By Deon Roberts, Online Editor
Let me start off by saying I feel sorry for the people of Texas -– and those Louisiana residents and businesses forgotten by the national media –- who were devastated by Hurricane Ike.
If there is a silver lining, though, maybe it’s this: Ike shows the need to question the logic of questioning the logic of rebuilding New Orleans.
We in New Orleans got to hear it from the rest of the nation after Katrina: Why should taxpayers’ dollars be spent rebuilding New Orleans? Why should anyone live in New Orleans, anyway? Don’t rebuild it, because it’s going to flood again.
The same argument could be made about Texas now, couldn’t it? Why should anyone rebuild Crystal Beach, where Ike washed homes off their foundations? Why repair homes in Galveston, also heavily damaged by Ike’s storm surge? Why restore Houston, where windows were blown out of skyscrapers and many are without electricity and there is a weeklong curfew? And why should others pick up the tab to rescue and shelter Texans who refused orders to evacuate?
I was sick of hearing questions like those after Katrina from people who just didn’t understand or care about the economic and cultural contributions of New Orleans to the rest of the country.
But, in the wake of Ike, I don’t hear anyone questioning the rebuilding of Texas. I don’t hear hateful comments about the people who chose to live on the Texas coast. So, what is it about New Orleans that the rest of the nation despises? Is it because they are jealous that we know how to party and enjoy life? Is it because of our demographics? Is it because our politicians and state have a reputation for corruption? (Well, we aren’t the only state with that problem.)
Frankly, I don’t know how smart it is to place roughly 20 percent of the U.S. refining capacity in the Houston area — in the potential path of a hurricane. Thanks to the shutdown of those refineries for Ike, gas prices are skyrocketing across parts of the country. But I digress.
Yes, Houston should be rebuilt. Yes, Galveston and Crystal Beach should be rebuilt, too. People have a right to live in those areas, and the government should do all it can, and spend all it can, to better armor those communities and others along the Gulf Coast for future hurricanes.
Why? Because the Gulf Coast is vital to the rest of the country, whether you like it or not.
Hey, you, outside the Gulf Coast: Do you like driving your car? Well, chances are the gas in your tank comes from oil produced in the Gulf of Mexico and refined in Texas. Do you prefer shrimp imported from China over fresh-caught shrimp from the Gulf of Mexico (If you didn’t already know, the stuff from China tastes like cardboard compared with Louisiana shrimp)? I could go on and on about Mardi Gras, jazz, the French Quarter.
This is the wealthiest nation in the world. We are pumping billions of dollars into a war in the Middle East while our Gulf Coast washes away. If we spent more and did more to protest our coastline, hurricanes would not be as much of a threat, the nation would not have to spend millions if not billions rebuilding Gulf Coast communities every year and maybe, just maybe, we could silence the idiots who question why we live here.•
4 responses so far ↓
Gentilly Girl » Texas Toast // Monday, September 15, 2008 at 4:37 pm |
[...] relaying some good thoughts concerning the Gulf Coast. By Morwen Madrigal Feedbacks on this entry via RSS 2.0 Please [...]
Robert Desmarais Sullivan // Monday, September 15, 2008 at 6:15 pm |
It may seem strange in the 21st century, but I think your remark about our knowing how to party may be closer to the truth than many would expect. For fifty years now, I’ve been arguing with Northerners, fellow students at first and now friends, whose eyes lit up brightly whenever I said I was from New Orleans. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the cheery sort of brightness that suggests joy. It was the leery sort of brightness that hints at repressed libido. My friends seem to be glad that there is a place where people can enjoy themselves, while they feel guilty about doing so themselves. It’s a religious tradition, I believe, and I have never admired it. With their repressed libido has always come an arrogant self-righteousness that becomes intolerable, even in friends. This same attitude is actually common in Lousiana outside Greater New Orleans, and it accounts, I believe, for the disregard suffered by the City in the state and in the country.
Margaret // Tuesday, September 16, 2008 at 9:23 am |
Finally someone else is saying what I have thought & said since Katrina. It is amazing that other parts of the country feel the way they do about New Orleans. Possibly it has to do with our colorful politicians and corrupt reputation.
dmd // Tuesday, September 16, 2008 at 4:33 pm |
There are naysayers post-Ike, they are just quieter. Like a masochist, I will look at the posted comments on USA Today just to see what mean-spirited people will post. They are saying the same things – tear it all down, move elsewhere, move it 25o miles inland, don’t give ‘em a dime. Fortunately, there are some enlightened folks out there to point out that most Ike deaths occurred inland.
New Orleans does suffer from a sense of expendability to the outside world, which makes our naysayers that much more vocal. But they are out there – just a little quieter – to knock down anyone, any city that is suffering. How sad from fellow Americans.