'God Wants This City to be Black'

[Crazed Rabbit]

Slightly paraphrased from New Orleans mayor Ray "Where are the School Buses?" Nagin:

"It's time for us to come together. It's time for us to rebuild New Orleans _ the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans," the mayor said. "This city will be a majority African American city. It's the way God wants it to be. You can't have New Orleans no other way. It wouldn't be New Orleans."

Can you imagine the outburst if a white mayor said a rebulit city should be mostly white, and that it was God's will? Some people in here would trip over themselves denouncing him.

I'll give him some credit for saying black communities need to fix themselves and stop blaming white people, but saying a certain racial composition of a city is more desireable than another is racism.

Crazed Rabbit

[Mongoose]

I think it's clear at this point that Nagin is crazy. I wonder if anyone will try to defend the "New orleans should be mostly black" statement.

I don't think there's much room left for debate in this topic...this reminds me of pat robertson...

[Reenk Roink]

Ah, and now it is the Right's turn...

[Reverend Joe]

New Orleans should be restored to the way it was. No changing of the balance. That way, I can go down there someday and walk into a bar, and hear some of that good ol' Creedence style New Orleans blues.

"Keep on Chooglin'!"

That, and all of those people won't be homeless.

[Watchman]

*scratches head*
Is that guy for real ? I mean, "chocolate city" ? What the Hell kind of kindergarten talk is that ? Did one of those ten-kilo Gutenberg original-print Bibles fall on his head ?

What the heck is he babbling about anyway ?

...uh, just for the record, what was the "racial composition" of New Orleans before the hurricane ?

[Papewaio]

[Devastatin Dave]

Maybe he wants to be Willy Wonka?
Yup, it would be a cold day in hell if a white mayer would stand up and say, "Bruthas and Sistas, the Lord did put the smack down on our City, but I promise you this, we will be a vanilla city once again without the chocolate chips!!!"
Vote Democrat and blame whitey, its always easier than getting a job.

[Sartaq]

Nagin is a funny guy.

[Redleg]

*scratches head*
Is that guy for real ? I mean, "chocolate city" ? What the Hell kind of kindergarten talk is that ? Did one of those ten-kilo Gutenberg original-print Bibles fall on his head ?

What the heck is he babbling about anyway ?

...uh, just for the record, what was the "racial composition" of New Orleans before the hurricane ?

The majority of the population was indeed Black. I believe the number is somethng like 60%.

http://www.ace.uiuc.edu/classes/up406/samples/2VanderNO01.pdf#search='racial%20composition%20of%20New%20Orleans'

[Watchman]

So he's really just talking about moving all the folks back in, except in a pretty odious and rather provocative manner ?

Well, I was always a firm believer in the equal right and ability of all men and women under the sun to be turds, anyway.

[Devastatin Dave]

I wonder when Mr Hershey bar is going to move back to the city himself. That's a long commute for him from Texas to make these chocolate speaches.

[Xiahou]

Let's not overlook that Nagin also said, in the same speech, that God sent hurricanes Katrina and Rita to punish America and then outlined an imaginary conversation he had with MLK.

[Papewaio]

Actually reading the speech it seems it is about restoring New Orleans, that the hurricane was a punishment for the behaviour of black people, and that it is the black mans responsibility to fix himself.

This is a totally different view then I got from the snippet in the first post...

"Surely God is mad at America. He sent us hurricane after hurricane after hurricane, and it's destroyed and put stress on this country," Nagin, who is black, said as he and other city leaders marked Martin Luther King Day.

"Surely he doesn't approve of us being in Iraq under false pretenses. But surely he is upset at black America also. We're not taking care of ourselves."

Nagin also promised that New Orleans will be a "chocolate" city again. Many of the city's black neighborhoods were heavily damaged by Katrina.

"It's time for us to come together. It's time for us to rebuild New Orleans _ the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans," the mayor said. "This city will be a majority African American city. It's the way God wants it to be. You can't have New Orleans no other way. It wouldn't be New Orleans."

[Pape: as it was a majority African American city]

Nagin described an imaginary conversation with King, the late civil rights leader.

"I said, `What is it going to take for us to move on and live your dream and make it a reality?' He said, `I don't think that we need to pay attention any more as much about other folks and racists on the other side.' He said, `The thing we need to focus on as a community _ black folks I'm talking about _ is ourselves.'"

Nagin said he also asked: "Why is black-on-black crime such an issue? Why do our young men hate each other so much that they look their brother in the face and they will take a gun and kill him in cold blood?"

The reply, Nagin said, was: "We as a people need to fix ourselves first."

[Crazed Rabbit]

This is a totally different view then I got from the snippet in the first post...

Perhaps you missed where I said:

I'll give him some credit for saying black communities need to fix themselves and stop blaming white people,

I think the city had originally, as Redleg said, a black majority. Ironically, a disproportionately large percentage of white people died in the aftermath of Katrina.

Crazed Rabbit

[KafirChobee]

Are those siding against the Mayor simply white trash crackers? Or, are you simply ignorant about he history of the Big Easy? 70%+ were black, it is that simple. Is one of the reasons the city got so little attention or support.

To snip out a phrase from an entire speech and make it into the entire concept is, of course, an old right wing tactic from the dirty tricks day of "Tricky Dicky" (and now the new days of the new Republican party). Still. it is to be expected from those that would under mine the efforts of someone actually attempting to rebuild a city he loved - versus someone that has ignored the problems since the disaster (namely - Bush43).

New Orleans is still without power - 40%. Its former inhabitants are at the mercy of the federal government - the state needs federal funds that have been denied and withheld by FEMA. 82% of the request for loans to rebuild have been denied - because those requesting them don'ts makes enuffs munys. The entire feascal is a scam - by realtors and the present executive branch that empowers them. The probability is ... N.O. will become the next great white owned and operated vacationing place - in a decade.

/edit - language, and yes i know the context and spelling and it's still not acceptable.

[English assassin]

Ironically, a disproportionately large percentage of white people died in the aftermath of Katrina.

380 bodies from New Orleans identified, 33 percent were white, when, according to the study, the white population of New Orleans was only 28 percent (LA Times (24 december 2005) cited in Wiki)

Not a statistically significant deviation I'd bet.

Also The U.S. Census Bureau estimates the 2004 New Orleans population to be 20.0% white and 67.9% black, , so it seems not completely unreasonable that the mayor should be saying the rebuilt city should be majority black.

[Xiahou]

Also The U.S. Census Bureau estimates the 2004 New Orleans population to be 20.0% white and 67.9% black, , so it seems not completely unreasonable that the mayor should be saying the rebuilt city should be majority black.

I'd say it's unreasonable and borderline racist. What the hell does it matter what color the people are who move back into New Orleans? What if it had been a predominantly white city with a white mayor- would it be acceptable for him to say "I want this to be a white city again"? I think not.

Are those siding against the Mayor simply white trash crackers? Or, are you simply ignorant about he history of the Big Easy? 70%+ were black, it is that simple. Is one of the reasons the city got so little attention or support.

[Reenk Roink]

How typical that some people will condemn Nagin for his comments in what was probably a motavational speech to a black audience, yet be quick to point out that the part about blacks looking out for themselves is good...

[English assassin]

What if it had been a predominantly white city with a white mayor- would it be acceptable for him to say "I want this to be a white city again"? I think not

It would be perfectly aceptable to say that the people who were forced out of the city should be the people who come back to the city. Specifically referring to them as white would be ill advised, but if you can't see that the rather different histories of the blacks and the whites in the southern US are going to lead to some differences today, I can't really argue the point.

After someone has shipped white Americans off across an ocean to be a slave, and then kept them segregated and disenfranchised for another 100 years or so, then I guess they would have the right to be cut a bit of slack in their racial terminology in speeches too. Just my two cents.

[Fragony]

I think he was just reffering to black culture, it is the city of jazz after all.

[thrashaholic]

After someone has shipped white Americans off across an ocean to be a slave, and then kept them segregated and disenfranchised for another 100 years or so, then I guess they would have the right to be cut a bit of slack in their racial terminology in speeches too. Just my two cents.

Apologies for veering off the course of the topic, but how about white christian slaves captured in arab pirate raids around Europe (not white Americans I know, but the same race), who were then sold around the arab world and south into deepest darkest Africa, segregated and disenfrachised because they were christian? Blacks aren't the only race to have sufferred the ills of slavery at the hands of another race and it would be a misrepresentation and somewhat disrespectful to say so in my opinion.

On the article: I think what this chap's said is a little silly, even the gumpf about blacks 'fixing themselves'. A mayor shouldn't really show any preference for the racial make-up of his city, whatever his reasons (I would theorise that he may want a black majority in order to assist his being re-elected). The comments about 'black-on-black' violence and crime seem fairly unpleasant too, making no reference to black-on-white violence, he should have said violence as a whole is wrong, not show a preference as to where violence and crime perpetrated by blacks is directed.

It seems to me that most all of his comments were innapropriate to a certain degree, even if he wants New Orleans to return to as it was prior to the hurricanes.

[English assassin]

how about white christian slaves captured in arab pirate raids around Europe (not white Americans I know, but the same race), who were then sold around the arab world and south into deepest darkest Africa, segregated and disenfrachised because they were christian? Blacks aren't the only race to have sufferred the ills of slavery at the hands of another race and it would be a misrepresentation and somewhat disrespectful to say so in my opinion

OK, any descendants of those slaves would be entitled to be a bit ticked off with the Arabs. I wasn't saying all blacks, I was saying blacks who are specifically and closely related to blacks who have suffered in the South. And just before anyone does a number on me I wasn't suggesting that even those blacks are owed a living by anyone, just that we can maybe turn a blind eye to the occasional racial remark that we wouldn't be so understanding of coming out of whitey's mouth.

[doc_bean]

On the article: I think what this chap's said is a little silly, even the gumpf about blacks 'fixing themselves'. A mayor shouldn't really show any preference for the racial make-up of his city, whatever his reasons (I would theorise that he may want a black majority in order to assist his being re-elected). The comments about 'black-on-black' violence and crime seem fairly unpleasant too, making no reference to black-on-white violence, he should have said violence as a whole is wrong, not show a preference as to where violence and crime perpetrated by blacks is directed.

It was a speech on Martin Luther King day, of course he'll try to say something about the black community to make them feel as an actual community instead of a bunch of people who happen to have the same skin colour...

[el_slapper]

I'd mainly said that anyone pretending knowing what "the way God wants [something] to be" is crazy, or dangerous, or both.

[Devastatin Dave]

Did anyone hear the audio, he sounded like a vroken down Baptist preacher who had sipped a little too much off his 40.
LOL, I guess when New Orleans becomes a chocolate city again, that is code for huge welfare, crime, and curroption.

[Fragony]

/edited

adding a smiley and disclaimer doesn't make it okay to make comments like this.

[Byzantine Prince]

Seeing as some of the population was voodoo, saying that they are "chocolate" only enhances the apeal that city has to sickos.

Mmmmmm, the land of chocolate.

Bwahhahahahaha!

[Goofball]

LOL, I guess when New Orleans becomes a chocolate city again, that is code for huge welfare, crime, and curroption.

Sometimes, you guys are funny.

But sometimes, you just make me ashamed to know you.

[Major Robert Dump]

NewOrleans had above the national average for: violent crime/welfare recipients/babies out of wedlock.

the city of New Orleans also drew in more tourism dollars than some entire states, yet it still was a dump

The door swings both ways here, there is more to blame for the katrina disaster than just a "racist federal government", like for example the mayor and the governor of louisiana

What they need to do, though, is stop with the entitlement mentality. What about the city meeting last week when displaced residents -- most of them renters -- were shouting down a developer because he is going to put nice apartments where crappy rent houses used to be. Did they own the land? Isn't the developer working for below-standard fees?

What also concerns me, though, is the use of imminent domain for people who actually did own their land, and FEMA being behind on reimbursing hotel/motel owners who have to house leeches for free

Personally, I never plan to visit the place again because of the way the city has behaved post katrina. They can have their chocolate city.

[Fragony]

The door swings both ways here, there is more to blame for the katrina disaster than just a "racist federal government", like for example the mayor and the governor of louisiana

They were told to leave. They stay anyway. Did I miss something? Some nerve they have....

And Goofball, don't be such a bore, it was just a joke.