Second Lines in the Third World

Rebirth
Originally uploaded by thegreatplotnik.

The Great Plotnik wonders what he would have done if the government had told him to abandon his house, but none of his neighbors were abandoning theirs? What if he had nowhere to go? And what if he had no way to get there, even if he had?

And what if the same government had advised him to evacuate his house several times before and things had never really panned out like they'd said?

And what if the only thing he really had in the world was his little house and his little family and his buddy with the tuba marked 'Rebirth,' who marched the Second Line with him at every family affair?

He'd have stayed put, that's what. Damned straight, just like rice sharecroppers in Bangladesh. Where else would he go?

Everyone in high places had seen the studies. They knew that if the levees burst, at least 100,000 people would act in precisely this way, because they always do. So if the city were flooded, there would have to be some way to deal with all these people afterwards.

The Great Plotnik is no expert on human affairs, but he can promise you that if these 100,000 people had been prosperous, there would have been a plan in place. An hour after the first levee fell, there would have been choppers in the sky, rescue boats in the sea and seaplanes in the bayous. There would have been airborne medevacs and representatives from Allstate and local restaurants would have catered the welcome rooms in Hilton Head.

What galls The Great Plotnik is not the above, because it is the same in every country in the world: the wealthy have more tools.

What galls him is that most Americans don't realize that New Orleans did not just become a third world country. Parts of this grand city have been crying out from the third world for a long time. It's also true of Chicago and Los Angeles and Miami and every other large city in America. Kids don't go to school, gangs create all commerce and color divides all but the most spectacularly capable.

The newscasters continue to spout about a breakdown of humanity. The only breakdown Plotnik has seen comes from a government of privelege who gave up on its needy long ago.

Remember this too: the man's tuba says 'Rebirth.' It is a stone cold fact that the day the streets of New Orleans are clear the Second Lines will tune up and march again. The Great Plotnik hopes to be marching with them.