Sunday, the 27th…
It was striking to be at the Carnaval Latino a day before Barack Obama spoke at First Emmanuel Baptist Church, which I recorded for NPR. Obama mentioned that “you don’t need to ship folks in to rebuild here in New Orleans. A lot of folks need jobs right here.” After talking to regional newcomers, some immigrants, some not, who’ve come in to work demolition crews on day labor wages, who’ve subjected themselves to a culture that doesn’t welcome taco trucks or taco eaters, necessarily (“what good does the taco do our gumbo?”), who’ve been robbed because they make easy targets with cash in their pockets, it was hard to hear what very nearly sounded like race baiting.
It was also striking to read later that Obama announced a national plan at First Emmanuel. He must have released one that day, somewhere between Central City and Gentilly Woods. But his speech was aspirational, and decidedly unspecific: he wasn’t speaking solely to the First Emmanuel congregants.
No better place to notice this than how he referenced the “9th Ward.” National – or just, non-local – reporters are always coming in here and talking about the 9th ward. Like it means anything to them other than just poor Black people.
Look, I’m about to learn all this from people who live here themselves. The point of my project is, I don’t know: the people we talk to will. But from what I can tell, Hollygrove has its problems, and Riverbend, and Mid-City, and the 7th ward, and Central City. And they’re all a little different from 9th ward. Surely we’ve got more attention on a national level than that reflected in a lazy semi-political code?
