Alan Gutierrez

On the day that Nagin gave this speech that’s made the last news cycle, Wynton Marsalis spoke to the students of Tulane, Xavier, Loyola, and Dillard Univeristies.

It was Martin Luther King Jr. day.

The purpose blog entry is to draw attention to Wynton Marsalis’ speech.

Chaos or Community?

Wynton welcomed everyone home. Welcomed them to the callenge of post-Katrina New Orleans. He spoke about how New Orleans as we now know it, was made possible by the work of Dr. King.

Wynton’s speech at Tulane University in New Orleans

Look around this room and realize that the final chapter of that movement still waits for a generation with the courage to write it. That’s why I say we are all home tonight. We are all home because Dr. King led the charge to victory over regressive, ignorant traditions that had long gone unchallenged…because he was unwavering in presenting compelling arguments to make real the promises of the Constitution…because he never succumbed to hopelessness and showed us what one citizen can achieve when armed with an evangelical zeal for freedom and a first-class education, it is most fitting to re-open our city’s finest institutions of higher education on the day we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Though he is almost always reduced to a dreamer today, Dr. King was an achiever, a most powerful exemplar of action. His last book is entitled Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? It is a question that is most appropriate for us in this moment.

Dr. King worked in the shadow of slavery and discrimination. We are in the shadow of the worst natural disaster to ever befall America.

What better way to celebrate him than by rising to a challenge?

What, Other Than Injustice, Could Be the Reason?

Wynton chides us all, for our complacency. Throughout his speech, he raises specific instances of incompetence, and politely asks us to muster enough outrage to act.

Wynton’s speech at Tulane University in New Orleans

Yes, I always laugh when people my age complain about their college-age and teenage kids by talking about how much better we were. I laugh because I have absolutely no idea what my generation did to enrich our democracy. What movement have we been identified with that forced our elders to keep their promises…that challenged their failures or built upon their successes? For me, we dropped the ball after the Civil Rights Movement. We entered a period of complacency and closed our yes to the very public corruption of our democracy.

As we have seen our money squandered and stolen, our civic rights trampled, and the politics of polarity become the order of the day, we have held absolutely no one accountable. From us, you inherit an abiding helplessness.

If you realize the unfortunate consequences of inaction, hopefully you will understand even more the importance of holding both your elders and your peers accountable when it comes to the rebuilding of New Orleans. Stay up on the facts.

What, other than injustice, could be the reason that the displaced citizens of New Orleans cannot be accommodated by the richest nation in the world? You, along with the entire world, saw the bureaucratic fumbling and lack of concern inflicted on those very same citizens at the Superdome and the Convention Center. Who is being held accountable now?

Take your example, not from my generation, but from generations - from those few inspired young people - who stood on the front lines and fought injustice throughout the course of our nation’s history.

Take a break from it all. Read Wynton Marsalis’ speech. It is a message that is delightful void of buzzwords, catch phrases. Is is a speech that is full of concern and insight.

We are all free people. We New Orleanians. We Americans. (And our Indian and Australian friends.)

We are free to choose to listen to the messages that speak truth to us. We are free to debate the messages that speak to us honestly and with love and concern. We are free to set our own agenda.