On MLK day, Mayor Nagin had a few comments. “I don’t care what people are saying Uptown or wherever they are. This city will be chocolate at the end of the day,” he said. “This city will be a majority African-American city. It’s the way God wants it to be.” He called for a Chocolate City? What the hell? Maybe he has cracked under the pressure. That’s all I can figure. Oh, and when did God tell Mayor Nagin his overall plan for New Orleans? I’m just asking.
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Dr. Thompson,
Mike Wallace from Tyler, Tx here. It’s good to see that you are still in the fight. I hope that everything is going well for you in NC. I watched mayor Nagin on C-span this morning before a house committee. I don’t think he’s cracked. Or he didn’t seem to be cracked this morning. I think, from a white guys perspective, I understand exactly what the mayor was trying to say on MLK day. In my world, I hear a lot of comotion about rebuilding N.O. and especially the 9th Ward. On my street, it is common to hear people suggest that the reconstruction of a black neighborhood is not worth the taxpayers money. Nor is it desirable. The destruction of "the hood", not the flourshing of "the hood", is formost on "some peoples" mind, and I think mayor Nagin has heard this too. Then, when you consider that government is mostly white, you begin to fear that at the end of the day the government will head the calls of it’s consertive base and do nothing. Nothing at all. Except seize upon an opportunity and let another "undesirable neighborhood" slip into oblivian. And people fear this. Especially the thousands of people from N.O. who are spread across the Gulf with nowhere to go. So mayor Nagin says, Hey, don’t listen to these rumors. Come home. We will rebuild N.O., and the 9th Ward, and it will once again be mostly black.
There is nothing wrong with saying that, and that is what he said, in so many words.
Good to talk with you,
Mike
Thanks for your e-mail. I appreciate your thoughts. New Orleans would have been forgotten long ago if it was truly a Chocolate City. New Orleans was a mixed of cultures. Embrace that. Whites, Creo, Blacks, Indians, Hispanics – everyone could find a place in New Orleans. That was the beauty of New Orleans. From the Garden district to the Fair Grounds New Orleans invited everyone from businessman to partyman. Inviting one group of people Black or White just alienates that group.
Thanks again for your thoughtful reply.