Blockade
Everyone in New Orleans knows that the president lied. He staged a speech in front of Jackson Square and actually made it sound convincing. Of course, we had ears to hear what he was saying, and we may have momentarily forgotten who we were listening to. We may have momentarily trusted.
The truth, which by now has become obvious, is that the federal government does not hear us. Our anger, our frustration. Trailers are lined up in parking lots, with no one able to live in them. It will soon be six months after the fact of Katrina. The city sits and disintegrates as a few brave souls work to fix their property. In the "State of the Union," President Bush gave less than one minute to the greatest natural disaster in our history. We seem to be a forgotten part of this “union.� We seem to be on our own.
So the time has come to show what power our city does have. The time has come to blockade the Mississippi.
After Katrina, we all heard the uninformed around the country wondering why this city was built here. Why would anyone put a city below sea level?
The time has come to show the nation why this city was built here.
We supply your oil; we send your wheat and corn out to the world. We are the main artery of America. We are your port.
No more. The time has come to line up our boats, to tie them together and to stop the traffic on the Mississippi. We should do this right by the Crescent City Connection, the big bridge that connects downtown to Algiers.
This will be our sit-in on the river.
We should stop the traffic on that river until the country realizes who we are. There is no more time to wait patiently, to trust the government. There is no more time to be the Big Easy. It is time to get angry.
Line up the boats so we can walk from one side of the river to the other. Bring your instruments, and we’ll make a party out of it.
Blockade the Mississippi.
Cincinnati needs bananas? They will have to wait.
Chicago is short of sugar? They will have to wait.
St. Louis is running low on coffee? We all know the answer: You wait. You wait.
We will disrupt your breakfast until more voices are shouting about the importance of New Orleans.
Comments
Colleen
February 13, 2006 11:11 PM
That sound you just heard was my jaw dropping. This is amazing. It is brilliant. It is....it is staggering in its simplicity. You are right Mr. Noone - the country is still arguing about why New Orleans exists instead of rebuilding it. The country is whining about everything these days, while all of you try to survive. We are still using you, but not respecting you.
We are cruel, and we need to learn.
Your idea is brilliant. I hope somebody hears you.
Dar
February 14, 2006 09:12 AM
DAMN! I wish I had a boat!
northerner
February 14, 2006 09:48 AM
DO IT. according to the white house, "the president is focused on the future, not the past" and doesn't give a damn.
Skippydelic
February 14, 2006 01:01 PM
GO FOR IT!!!
Just for irony's sake, I'd almost say that if the trailers that were *supposed* to be for the people of New Orleans aren't going to be used, *they* should just be dumped into the river and turned into a dam. It would be a *lot* more difficult to get the river open again than if you just tied boats together, and all things considered...
Or you could just *say* that you planned to do it... ;-)
Markus
February 17, 2006 10:49 AM
You forget that the Port of S. Louisiana (up the river) exports a lot of the nation's agricultural exports. Any prolonged blockage would hit them right in the breadbasket.
A commenter on Metroblogging New Orleans says that the city (or state) charges a fee associated with river pilotage. I have another suggesiont. The new few for river pilotage is $1 million. We need to make sure this includes the superport, to shut down the oil imports.
I think $5 a gallon gas and piles of grain rotting on the ground and no coffee anywhere sound like a fine idea.