrive.
You saw those images right?
What about the days and months after the storm?
Did you pay attention to those images?
Americans, trapped in their own city, waiting for their own government to come rescue them. There they sat, hearing about rapes and murders happening all over their city. Rapes and murders that we now know never happened, but were reported as fact by mere hearsay.
Did you see the Associated Press images where they described the poor black people taking food from stores as looters, while their poor white counterparts were "just trying to survive."
Or what about the image of CNN reporter Wolf Blitzer, when he described the people wading in the polluted waters as, "so poor and so black."
Those images are what hurt me.
Until Monday.
***
The league pulled out all the stops for the New Orleans Saints on this Monday.
Fireworks. Bands. A sellout crowd.
The NFL even booked U2.
This is the same league that couldn’t find a home field for their New Orleans Saints last season.
Making their record 0-0 at home.
There's the politicians too.
The ones that weren't handing out bottled water or shaking hands with evacuees. They sat back in the cut, waiting for the moment when they could talk a good talk without ever walking the walk.
I'll tell you like this.
After 9/11, every politician from California to New Jersey showed up in New York City. Shaking hands, hugging the citizens and throwing out first pitches at baseball games. The sad thing is, September 11th could have been stopped. If an arrest had been made, or a terrorist leader killed or if a peace treaty had been signed at some point in our world's history, 9/11 could have never happened. Any way you slice it, man made 9/11 the tragedy it was.
And it was man that came to America's aid during the aftermath.
Hurricane Katrina was unstoppable. Nothing can stop a hurricane. We have no control over mother nature. We can't arrest or kill a tropical storm.
Yet, man ignored man down in poor New Orleans.
***
This was suppose to be the year that Monday Night Football thrived once again.
What it did, was make a mockery of itself and everyone effected by Hurricane Katrina.
Why send George H. Bush to flip the coin when his own wife said the people displaced by Katrina were "better off?"
Why not prep Tony Kornheiser not to use the word "refugee" when describing the evacuees of Katrina?
Why book U2, when U2 does not in any way represent the part of New Orleans that was devastated?
Why not book LiL Wayne? Why not book Mos Def? Why not book David Banner?
Last Monday night was all about the Benjamins. The people in charge of Monday Night Football didn't care about the juveniles, they were all about the cash money.
Why not use the million upon millions of dollars used to exploit the city, on the city?
Spike Lee was in the booth. When they asked him if the future of New Orleans looked bright, he only smiled - then laughed a big laugh.
He said he rather not comment, because he didn’t want to "pull a Kanye West."
Now I ain't saying America is run by gold diggers, but they ain't messing with no broke….
***
ESPN. NBC. CBS. The Washington Post. The New York Times. USA TODAY.
They all ran the same story.
New Orleans was back!
They were all wrong.
New Orleans is far from back.
The cameras were back.
The money was back.
The politicians were back.
The football team was back.
But New Orleans?
No.
The true essence of New Orleans is scattered across Texas, Georgia and Alabama. New Orleans is homeless. New Orleans can't afford to return to Louisiana because the price of rent has doubled. New Orleans makes gumbo with a face of sullen instead the face of southern joy. The soul of New Orleans is battered and worn. The hope of the true New Orleans is fluttering, barely making enough sound for a faint jazz tune.
Dave Stuckey
davestuckey3@yahoo.com