I really don't have a position on New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin's "Chocolate City" comment, other than to note that (a) it was politically unskilful, (b) New Orleans should be rebuilt and repopulated to be as close as possible to what it was before, which incidentally means majority people of color, (c) the efforts to rebuild the city so far have been criminally inept, and (d) I'm shocked, shocked to realize that those failures may result in the transformation of a Democratic stronghold in the South into just another Red commercial center. And none of this has anything to do with the Vichy theme.
So really, this post is just the result of me putting on "wake up" music for my 10- and 12-year-old daughters this morning, and picking Parliament.
For Ray Nagin's (and your) listening enjoyment: Chocolate City.mp3
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6 comments:
I wish that this could become a bigger part of the "mainstream" (read: White, progressive, non-people of color) blogosphere. Forget Nagin's pandering to the base -- here's a guy who donated to Bush then ran as a Dem. What's happening in New Orleans is ominous, and the relative rape and pillage of the federal treasury to support what essentially amounts to gimmes to large private developers in the name of the thousands of people we all watched (hopefully donated to) on those rooftops and bridges and abandoned streets needs to be added to the pile of sticks we are using to burn BushCo down with. Anyone who doesn't anticipate that the precedents being set right now won't be rubberstamped all over every federal and state disaster in the future is being naive and short-sighted. In an era when Bush is talking about using the National Guard to quarantine American cities in the event of a pandemic threat (not an actual pandemic mind you, their plan is to call out the guard once the threat has been established to exist in an area), as citizens we have to be ready for anything. The scattering of those citizens with no provision for mental health care, or long-term plans for their safe return to their homes is the Ghost of Christmas Future for us all. Illegal wiretapping, faith-based federal funding, secret port deals, it all needs to be kept on the front burner so the American public can see how high the merde pile really is with this administration.
"New Orleans should be rebuilt and repopulated to be as close as possible to what it was before, which incidentally means majority people of color"
Why? If Kennebunkport were destroyed by a Noreaster, should we hope and pray it was rebuilt to be predominantly white? I'm sorry, but seperate and equal doesn't work.
With the horrible failures of the city, formerly (corruption, irresponsible spending of federal money, rampant poverty and unemployment...) we should seriously consider what is best for the city. I think that any rebuilding efforts that lead to a more profitable, self-sufficient way of life would be an improvement, regardless of the predominant color.
If Kennebunkport were destroyed by a Noreaster, should we hope and pray it was rebuilt to be predominantly white? ***
any rebuilding efforts that lead to a more profitable, self-sufficient way of life would be an improvement
Whoa! Hold on there, hoss!
1. If Kennebunkport were destroyed by a Nor'easter, do you think for ONE SECOND that (a) any residents at all would be left unevacuated in advance of the storm, or (b) it would face the delays, excuse-making, ineptitude and inattention that New Orleans faces?
2. What precisely was NOT profitable and self-sufficient about New Orleans before Katrina, other than that some French folks two hundred years ago sited it poorly?
Shorter anonymous: rebuild New Orleans white, because black people are poor and dependent and can only blame themselves if natural selection takes them out and allows whites to take over.
I agree with "shorter anonymous". I don't see any reason to specify the "color" of the future New Orleans, and his/her statements don't say anything about specifying that it be built white.
1) I think that most (all) residents of Kennepukport would have evacuated. Not a racial issue, a socioeconomic issue. They would not have to rely on Ray Nagin to implement their evacuation plan, they would get in their Bentleys and drive to the Vinyard.
2) The fact that it is the prototypical "welfare state".
Lastly, Thersites2, it's unfair to portray anonymous' comments as some sort of white supremacy bullshit. He/She is only pointing out the obvious double standard that exists.
Speaking of double standards, where is the public outcry, the UCLA action, call for a vote of no confidence, or threats of civil and criminal action about these unbelievable racist comments that would have occured if Ray Nagin had called for a white repopulation? Make no mistake, I am not suggesting that any race is better than any other, but it is uncceptable for our elected officials to suggest otherwise. Is it God's plan for an Native American uprising sending all caucasians to europe and african-american's to africa? How can you not draw comparisons like this? I fully comprehend making yourself attractive to the majority, but not to the point of denegrating everyone else.
Oops, I didn't mean to be anonymous. That las post was me.
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