It’s a mystery – to the Times-Picayune at least – why police harassment of backstreet culture in New Orleans continues, and who is behind it and why.
First, in every city that I know, the mayor runs the police because it’s the mayor who appoints the police chief. One word from the mayor and the word would trickle down: leave the Indians and second lines alone, or if there is a reason for communicating, do it with the same respect you’d afford people attending the opera or symphony.
Treme seems to be the battleground now. It must have to do with real estate and the desire of the city to “gentrify” north of Rampart. Why they think it’s necessary to kill the culture of the Treme in the process – one of the most culturally significant places in North America (and the world) – is another great American mystery.
Destroy what’s great to replace it with…what exactly?
Ella Fitzgerald