What was billed as a rededication was more like a revival, as the Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School for Science and Technology opened its doors on June 11, the first school to re-open in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans.

The bright blue walls were freshly painted and covered in MLK-related displays, the white "marble" linoleum floors were sparkling and the halls teeming with students. For the big day, yellow and white balloons were everywhere and to help beat the heat, guests were given cardboard fans with MLK's picture on them.

A brass "second-line" band and some Mardi Gras Indians kicked things off by leading students, teachers in matching yellow oxfords with the school logo embroidered on them, families in color coordinated outfits, and other friends and fans on a festive parade into the building. The boys were all in their good shoes and their shirts were perfectly pressed; the girls had on spotless sundresses and wore matching ribbons in their specially coiffed hair. There was not a wrinkle to be found in the room. The cafeteria/auditorium was set up with rows and rows of chairs, and there was a red carpet rolled out down the middle. The "graduating" 8th graders, the honor roll and merit roll students from all grades, and the teachers all got to parade along it to their seats. The teachers were called upon to "walk in authority" as they walked down the aisle in a swaying left-together, right-together rhythm like a gospel choir.

The stage wasn't big enough to contain the phalanx of politicians, so some were forced to join the standing-room-only crowd. Of course each of them had to address the crowd and most took some bit of credit in the school's re-opening - despite the fact that "there were doubters, and those who said there should never be another home or another school rebuilt below the Industrial Canal." Miraculously, but not so mercifully, the event only lasted three and a half hours - and the kids were well-behaved throughout. (The news crews in attendance only made it through about an hour before disappearing.)

Many politicos were clearly wannabe preachers, as they sermonized from the podium:
"You must have steel in your back and fire in your soul..."
"This is sacred ground. We must remember the 30 children and family members who were lost...."
"These kids didn't experience Selma, but they did experience Katrina...they didn't march across Pettus Bridge, but they walked across Claiborne Avenue. They went to school where there were more rats than kids and they did it with their heads held high..."
"Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, the MLK school rises across the Industrial Canal and provides a beacon of hope to all our brothers and sisters in New Orleans..."

The best moment was not the keynote speech by Dr. Steel of the SCLC, or the school orchestra playing, or even Dr. Doris Hicks' triumphant welcome...it was when 3rd grader Sierra Jackson and 5th grader Dre'Shawn Napoleon walked up to adjacent microphones in their Sunday best to greet everyone. They were clearly told to project as they near-shouted their lines in perfect alternation and unison, "Welcome to Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School for Science and Technology. Today we take the final step in our Road Home."

Speakers quoted poets from Robert Frost to Mary J. Blige, and there was an especially impassioned excerpt from Langston Hughes' "Mother to Son." Songs ranged from "Stand by Me" to "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" and "We've Come This Far by Faith." One particularly vociferous city council woman invoked two simple sayings to help sum up the day: "I'm from the 9 and you ain't taking mine." And in answer to those who said you should not rebuild schools or businesses when there's no surrounding population to support them, "if you build it they will come." Hundreds came yesterday, and 600 students have already enrolled for the Fall semester.