re: The Gentrification of New Orleans

quote:

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Whats wrong with assimilating to the norms of a neighborhood?

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I don't know if your question is sarcasm or not. In case it's not......

My point was the city coucilperson's overriding attitude that people who, in essence, improve a block/neighborhood should accept and expect behavior that wouldn't be tolerated in other cities or in other parts of the city. She cleverly disguised it by referring to it in the terms of an innocent boy tooting his horn at night and using the dreaded term "culture." When the real issues in poor neighborhoods have more to do with nefarious activity and general lawlessness. She was saying that white people would be wrong to expect or demand people to generally have good behavior. That to be black in New Orleans MEANS to engage in activities that others wouldn't approve of or understand. And that those activities, no matter how innocent or not, should be protected ethically.