We uploaded the Nightline segment on the violence surge in New Orleans that discusses Helen’s murder to youtube. In short, the piece cuts down to heartstrings and buzz points. Emmy (Abeona’s amazing director) provides a wonderful interview, even if the clip edits out much of her thoughtful and poignant commentary. Our kids are featured (Will included, although mostly hidden at the lunch table). Several of my photographs (4, I think) are featured, although uncredited. Kate and I are in a group photo from the March (taken by Paul, uncredited). While the clip is respectful, it falls short on content. The grinding poverty exposed and exacerbated by Katrina and its relationship to violence are not discussed. The spot was between an Oscar story related to the best picture snub for Dreamgirls and physical signs of rudeness in France. Make what you will of that.
I also found these march/rally videos. This one features Dora (friend, Abeona parent, and ShoeNami shopkeeper) in the very beginning.
Helen’s husband, Paul, wrote a moving piece in the Times-Picayune. It came at at wonderful time. I’ve been seething about Riley’s assertion of Paul’s withholding information for days; too frustrated and angry to speak or write a thing about it. What can I say? Warren Riley is a horrible, ineffective leader. He lies, points fingers, distorts truth and by doing so, provides one more reason why New Orleans and her people struggle. He is an embarrassment. How dare he.
Our photos from the March/Rally may be viewed here.
Melanie | 30-Jan-07 at 9:48 am | Permalink
I thought that was you in the group photo and I’ve been wondering what you thought of the story. Its placement between the Oscar snub (oh, the horror!) and French gestures (wtf?) left me puzzled.
Holly | 30-Jan-07 at 11:10 am | Permalink
No kidding. While it could have been that they just wanted to air it as soon as possible and used what was on-hand, the fact that it follows Dreamgirls is a bit off-putting to me. Obviously, Dreamgirls was the “lead” story. It sort of speaks to where New Orleans may be in the media’s eye… a sensational drama somewhere between entertainment and travel. Sad.
Chris S. | 31-Jan-07 at 6:58 pm | Permalink
Okay, I recognize this man now. I think I saw him be interviewed on Anderson Cooper a few weeks back. Thanks for posting the interview, I’ll have a look.
The thing about the news media is that they exploit disaster just as they do any other story: Generally, they ride the pony until the ratings dip, and then go in search of the next big hit. Disaster is a commodity just the same as war, high-profile crime, Hollywood news, politics and economics in the eyes of most newsrooms. That’s why I have respect for Anderson Cooper, as he is the most consistent of the major newscasters in keeping Katrina a major part of his overall news portfolio. It seems that NBC’s Brian Williams tries too, although I haven’t seen his newscasts recently.
What is frustrating from a distance is that there seems to be all of this information, but very little action. By now, the people of New Orleans realize that the federal, state and local governments will not be of much help, in terms of improving their day to day lives and futures. The people of New Orleans must band together and take matters into their own hands. New Orleans must adopt a pioneer mentality. You must run bad people out of town, literally. You must pool together resources and fix and rebuild what you can, when you can. It is truly inexcusable that the richest nation in the history of the world has allowed one of its culturally most important cities to languish in such a fashion. But if New Orleans can somehow survive, the character of the city and the strength of its culture will be unimpeachable.
So I’m sending you a donation for the school. I’m dropping it in the mail tomorrow morning. It’s not much — I don’t have much — but I too, have to hold myself accountable. I’m willing to put my money where my mouth is — and hopefully this summer, my time.
Holly | 31-Jan-07 at 7:22 pm | Permalink
Chris, thank you. Hats off to you for generosity. I hope that others will do the same!
There is an enormous amount (indeed, I’d argue all) of progress made by the people of New Orleans. We are stymied by all sorts of bureaucratic hang-ups. LRA money yet to be distributed, grants that the city either won’t or can’t get (the official line is that the grants are for rebuilding “refunds” but the city doesn’t have the up-front money so a “refund” is a mute point), organizations that are floundering… these are all common themes.
I’ve been thinking about posting about a round table/media discussion about Latino health post-Katrina that I attended a week or so ago… it sort of sums up a lot of the frustrations. I’ve been going back and forth on what I want to say (if anything). Stay tuned.