Pages

Friday, March 24, 2017

Survival over Secondlines

Yesterday I posted an article about people leaving New Orleans, but decided to refrain from sharing my thoughts. After seeing this story, I've changed my mind.

In addition to the poor economic prospects they face in New Orleans, relative to other cities (I've actually had a white college drop out who was making a six-figure salary tell me that $60K was "good money" for me despite my undergrad & grad degrees in engineering, art, business & urban redevelopment), professional & middle-class blacks are leaving New Orleans in droves because of their poor quality of life, exacerbated by second-class public services, in particular police protection.

While predominantly-black neighborhoods like New Orleans East, St Roch and the Seventh Ward deal with broken street lights, unaswered 911 calls and ambivalent police responses (ex. a crazy guy stood in the middle of busy street & threatened to 'blow my f'king head off,' and I had to call 911 twice, only for the dispatcher to ask me what I was wearing...but not the crazy guy), street lights are immediately fixed and cops immediately respond in predominantly-white areas like Tulane and Carrollton.

So while New Orleans has a nonstop supply of secondlines, festivals and other forms of cheap entertainment, being able to party all the time pales in comparison to being able to pay your bills every month and avoid getting killed.




No comments:

Post a Comment