American Outliers: The New Orleans Dilemma

Jul 24, 2017
6 min read

New Orleans, Louisiana, is perhaps one of the most engaging and historically unique cities in the United States.

I first visited the city in 2009, as a sixteen-year-old high school senior on a church trip. The muggy heat, the constant sound of second lines, and the smell of gumbo wafting through the French Quarter lured me in, and I decided then that I would make this place my home.

I visited again in 2011, on my college spring break with my mother, and again, I was hooked. The city was slowly coming back from Hurricane Katrina, and as I walked the streets of the Garden District, I knew I needed to set roots there, even if it was just a temporary move.

Finally, in August of 2014, I moved to the Big Easy. Everything I owned was in the back of a Uhaul and a Ford Explorer, and I moved into a 800 square foot apartment in a not-so-great neighborhood. I was barely paying my bills, but I’d left my small town and moved to “the big city”. At the time, crime in New Orleans was at a low, and I felt completely safe, albeit homesick. I was seven hours from all of my friends and family, and moving from the foothills of Appalachia to southern Louisiana was a culture shock for me. Nevertheless, I settled right in to the unique identity that was New Orleans, and embraced the laissez-faire attitude that made the city famous.

It’s been three years since I became a resident of this city, and it pains me to say that the Crescent City can no longer hide the problems that plague it.

In May, 2017, Mayor Mitch Landrieu finally succeeded in removing three Confederate era monuments that were located in different parts of the city. He had the statue of Robert E. Lee removed from Lee Circle, the statue of PGT Beauregard removed from City Park, and he had the statue of Jefferson Davis removed from Jefferson Davis Parkway. Particularly troubling was the removal of PGT Beauregard, a New Orleans native who is currently buried in Metairie Cemetery. Beauregard was the inventor of the New Orleans electric streetcar system (used across the country), the commander of West Point, and the commander who ordered the first shot at Fort Sumter, essentially starting the Civil War. Davis, though settling in Biloxi, died in New Orleans, and was the only president of the Confederate States of America. After two years, and a secretive vote, Landrieu and the group Take Em Down NOLA finally got their way: they had the statues removed, despite the city protests. Though the city is essentially bankrupt, Landrieu used $2.1 million in city funds to have the statues taken down. They’re now being stored in a junkyard, pieces of art and history that are being hidden from the public eye.

Particularly troubling was the manner in which the Mayor conducted the removal. On May 1st, 2017, he allowed his deputy mayor to ride along in a deuce-and-a-half with New Orleans Antifa, and New Orleans police stood to the side as Antifa physically assaulted pro-monument supporters. This would spark a nationwide call to arms on May 7th, when Mayor Landrieu and the police commissioner finally decided to take action.

While the mayor was busy distracting everyone with the removal of historical monuments, New Orleans had it’s 300th shooting on May 31st, 2017. Per 100,000 people, New Orleans beat out Chicago and Baltimore for shooting incidents. Think about that: New Orleans has now become more violent than Chicago, who had earned the name “Chi-raq”. As rapper K. Gates shows in the documentary Murda Capital, violence is a way of life for many New Orleans natives. It’s become so entangled in the culture that it’s just another news story; just another statistic in the world of big cities.

As of 2017, New Orleans has the third highest murder rate in the country, behind Baltimore and Chicago. We even beat Memphis, who is known as one of the most violent cities in the South. New Orleans also has a twenty percent murder-solve rate. That is one of the lowest in the country for a police force that was actively recruiting for officers the past three years.

Couple this with the fact that in the summer of 2016, New Orleans was the worst city to look for a job in, and you have a plethora of problems.

I’m no mathematician, but when you add violence, low employment, a corrupt mayor and city council, and a twenty percent murder-solve rate, what do you get?

You get a city that is in danger of becoming the next Detroit.

You get abandoned buildings, a public education system that is far below the national standard, and a place where tourists are attacked in the street.

You get a city that cannot adequately pay it’s fire department, EMS, or police officers. A city that can no longer respond to calls for help.

You get a city that becomes a haven for anarcho-communist groups like Antifa and By Any Means Necessary (BAMN), as well as more militant groups like the New Black Panther Party and Nation of Islam.

You get an overwhelming homeless population, many of whom have substance abuse problems or are disabled veterans. One homeless veteran I came across has paranoid schizophrenia, and damage from Agent Orange. All of the funds to remove monuments, but mentally ill homeless people cannot seem to find any aid? It seems that Mayor Landrieu’s priorities are greatly eschewed.

In late June, two tourists from Boston were brutally beaten in the French Quarter by four men, and both tourists were critically injured. Just yesterday, a man attacked a woman outside the Dave & Busters, and wound up kidnapping her. In broad daylight.

The city that was once a haven has become a bastion of violence and depravity. Earlier this month, the New Orleans Public Library announced that they would be holding “Drag Queen Story Hour”. This comes on the heels of one of the south’s largest gay pride celebrations, Southern Decadence, which boasts an average of over 200,000 attendees over the course of a six-day celebration.

Over the course of three years, New Orleans has become a city I’m starting to become unfamiliar with.

Many citizens realize the problem, and have tried for years to fix it. Unfortunately, New Orleans has drawn in a lot of transplants from larger, liberal cities, which has served to cause the city more harm than good.

How do you fix a city that doesn’t realize there’s a problem? Sometimes, you have to let something burn to the ground before it’ll be built back up. Mayor Landrieu’s term is almost up, but the current candidates aren’t much of a step up. One of the front runners, LaToya Cantrell, has had problems with the IRS in the past, and her husband is no stranger to illicit activities.

It seems that the cycle of corruption, crime, violence, and poverty will continue to plague the city.

As much as I want to see New Orleans succeed, because of the tenacity, grit, hospitality, and love that the natives have shown me, I also see the harsh reality: people like Mitch Landrieu, with deep pockets and dark connections, are running this beloved city into the ground.

New Orleans isn’t the only city like this, but we can’t keep ignoring the problem until it goes away.

In order to fix a problem, you have to admit the problem exists. That’s how you fix it.

New Orleans drew me in eight years ago, and now that I’m here, I see that it was for a reason. This place helped to form me into what I am, and I’ll forever be grateful for it.

To the city of New Orleans: you have faced Katrina, Betsy, Camille, Andrew, and others. You have faced fire and flood, war and peace, corruption, violence, and freedom. You have been a haven to the enslaved looking for freedom, and a harbor to those seeking to do harm. You have dark patches, just like any other city, but the music hasn’t died yet.

New Orleans: do not let Mitch Landrieu and the rest of the local government ruin you. Take action, it’s not too late yet.

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