Mia Backon- Field Notes (entry 4)

Mia Backon Field Notes
We pulled up to a local convenience store. The sign in front read “River Fine Foods Store- Po-Boy Sandwiches.” As I got out of the car a black man was walking into the store. We exchanged hellos and then I asked him if he lived around here, hoping to get some perspective of this large neighborhood. He responded by saying “no, I’m from the other side.” I clearly did not continue to ask him any questions; he seemed a bit irritated that I even bothered him so I walked up to the counter and asked the man working if he could help us. He gave us a map and helped explain some points that we would potentially find interesting. We thanked him and left. Getting back in our car we followed the street parallel to the river. We came across a gated area that looked historical and significant so we pulled over. We walked towards this structure and bumped into a woman who was breaking from a jog with her dog. We asked her what this was and she responded by telling us that it was a flee-market and on weekends people come to sell their items. I was amazed, as I walked around I quickly realized that this place represented more than just a flee-market but it was a place where slaves were brought and sold. After taking a lot of pictures we got back in the car and drove down the road a little (with help and directions from the woman we bumped into earlier). We pulled up to a bar/restaurant. We walked in and asked the bartender if she could help us (the same approach we had with both men at the convenience store) she too gave us a map with minimal explanation. As we were about to leave the restaurant a man and a woman (both white, the bar was predominately all white) were quiet interested of our reasons for being here and they began to ask us some questions. Instantly I took this to my advantage and pulled up a bar stool and started talking to this man named Wally B (he was reluctant to give out his last name). Emma Lesser began talking to this woman Kathy B (she too did not want her last name given out). Wally and I discussed why I was here, I told him about this class project and I started to ask questions. Wally had an agenda. He wanted to tell all about Algiers then he would stop himself. I told him that I wanted to know the dirt and he accepted and continued to talk. The first thing he made a point to tell me was the difference between Algiers and Algiers Point. Algiers Point is approximately a 10-block radius, a predominately white area, which is extremely close nit, which sits at the point of Algiers (right on the river). Some homes were beautiful, some looked very old but all together Algiers Point looked and acted “white”. “If you drive about 10 minutes, you’re gonna run into some rednecks,” Wally told me, he said that they are not afraid to say “nigger” out there, “you can speak your mind.” “We accept good people, it doesn’t matter if you’re white, black, Vietnamese, we judge people by their personality” (I am not exactly sure how much that speaks the truth, but I nodded and agreed with the statement). They talked about Katrina and how Algiers did not have flooding but wind damage, they said there was some shootings and looting did take place. They kept repeating how they would not tell us the “stories,” they were skeptical to tell us “little girls” about what really happened during Katrina. We ended the 45-minute conversation telling them that they were definitely coming back. And we thanked them multiple times and expressed our appreciation and left.