ReX of NOLA Rising just wrote a beautiful letter to the City of New Orleans which touches on the same emotions of frustration and indecision I brought up yesterday. Please read the post in its entirety before coming back here.
Here are some of ReX’s words that stuck with me:
… I am a father to two girls who no longer live in New Orleans because their mother had the foresight to move them to another city far away from the madness. I didn’t argue with her moving because sadly I knew it was the right thing. Yet, I am still a citizen of New Orleans who has stayed behind to try and make our city a better place. I am a New Orleanian who came back home when I could have gone anywhere because I believed we could build a better New Orleans. Up until last week, I held that belief fervently but now I am not so sure at times.
… I am an artist, not an anti-crime activist. I am one man with a voice and I am not afraid to use it. If my words reach one set of ears and it produces something positive, then I have served my purpose. BUT, I am no longer content being a lone voice while our city is falling apart. A city is a place full of citizens and we must get involved, be involved and stay involved if we are going to make our city a better place.
At the end, ReX invites us to participate in a United For Peace anti-crime march on Saturday, September 20th. I am inclined to participate, but am simultaneously hesitant when pausing to consider what a Saturday march will accomplish. We should be there to demand change from a government forced to witness the deaths and anger of its people. To that end, I suggest that the march take place on a weekday and that it end at City Hall, like the last time. Make the mayor, DA and police chief come out in the open again. Have them be physically answerable to their citizens and media instead of hiding behind their buildings and schedules, as we’ve allowed them to do for too long.
If you’re a planner of this march or know someone who is, please consider this. I love the concept of the UFP march, but on a Saturday when Ray Ray and City Council are barbequeing in their backyards, it’s not marching for system change, which is what is required in New Orleans today.
The problem is, we can’t all get off work for half a day for a march.
True that, but if crime keeps up like this and the powers that be are not shaken, if the march is nothing more than feel-good symbolism on a day when no one stirs or is stirred, what’s the point of a march?
Sadly it seems that any anti-crime March will be compared to the January March and the conclusions reached will be very different.
Is that event still being held at the Ritz?
It’s not really a choice for most people whether they can get off from work. If 20 people get really stirred up, so what? That would hardly shake the powers-that-be.
How did we do it in January of 2007?