A surprising encounter!

So the most unusual thing happens to me Saturday night/Sun morning. I've just finished all my shift ending paperwork about 2AM after the usual incredibly busy Saturday night and I'm walking to the front of the Fort Oglethorpe, GA Steak-n-Shake by the cash registers. As I walk up I slide my New Orleans Saints super bowl champs black and gold fleur-de-lis cap on my head. At the counter is a short, thin late 20-something black man immaculately dressed in a collared black shirt. I notice a colorful hand carved wooden rosary around his neck. He indicates he likes my hat and asks me if I'm from New Orleans. I indicate that in a manner of speaking yes I am-I spent many good years residing in the city-most recently in the 15th Ward in Algiers. He leans over the counter, grabs my hand with gusto, shakes it, and proceeds to tell me that he is a lifelong Algiers Point resident and that he came to Chattanooga/N GA after the storm. So we shot the shit for a long while...turns out we have a mutual connection to some of the same people and of course know all the businesses in the neighborhood. He was surprised to learn that L.B. Landry high had been closed and was being rebuilt. He went to Walker High out on General Meyer. He bemoaned the fact that violent crime has migrated to the West Bank due to the displaced east bank residents moving. He said he wants to go home desperately...but feels that the place he knew isn't there anymore. I feel the same way. I still want to return...because I believe that people who speak the language and understand the culture must return to prevent the culture withering away. The Quarter has already become sort of a Disneyland version of itself in places. The gentrified bullshit that is so common elsewhere infecting the rest of New Orleans would exacerbate the most real tragedy, which is the loss of the working class native who says hello to you on every corner and utters those melodious (to me) words, "Adrian, My man! Wheah Y'at?!
You can't buy that with federal dollars.