New Orleans fights to keep black character alive

Upbeat like a jazz funeral
Black New Orleans certainly had many of these problems—poverty, crime, poor schools—before Katrina.

But it also had a cultural richness coveted by blacks and whites alike that made living in New Orleans unique.

Where else, for example, can one see a “second line”—a black brass band procession with jubilant dancing and extravagant wardrobe?

But for all the efforts and experience of the second line organizers, many members of the “krewes,” or clubs, have not returned and processions are few and far between.

On a sunny day in December, the Big Nine Pleasure Club held a rare second line in the Lower Ninth Ward. Amid the mold-infested homes and overgrown lawns, black people from the neighborhood joined the procession, smiling and dancing.

‘Tradition ain’t gonna die’
When they arrived at the monument honoring the victims of Katrina, the band switched to the slow, mournful hymn of the world-famous New Orleans jazz funeral, “Just a Closer Walk with Thee.”

There to say a prayer was Henry Irvin, who is rebuilding his home in the Lower Ninth at the age of 70.

“We’re coming back and I’ve already told the man who sits in the chair Uptown, the mayor, don’t get in my way because we are tired of waiting for y’all,” said Irvin.

As the brass band resumed its lively rhythm, like jazz that breaks out at New Orleans funeral after the deceased is buried, Irvin was upbeat about the survival of black culture in the city.

“Tradition ain’t gonna die,” he said.

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