Shout out from The Chocolate City
I don't normally make it my business to apologize for other people's mistakes. Especially people I don't know. Especially politicians. But I'm having a hard time keeping my mouth shut about this particular "whoops."
Today when I logged on to AOL to check my email, the banner news read: "'God is mad at America'" New Orleans Mayor Sounds Off." Yesterday, Garland Robinette, local talk-show host extraordinaire, cancelled all of his call-in interviews in order to take calls from ticked-off locals who were in a lather over Nagin's, now infamous, MLK Day "Chocolate City" speech.
Brother Ray is in a pickle, to be sure.
So, here's the extent of my apology on behalf of Brother Ray: Brother Ray said some stupid-sounding things that made for really lousy soundbites, and for that I am heartily sorry. Moreover, I'm sorry that news organizations nationwide have taken portions of his speech and broadcast them wholly out of context and have made Brother Ray look like a stark-raving mad fool.
The end.
What astonishes me is that 99% of the people I've heard sound off on the "Chocolate City" speech have not heard the speech. In fact, I'm starting to believe that I'm one of a teeny weeny minority of people who actually took the time to listen to the speech in its entirety. It was published today in the newspaper, but hidden and in small type, away from the article that talked about how much heat Nagin has taken for his comments. Unfortunately, as of right now, the speech is unavailable on the internet, otherwise I'd repost it here.
The speech was delivered to approximately 60 people prior to an MLKjr march. The tiny crowd was almost 100% African-American. He set up the speech by saying that in light of the shootings at Sunday's second-line, he didn't know how to talk about unity. The morning of the speech, he struggled, and "then [he] decided to talk directly to Dr. King."
He continued: "Now you might think that's one Katrina post-stress disorder. But I was talking to him and I just wanted to know what he would think if he looked down today on this celebration. What would he think about Katrina? What would be think about all of the people who were stuck at the Superdome and the Convention Center?... and he said, 'I wouldn't like that.'"
The speech continued as a litany of questions addressed to Dr. King. What would he think of the policemen who blockaded the Mississippi River Bridge to prevent people from leaving Orleans Parish during the storm? What would he think of Black America and Black New Orleans? What would he think of Black leadership in a America, back-biting and cutting each other down? What would he think of the "knuckleheads" who shot people during Sunday's second line? What would he think of the black-on-black crime that plagues our city? What would he think of the 70% of children being born to single mothers?
Dr. King's response, always, was "I wouldn't like that."
"Dr. King, if he was here today, he would be talking to us about... the problem was have among ourselves."
Then, yes, he launched into the "God is mad at America" section of his speech. Yes, he did claim that God had sent these hurricanes because He was mad at us. That God didn't approve of the war in Iraq. And yes, perhaps that was a bit off-the-wall. I'll give the critics that (although, I too believe that God doesn't approve of the War in Iraq. Amen to that). But he continued: "Surely [God] is mad at Black America, also. We're not taking care of ourselves. We're not taking care of our women. And we're not taking care of our children... "
He closed with the infamous "Chocolate City" declaration: "We ask black people: it's time. It's time for us to rebuild a New Orleans; the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans. And I don't care what people are saying Uptown or wherever they are. This city will be a chocolate city at the end of the day. This city will be a majority African-American city; it's the way God wants it to be. You can't have New Orleans any other way; it wouldn't be New Orleans."
Make no mistake, I am an Uptowner. And yes, Nagin made the mistake of painting with a broad brush here. But I'm smart enough to know what he means, and I take zero offence. Because, frankly, since the day the Hurricane hit, there have been plenty of folks-- and most of them Uptown-- who have seen this disaster as an opportunity for cleansing. And that's just a damned polite way to mask horrible racism.
New Orleans is a Chocolate City. It's always been that way. And it should be that way again. Nagin was telling the good folks at the MLK Rally that they should stop pissing away their time griping about the racist attitudes that will (unfortunately) never go away, stop wasting their energy with conspiracy theories about how the powers-that-be want to whitewash this city and keep the black people from coming back. His concluding words were: "It's time for all of us good folk to stand up and say 'We're tired of the violence. We're tired of black folks killing each other. And when we come together for a second-line, we're not going to tolerate any violence.' Martin Luther King would want it that way, and we should. God Bless all."
His speech was a call to action to the black community to fix the problems within the community. His promise of a Chocolate City was indeed just that-- a promise that he would not give up fighting for the return of Black New Orleaneans. He was, in my mind, telling them not to worry about that-- to worry, instead, about the problems that they had control over.
Critics have said over and over: "If a white mayor promised that a city would be a vanilla city, he would be drawn and quartered." And perhaps that's true, but just as wrong. If hundreds of thousands of white Americans were displaced from their home and forces beyond their control were trying to keep them from returning, a mayor who champions their return should be hailed as a hero.
So, I'm sorry that Brother Ray is no Dr. King. Dr. King would have put it better for sure. But I think Dr. King would have shared Nagin's underlying sentiment. And I'm sorry that the media are crucifying him for comments taken out of context and away from the intended audience.
Today when I logged on to AOL to check my email, the banner news read: "'God is mad at America'" New Orleans Mayor Sounds Off." Yesterday, Garland Robinette, local talk-show host extraordinaire, cancelled all of his call-in interviews in order to take calls from ticked-off locals who were in a lather over Nagin's, now infamous, MLK Day "Chocolate City" speech.
Brother Ray is in a pickle, to be sure.
So, here's the extent of my apology on behalf of Brother Ray: Brother Ray said some stupid-sounding things that made for really lousy soundbites, and for that I am heartily sorry. Moreover, I'm sorry that news organizations nationwide have taken portions of his speech and broadcast them wholly out of context and have made Brother Ray look like a stark-raving mad fool.
The end.
What astonishes me is that 99% of the people I've heard sound off on the "Chocolate City" speech have not heard the speech. In fact, I'm starting to believe that I'm one of a teeny weeny minority of people who actually took the time to listen to the speech in its entirety. It was published today in the newspaper, but hidden and in small type, away from the article that talked about how much heat Nagin has taken for his comments. Unfortunately, as of right now, the speech is unavailable on the internet, otherwise I'd repost it here.
The speech was delivered to approximately 60 people prior to an MLKjr march. The tiny crowd was almost 100% African-American. He set up the speech by saying that in light of the shootings at Sunday's second-line, he didn't know how to talk about unity. The morning of the speech, he struggled, and "then [he] decided to talk directly to Dr. King."
He continued: "Now you might think that's one Katrina post-stress disorder. But I was talking to him and I just wanted to know what he would think if he looked down today on this celebration. What would he think about Katrina? What would be think about all of the people who were stuck at the Superdome and the Convention Center?... and he said, 'I wouldn't like that.'"
The speech continued as a litany of questions addressed to Dr. King. What would he think of the policemen who blockaded the Mississippi River Bridge to prevent people from leaving Orleans Parish during the storm? What would he think of Black America and Black New Orleans? What would he think of Black leadership in a America, back-biting and cutting each other down? What would he think of the "knuckleheads" who shot people during Sunday's second line? What would he think of the black-on-black crime that plagues our city? What would he think of the 70% of children being born to single mothers?
Dr. King's response, always, was "I wouldn't like that."
"Dr. King, if he was here today, he would be talking to us about... the problem was have among ourselves."
Then, yes, he launched into the "God is mad at America" section of his speech. Yes, he did claim that God had sent these hurricanes because He was mad at us. That God didn't approve of the war in Iraq. And yes, perhaps that was a bit off-the-wall. I'll give the critics that (although, I too believe that God doesn't approve of the War in Iraq. Amen to that). But he continued: "Surely [God] is mad at Black America, also. We're not taking care of ourselves. We're not taking care of our women. And we're not taking care of our children... "
He closed with the infamous "Chocolate City" declaration: "We ask black people: it's time. It's time for us to rebuild a New Orleans; the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans. And I don't care what people are saying Uptown or wherever they are. This city will be a chocolate city at the end of the day. This city will be a majority African-American city; it's the way God wants it to be. You can't have New Orleans any other way; it wouldn't be New Orleans."
Make no mistake, I am an Uptowner. And yes, Nagin made the mistake of painting with a broad brush here. But I'm smart enough to know what he means, and I take zero offence. Because, frankly, since the day the Hurricane hit, there have been plenty of folks-- and most of them Uptown-- who have seen this disaster as an opportunity for cleansing. And that's just a damned polite way to mask horrible racism.
New Orleans is a Chocolate City. It's always been that way. And it should be that way again. Nagin was telling the good folks at the MLK Rally that they should stop pissing away their time griping about the racist attitudes that will (unfortunately) never go away, stop wasting their energy with conspiracy theories about how the powers-that-be want to whitewash this city and keep the black people from coming back. His concluding words were: "It's time for all of us good folk to stand up and say 'We're tired of the violence. We're tired of black folks killing each other. And when we come together for a second-line, we're not going to tolerate any violence.' Martin Luther King would want it that way, and we should. God Bless all."
His speech was a call to action to the black community to fix the problems within the community. His promise of a Chocolate City was indeed just that-- a promise that he would not give up fighting for the return of Black New Orleaneans. He was, in my mind, telling them not to worry about that-- to worry, instead, about the problems that they had control over.
Critics have said over and over: "If a white mayor promised that a city would be a vanilla city, he would be drawn and quartered." And perhaps that's true, but just as wrong. If hundreds of thousands of white Americans were displaced from their home and forces beyond their control were trying to keep them from returning, a mayor who champions their return should be hailed as a hero.
So, I'm sorry that Brother Ray is no Dr. King. Dr. King would have put it better for sure. But I think Dr. King would have shared Nagin's underlying sentiment. And I'm sorry that the media are crucifying him for comments taken out of context and away from the intended audience.
posted by M at 10:53 AM
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