"You're Always on My Mind"

This is Patrick (one of the Advisors on this trip).  I say that to preface that this isn't my first trip to New Orleans for service work before.  Four years ago, I had the pleasure of taking a tour of the Levees with a Geology Professor from Tulane University.  Through this field trip, as he called it, I learned a tremendous amount of information about why the levees failed, the decisions that were made, and the racial implications of these decisions.

The basics of his explanation of the levee failure in the lower 9th ward was that the wall was built improperly (too many issues to list), the wall was not completed in a timely manner, the flood gates failed because the power was out, and a barge was in the canal and likely busted through the wall. The further explanation takes around 3 hours for him to explain through various stops.

One story he shared, however, was one that is a common shared story in New Orleans. He shared how many residents believe that the lower 9th ward was flooded to salvage other neighborhoods, specifically white, middle class neighborhoods and the French Quarter.  He stated, with his expert analysis of the situation, that there was nothing of proof to believe such a story, but was troubling none-the-less.

It has long been my opinion that while I don't personally subscribe to that belief, the mere fact that the community has a distrust in the powers of the government to protect them from catastrophic flooding and destruction is a major issue in New Orleans.  I have always wondered about this story, and on Monday I had the pleasure to meet with a woman who lives in the upper 9th ward and subscribes to that story.  Her story of the storm and the distrust in community leadership is astounding.  It further exposed an issue to me that cannot be ignored:

How can a community be successful when they distrust their leaders?

Her final statement to us on Monday was that she hopes we tell the story and share that New Orleans still is rebounding and growing and while they have hope 10 years after Hurricane Katrina, that they hope we have not forgotten. So with that, I will conclude this long-winded post by saying that these individuals have been on my mind for four years now, and they will remain on my mind.

--Patrick