We came to New Orleans today planning to do a progress report on rebuilding. We arrived, however, just as a demonstration against crime was getting underway.
For those of you who haven't been following the latest news out of New Orleans, crime here has once again reared its ugly head. There have been at least eight murders so far this year. It could be nine, but there seems to be some quibbling about whether or not that murder occurred before or after the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve.
New Orleans has long been a divided city -- divided by race and class, money and power. Today, for a few hours, those chasms were crossed, as people from all over town marched on City Hall. They were brought together by anger and frustration, fear and heartbreak. They clutched pictures of loved ones lost, babies murdered, friends gunned down.
One woman held up a poster with an infant's smiling face staring out. It was her eleven month old son, shot to death by a carjacker in front of her. "I've come not just for me, and my son," she told me, "But for everyone."
Mayor Ray Nagin tried to address the crowd and likely would have used the phrase he's used for the last six months, "Enough is enough." That's what he said in June when he asked for the National Guard to help patrol the streets, and that's what he said on Tuesday when he promised new anti-crime initiatives.
Today, however, the crowd didn't want to hear those words. They've heard them too many times already. March organizers refused to let the mayor speak. It was a very public slap in the face, a sign of just how deep the anger here has become. It was an extraordinary day in this bruised and battered city. I hope you'll tune in tonight.
