What is left in New Orleans are the poor who are good, those who stayed with the sick, the old who know longer drive and had no one to take them out, some of'em are not too bright, and then there are the predators.
There's the predators, and those who are opportunistic. They have been in New Orleans a long time and have made life a misery for others who were poor, possibly not too bright, and neighborhood bound.
But I taught a lot of people from backgrounds like this. I made friends, I learned, I shared sorrows with them, and happy moments. One of my students was killed by a serial murderer. Some of them were the first in their families to ever get an associate degree. They had families, they were hurt by the predator types, sometimes held more than one dinky job to keep food on the table. They were human and poor, and had a narrow outlook about the possibilities of life, but they aren't trash.
Why did they stay? For some, all they had was there. They knew if they left their house, their main possession, the looters would come. A lot of people in New Orleans don't have cars. I didn't have one when I lived there, cause of the bus service.
Don't tar them all with the same brush.
I think the looter types should be shot for doing what they are doing, but to say all the people left in New Orleans were looters is wrong.