20 thoughts on “‘Chocolate’ New Orleans”

  1. The editorials were flowing this morning in the newspaper. Nagin even brought Chris Rose out of his vacation. What a “knucklehead.”

  2. I haven’t listened to this speech yet. I’m scared to.

    Perhaps he just got caught up in the moment? It was MLK day after all. But like I said, I haven’t listened to the speech yet, so I can’t really comment.

    Over on the New Orleans Metroblogs site, they made a little joke about people they would rather have as mayor other than Ray Nagin. Here’s #4:

    RuPaul: Because Christian intellectuals (assuming such creatures truly exist) are arguing that Katrina was god’s way of exacting revenge on sinners, which means that homos are clearly the Chosen People since our neighborhoods came out of the storm okay. And really: if the bitch can work a corset and 6-inch heels and one of those fancy lacefront wigs all at the same time, then surely she can lead the Chosen People against Peggy Wilson.

  3. Please go to wwltv.com and listen to it. You must listen to his voice to get the full effect. Also, go to the Times Picayune site and pull up Chris Rose’s column. It is wonderful!!!!!

  5. A small print transcript was on Jan 17th page A-7 of the Times Picyune (provided by WWL radio). Reading it does not give the impression of a fire and brimstone speech. Rather, a deliberate progression of an imagined conversation with Dr. King. However, throwing in an interpretation of God’s actions and that the city was going to be chocolate at the end of the day, I believe was a spur of the moment response to the (what he thought was just a small crowd of about 75) audience he had. But he didn’t realize the far wider audience that would be hearing it. That he frequently makes such errors is a real tragedy. But in today’s (18 Jan) editorial, one displaced (white) guy’s opinion was that he was coming back, because (his) city is in crisis now and needs every helping hand to stand and fight for it. I plan to buy a home, in Lakeview, closer to the 17th street canal break, because I believe the same thing. That anything worthwhile demands great effort and that this is my home. I don’t love everything about it, and shake my head at how stupid we appear to the rest of the world, but how can we just let it go, give up, when we have such challenges and opportunities?

  6. I just listened to the speech. Here’s my thoughts.

    1. It was MLK Jr Day and he was speaking to his audience.
    2. I heard many people tell me the same thing that “God is punishing America/New Orleans with hurricanes” right after the storms hit. I didn’t agree with that sentiment then, and I don’t agree with that now.
    3. He’s right, New Orleans would not be the same if it is not a majority black city.
    4. He knew he was being provactive. He said at the end “Now before I get in anymore trouble…” He knew what he was doing. New Orleans is back on the nation’s radar again, after it had fallen off. Sad, but true. We’ll be off the radar in a couple days.
    5. I think there are a lot of people who hear about how “New Orleans is the safest its ever been” and envision that the people in the poorer (black) neighborhoods will never be allowed to come back to keep it that way. All poor (black) people aren’t criminals. I know when I looked at the rebuilding New Orleans plan, I saw a version of New Orleans that caters to white, suburban, generic America. I don’t want that for my hometown.
    6. I think Nagin was deeply troubled by the second-line shooting and his speech is a reaction to that. I bet he can see the city officials quickly losing control over large parts of the city as the poor honest people can’t afford to get back while the poor dishonest people see an opportunity to take over.
    7. When Bill Cosby says the same thing Ray Nagin says about black on black crime, and how the black community needs to take responsibility for its situation, white America calls him a straight-shooter. When Ray Nagin says it, we want to impeach him.
    8. We need to talk about racial matters. Ignoring it, or pretending that there is no problem between the races in this country will result in the status quo continuing. Getting the problems out in the open and confronting them is how we move ahead.

    I’m not going to make that big of a deal about that speech. I didn’t like everything about it, but I liked some of it.

  7. If you lived here, you would consider it a “big deal.” New Orleans has not been the same city you grew up in for a long time. The lack of leadership has struck on all time low. The education of EVERY child has been on the bottom of the list for a number of years and now we are paying the price. Unless you have lived through the “reconstruction” process or the lack there of, you cannot imagine the nerve the “chocolate” statement has struck. Nagin missed a tremendous opportunity to stress that New Orleans will be a “neopolitan” city by the end of the day.

  8. I’m with Marnie, but Kent always outsmarts me, so I can’t express my opinions successfully.

    All I can say is that Mr. Nagin has made comments about not letting the “Mexicans” take over New Orleans and now he apparently wants people to return to the city, but only if the majority of them are of a certain race. He and his entire administration should be removed.

    Martin Luther King Day, in my eyes, is not to celebrate the black race but to celebrate Dr. King’s dream of racial harmony.

    My attorney friend in N.O., who is hooked up with the political scene, says Nagin is trying to capture some of the black vote that he didn’t receive during his first campaign, especially now that his opponent is white.

  9. This is exactly what I hoped that this site would one day turn into. A real discussion. I’m so thrilled everyone is getting involved (No sarcasm).

    Dave, you are a published writer, and I am just a guy who puts numbers on boxes and then puts them on a shelf. Don’t give me that crap about out-smarting. You’re one of the smartest people I know.

    If we are going to use food metaphors for what New Orleans should be, how about a gumbo?

  10. Dave, you are a brilliant writer. Do not let Kent intimidate you. That is exactly the opportunity Nagin missed. He could have united the city but instead he had the amazing ability to offend everyone. What a talent he has!!!!

  11. I would like to add that it seems to me that New Orleans stands to lose many more balck people than white people. You don’t hear of any white people saying “we’re not coming back” because they have the resources to weather this. The folks who got shipped out in buses don’t. Nagin does seem like a hack, but I’m with Kent.

  12. Just visit St. Bernard and Chalmette. There are just as many white people therer who are not coming back. They may have to means to rebuild, but their heart is not there anymore. Plus they have no guarantee that if they invest their hard earned money that levy protection will be provided. I struggle with this every day personally and with the students that I teach and their families. What future is here? Then on top of that we hear the “chocolate” speech from Mr. Nagin. It is very discouraging.

  13. I agree with Marnie, you don’t know unless you live there and have to endure reality everyday and Dave is a brilliant writer. I was very relieved to get on a plane back to New York after visiting for five days a month after Katrina. New Orleans will out last Nagin for sure. If he can’t lead, I just hope he doesn’t do anything too drastic to ruin the city during this pivotal time, that crazy ‘knucklehead’.

  14. I don’t have much to add sat here in another continent, being far away from the problems of New Orleans and American social issues. What I will say is this. When (not if; I am an optimist) the time comes that racial statements and sentiments such as expressed by Nagin and many others become irrelevant, then maybe my interpretation of what Martin Luther King was saying in his famous speech will truly have come to light.

    One day, it will seem to society that an obsession with race is as absurd and marginialised as an obsession about eye colour, height, or what kind of underwear you have on.

  15. OK, everyone take a deep breath, and let it out. Anyone who has all the answers can speak now………. What’s that? Silence? Talk, discuss, argue. Although Ambutt says “unless you live there” , implies that you shouldn’t have a voice, everyone must speak the truth as they know it. But I don’t want to leave. This is my home. The biker bar I went to the other day, the former Shim Sham club, now One-Eyed Jacks, La Music Factory, House of Blues, Port of Call, Whole Foods, Krewe de Vieux, Entergy, the Aquarium, Lakeview, are part of me. Even Treme, the lower Ninth Ward, Lake Catherine, Charity Hospital, St. Charles Ave., Claiborne, Tchopitoulas, Cafe de Monde, Algiers, Southern Yacht Club, my little sailboat Lil Bit, is my home and all the people that are still here and that used to be here are still my neighbors and I want them to come home. Chocolate, White, Indian, Polish, German, Irish, whatever, our emotions are right there in the open, like a shucked oyster. We can’t do without the hot sauce (although we can do without the gunpowder) of all of us. Sorry to be rambling, but I’m just trying to do my best in what is still the storm’s aftermath.

  18. Want a T-shirt? I was always taught that God was a loving God and did not do all of this “wrath of God” stuff. If that is not true, then His aim is a little off.

  19. I met a old lady in the upper ninth who also said the hurricane was punishment, not for Iraq but because in the last decade, New Orleans had been “getting rough”. She thought it would be through fire but it was through flood. When she moved into the neighborhood 20+ years ago, her family was the only African-American family on the block. I have no point, I just thought it was interesting.

  20. The crime rate was out of control before Katrina. It is a shame that the good people have suffered so much because of the “knuckleheads.” There was an article in today’s paper about getting rid of the blighted property in Terrrytown and one of the areas was Holmes Blvd. I am truly praying that the bad element (black, white, or purple) stays away, even if they are in my beloved Texas. This is one of the things I struggle with everyday in my debate to either stay or move on and I know I am not alone. The lady in the 9th ward has seen her neighbor decline and I know if breaks her heart.

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