Aug. 29, 2005 is a date that should live in infamy, a date that should trigger pangs in the hearts of Americans everywhere. Instead, your average American probably could not tell you why this date is so historically and culturally important. I am just as guilty – when I began writing this piece, I had to look it up.

So why exactly is Aug. 29, 2005 significant? Think of it as a date of death – the death of a city and a culture, one so uniquely American that we should be ashamed to watch it as it fades away. Aug. 29 was the day we let New Orleans die. Four years ago, Hurricane Katrina came rumbling across the Gulf of Mexico and into New Orleans, razing buildings and raising sea levels, inundating streets and incapacitating an entire city. The destruction was unparalleled – with a tab of $80 billion, it was the costliest natural disaster in American history.

For a short time, it was the most talked-about as well. Twenty-four-hour news channels continuously featured live footage of the area, bringing horrifying images of an American city to the American public. But Katrina passed out of the public eye as fast as the storm’s eye passed over the city. Sure, there were anniversary specials in which Anderson Cooper reminded us of the work that still needed to be done. But our American attention span is too short, and the majority of that work still needs to be done.

New Orleans is a city unlike any other. The birthplace of jazz, it has become one of the world’s largest music meccas, featuring styles as dissimilar as Dixieland and sludge metal. Its reputation has attracted some of the world’s greatest musicians and created an extraordinarily vibrant live music scene. The home of Mardi Gras, New Orleans has a heritage as rich as New York City’s, one that mixes old-world magic with new-world cool. Its rare fusion of cultures has created a remarkable city, one that boasts rich cuisines and magnificent architecture.

The important place of the Crescent City in American history is indisputable. But if we don’t refocus energy, attention and money to the area, New Orleans could disappear into the bayou, a ghostly voodoo memory of a glorious American cultural past. If we Americans don’t open our eyes and realize what is falling through our fingers, this beautiful and charming cultural center could be lost forever. For more than four years, money has been poured into the region, but a corrupt political system has kept it from reaching the people.

This is not about black or white, Creole or Latino; this is about a city that only America could build. Only in America could these distinctive groups – French and Spanish, Caribbean and Irish, Native American and African American – come together to live, work and celebrate side by side. Only in America could people from around the world bring their rituals and beliefs, practice and preach them freely, and share with others the joy that they bring. New Orleans is so important to our identity as a nation because it symbolizes the melting pot we have created. It is a city that has produced some of the world’s best music, food, architecture, beliefs, people, memories and moments.

In 2013, when the Super Bowl returns to New Orleans, all American eyes should be able to look upon this city and be proud of not only the reconstruction since Katrina, but also the progress that has been made. The levees protecting the city must be built stronger, higher and in a more efficient way; the alluring architecture that enchants tourists and residents alike must be restored with a new, brighter face; and the rare synthesis of people and talent that built this fascinating, otherworldly city must be brought home again to create a better Big Easy, a finer Creole capital, a renewed and restored New Orleans. The fate of this splendid city is the collective responsibility of our country – financially, morally, and socially, for better or for worse.

Conor Finnegan is a sophomore in the College. He can be reached at finneganthehoya.com. On the Road appears every other Monday at www.thehoya.com.

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