This passed weekend some colleagues and I along with a professor went to New Orleans, Louisiana for a volunteer trip, not knowing how much history and appreciation I would gain, I went there with an ignorant outlook and having fun was mostly on my mind, it was Mardi Gras weekend. Passing through Alabama and Mississippi, I could feel the tension in the air, it was different, something I never really experienced in Florida, maybe because I knew the history of these states when it comes to whites vs blacks. Anyway, we got to Louisiana and we stayed in a church that provided us with a meal and dorms. We then volunteered in a neighborhood where we built this plant thing, I forgot what it was called, but honestly that was not my high light of the trip. My highlight was going to the Upper and lower 9th ward. The devastation of the houses and neighborhoods after 6 years, i thought it should be a crime. Learning about the barge and levee's breaking made me see the true inequalities that black people and people with low SES have to deal with; New Orleans is a very corrupt place and I would never want to live there, which takes Tulane University out of my top 3 schools (sad face) but I just cant do it. Going down to the lower 9th ward we went to the houses that were made by Make it Right Foundation by Brad Pitt but in actuality its owned my Holmes, the man on HGTV with the TV show Holmes on Holmes. The houses there were incredible the architecture was different (made by a firm from Berlin, Germany) and the houses were built 8 to 10 feet off the ground and are also able to float when a hurricane like Katrina returns again. I felt like there were many unanswered questions, but that just goes to tell you how corrupt this city is; The amount of Voodoo shops at every corner, it makes you think twice about why the city is the way it is. That is just my opinion, you do not have to agree! Learning about the New Orleans and Haiti Trade, the influence of the French and Spaniards was interesting. There is still a lot to learn about this city but what I learned was enough for me to recognize where some of this problem is coming from. While there we also had a discussion with Richmond University students and that went very well, the discussion was mentally stimulating, it forced us to think of things that we do not think of on regular basis. I also believe that it opened the eyes of some of the students from Richmond. I met two girls by the name of Sunny international student from China) and Ruby (a freshman Caucasian girl) and just talking to them you can tell they did not know about the struggle black people and other minorities experience living in America. Sunny was so astonish of the amount of racism, and discrimination that goes on in America, she told me she didn't realize how much inequalities occurs here in America. I was happy that we were able to open her eyes. This trip took me to another level of thinking, it allowed me to see different types of discrimination that America continues to thrive on and honestly I do not think it will ever go away. I am usually an optimistic person but things like this that have been a continuation of over hundreds of years can not just disappear after protests, speeches, assassinations, etc.
Ps. I would've went more in depth but I have a midterm to study for, so I'll get back to this blog later!
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