I love her... New Orleans

Last night I watched a documentary, Faubourg Treme. It was an intimate look at New Orleans and the Treme area through the eyes of Lolis Eric Elie. Lolis Eric Elie walks us through his neighborhood, Faubourg Treme as he examines the rich history and culture of a neighborhood that was home to largest community of free blacks. Faubourg Treme is rich in history and culture. Newspaperman Lolis Eric Elie and director Dawn Logsdon created a documentary that became a love story for this particular neighborhood of New Orleans. The ebony-ivory combination of Elie and Logsdon quintessentially gave a backdrop of diversity which exists within this community since its beginning.

New Orleans has been so divisive for years. Racial discrimination and ignorance kept us apart for years. Then the levees broke. Homes were flooded. Lives were destroyed. Culture and history was lost. The richness of New Orleans is its people. It's the color commentary of two Saints fans sitting at a bar on a Sunday afternoon. It's the sounds of Soul Rebels on Thursday night at Le Bon Temps Roule on Magazine Street. It's the smells of great food throughout your 'mama-n-nem' house. It's dialect of 'making groceries' instead of going to the grocery store. It's the remembrance of something great that makes us 'naturally New Orleans.' We can sit here and point fingers for the slow response to Hurricane Katrina, but it's up to us to make sure the memory of those who died and the culture lives on.

This cannot be a black-white thing. There's an influx of brown people coming to our area. We have to embrace it all. We have to understand that this is the time make something new. We have to make sure that Hurricane Katrina and the aftermatch did not happen in vain. It's up to us all New Orleanians to ensure that we can laugh, party and love as we once did. We cannot allow Katrina to take our spirit. We have to show that we are fearless. We are ready to take our city back through politics, business and culture. We need all of these things to sustain New Orleans as a viable city that like no other. New Orleans, you have made me what I am. It's time for me to help you in your need. My journey continues.