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I've only been to New Orleans once but as luck would have it, that was on a business trip only a couple of months ago - ended up staying at the Astor Crowne Plaza which is right at the corner of Bourbon and Canal. My impression of the city was that while it was very interesting and had a lot of wonderful people, it was also a place with an incredibly seedy and dangerous underbelly that made me want to get away as soon as possible. Sure - as long as I was in a group or walking along crowded Bourbon, I felt safe after dark. Otherwise, I was always looking over my shoulder and some things positively gave me the creeps. I'm talking about the pervasiveness of voodoo just about everywhere I looked (this is the one thing that seemed to set NO apart from other big cities), the drugs/drug-dealers/druggies, the abuse of alcohol and street drunks, prostitution, the bare-breasted tattooed women I saw on Bourbon St, the brazenness of sinful and decadent lifestyles - where does one stop? Sure one can say that these are in every big city but NO was different. There it was a much more accepted part of the culture - almost as if this was a group that no one wanted to get rid of because it was part of the 'charm' and 'character' of the city. What can one say when the entire tone from arrival was 'party til you drop with no limits to decadence'. I remember getting a very early cab at 4 or 5 in the morning. Looking up Bourbon St., a big truck was coming through hosing the whole place down to get ready for another day. However daily wash-downs couldn't erase the odour of vomit and urine that always seemed to waft past.

When I think of the racism charges, it makes me wonder. That the population of NO was predominantly black is not a question, it's a fact (60 or 70%). So one would thus assume that all things being equal, those left behind would also be predominantly black. The bigger question is (and ignoring for the moment the issue of inadequate response by the mayor and the governor), what is the detailed make-up of the people that were left behind? It's definitely way to simplistic to simply call them poor and black. Forget colour for the moment, I would like to see a breakdown on other demographics: 1. How many of these were drug-dealers, gang members, prostitutes, street thugs of one sort or another (my guess is that based on the profile of the people that were at the dome, a very high percentage) and how many of these 'street people' never got the word to get out (let alone being about the hardest group to organize, round-up and evacuate), 2. How many of the thugs planned to stay there simply to loot the place because no one would be around to stop them, 3. How many of those left were ones generally classified as homeless and never got the word to get out (simply because they are street people and thus important information bypasses them), 4. How many that remained had the chance to get out and never took it, 5. How many of these have had the chance to get out SINCE the hurricane and didn't voluntarily take it. 5. And so on and so on. No doubt there were also a lot of decent folks left that never had a hope but these may have well been in the minority. My guess is that even with the ineptness by the city and the state, a huge percentage of the ones that were left were destined to stay there because either they were determined to ride it out, never got the word or were so 'busy' doing what street people do that they wouldn't have left under any circumstances. Frankly, colour had nothing to do with anything.

NANCY GILES was born and raised in Queens, New York, and is a proud product of the New York City public school system. She is a graduate of Oberlin College and started her professional acting career as a singing bag of garbage with the Paper Bag Players, followed by a short (no pun intended) stint as a Santa elf at Macy's on 34th Street in the heart of Manhattan.

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On television, Nancy is thrilled to be a writer and contributor to the Emmy award-winning "CBS News Sunday Morning." She was the announcer and co-host of the alternative morning show "Fox After Breakfast;"

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Nancy wrote and performed the solo pieces "Black Comedy--The Wacky Side of Racism" and "Notes of a Negro Neurotic," which were both developed with and directed by Ellie Covan at Dixon Place in New York City.

Email: nancy@nancygiles.com

http://tinyurl.com/cmd65