Saints Came Marching In, but Most of the City Isn't Back Yet
James Mason
Issue date: 9/29/06 Section: Sports
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By all accounts, Monday night was a great day for the people of New Orleans. In fact, it was probably one of the happiest days in New Orleans since August 29, 2005. The Louisiana Superdome, a place of last resort during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, was reopened and the Saints came marchin' in. Obviously emotionally charged, the Saints steamrolled the Atlanta Falcons 23-3 and improved their record to 3-0 on the season. For many people in the region, watching the Saints play at home is one more step towards normalcy. Then again, the Saints being 3-0 probably isn't normal under any circumstances.
Regardless, Monday night was definitely a celebration for the city of New Orleans. The fanfare was great, the Saints won and everyone seemed to be excited. It was good to see everyone in New Orleans smiling and cheering, a stark contrast from people pulling bodies out of dirty flood waters hoping to find life, people fighting for their lives being called looters, and people trying to flee a natural disaster being called refugees in their own country.
I fear that we may be missing the point here. A year and a month later, things in New Orleans aren't really close to being back to normal. Most of the city is still in disarray; many of its former citizens haven't returned home and most of the schools are still closed. The supposedly most powerful nation in the world has proven that it's not capable of protecting all its citizens. There is still so much unrest in the city that the National Guard has been called in to police New Orleans until the end of the year at the earliest. The packed house Monday night for a nationally televised event is not an accurate picture of how far New Orleans has come and how much work is left to be done.
To get an accurate picture of this, everyone should watch Spike Lee's documentary When The Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Parts. This emotional documentary narrated by the citizens of New Orleans and various persons involved in the relief effort shows how inept that effort was. It also shows how ill-prepared the city was for any hurricane, let alone a storm of that proportion. Perhaps most importantly, it shows that, in many sections of the city, nothing has really changed since the storm. Many people who lived in those areas of the city, like the now-infamous Lower 9th Ward, are either still unable to return to the area or in FEMA trailers. While I'm sure it was uplifting for them to watch their home team play football, I wonder at some point did those adversely affected by the storm begin to wonder how even a small percentage of the money FEMA used to rebuild the Superdome could have helped improve their situation.
Regardless, Monday night was definitely a celebration for the city of New Orleans. The fanfare was great, the Saints won and everyone seemed to be excited. It was good to see everyone in New Orleans smiling and cheering, a stark contrast from people pulling bodies out of dirty flood waters hoping to find life, people fighting for their lives being called looters, and people trying to flee a natural disaster being called refugees in their own country.
I fear that we may be missing the point here. A year and a month later, things in New Orleans aren't really close to being back to normal. Most of the city is still in disarray; many of its former citizens haven't returned home and most of the schools are still closed. The supposedly most powerful nation in the world has proven that it's not capable of protecting all its citizens. There is still so much unrest in the city that the National Guard has been called in to police New Orleans until the end of the year at the earliest. The packed house Monday night for a nationally televised event is not an accurate picture of how far New Orleans has come and how much work is left to be done.
To get an accurate picture of this, everyone should watch Spike Lee's documentary When The Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Parts. This emotional documentary narrated by the citizens of New Orleans and various persons involved in the relief effort shows how inept that effort was. It also shows how ill-prepared the city was for any hurricane, let alone a storm of that proportion. Perhaps most importantly, it shows that, in many sections of the city, nothing has really changed since the storm. Many people who lived in those areas of the city, like the now-infamous Lower 9th Ward, are either still unable to return to the area or in FEMA trailers. While I'm sure it was uplifting for them to watch their home team play football, I wonder at some point did those adversely affected by the storm begin to wonder how even a small percentage of the money FEMA used to rebuild the Superdome could have helped improve their situation.
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