The Saints Are Coming

If anyone had told me two years ago that I’d be in such a state over football at ANY time in my life, I would have laughed in their face. After all, football was for those big Bubbas I grew up with in Mississippi. I’m more cerebral than that. Not anymore. Apparently the new “normal” here in New Orleans has included for me, at least, a shift to maniacal Saints fan mode. “Fan” just seems too tame a word to describe the thrill I get at each win. The tears just watching the game in my living room. The high I get seeing the 6 Elvises or Moses or even the “F*&@k Da Eagles” girl splash across the screen of my new HD T.V. Just when I think I’ve had all I can stand of this place. When I think that the real New Orleans is gone forever. The murder rate, the stupidity of our so-called leaders, I watch a Saints game and my heart almost bursts with joy at the team, the fans, the general wonderfulness of this place and its people. Never in my life would I have believed that I would actually know the names of most of the Saints players, let alone keep track of every play, every penalty. I even own Saints clothing to wear to work on the Fridays before football games. I have Saints earrings for God’s sake! I ordered a black and gold sparkly turtle neck! It feels like so much more than just a football game. The Saints ARE this city. They represents our indomitable spirit. Our joy at life. Our sense of humor. And if they kick some ass at the same time…well, so be it.

And the killing continues

We are all --- every one of us --- the victims of violent crime.
Historically, the face of the perpetrator of violence and injustice has been a white face for the African American community. The effects of slavery --- the sense of helplessness at the hands of a race that held god-like power over another --- are still felt today in the form of fear and mistrust. Fear of the criminal-justice system that too often fails everyone involved. Mistrust of any white person who may hold a position of authority.

However, many in the white community are feeling a similar sense of helplessness at the hand of their perpetrators who are statistically at least African American. Even those whites that, in their heart of hearts, embrace the visions of Dr. Martin Luther King and John and Bobby Kennedy (not to mention Christ himself) are in fear of being vulnerable to an unknown black person. We become hyper-vigilant. Clutch our belongings closely and hurry by.

This sense of fear and mistrust plays out throughout our city. And the end result is a huge roiling anger that has been building for generations. But I believe our anger is misplaced. We all have friends (and many of us have family) of a different race than our own.

We must resist the urge to shout “racism” at the first slight and instead realize that the focus of our anger should be the criminals of all races and levels of society who are destroying our city and our way of life. We must do everything we can to reclaim our birthright from these thugs who are stealing our possessions, our culture and our very lives!

ALL of the citizens of New Orleans are collectively sick of those who would take from us what we have worked our whole lives to preserve. We must join together in a common goal of erasing crime from our community. Only then, can we really erase racism.