Moonage Political Webdream

Ray Nagin, the idiot mayor of New Orleans, who I have trashed repeatedly here, yesterday made some comments on the comments he made Monday.  Those original comments asserted God was mad at the US for allowing the UN to drag us into Iraq and therefore hit us with hurricanes.  If that weren’t good enough, he then asserted that New Orleans is a chocolate city.  It would be a lot more chocolate now if he hadn’t screwed up a well written evacuation plan.  He then clarified that although he flat out states African-Americans dominate New Orleans, he meant that if you take dark chocolate and mix it with milk, you get something tasty.  I enjoyed the attempted recovery, but it’s BS and he knows it as well as I do.  So, yesterday evening he had this to say:

On Tuesday, Nagin said his comments about God were inappropriate and stemmed from a private conversation he had with a minister earlier. "I need to be more sensitive and more aware of what I’m saying," he said.

The mayor said his speech was really meant to convey that blacks were a vital part of New Orleans’ history and culture and should be encouraged to return. "I want everyone to be welcome in New Orleans — black, white, Asian, everybody," he said.

Nagin said the other main point he had hoped to make Monday was that when blacks do return, they must work to stamp out the crime and political infighting that have held them back….

Now, THAT I do believe.  However, it’s odd that he left out the Latino community.  Or, is it?

Addressing a business forum in October, Nagin put the issue bluntly: "How do I ensure that New Orleans is not overrun by Mexican workers?" After civil-rights groups denounced him, he clarified that he had meant only that residents should be hired first.

Nagin spends a LOT of time explaining what he said.  For some reason, stuff just comes out as blatant racism.  New Orleans needs to be chocolate, it doesn’t need to be run over by Mexicans, and of course his involvement in the Bush blew up the levees because he hates blacks garbage.  He ignores obvious evidence to the contrary, and panders to a select few. 

[Ed Renwick, the director of Loyola University's Institute of Politics said of the remarks,] "It seemed to be another Nagin-being-Nagin. He has a penchant for just speaking off the cuff and not thinking it through…. He also tends to speak to the literal audience he’s with at the time instead of the whole world he reaches through the TV, radio and print media."

Well, not only does that explain Nagin, but that explains Hillary’s plantation comment as well.

Which begs the question from me.  If you feel compelled to talk and act differently with a particular crowd than you otherwise would, what is that?  The answer to that question is what you won’t see a lot of on Ray Nagin in the media.  For that matter, you will NEVER see that on Hillary.  The media reserves that label pretty much for average white Republican males and that’s it.  Robert Byrd could STILL be in the KKK and CBS, CNN, and the major print media could care less.  Trent Lott shakes Strom Thurmond’s hand and THAT proves it.

The problem is not that people will be that way.  The problem is media doing exactly the same thing Nagin and Hillary are.  Until they give all races equal scrutiny, all races will not be equal.  As long as they have this hands-off attitude about certain segments of the US, the US will remain divided.  Ray Nagin, Hillary Clinton, and Robery Byrd have done a lot worse things for race in the US than Trent Lott ever dreamed of.  It’s time media recognizes that.  When the glare and the heat of the spotlight focuses in on these people, maybe then they will realize that you don’t have to speak any different to an African-American than you do a Mexican-American, or, possibly, even an Irish-American.  Then, and only then, will the possibility of equality exist in the US.

Technorati Tags: Opinions, The Media

Tags: Opinions, The Media

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