American Sodom: New Orleans' Past as Prologue

Hurricane Katrina was a monster storm. The images of the tragedy that unfolded were seared into the national consciousness and cast in high relief the failure of the government at every level to respond to the unfolding tragedy. It was increasingly clear that the city’s very survival was at stake, and in that context a debate began in New Orleans and around the country: should the city hold Mardi Gras in 2006? The festival would begin only six months after the storm, with the city of New Orleans still on its knees. The rise of fundamentalism and its growing political clout, heavily concentrated in the Republican Party, has had important consequences for the way the Republican administration responded to Katrina. New Orleanians were shocked and bewildered by the reluctance of politicians in Washington to commit to rebuilding the city and strengthening its levee system, a flawed system built by the U.S. Corps of Engineers. Only New Orleans’ “otherness,” its marginalization from American culture, its peculiar history and culture that set it so far outside the national mainstream, can explain such attitudes. Not only is New Orleans different, it is defiantly so. The city’s residents treasure its peculiarities and embrace its distinctive culture that has so far withstood the homogenization that has erased so much regional distinctiveness in America. This paper will explore the controversies that swirled around efforts to rebuild the city and its culture.