[...] Others fear that the soulful old city of homey cafes serving warm beignets, and crammed like a giant curiosity shop with faded relics of the world the slaves made, will be swept aside by new development. That fear seems particularly acute among African Americans, who make up the overwhelming majority of the city.
"My grandmother lived on Conti Street in an old, falling-down neighborhood, and I'm worried that they are going to gentrify it, that they not only are going to rebuild New Orleans but they are going to reinvent New Orleans," says Jervey Tervalon, an L.A. writer who set two of his novels in his native city.
Chuck Taggart, a DJ and music programmer who grew up in New Orleans and hosts a radio show at Cal State Northridge, says he doesn't want New Orleans culture in the future "to exist solely as a diaspora." "All of this is so soul-crushing," he says. "I can't bear to watch it; I can't bear not to. I still feel like I have lost a family member. I'm in mourning." [...]
| That's from Reed Johnson's Los Angeles Times article "A strong, soulful, wicked, frail city," with help from Times staff writers Richard Cromelin, Lynell George and Chris Lee and correspondent Steve Hochman
posted in articles on September 4, 2005 10:37 PM | t (0)
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I've been contemplating this alot lately...it is a concern brought up by Wynton Marsalis on CNN.
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