An Open Letter From Nona Hendryx On The State Of Nawleans, State Of The Nation
By Nona Hendryx • Jul 13th, 2008 • Category: features
After 400 years of blood, sweat & tears + a few mo, I’m in Nawleans fo the Ess-endz Fest (a 3 day black invasion of N. Orleans, I’ve caught sight of only about 100 or so white folks). I’m here with Sarah Dash to sing a couple of Labelle songs in a Essence tribute to a ‘Living Icon’ Patti LaBelle, our sister and the glorious lead singer of Labelle.
3 years after Katrina, huffed & puffed and blew the house of cards, betta known as levees down and turned lives upside down & inside out and ripped the wool from the eyes of the world about the state of the Nation known as The United States of America.
Today I saw a old friend in Nawleans weep about the devastation from Katrina, 3 years on. A strong, can do kinda woman who’s heart has been broken and slow to repair.
Through my eyes…People are living life in ‘parallel universe’ matrices; artificial environments that humans see as real.
Politicians sworn to serve and lead, old and new emperors dressed in old and new clothes!
The Middle Class; A parallel universe said to be related to ours, that may contain extinct humans; non existent.
The Rich have money to balm their wounds and soothe their conscience, bury their dead and fly away to another reality.
(Another reality; The French Quarter, famous and infamous for housing and encouraging the seven deadly sins, the water never touched! God is…??????????????)
The poorest of the poor who had nothing left to lose were stripped of their dignity, in the Dome, in Fema trailers, in hospitals and morgues and now in a city starved of it’s life blood, it’s people, scattered not too unlike the past, only this time they didn’t use auction blocks but buses.
H.O.P.E, an organization that bussed about 1,000 youths in blue & red t-shirts with wheel barrels and shovels, plastic bags, etc from all over The United States of America. They were spending part of their summer vacation helping to clear some remnants of the huge devastation to homes and communities. They were singing along with a youth band, drinking water and cheering each other!
- Nona Hendryx
