A commenter at the G Bitch Spot recently said,
I can’t help but wonder why the term ‘carpetbagger’ is so pervasive – and (the real issue) why so many New Orleanians seem border-line condescending to those who didn’t grow up here.
Leaving aside the “carpetbagger” question (far, far to the side), I thought the “condescending to those who didn’t grow up here” deserves consideration.
I don’t need to toss around links to support this commenter’s claim. It’s not a revelation by any means. As a non-native New Orleanian, I’ve certainly felt the condescension s/he refers to.
I have to admit that a lot of the condescension is earned. As a native Northerner, I know that when we come South we can be a pretty sanctimonious bunch. I’m sure I’ve been guilty of that. After living 17 of the last 20 years in the South, the last 12 in New Orleans, I’m resigned to the condescension–to a point.
What I’ve always objected to is how this condescension morphs when combined with nationalistic zeal. You know, New Orleans chauvinism. We’re the best city in the world. Have the best radio station in the universe. “Only New Orleans is real, the rest is done with mirrors.”
I like that nationalistic thing to a point. It can be fun, and given what an underdog New Orleans is in almost every conceivable way, it doesn’t seem so brutish. I even have that “Only New Orleans is real” sign hanging in my office at work. Plus, there’s basis in fact. New Orleans is truly that unique. It deserves to be celebrated–and protected.
But.
When the condescension is simply reflexive, automatically dismissive, then I start pulling at the thread and I ask, Isn’t this on the same continuum as the “blood-relative ordinance” that St. Bernard Parish tried to impose after Katrina?
If we want New Orleans to grow, we need to import people, or outlaw birth control, right?
I say all this not to excuse the stupid things outsiders will say about New Orleans, nor to excuse in any way the damage someone like Ed Blakely has done to the city.
Personally, I cede nothing. I’ve come to think of myself as having dual citizenship. I don’t live in Louisiana, I’m a New Orleanian (I have this pet idea that any non-native who lived here before the federal floods and came back is now a naturalized New Orleanian). And I’m also from that place done with mirrors. So it’s all good.
Fact of life around here, I wouldn’t worry too much about it. As a port city, New Orleans has always been shaped by influxes of ‘carpetbaggers’ (even before that term was coined) and the locals never seem to like the new folks much (Spanish vs. French, French vs. Americans, etc. etc.) But eventually they’re here long enough and some sort of accommodation is reached.
You make a good point, rcs. Yeah, I’m past worrying about it. As I said, “it’s all good.”
Unlike others who’ve commented on this, you admit that there can be condescension from those who come in. I think that especially happens if they see themselves as coming from a “better” place or they get to come in and not see the real life on the ground that is NO. As a natural naturalized New Orleanian [32 years really IS enough], I’ve experienced a lot of that “outsider” condescension [when you tell people you are from here, and you are black and not dressed in a tux or diamonds, and have a college degree, you get the strangest looks], and not just pre-Katrina. Much came post-K and still is coming. It comes from neither side giving the other enough, or sometimes any, credit or humanity.
We don’t need people to come in and save us [most days] but we do need honest, sincere help to pull shit back together.
Couldn’t have said it better, G.