ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, June 23, 1996 TAG: 9606210015
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: The Back Pew
SOURCE: CODY LOWE
"All-American" is a much broader term these days than it used to be.
We once summed it up in symbols like Mom, apple pie, flapping flags, Chevrolet.
The idea was to promote "clean, decent" living. While acknowledging their existence, we attempted to minimize and discourage what we considered "vices" - defined either from a religious or humanitarian viewpoint.
As a resident of these parts, it was interesting to have been in New Orleans the day the All-American Cities designations were handed out in Texas.
Roanoke and New Orleans are so different, I couldn't help but wonder how the people who judge such things could figure that both represented some kind of American ideal.
The contrasts between the two cities are particularly striking, it seems to me, when one considers what apparently are very different standards of morality.
Just a couple of days before the All-American City designation, the outgoing president of the Southern Baptist Convention made an observation about the city where his denomination was holding its annual meeting. New Orleans, said the Rev. Jim Henry of Orlando, Fla., "is not a mecca for healthy home values."
Without examining the use of a metaphor rooted in Islam and a certain lack of sensitivity to his hosts, Henry was accurate - particularly from a Southern Baptist, Bible Belt point of view.
Actually, it's probably fair to say he was accurate from an "All-American" perspective.
Consider that during the week the Southern Baptists visited, there were at least two murders in New Orleans, and one unarmed 18-year-old robbery suspect was shot and killed by a police officer. Though it presumably was not a factor in the shooting, New Orleans has the reputation of having the most corrupt police force in the nation.
The French Quarter - the city's best-known landmark - is the site of some interesting and lovely architecture, fine food, art and antiques.
It is also a haven for drunks, panhandlers, prostitutes and pickpockets.
Unrestrained drunkenness and lasciviousness are celebrated on street corners and in T-shirt shops. Much of the Quarter smells like an infrequently cleaned public toilet, primarily because it is often used as one. Sex - in all its myriad variations - is available to anyone with money.
Many New Orleans residents, understandably, don't like to be judged on the basis on the French Quarter. That part of town is, however, the focus of most of the tourist trade and the city's self-promotion. Consequently, when most of us think about "All-American" New Orleans, it is the French Quarter and its distinctiveness we will remember.
Roanoke, of course, is home to all the vices that exist in New Orleans. Here we just don't flaunt them. We vigorously suppress behavior that is considered charming, the norm, or, at the least, unavoidable, on the public streets of New Orleans.
So we have some things in common. But the contrasts are striking.
New Orleans is colorful, diverse, intriguing. It is also can be dirty, dangerous and repulsive.
Roanoke by contrast seems bland, tame, predictable. It is also relatively warm and safe.
Despite the diversity of images and lifestyles, it also occurred to me that it may be an indication of our country's strength that two such different places could both be "All-American."
Though some religious denominations and political organizations would like to believe the nation is one homogenous blob - or turn us into one - we are not. We don't all look the same, or eat the same or think the same.
And we don't all share identical values, as much as we may have in common.
So thank heaven we have a choice of All-American places to live.
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