August 26, 2008--Forgotten Anniversary
In her stirring speech last night Michelle Obama made note of two anniversaries that are of particular interest to Democrats gathered in Denver for their convention—the 80th anniversary of the constitutional amendment that gave women the right to vote and the 45th of Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech.
Shrewdly, taking note of these acknowledged the extraordinary role played by woman in this election cycle (Michelle was classy to make special note of the 18 million cracks Hillary Clinton’s voters made in the political glass ceiling) and the obvious fact that her husband would not be about to be nominated if it weren’t for the movement significantly led by Dr. King.
There was, though, another anniversary that may get mentioned on subsequent convention nights that was not referred to yesterday—the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina that devastated New Orleans and much of the Gulf Coast. It is a lingering human metaphor for the failures of the Bush administration, the real opponent in this election, and the larger failure of will that has left that once-proud city still overrun by crime where fully a third of the pre-Katrina population has still not returned. (See NY Times article linked below.)
The Ninth Ward and Lower Night Ward have not yet been restored. There are sign of despair on every street amid the scattered attempts to rebuild. As a manifestation of that there here have been 127 murders thus far this year, in spite of the loss of population and the police force, which has also not been rebuilt, has been supplemented for all these years by National Guard troops. Three hundred remain. But still felonies persist.
Some claim there is so much to rebuild that New Orleans has to be patient. This is just the latest example of blaming the victim. As many said at the time, the rebuilding of the city should have been a national priority, if you will, a living example of America’s continued grit and can-do spirit. The same spirit that saw us build dams and highways and electrified every corner, no matter how remote, of this great country. But New Orleans continues to fester and is an on-going reminder of how far we as a nation have slipped and lost our passion to help those who have been treated unfairly by will or circumstance.
By coincidence I am currently reading one of the volumes in the remarkable Oxford History of the United States, James Patterson’s Grand Expectations. It covers the U.S. from 1945 through 1974, from the end of the Second World War through the Nixon presidency. Like other times, it was tumultuous, but though these were mainly Jim Crow years where African Americans continued to experience official discrimination and women for much of this time were still by all cultural forces being urged to continue to stay at home and support and take care of their husband and children, many great things were accomplished. The Civil Rights and Women’s Movements led to great victories, educational opportunities expanded geometrically, and the economy for many boomed.
Part of that intermittent prosperity involved a surge in home ownership. By the end of this era up to three quarters of Americans owned homes of their own. Much of this gain, sadly and ironically, is currently being threatened by failed government policies—there will be more about this for certain in Denver this week. But still, this democratizing of home ownership is noteworthy and offers a clue about what might have been done these past three years in New Orleans.
In Grand Expectations Patterson writes about how the nation mobilized to build homes for the millions of veterans who returned from the War. A spectacular example is Levittown, the first of which was built from the ground on Long Island.
The Levitt brothers up to that time had been small-scale builders, but they saw an opportunity. Applying assembly line techniques to the building of houses they established building teams that worked together to construct houses from pre-assembled materials. These included plumbing and electrical systems. These teams could erect a home in sixteen minutes. This is not a typo--in just sixteen minutes. (See page 72 in Grand Expectations.)
In rather a few months 17,000 homes were completed. And not ticky-tacky ones. Sixty years later they are still in hot demand. Whenever one comes on the market it is snatched up.
Levittown included seven “village greens” and shopping centers, fourteen playgrounds, nine swimming pools, two bowling alleys, and a town hall.
And still New Orleans languishes.
Shrewdly, taking note of these acknowledged the extraordinary role played by woman in this election cycle (Michelle was classy to make special note of the 18 million cracks Hillary Clinton’s voters made in the political glass ceiling) and the obvious fact that her husband would not be about to be nominated if it weren’t for the movement significantly led by Dr. King.
There was, though, another anniversary that may get mentioned on subsequent convention nights that was not referred to yesterday—the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina that devastated New Orleans and much of the Gulf Coast. It is a lingering human metaphor for the failures of the Bush administration, the real opponent in this election, and the larger failure of will that has left that once-proud city still overrun by crime where fully a third of the pre-Katrina population has still not returned. (See NY Times article linked below.)
The Ninth Ward and Lower Night Ward have not yet been restored. There are sign of despair on every street amid the scattered attempts to rebuild. As a manifestation of that there here have been 127 murders thus far this year, in spite of the loss of population and the police force, which has also not been rebuilt, has been supplemented for all these years by National Guard troops. Three hundred remain. But still felonies persist.
Some claim there is so much to rebuild that New Orleans has to be patient. This is just the latest example of blaming the victim. As many said at the time, the rebuilding of the city should have been a national priority, if you will, a living example of America’s continued grit and can-do spirit. The same spirit that saw us build dams and highways and electrified every corner, no matter how remote, of this great country. But New Orleans continues to fester and is an on-going reminder of how far we as a nation have slipped and lost our passion to help those who have been treated unfairly by will or circumstance.
By coincidence I am currently reading one of the volumes in the remarkable Oxford History of the United States, James Patterson’s Grand Expectations. It covers the U.S. from 1945 through 1974, from the end of the Second World War through the Nixon presidency. Like other times, it was tumultuous, but though these were mainly Jim Crow years where African Americans continued to experience official discrimination and women for much of this time were still by all cultural forces being urged to continue to stay at home and support and take care of their husband and children, many great things were accomplished. The Civil Rights and Women’s Movements led to great victories, educational opportunities expanded geometrically, and the economy for many boomed.
Part of that intermittent prosperity involved a surge in home ownership. By the end of this era up to three quarters of Americans owned homes of their own. Much of this gain, sadly and ironically, is currently being threatened by failed government policies—there will be more about this for certain in Denver this week. But still, this democratizing of home ownership is noteworthy and offers a clue about what might have been done these past three years in New Orleans.
In Grand Expectations Patterson writes about how the nation mobilized to build homes for the millions of veterans who returned from the War. A spectacular example is Levittown, the first of which was built from the ground on Long Island.
The Levitt brothers up to that time had been small-scale builders, but they saw an opportunity. Applying assembly line techniques to the building of houses they established building teams that worked together to construct houses from pre-assembled materials. These included plumbing and electrical systems. These teams could erect a home in sixteen minutes. This is not a typo--in just sixteen minutes. (See page 72 in Grand Expectations.)
In rather a few months 17,000 homes were completed. And not ticky-tacky ones. Sixty years later they are still in hot demand. Whenever one comes on the market it is snatched up.
Levittown included seven “village greens” and shopping centers, fourteen playgrounds, nine swimming pools, two bowling alleys, and a town hall.
And still New Orleans languishes.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
6:38 AM
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