Hurricane Katrina has left much of New Orleans under 20 feet of water; however, the storm has surfaced a city the majority of us never knew existed. The New Orleans of our imaginations was the birthplace of jazz, Mardi Gras and Cajun food. It was a city we invaded to run wild on Bourbon Street, throwing purple and green beads along the way. But when the bars emptied and the parades ended, a different city emerged.
It was the dark, impoverished city that Mardi Gras revelers so conveniently ignored. It was the other side of New Orleans.
This side is hidden – not behind a glistening mask – but darkly covered by poor streets, tattered homes and, now, filthy water. It ranks as the ninth poorest big city in America, and it is also one of the most violent.
In the Lower Ninth Ward, an almost all-black neighborhood, only six percent of residents are college graduates, reports the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center. The national average is 22 percent. Average household income in that neighborhood is $27,499 a year – less than half of the national average. The lowest-lying neighborhoods most affected by the flooding are where the majority of the poor people live.
Until the storm hit, most of us never knew this side. Now we need to open our eyes and minds to the grave situation beyond Bourbon Street. The flood has damaged more than just our favorite party spot – it has ruined people’s homes and lives.
Unfortunately, it often takes tragedy to expose the harsh reality of the world outside of our personal lives. It is our responsibility as humans to help society, even when hurricane season is over. As we cannot change the past, we should always find a message to be applied to the future. The aftermath of Katrina may teach us the most vital lesson we will learn this semester: We need to recognize the bigger issues in the world. By ignoring concerns such as poverty and crime we live in a false reality. It is essential to see humanity as it is, not how we want it to be, so we can get a proper sense of our country.
If we think outside our own selves, we can truly see our lives in a different perspective. We are no more important than our neighbors in New Orleans – we are just lucky. And luck can quickly wash away, as we have all recently witnessed.
The other side of this split city reminds us that we cannot overlook the problems that exist in society – even if they don’t affect us. The New Orleans of our imaginations was a flamboyant city of carnivals and plastic beer cups. But Mardi Gras only comes once a year.
Annalise Ghiz is a junior journalism major. She may be contacted at [email protected].
