Nagin Suspects a Plot To Keep Blacks Away
New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin has suggested that the slow recovery and rebuilding of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina — which has prevented many black former residents from returning — is part of a plan to change the racial makeup and political leadership of his and other cities….”Ladies and gentlemen, what happened in New Orleans could happen anywhere,” Nagin said at a dinner sponsored by the National Newspaper Publishers Association, a trade group for newspapers that target black readers. “They are studying this model of natural disasters, dispersing the community and changing the electoral process in that community.”….Nagin’s remarks Thursday night recalled the controversy stirred up by his prediction in a Martin Luther King Jr. Day speech in 2006 that, despite the evacuation of thousands of black people in the wake of Katrina, New Orleans would once again become a “chocolate city.” The mayor later apologized for the comment, which had infuriated many whites and African Americans.
New Orleans is probably the only city in American in which a certifiable DUMB@$$ like Ray Nagin could not only get elected, but re-elected. Of course, New Orleans is hardly like any other American city…and that was true prior to Hurricane Katrina decimating the Crescent City. The paltry, inefficient, and inept response by the federal government to the tragedy in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast certainly provides Nagin with ample ammunition and a bully pulpit. Nagin’s problem is that he just doesn’t know when to shut up. Pushing baseless conspiracy theories does nothing to get New Orleans closer to the goal of once again being a whole city. It DOES, however, give Nagin an opportunity to deflect attention from the fact that New Orleans’ city government is even more of a mess than it was prior to Katrina.
At this point in time, Ray Nagin’s first and only responisibility is doing whatever he can to put New Orleans back together. Of course, he’s but one person, and the job of reconstructing New Orleans is far beyond the capabilities of any one individual. What Nagin CAN do, though, is to act as the public face of the reconstruction effort. Ray Nagin has a bully pulpit, one that can and should be used to pry loose whatever money and material can be made available. In a perfect world, Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader © would be keeping the promise he made in Jackson Square, but we all know that commitment was forgotten as soon as the kliegs were turned off and the stage was struck.
The reality here is that there’s plenty of money to conduct an illegal and immoral war in Iraq, but not nearly enough to also help rebuild one of the country’s great cities. This is hardly news, and Ray Nagin is well aware of this. It would seem incumbent upon him, then, to do whatever he can to keep the plight of the city he loves in the news. Instead, the news Nagin has created is when he’s enaged his mouth before allowing his brain to do the necessary editing.
Our focus needs to be on putting New Orleans back together. Eighteen months after Katrina, and there’s still a LOT of work remaining to be done. New Orleans may never be what it once was, but we shouldn’t have to be focusing on the latest lunacy to escape Ray Nagin’s lips. Somehow, I think the people of New Orleans deserve better. Engaging in wild speculation about conspiracy theories that there’s absolutely NO evidence to support does NOTHING to help in the reconstruction effort.
Jeebus, what a world-class DUMB@$$….
