I truly adore Melissa Harris-Perry. She is extremely thoughtful in her analysis of problems and our political circus. She and her husband, James Perry, have written a great piece in The Nation. Enjoy.
From the Nation:
New Orleans hurricane disasters are who we are.
We met in the aftermath of Katrina, both giving speeches about race and recovery at a fair-housing conference. We attempted our first date during the 2008 Democratic National Convention, but the requisite preparations and family evacuations for Hurricane Gustav made it impossible to connect with each other. On our second date, at President Obama’s inauguration, we co-authored a commentary arguing that his election was possible because the televised suffering of Katrina survivors dramatically changed American public opinion toward President Bush and the Republican Party. We were in love by the time President Obama made his first presidential visit to New Orleans. We took the opportunity to write together again, claiming that the lessons of post-Katrina New Orleans offered a blue print for rebuilding our national economy.
That’s how nerd love works… at least in New Orleans.
Hurricane Isaac, by striking the Gulf Coast on the seven-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, reminds us that while some things have changed, much remains the same.
Much has changed for us. We are no longer dating; we are happily married. This time there were two sets of parents to evacuate. This time there was a fifth grader’s school schedule to consider. This time there were two houses to secure. There is the little shotgun in the 7th ward where we live; we just celebrated the full post-Katrina restoration of that home earlier this year. It stood strong in the storm. Across the street was the other home. It had been ravaged by Katrina and Gustav, but we’d just closed on it a few weeks ago, hoping to fully restore it and make it our home so our family would have room to grow. Isaac took it on Wednesday morning, exactly seven years after Katrina.
This time we could share the emotional despair and deferred dreams as never before. (more...)
