Monday
The Politics of Milky Way...
"It's time for us to rebuild a New Orleans, the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans. And I don't care what people are saying in Uptown or wherever they are. This city will be chocolate at the end of the day. This city will be a majority African-American city. It's the way God wants it to be. You can't have it no other way."
New Orleans Mayor - C. Ray Nagin
Ray Nagin's acceptance speech had the usual politico-speak of "togetherness" and "no black or white" but a one-color New Orleans. To the credit of both candidates, they did keep things fairly clean during the course of the election process. But saying that New Orleans "would once again be a chocolate city" back in the days after Katrina, and then pandering to the non-black citizens that were annoyed at his "chocolate" comment, is another example of two distinct ironies in American Politics.
One: They forget that at times, things they say in the heat of the moment comes across as dumb and Ill-spoken. To make things worse, those very same words are hypocritical in the very end,..to say the least.
Two: That the American media gives a free pass to Black and Latino politicians who blatantly say divisive and racially charged remarks. Imagine if Mitch Landrieu would have been the Mayor of a mostly-caucasian town and would have mouthed that "This city will be a Vanilla City once again".... The press would have beat him to a pulp, the Black Community would have demanded his resignation, streets would have burned, liberals from coast to coast would have had Cry-in's, Blogger's-ville would have called him a racist supremacist and Jesse Jackson would have been mugging for every camera in sight. Go ahead and tell me that I am exagerating.
Just as society should nail to the wall any non-black public servant who makes a remark like that, so should we give no quarter to our Black American brethren who insert foot-in-mouth with such elegant aplomb.
This, and other events like this, are a constant reminder that "America the beautiful is also (at times) America the blind" (I've blatantly plagiarized and somewhat edited that line from the late ABC anchorman Frank Reynolds)
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I am quick to pounce on hypocracy, but honor and credit is due. I just saw Ray Nagin give Prez Bush public thank you's for the help in getting funding for New Orlean's levies and special construction projects. All things considered, that was pretty classy. To give the Prez credit for ANYTHING in this period of Bush-bashing is pretty extraordinary, especially him being a Democratic Mayor and the noted history of both of them in the post Katrina days. Good on you Mr. Mayor!
I am quick to pounce on hypocracy, but honor and credit is due. I just saw Ray Nagin give Prez Bush public thank you's for the help in getting funding for New Orlean's levies and special construction projects. All things considered, that was pretty classy. To give the Prez credit for ANYTHING in this period of Bush-bashing is pretty extraordinary, especially him being a Democratic Mayor and the noted history of both of them in the post Katrina days. Good on you Mr. Mayor!
Very well stated. (the kudos) I was so upset that I said, "Don't come 'round here asking for anymore money!"
I was very upset that our media is so inept that they don't even know that the Posse Comotatus (sp?) that they are so upset about now kept President Bush from doing more than he did.
FEMA (that beast that needs to DIE) is for clean-up, not to get everyone out before, during, and after! Good grief.
Nice site. Keep up the good work. :)
I was very upset that our media is so inept that they don't even know that the Posse Comotatus (sp?) that they are so upset about now kept President Bush from doing more than he did.
FEMA (that beast that needs to DIE) is for clean-up, not to get everyone out before, during, and after! Good grief.
Nice site. Keep up the good work. :)
Thank you! Your compliments are very much appreciated here at the "Soup" :) I agree with you on the FEMA issue. The mission of the agency (or at least its interpretation) keeps changing from disaster to disaster, as if it were yet another entitlement program.
I just saw Ray Nagin give Prez Bush public thank you's for the help in getting funding for New Orlean's levies and special construction projects. All things considered, that was pretty classy.
Thanking the man who claimed FEMA was ready, then did nothing while people died wasn't classy, it showed where his real loyalties lie. The guy is a former Republican! The only reason he switched parties is that a Republican doesn't have a chance of being elected in NO. It's a shame that he got reelected.
However, I will defend his "chocolate city" quote, since what you posted is not the full story. Nagin was referring to the developers who want to use the opportunity to gentrify NO. By "chocolate" he meant white people AND black people. He meant that NO needs to make sure that there is a place in the rebuilt NO for low-income individuals (mainly poor blacks).
FEMA (that beast that needs to DIE) is for clean-up, not to get everyone out before, during, and after! Good grief.
The reason Government exists is to protect it's citizens! FEMA was a model agency during the Clinton presidency. We need to get rid of bush, not FEMA.
The mission of the agency (or at least its interpretation) keeps changing from disaster to disaster, as if it were yet another entitlement program.
Bull. Our tax dollars pay for FEMA. FEMA provides a vital service -- or they used to, before bush cut it's budget, marginalized it by making it a department of Homeland security, and staffed all key positions with inept cronies. (6/1/2006)
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Thanking the man who claimed FEMA was ready, then did nothing while people died wasn't classy, it showed where his real loyalties lie. The guy is a former Republican! The only reason he switched parties is that a Republican doesn't have a chance of being elected in NO. It's a shame that he got reelected.
However, I will defend his "chocolate city" quote, since what you posted is not the full story. Nagin was referring to the developers who want to use the opportunity to gentrify NO. By "chocolate" he meant white people AND black people. He meant that NO needs to make sure that there is a place in the rebuilt NO for low-income individuals (mainly poor blacks).
FEMA (that beast that needs to DIE) is for clean-up, not to get everyone out before, during, and after! Good grief.
The reason Government exists is to protect it's citizens! FEMA was a model agency during the Clinton presidency. We need to get rid of bush, not FEMA.
The mission of the agency (or at least its interpretation) keeps changing from disaster to disaster, as if it were yet another entitlement program.
Bull. Our tax dollars pay for FEMA. FEMA provides a vital service -- or they used to, before bush cut it's budget, marginalized it by making it a department of Homeland security, and staffed all key positions with inept cronies. (6/1/2006)
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