Once upon a time the southern US city of New Orleans, at the
mouth of the Mississippi river, was a place famed for its jazz and bohemian
culture. The world famous Bourbon Street and French Quarter were home to
musical greats such as Louis Armstrong, Louis Prima and Professor Longhair. Mardi
Gras, the yearly carnival celebrated everything historical and unique about the
Big Easy. But no longer is the city famed for its gumbo and Cajun and Creole
mix.
Most people remember the devastation in 2005 caused by
Hurricane Katrina. A storm so powerful that it breached the city’s ageing
levees and flooded 80 per cent of the municipal. In some places, the water
reached above 15 feet, destroying all houses and businesses. It is estimated
that around 1,464 people lost their lives as a result of Katrina.
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| French Quarter (travelgrove.com) |
Restoring the old city has been no
easy feat. Not only have engineers had to fix the levees and demolish
storm-affected buildings. Politicians have had to deal with the difficulties of
a disparate population (evacuated to different states during Katrina), a
housing shortage and most notoriously the rise in civil disobedience. New
Orleans is now bearer of the unfortunate title ‘Murder City’.
The USA still has one of the
highest homicide rates in the developed world at 4.8 per 100,000 people. In New
Orleans, the homicide rate is ten times higher than the national rate. Last
year 199 people were murdered, meaning that for every 1,700 citizens, one of
them became a victim. The problem appears to be getting worse. Hitherto, there
have been 45 more victims than this time last year. A recent poll among
New Orleans residents reflects these numbers. Crime is now deemed to be the
biggest problem according to 62 per cent of the poll, ahead of issues like education
and housing.
The HBO drama ‘Treme’ set after
Katrina tries to reflect this. Ordinary citizens try to resume their lives, but
are hampered by maladministration and the ever increasing, fear of crime. The
Mayor of New Orleans recently stated on the record that it had become “the
single most important issue facing our city”.
Homicide in America is in decline,
particularly since the peaks of the 1980s. In fact, 2011 was the first year
since 1965 that homicide did not make the country’s top 15 list of ways to die according
to the National Centre for Health Statistics. Cities notorious with crime, the
likes of Baltimore, Washington D.C and Detroit have made steady improvements,
whereas New Orleans has bucked the trend.
Similar to the streets of south Chicago, the patterns of violence are not necessarily gang or drug related.
Residents have voiced the ‘ordinariness’ nature of the killings. The New
Orleans Police Superintendent called it “uncommon endings to very common
fights”. Guns are being used to resolve traffic disputes. At the end of 2011,
stray bullets ended the lives of two toddlers.
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| Crime scene (nola.com) |
The statistics do not lie. In New Orleans
murder is the number one cause of death among black males age 16-24. A Federal survey showed that almost 87
per cent of victims were male and 91.5 per cent were black. Ninety per cent
were killed with firearms. Forty per cent were in their 20s, 13.5 per cent
their teens.
For a city that
has dealt with so much in the past ten years, it makes the violence seem unimaginable.
In the years after Katrina, the murder rate actually came down. Why then the
sudden spike in deaths? Local organisations put it down to the lack of
education and employment opportunities. It can often be put down to sheer
boredom. Living in tough neighbourhoods, where prospects are low and crime is
high; the cycle of violence is sustained and pervasive. Carrying a gun is
necessary for protection and commands respect. One community activist claimed
that youngsters only respected and listened to him because he had a murder to
his name. It is unsurprising to learn that trust in the police is non-existent
and inevitably witnesses rarely see anything or come forward.
All around
neighbourhoods in New Orleans lasting tributes are being made to the spiralling
number of deaths. One company sells customised clothing that prints pictures of
the dead for friends and family. Perhaps more vividly, one website tags the
ever increasing locations of the murders. One church has a created a memorial
that lists the names of the fallen, akin to any war monument.
Seven years
after Katrina, the rebuilding of New Orleans will have to continue.
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