When the NBA announced that the 2008 All-Star Game would be played in New Orleans, I was excited for a variety of reasons. For one thing, it’s another way to contribute to the rebirth of a great town.
As the NBA’s best prepared to perform on the biggest of stages, it’s an opportunity to show the world that New Orleans, as well as many other cities affected by Katrina, are starting to return to grace. With that said, there are many lives that have not gotten back on track since Hurricane Katrina.
I’m not from New Orleans — I’ve never lived there, don’t have relatives there and didn’t play basketball there. But I care, and so should you, wherever you’re from.
For me, it started with the images that came out of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
I felt shocked, then helpless, then angry. Those who were suffering looked a lot like me, and they dressed a lot like me. They just didn’t have a New York accent. It could have been any town, and I would have cared.
I know how it goes. If you live on Park Avenue in New York and call an ambulance, it’s right there. If you live in Queens like I did — or the Lower Ninth Ward — the ambulance will still come, but the response time is a lot different.
New Orleans reminded me that the world hasn’t changed much.
So that’s why I was angry about what was going on. I didn’t want to see people having to wait for help. The thing I knew to do was jump in and get moving.
I’m part of the pro basketball family and have been for a long time, from my playing days to working as an analyst for TNT. That means I know people who can make an instant difference.
Along with TNT and the NBA, I put on a charity basketball game in Houston a few days after Katrina hit New Orleans. It raised $2.5 million in goods and services. Fourteen different shelters received donations, along with countless people.
I really started to feel a connection to New Orleans back then. We kept on doing things down there, at Thanksgiving, at Christmas and on to the next summer.
I’m not looking for credit on this. But I do want people from outside New Orleans to think about the city again. It’s the forgotten town, which is unfortunate. People have moved on to the next big crisis. Few realize all the different hardships still in New Orleans.
It’s good that the NBA All-Star Game was in town for the first time. It helps with tourism, and that’s a big part of what makes New Orleans a great city.
But let’s not have this single game be one of the few times you think about New Orleans. Do something. Donate. You can try Habitat for Humanity (www.habitat-nola.org) or Feed the Children (www.feedthechildren.org/site/PageServer?pagename=usw_hurricane_Katrina), two charities we’ll be supporting during the All-Star Game.
No one should forget that New Orleans still needs help. Have you?
Kenny Smith
New York City
Smith played in the NBA from 1987 to ’97, including for the 1994 and 1995 NBA champion Houston Rockets, and is an analyst for the NBA on TNT.
