The Information Super-Frog

Another myth about Post-Katrina New Orleans I've heard from national media is that there are now no Black people here or hardly any.

I live and spend the most time in the Uptown portion of the city, a large chunk of the city developed in the 19th century that is probably as ethnically and economically diverse as anywhere in the Metro area. It's still that way around here.

Most of the time the bigest differences noticiable in the population is just the general absence of lots of people. Something like 3 out of 4 of the Pre-Katrina population isn't back yet. Along areas like Magazine Street, this isn't so noticiable, as both it's an area that's a couple steps ahead of much of the city in recovery due to less damage, and because so many people from other parts of town are there to patronize the businesses. There are crowds, lines, and traffic jams. However elsewhere the diminished population can be very noticiable.

The shift I've most noticed is the large number of Latino workers in town. New Orleans has long had a fair sized Hispanic population (Honduran, Mexican, Cuban, and other nations around the Gulf/Carribean predominating), but I've been hearing much more Spanish spoken lately.

I've heard some local commentators suggest that Post-Katrina New Orleans is likely to switch from 60% to 40% African-American. Remains to be seen.

The one place since I've been back that just seemed overwhelmingly white was Sunday evening in Marigny, catching the Jazz Vipers at Cafe Brasil; it seemed like about 4 African-Americans in a crowd of about 200. I don't know if that was a difference in the neighborhood, or something to do with the demographics of appeal of the band.

A related media myth is protraying the African American population of New Orleans as if it were almost all desperately poor underclass. Despite being in the "deep south", New Orleans has long a significiant African American population who were educated, who were professional, and who were home owners.

The good sized area of the city from Gentilly Ridge to Lake Pontchartrain, lowland within the city limits, was mostly undeveloped swamp at the start of the 20th century. After World War II, it was drained and filled with subdivisisions of homes representing the Post-War American Middle Class Dream. This was the height of Louisiana's Jim Crow era, and unlike the long mixed 19th century portions of the city, there were seperate "white" and "colored" subdivisions built. NPR had an excellent story on one such development the other day, Return to New Orleans: Pontchartrain Park, described as like growing up in a "Negro Leave It To Beaver" world.

I've heard out of town commentators say ignorant things about how no one should want to rebuild a ghetto. Most of the area flooded was no damn ghetto.

( ramble about a random photo )

The Sunday before Mardi Gras has a number of large parades.

One is Thoth, which unusually has resisted city pressure to conform to one of the standard routes and still parades on upper Magazine Street. This area is still mostly locals.

I went to two parties at friend's homes just off the parade route, 3 blocks apart. Here are some photos of folks and festivities within those 3 blocks.

( And now, the rest of the story... )