In the middle of all the Saints hoopla New Orleans had an election and we will have our first white mayor in over 30 years. He won every precinct except one. That means that we have a white mayor because black voters put him there. I hate to say I told you so but when Ed Murray dropped out of the race I predicted this. The outcome of this election should send a message to the leaders in our community. There needs to be a change and a shift in our approach. I was going to put all of this into one post but I decided to break it down a little further. Since I already wrote the post I linked to about this I will be brief.
I know the history of the city and what it means to have black leadership. Keep in mind that I am 35 years old and the first black mayor was elected when I was 3. That means that for my generation and those behind me we don’t have any personal memories of the same struggle. All we have is a lifetime of living here under declining conditions and difficult circumstances. We have been here looking at opportunity and people leave us behind for greener pastures. It just so happens that the whole time we couldn’t find a good job, the school system was failing us, and we were all scared of the NOPD black people were running these entities. Instead of being angry at them for not coming out to vote and doing research, go to the hood and find out where we went wrong. I think this is a perfect opportunity for a rebirth of grassroots leaders that are born out of real action for the community. I truly believe that the people will engage in the process again if they think the system can work for them.
Part two is coming soon……..
2 comments:
Yep. Thank you very much.
These are the days of miracles and wonder...and even a heaping of Irony on da'side, eh? I remember when they named the Moonwalk after Mitch's daddy.
You nailed it Cliff.
While I generally hate the word "Post" in front of anything but "Toasties", here I think we shall see a real thing, in the naked city where in a way it began...from the Whipping Post to Post-Racial.
I am extremely proud of the Black Vote in this election.
And to put some icing on the cake, at least for my spesh'all thingy: the Corps and Future Flood Safety, my sources tell me that Mitch is structurally integrating Flood Safety into his administration.
By that I mean, he is interviewing people about manifesting perhaps even an office thingy for the city's relationship to the Corps.
I will have more details later. Given the Vegas odds last I checked were around 80/1 that Mitch will see another (at least One perhaps Two) 8/29 scale flood events on his watch, I am glad we have him with his connections to Washington and his sister's nail-spitting attitude towards the Corps. We may very well need them again big time. El Nino has woke from his nap and I remember the winter of '04-'05. Ain't trying to rain on any parades here, but the fact is... we got facts out'da is. But I don't want to get into them here and now.
This is still life in the City That Care Forgot, yet the Saints still took to all the way to Glory. That is a such a real thing.
I mean, pardon me but...
HAPPY LOMBARDI GRAS!
Our independent documentary film crew is coming to New Orleans to talk to people about redistricting, and Gerrymandering as it applies there. If you would like to share your opinions on issues of representation as the 2010 census rolls out, please contact us at susangbryant at yahoo dot com. Thanks!
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