Roberto Barrio’s article, “You
Found Us Doing This, This Is Our Way: Criminalizing
Second Lines, Super Sunday, and Habitus in Post-Katrina New Orleans”, addresses
racial inequity in New Orleans and how socio-politically marginalized
working-class African Americans within New Orleans have historically
responded. These traditions, specifically
the rituals of the Mardi Gras Indians, Super Sunday, and second line parades,
are meant to transform parts of the city where racial oppression is the norm
into meaningful spaces.
Within these
organizations is a hierarchy wherein certain members have responsibilities
according to rank. For instance, Big
Chiefs in the Mardi Gras Indian tradition are the high-ranking members and are
expected to provide council and provide financial assistance for tribe members
in times of hardship. Similarly, Second
Line groups have Big Shots, who are marked by the possession of a big cigar and
who aspire to social prominence/success in business. These rituals are not just meant for show but
to act as modalities of habitus in their communities and for teaching younger
members the value of such cultural traditions.
Such customs along with growing frustration about gentrification have been a point of contention between law enforcement and members for a long while. The article makes the case that “criminalization, surveillance, and police harassment of Second Lines and Mardi Gras Indians can only be understood in light of the role played by socially structured space in the production of racialized class differences in New Orleans.”, and discusses race, space, and governmentality from the colonial era to the post-Katrina era. Due to the mandatory evacuation of New Orleans after Katrina, it became a prime location for neoliberal capitalist utility, and there has been significant resistance to this by organizations such as Second Line groups and Mardi Gras Indian tribes.
The Treme neighborhood is addressed in the article is another example of post-Katrina urban recovery wherein it was generally not a concern as to whether pre-Katrina residents would be able to return with their uniqueness/modalities of habitus. The priority was to bring more capital to neighborhoods in the heart of the city. City planners denied many requests to keep public housing in the neighborhood, failing to recognize residents living there as “uniquely constituted products of their life experiences in the neighborhood”, and that if the city were to be “reconstructed”, it would be futile without creating an socioeconomic space for them.
Despite the NOPD’s sometimes violent attempts to uphold a hegemonic order and excessive fees applied to parades and Mardi Gras Indians events, these important and impactful cultural communities are not deterred and are committed to saving a place for these customs within the urban landscape of the city no matter the obstacles. Upon their return to the city after Katrina, New Orleans residents at large have also become more committed to the preservation of these traditions and upholding them against hegemonies, gentrification, and attack.
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