DO you know what it means to miss New Orleans?" Lots of folks are playing the song originally made famous by Louis Armstrong. However, Billie Holiday also added her own bluesy twist to the jazz standard that is resonating today with thousands of displaced New Orleanians and those who love them. Thousands of Black Americans now know exactly what it's like to miss the Big Easy. Hurricane Katrina made sure of that as it created a new "Gulf Diaspora." But Katrina didn't kill the indomitable spirit of a people who are survivors with a capital S. What we truly saw played out on national television that was hardly mentioned--was irrefutable proof that those who had predicted the demise of the Black family were premature and misguided at best. In an epic exodus of Biblical proportions, Black America demonstrated for the world at large and Washington in particular what "no person left behind" actually means. We saw a family affair played out in living color in our living rooms nightly--three, four and five generations staying together and looking out for one another in horrific circumstances--literally surviving hell AND high water--together. Advertisement For two traumatic weeks, the Black poor and the Black powerful were in the same leaky boat--all seeking information about their family. In addition to family ties and blood ties, there was a strong feeling of Black love and Black togetherness based on the Black extended family. In a microcosm of a scene played out throughout the country, one young family in Lake Charles, La., welcomed a multigenerational family of 11 evacuees from New Orleans, including an 88-year-old great-grandmother, her children, in-laws and grandchildren. Tim and Carol Sensley say they didn't do anything unusual in welcoming the large family, who barely made it out alive. "They are part of our extended family. It was the Christian thing to do," Carol says. "God has blessed us abundantly and this is what Christianity ought to be." Carol, who is the head women's basketball coach at McNeese State University, and her husband, Tun, an 8th-grade teacher at Oak Park Middle School have two young daughters, Camryn, 5, and Brianna, 16 months old. They don't live in a large house, but had bedrooms to spare. Her mother, Carolyn Edwards, helped cook for the guests.