I came across an opinion piece the other day authored by a woman that lives in New Orleans that examines progressive police reform in the city. Meghann McCracken experienced similar progressive reforms in her native Northern California, which led her to New Orleans, only to be faced with the same problems of crime and drugs infiltrating her community.
What motivated you to write this piece?
I have lived in New Orleans for my entire adult life. I'm originally from Northern California and I moved here after college from San Francisco. I've been turning to personal essays as a response to a lot of the political shifts that have been happening over the last ten years. I've been a lifelong liberal, but found myself at odds with a lot of people in my community over my opinions. Although I'm not an expert on law enforcement or any of these issues, I’ve experienced a lot of these cultural and political changes on the West Coast and I've watched them slip into New Orleans. Things have gotten so bad that I recently have decided to move to another parish and I felt the need to articulate that experience.
The decision to move is one you didn’t take lightly.You did so because you thought it was necessary?
I've been part of a large thriving community in New Orleans. I've lost friends over some of my opinions and I've watched my neighborhood start to backslide. I went through Katrina, I didn't really come to New Orleans trying to change or import my values from California. I just let New Orleans change me and became part of the community here and respected what I found here. I think it made me a better person. In the next wave of migration, I noticed a lot of people trying to change the city in some good ways, but also some troubling, and paternalistic ways…what really troubled me is the rise in crime.
When we talk about these cultural left ideological policies, you already know New Orleans is going to be a very dangerous spot if it isn’t already.
There's a lot of naivete on the far left about what happens when you take away law enforcement. You see a lot of these utopian ideas which lead to graffiti, hypodermic needles everywhere, and huge communities of homeless people. And no one's doing anything about it! Then there becomes this draw to the city by a lot of fringe people and people with mental health problems and addiction. I see the repercussions of that in my neighborhood right now.
It seems like many people misinterpret your writing as creating friction instead of really highlighting the priorities of a community.
I get a lot of private support, and I get absolutely reamed too. People are afraid they’re going to be canceled… I've been self-employed as a freelance writer for the last 10 years and I feel morally compelled to say something. I get pushback from other people who accuse me of creating conflict. My answer to them is that debate in the public sphere is necessary and essential for democracy. We absolutely must discuss these things and we used to discuss them civilly.
