They go Marching on................City Hall

2/15/2007 3:22 PM

They go marching on……City Hall

I woke up in the morning in a small town somewhere North of New Orleans. After I had driven for eleven hours the day before on primarily back roads I decided that I had to stop and get a hotel. Back on the road listening to the radio I soon learned of the tragedy that had happened while I was asleep. A woman had been killed in front of her young daughter and husband in New Orleans. Her husband protected their daughter but was put in the hospital for three bullet wounds. This was the 11th murder in something like 24 hours or less. More people had died in New Orleans than in Baghdad since the first of the year. The city is no stranger to crime, but this was unbearable.

The city then did something that apparently is unprecedented in its history. On Thursday the 11th of January thousands of people from every community within the city marched on city hall from all directions. In front of city Hall a representative from each major community spoke about the problems and what needed to be done. The Mayor and the Police Chief were both present but did not speak to avoid a negative response; they aren’t held in high esteem. I just thought it so impressive to see how that the people of the city brought a list of actions that needed to be taken to secure and rebuild THEIR city to the government. It reminded me of what someone told me, “Governments don’t build cities, people build cities and cities build governments”. The work I see being done reminds me of this everyday. The people here are so strong and resilient. They know that it won’t be the government that rebuilds this city; they just want the government to allow them to rebuild their homes and livelihoods.

Jared