What's happening in New Orleans?

There are no words available to properly convey the injustice that is currently happening in New Orleans. I was there in August last year to document the recovery a year after Katrina, and a class of photography students were just down there during spring break, and things are really bad.

The murder and suicide rates have skyrocketed. People who moved back, are now getting fed up with the crime, and moving away again. Miles of devastated lands have yet to be touched. People walk around with a punch-drunk look on their face, as if they are waiting for something, anything to happen.

This city is going to struggle for some time. The biggest problem is that, before the hurricane, service was the biggest industry around. Many people with little or no education got their livelihood from it. If tourism does not rebound, then you have a population with no money, no education, and no skills.

Personally, the most offensive thing I have seen, is that most of the public housing has been closed, to never open again. Since property values have shot up (talked to one woman whose crappy one-bedroom home rented for $400 per month before the hurricane, now rents for over $1200. She had to move in with her neighbor, and their three kids to split the rent), much of the public housing is being torn down to make room for condos. So, on top of the no money/skills/education problem, you can add no homes as well.

So, to summarize, out of sight, out of mind.