Daily NO/katrina thread

kinggovernor · 08-31-2006, 02:01 PM

It’s as clear as black and white, racial tensions are high in New Orleans.

It really was not suppose to be like this. The Great Society was supposed to be great. I have a dream was suppose to be real.

On Wednesday, the day after the Katrina’s anniversary, what I heard was far from great and it was no dream:

“The blacks hit by Katrina don’t want to work. They feel because of the hurricane we owe them”

“Spike Lee’s movie was not about Lakeview. The only white people they showed were drunks.

“If Nagin doesn’t want me to stay in this community, I am going to leave. Why should I stay and put up with his racism.”

“Of course New Orleans does not have a plan. Look who is running the city. It’s run by a dude who wants to be cool but is not a deep thinker”.

“It’s our city now and you are not going to get it back”

“Nagin is being run by Jesse Jackson and Louis Farrakhan”.

“New Orleans, in the end, will be lilly white”

“I want to sign a recall petition”

These were actually words spoken by intelligent people, by professionals. So, I wonder if it was just a bad day, or are we going “race mad”?

No doubt, we’re still suffering from Chocolate City syndrome.

Whites and blacks distrust one another.

New Orleans is just angry. It is fatigued. Its problems are enormous that words cannot do it justice. In fact, the justice system is in shambles making race conditions even worse.

The state does not trust it. The City doesn’t trust itself. And, the federal government cannot do enough if it tried which some feel it doesn’t want to do anyway.

The person who can set the example more than anyone else is Mayor Nagin. It is true that some of his recent statements sound more like Louis Farrakhan than Ray Reagan which has only soured the white community on his administration.

The day after Nagin’s inauguration which was attended by a mainly African American audience, I pleaded with Nagin in a column that he reach out to those he felt walked into the “red light district”.

So far, he has not done this.

He did, however, put two white opponents high on his transition team. He did hire a white person for economic development replacing an African American, Don Hutchinson.

He did ask the Governor to call in the National Guard and the State Police when black on black crime spiraled out of control.

But, he has not made whites feel comfortable in New Orleans—in part due to his statements, his affiliations, and his refusal as of yet to cross back over the barrier. And some who had opposed him just will not forgive him.

Nagin has a chance to be a great Mayor for all people. But, he must jump that gap with his own voice and his own words and his own heart. Just as some blacks believe President Bush is a racist, now some white feel Nagin is one too.

This is no way to rebuild New Orleans since we need both men to reconstruct this city. We can convert all the houses into palaces, but, if we do not build trust, we will remain shattered.

The problem does not just start and end with Nagin. During the election campaign, I heard two ministers running for Mayor saying they felt invisible. Whites need to show they care. The resentment and the lack of caring will only hurt us all.

Growing up during the Jim Crow days taught me to ignore those I did not know. So, when I heard those two ministers, I was surprised. After all, I thought we were a totally different city. In many ways, I think we are.

We have moved mountains since Jim Crow. The days of “civil rights” woke us up. Then the last decade has made most of us proud. We’ve seen organizations, clubs, industry, political groups integrate. We’ve witnessed people judged by their abilities not by their skin color. No, New Orleans has not been a perfect society. On both sides, we could have tried harder. Some of our black politicians (far from all) have betrayed us. Yet, we failed to fund our city the right way. Crime soared, drugs ruled and some of us lived irresponsibly. In some sectors, African Americans did not climb the ladder fast enough and I suppose some whites did not want blacks stepping on the ladder at all.

But, in a short span of a few decades, we really have grown as a community.

Unfortunately, the Katrina experience seems to have blown away that clean path of trust.. Now, the City feels dirty with anger, hatred and jealousies.

So, it is time for our city leaders to lead. We need not just a crime summit, but a summit on race where we can discuss openly our realistic expectations for the next half-decade.

Also, we must eliminate our hostilities. New Orleans can be a great place because of its diversity. It is up to us, now, to rebuild New Orleans--not the black or the white way. We must build it the right way. Each one of us needs to go deep inside and reflect upon how we can live together. Until we do that, we will build a city with walls so thick full of racial discord, which the strongest winds of post-Katrina opportunity will never blow our prejudices away.

I can't imagine living in a town in 2006 where a mayor publically says 'your kind ain't welcome hurr'

ballz2wallz · 08-31-2006, 02:22 PM

thomez · 09-01-2006, 01:25 AM

the sad part is, I NEVER felt any racial tension when I was there just 1.5 short years ago... this was a part of the blame game post-Katrina I think

smokie700 · 09-01-2006, 02:01 AM

there is always racial tension in south louisiana. Try getting lost on bourbon street and end up in rampart projects. The tension is not ikely felt by tourists but by the people that live there on a daily basis. I can see how katrina would have made it worse. I think the issue is more of people that work for a living against people that want handouts. It just happens to be most of the blacks want the handouts. So race is tied to the issue even though race may not be the root cause.

archangel003 · 09-01-2006, 02:23 AM

Racial tension is Savannah is ridiculous.

kinggovernor · 09-01-2006, 03:41 AM

Originally Posted by thomez

the sad part is, I NEVER felt any racial tension when I was there just 1.5 short years ago... this was a part of the blame game post-Katrina I think

tourist area or the 9th ward?

Stylerod · 09-01-2006, 08:01 AM

Originally Posted by archangel003

Racial tension is Savannah is ridiculous.

My wife and I will be spending 4 days there next week

ballz2wallz · 09-01-2006, 08:01 AM

racial tension in boston is bad. and once you really start thinking about it, racial tension in the world is bad. always has been, and always will be.

09-01-2006, 08:07 AM

Originally Posted by ballz2wallz

racial tension in boston is bad. and once you really start thinking about it, racial tension in the world is bad. always has been, and always will be.

Racial tensions will always exist but I dont know that they'll always be bad. This country has made great strides and continues to make great progress on the race front.

ballz2wallz · 09-01-2006, 08:09 AM

Originally Posted by 6SpeedTA95

Racial tensions will always exist but I dont know that they'll always be bad. This country has made great strides and continues to make great progress on the race front.

racial tensions will always be considered 'bad'. it's all relative. it's considered bad now, and it was considered bad then. look at europe. it's been around for how long now, and they continue to have race problems how often? from the nazi's of germany, to the ethnic cleansing of russia, to the new nazis of today. it'll never go away.

09-01-2006, 10:07 AM

Originally Posted by ballz2wallz

racial tensions will always be considered 'bad'. it's all relative. it's considered bad now, and it was considered bad then. look at europe. it's been around for how long now, and they continue to have race problems how often? from the nazi's of germany, to the ethnic cleansing of russia, to the new nazis of today. it'll never go away.

Yeah thats a good point, it will definately be relative to what people are used to. Todays racial issues pale in comparison to the issues facing the country 40 and 50 years ago.

thomez · 09-01-2006, 10:49 AM

Originally Posted by kinggovernor

tourist area or the 9th ward?

I lived there, interacted with tons of people, never had an issue - I didn't stay in a rough area but did visit them many times as a volunteer... seriously, New Orleans is such a relaxed place it was almost tension-free and everyone was friendly

motivez · 09-01-2006, 11:15 AM

One interesting aspect was talked about on NPR yesterday or the day before by someone.. in that an effect of the stagnant rebuilding / money is that LA is changing from a 50/50 blue/red state to a red state.

The guy on there talked about many of the reconstruction companies doing business there are republican funded companies rebuilding the red districts, but that many of the more 'blue' areas are still far too bad to live in.

I don't think he was saying it was a concious effort, but rather simply a reality of what's going on with the exodus of several hundred thousand African Americans.

Stylerod · 09-01-2006, 11:19 AM

Originally Posted by motivez

One interesting aspect was talked about on NPR yesterday or the day before by someone.. in that an effect of the stagnant rebuilding / money is that LA is changing from a 50/50 blue/red state to a red state.

The guy on there talked about many of the reconstruction companies doing business there are republican funded companies rebuilding the red districts, but that many of the more 'blue' areas are still far too bad to live in.

I don't think he was saying it was a concious effort, but rather simply a reality of what's going on with the exodus of several hundred thousand African Americans.

I guess companies have more money to start rebuilding than the slum lords do

motivez · 09-01-2006, 11:28 AM

Yeah, but there's also a strange lack of government money that was promised coming in to help rebuild

The levee's aren't safe, and if they expect that city to ever again be what it was, we're going to have to invest what's required.. and that includes things like wetlands restoration.

smokie700 · 09-01-2006, 01:48 PM

I would guess that the people that can afford to rebuild their homes are doing so. Most of the displaced African American community lived in government housing and I'm sure has since found residence elsewhere in government housing. If they couldn't evacuate teh city during a hurricane then how are they going to move back to N.O. when government housing is built? We will have to pay again for them to return?

ballz2wallz · 09-01-2006, 01:59 PM

Originally Posted by motivez

Yeah, but there's also a strange lack of government money that was promised coming in to help rebuild

strange, cause that doesn't seem to be the case in mississippi, where they had complete and total destruction as well.

smokie700 · 09-01-2006, 02:07 PM

Originally Posted by ballz2wallz

strange, cause that doesn't seem to be the case in mississippi, where they had complete and total destruction as well.

Did you see the gov of mississippi on Fox the other night? He made a great comment how they don't believe in passing the buck. (or something similar) and Nagin does want to pass the buck to everyone but nagin.

ballz2wallz · 09-01-2006, 02:12 PM

Originally Posted by smokie700

Did you see the gov of mississippi on Fox the other night? He made a great comment how they don't believe in passing the buck. (or something similar) and Nagin does want to pass the buck to everyone but nagin.

absolutely. they've completely (for the most part, with few exceptions) cleaned up the area and already begun to rebuild. the casinos are opening and everything is right on track. NO on the other hand is light years behind. gee, i wonder why.
i bet the government is just sending its money to MS and not to LA right?

smokie700 · 09-01-2006, 02:16 PM

You also dont hear about the southwestern louisiana cities that got leveled from Rita. Who are rebuilding and getting on with life.