{"id":25431,"date":"2015-08-14T14:45:27","date_gmt":"2015-08-14T20:45:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=25431"},"modified":"2015-08-14T14:46:10","modified_gmt":"2015-08-14T20:46:10","slug":"op-ed-kaplinsky-responds-to-insensitive-editorial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/op-ed-kaplinsky-responds-to-insensitive-editorial\/","title":{"rendered":"OP-ED: Kaplinsky responds to ‘insensitive’ editorial"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Editor’s note: David Kaplinsky was a student from 2008-2009 in the Chicago Public Schools after his family fled New Orleans because of Hurricane Katrina. David still lives in Chicago, where he works as an actor, singer and filmmaker. His parents have since moved back to New Orleans. \u00a0This is his view of the <\/em>Chicago Tribune‘s editorial written by Kristen McQueary<\/a> where she finds herself “wishing a storm for Chicago” a “swirl of fury” to “reboot” our city.) \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

I was a victim of Hurricane Katrina. And while my family and I had evacuated ahead of the storm and were fortunately not among those being rescued from their rooftops, my life was still unalterably changed when (after glimpsing a brief video clip from CNN and making some calls) my family realized that the levee that ran along our street had been breached, and that my childhood house was flooded under eight feet of water. I was 14, had just started high school, and had no clue what was going to happen. We had barely any belongings, no home to return to, no idea what to do\u2014we were helpless and terrified.<\/p>\n

When Kristen McQueary of the Chicago Tribune<\/em> started her latest editorial with the line, \u201cEnvy isn’t a rational response to the upcoming 10-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina,\u201d she probably should have stopped writing there.<\/p>\n

Kristen McQueary, let someone who suffered firsthand tell you that the experiences of New Orleanians trapped in their homes, on their roofs, in their attics, in the Superdome, outside the convention center, in assisted living facilities, in hospitals, on the streets, and in motels, hotels, and homes of friends and family across the country were\u2014by no stretch of the imagination\u2014enviable.<\/p>\n

McQueary attempted to make the giant leap between the subject she wanted to write about\u2014i.e. perceived fiscal irresponsibility in Chicago\u2014and the subject she hopelessly tried to connect it to\u2014her idea of the rebirth of New Orleans on the ten-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.<\/p>\n

Now there\u2019s no doubt that New Orleans has made great strides and implemented remarkable reforms in the aftermath of Katrina. As McQueary rightly points out, the city is in many ways back to normalcy (or whatever the New Orleans equivalent of \u201cnormalcy\u201d is) and has emerged from catastrophe a stronger place.<\/p>\n

But there is no balance to her idealized perception of a utopian New Orleans where corruption, overspending, and waste (to her mind, in the form of \u201cunnecessary\u201d city employees) have been thoroughly uprooted. She forgets the fact that in the past ten years New Orleans has seen a mayor federally indicted and jailed for giving his sons\u2019 company prejudicial treatment in city contracts, many thousands of poor New Orleanians still unable or unwilling to return to a city that doesn\u2019t want them, and a New Orleans East that remains utterly blighted and left behind in the overall recovery of the city\u2014and those issues are only the tip of the iceberg.<\/p>\n

But I might have been able to forgive her for her misguided and Ayn-Rand-esque idealizing of my hometown, if she had not simultaneously idealized and glossed-over the depth of suffering and pain that so many New Orleanians went through\u2014including myself.<\/p>\n

So when I see a professional writer from the premier newspaper of the city in which I currently reside\u2014who decidedly did not experience this catastrophe herself\u2014writing about \u201cwishing for a storm in Chicago\u2026 A dramatic levee break. Geysers bursting through manhole covers. A sleeping city, forced onto the rooftops,\u201d I get a little angry.<\/p>\n

Better yet, I get infuriated.<\/p>\n

But before I judge her, I have to look at McQueary\u2019s own response to the criticisms hurled her way. She replied recently to a tweet that voiced the collective reaction of people of good conscience to her piece, saying: \u201cIf you read the piece, it’s about finances and government. I would never diminish the tragedy of thousands of lives lost.\u201d Putting aside that she begins the answer in a borderline passive-aggressive manner\u2014attacking her critic by assuming they didn\u2019t even read her piece\u2014McQueary makes clear through this tweet the very crux of what is wrong with this editorial: you can\u2019t talk about a tragedy and only focus on the subsequent recovery.<\/p>\n

New Orleanians and those across the Gulf Coast (especially Mississippi, which never gets enough press for the utter destruction it faced) lost their family members, friends, their homes, many if not all of their worldly belongings, and were forced in to exile for months\u2014if not years. Many have still not returned. My parents only recently returned after 8 years away.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t gloss over the suffering of New Orleanians in Katrina so that you can make a point about the kind of revolution you think is needed in Chicago politics. Your attempt to idealize and dramatize, for your own purposes, these unimaginable trials denigrates the experiences of all who suffered\u2014as well as those tragically lost.<\/p>\n

Do you truly believe that the loss of life, property, and community on a massive scale is really what will create the transformation you want to see in Chicago?<\/p>\n

Tragically, all of those elements are already much too much part of the daily experience in this city\u2014 I believe you would be hard pressed to find anyone who would like to see more bloodshed, property destruction, and gentrification in Chicago.<\/p>\n

And what you fail to see is that New Orleans succeeded despite these deep wounds and trials\u2014not because of them.<\/p>\n

Clearly, it would be an understatement to say this article has done a disservice to those who experienced Katrina and its aftermath. But ultimately, I think what McQueary sought to do in her piece stemmed from something seemingly innocent. She wanted to write (or rant) about Chicago\u2019s political corruption, plain and simple. But for whatever reason she (or her editor) felt she needed to capitalize on the media-buzz surrounding the ten-year anniversary of Katrina and make a connection between the two disparate subjects.<\/p>\n

McQueary, at the end of her editorial, claims she can \u201crelate metaphorically, to the residents of New Orleans climbing onto their rooftops and begging for help and waving their arms and lurching toward rescue helicopters.\u201d<\/p>\n

But she can\u2019t relate\u2014metaphorically or in reality\u2014and she shouldn\u2019t try.<\/p>\n

That is, not unless she is willing to thoughtfully consider both the deep tragedies and modest triumphs in the aftermath of Katrina in the real world\u2014 and not just in the idealized, editorial fantasy world that serves the needs of this week\u2019s column.<\/p>\n

Kaplinsky is now an actor, singer, and filmmaker. \u00a0His is currently appearing in Pride Films and Plays production of\u00a0<\/em>The Boy from Oz\u00a0at Stage 773\u00a0through the end of this month.\u00a0 To learn more about him,\u00a0visit his Web page<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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