Well, folks, it was bound to happen. New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin again lost it.
Let's start by saying I admire Nagin. Being mayor of New Orleans is a job not for the weak or faint of heart. There are no rules and the corruption inherent in the New Orleans and Louisiana political scene is legendary. As they like to say down there "we have a certain way of doing things".
We all saw what happened during Hurricane Katrina. Fingers are still being pointed over that one and yes, some of the blame does fall upon Nagin. However, he really shone in the aftermath, kicking ass and taking names. His interview on the Thursday was a refreshing blast of emotion and honesty that few if any politicians on any level have matched. That was the same day Mike Brown, on national tv, said he had no idea there were people at the Convention Center. Nagin blew up, telling the listening audience he was sick of all the goddamn press conferences and needed the calvary now and that people were dying. That 9 minute outburst managed to penetrate the dense cloud of idiocy surrounding the White House and someone- most likely Rove- told Bush ixnay on the uitargay and get his ass to the Gulf Coast.
Since the flood waters have receeded, Nagin's had his plate full trying to get New Orleans fixed and bringing the hundreds of thousands of evacuees back home. Problem is, for many of them, there is no home. And this ties into the next thing.
In order to rebuild, they need outside money and lots of it. The money the government is putting up won't rebuild the city. New Orleans is going to need more- much more.
Now, I love New Orleans. Love it to death- almost literally. It is a city with unmatched charm, some of the best dining in the world, and a vibe that is unlike any other city in America. There are few greater pleasures in life than a lazy day spent in New Orleans. Start off with some chicory coffee and the Times Picayune, then a wander down Magazine Street checking out the shops, then heading down to Mother's or driving out to the Louisiana Seafood Exchange for a shrimp and oyster poboy the size of your head. Maybe grab a quick nap and then head into the Quarter, seeing it slowly wake up from the night before, and saunter around with a beer in hand enjoying the relative calm and quiet. Perhaps one might take in a play at the Mahalia Jackson or the State Theater, or ride over to the Art Museum. As dinner rolls around, oh the choices. You can't swing a cat without hitting a restaurant that can serve up the sort of meal one would request as their last on Death Row.
After an hours-long meal, grab a drink and hit the bricks for the human carnival that is the French Quarter at night. Wander Bourbon Street and enjoy the sights and sounds and try to ignore the smells. Poke your head into a club where you might luck out and hear New Orleans legend Henry Butler tickling the ivories, or go sit down in the Funky Pirate and hear and see EJ Philips do his jaw-dropping tribute to Jimi Hendrix. Resist the siren call of the Lucky Dogs. Most of all, stand in amazement at the constant calls of men shouting "Show your tits" and offering up beads, wondering how this sort of thing still goes on. Finally, after an evening filled with overindulgence, wrapping things up at 2 or 3am with a cafe au lait and beignets at Cafe Du Monde or heading out on St Charles to Igor's or the Tavern on St Charles for a crawfish etouffee omlette and a couple of Bloody Marys.
The point being, one can cram a lifetime of amazing experiences into a single day in New Orleans that would be impossible to duplicate anywhere else on earth.
However, this comes at a cost. New Orleans is, as my sister (a former New Orleans resident) the random crime capitol of the world.
And it's true. Break-ins, muggings, and shootings are commonplace down there and you're hard-pressed to find anyone who lives there whose life or those of an acquaintance hasn't been touched by crime.
My sister lived in the Garden District, one of the upscale neighborhoods, and one July night while I was visiting, gunfire erupted up on the corner and when we went outside, saw a young black child lying in the street bleeding to death from gunshot wounds. As he lay dying, a couple of other kids came by and stole his bike. This is on top of the break-ins of cars belonging to her and her friends, to the point where if it wasn't going to rain, she would leave her car door unlocked and the windows down to save them the bother of breaking the windows or locks and finding nothing of value inside.
These sorts of things are not uncommon down here and this feeds into the dilemma facing Nagin. And it's a sad fact that a disproportionate amount of the crime in New Orleans is committed by African-Americans. However, New Orleans is, as Nagin tried to say, an African-American city and until Katrina, they made up the majority of the population.
African-Americans contribute mightily to the culture and social fabric of New Orleans, especially in the areas of music, cuisine, art, and culture. Without their contribution, New Orleans would not be New Orleans or have a considerable part of its charm. It would be worse than tearing down static symbols like the Eiffel Tower or the pyramids because culture is a vital and ever-changing thing. Without an African-American community to contribute its talents and flair, the culture of New Orleans would change for the worse.
But race relations have always seemed a touchy thing and to outsiders can be somewhat disconcerting. The huge Mardi Gras parades that roll down St Charles to Canal Street pass around Lee Circle, a rotary with a giant statue of General Lee in the middle. Many of the marchers in these parades are African-American and I often found myself wondering how it felt to see this huge statue of a man who in many ways is symbolic of slavery along their route. In the Quarter, young black boys tapdance on the street for spare change. During one of the night-time parades, the old tradition of tossing quarters onto the street for the flambeaux (black torch-bearers) still endures and you see the the flambeaux scurrying around to pick up these coins tossed by mostly white folks. In many ways, one feels like they've time-warped back into the 1950s.
By the same token, New Orleans has a large number of African-Americans in positions of power, including the office of mayor, something that adds to this sometimes contradictory race dynamic, and this feeds into the question of rebuilding the city.
The dilemma is this. For New Orleans to be New Orleans, it needs its African-American community. However, a lot of outsiders are going to be skittish about rebuilding poor black neighborhoods, which they see as breeding grounds for crime and violence and therefore potentially detrimental to their investment.
During the aftermath of Katrina, there were reports- mostly unconfirmed rumors- of people in these neighborhoods going wild, shooting at rescue helicopters and rescuers with machine guns. There are the images in people's brains of blacks running amok, looting stores and running down the street with armfuls of sneakers or firing wildly at police and medical personnel.
All of these things feed into these vicious stereotypes of African-Americans and make outsiders very wary.
And since Katrina, all eyes have been on New Orleans and a lot of things that are commonplace down there- shootings, muggings, etc- are now national news and this isn't good. It spooks potential tourists and investors who want do not want to risk life, limb, or equity.
Nagin's a smart man and he knows this. He's walking the tightrope here and this week he fell off. The pressure again got to him and he let loose, speaking his mind.
The straw that broke the camel's back came Sunday during a parade to honor both Martin Luther King Jr and show support for the rebuilding effort. As is New Orleans tradition, people fell into line behind the main parade into the so-called "Second Line" of revelers. Usually Second Lines are joyous affairs, with drinking and dancing and celebrating. But on Sunday something happened and gunfire erupted, wounding three people.
The next day Nagin spoke. He called New Orleans a "chocolate city" and vowed to again make New Orleans a predominently African-American city. He went on to say that the hurricanes that in recent years have ravaged the Gulf Coast were a sign of God's wrath for, among other things, the war in Iraq. But with the shooting of the previous day very much on his mind, he also said that God was angry about the black-on-black violence that plagues his city and that the time has come to put an end to it.
Nagin's remarks caused a firestorm and have again put him in the national spotlight and a number of people think he's lost his mind.
But I think, much like the Thursday post-Katrina interview, what Nagin has done is shine a spotlight on a very ugly topic and calling those responsible to task. Nagin knows that people are not going to want to invest in New Orleans so things can return to what passes for New Orleans as normal. There's a lot of talk on op-ed pages and on blogs that outside carpetbaggers want to rebuild a Disneyfied version of the city which many of them feel is code for no blacks allowed.
What Nagin's speech Monday did was put the African-American community on notice that things cannot continue as they were- not if they want their city rebuilt. Not only will people not invest, but many of those who evacuated to other cities and are setting down roots won't want to return to neighborhoods with rampant crime and random violence and sub-par schools. Nagin has called upon New Orleans residents to not be so concerned with "others" and instead direct their energies to their own neighborhoods and their own race, saying "We as a people need to fix ourselves first. The lack of love is killing us."
All of which puts New Orleans at a crossroad in its history. No longer is there talk of abandoning the city and letting the waters reclaim it. But how New Orleans is rebuilt is still very much up in the air. New Orleaneans are justifiably very protective of their city and the rough edges that give it its charm.
A few years ago during a zoning hearing for a strip club in the Quarter, a female city councilor expressed concern that this club wouldn't be New Orleans enough- that the girls would be too cookie-cutter attractive and that real New Orleans strippers had character. And when local restauranteur Al Copeland was opening his restaurant Straja on St Charles, none other than Anne Rice ran a full-page ad in the Times Picayune opposing the restaurant. She was not happy that the restaurant looked more South Beach than New Orleans and didn't fit in with the neighborhood. But in an endearing twist, Copeland responded and said that anyone who came to his restaurant with Rice's ad would get a free drink.
Such is New Orleans.
And it's glad to know that others feel the same way.
Here's another blogger's take that I've found particularly enjoyable.
Also, there was
this Chris Rose editorial in the Times-Picayune that poked fun at Nagin.
Nagin Mayor New Orleans race rebuild chocolate city racism
