Katrina Patina

I wish I could take credit for the creative euphemism “Katrina Patina,” a reference to areas such as Tulane’s campus and other areas of New Orlean’s that are wealthy and were not damaged as significantly as areas like 9th Ward in the wake of Katrina, but I actually just heard it during trips I made to the city early this year. In Lecture 5 ” On the Street Where You Live,” Professor Nelson explicitly discussed the class issues in New Orleans, and I think it is really true that while the hurricane undoubtedly exacerbated them, disparities between class existed prior to rain fall let alone when the levies broke.

When helping clear out an area that was to be a neighborhood garden, my friends and I were approached by a local resident who came over to ask what we were up to. Fortunately the woman who was organizing our efforts both was recognized by and recognized the resident, who quickly engaged us in a conversation about what the lot had looked like before—overgrown with sugarcane and full of scattered items in front of an abandoned, boarded shed-like structure. She also told us about how police were believed to be unjustly terrorizing people in her area, including a young gentleman who had been hanging out on her front porch only to find himself being harshly interrogated by cops.

It was interesting to note that there was quite a degree of class consciousness among those in the area, which was fairly poor, even if consciousness about them was not as pervasive. (Marx ideas referred to by Nelson, “Lecture 17: Is There a Dominant Class Culture?”) The local resident spoke about how she and some other neighbors were able to unite over their frustration and organize a sort of watchdog group that would be available with cameras if aware of any occurring injustices, particularly around police brutality. For me, as a native Houstonian, it was an eye-opening experience to know that the city that always called to mind ideas of beignets, fried alligator and free beaded necklaces was a place where people of lower classes were being marginalized and unheard, and to some extent still are.

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Martha’s Tangential Cartoon Pick!