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God Said to Nagin…
January 17th, 2006UPDATE: The title is a quote of Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited. A summary of God’s chat with Abraham (Genisis 22). I’ve edited it since the original parody sounds aggressive, and I am not that.
To the ill-fated, immoral cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, our Mayor would have us add New Orleans.
And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the a smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.
And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt.
Nagin takes a page from the rabid right, and claims that God is mad at America, New Orleans, and, um…
“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 said as he and other city leaders commemorated 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.”
This speech is the talk of the town. Phones are ringing.
Although, as usual, I read about it first on Vatul, via Dream Of A Better New Orleans, first.
He says a number of things, perfectly third-rail, that I’ll not touch. I’m looking for the speech in audio or video.
The Opinion On The Street At The Bar
At The Maple Leaf, I heard a man say, “…out of context. Let me go read his speech. I’ll either come back and defend what he had to say, or join you in your ridicule.” Bang on quote.
I like that. We’re all sick of the news cycle. Want a longer view. We’re starving for context.
Is it a daring statement, or a sign that our Mayor is suffering from “post-Katrina stress disorder”?
I’ll pass on the race issue. Although I’ll always insist that I’m more olive than white, I’m in no position to comment on the black experience. I have no illusions of equality.
Democracy Inaction
I’m more interested in his mentions of Iraq.
Somewhere in the subtext, does he have a point? Is New Orleans a sacrificial ram. Is New Orleans being left in ruin to make hay for the 2006 election cycle?
Where do I get this? I get this everytime I read about New Orleans and Fallujah in the same paragraph. Rhetoric. I don’t get the feeling that the pundits have as much love for New Orleans as they do hatred for the current adminstration.
Crocodile tears are flowing from both eyes, left and right. It’s not six of half, a dozen the other. No. I’m harder on my Democrats. What since I vote for them all the time, I’m expecting a little more.
UPDATE: I Share The Dream
Racism is ugly.
This post has been out for five minutes, and I’ve already had a comment that I find objectionable. Unapproved.
When a black leader criticizes the black community, the white supremists are ready to pounce. Okay, so no wonder Cosby got trounced. Live and learn. They are out there.
Again, I can’t begin to comment on the black experience.
I know that there is a fundamental inequality, race based injustices daily, in New Orleans. There is a lack of appreciation for the rest of the nation’s pracitices. Every Craig’s List sublet post that says *FEMALE ONLY* reminds me that there’s a gross cluelessness regarding fair housing. I don’t feel that neither labor nor tenants have rights. I am certain that it is worse for persons depending on race.
In New Orleans and beyond.
Five minutes. The comment was perfectly offensive. How the does someone like that find this? I could count my readership on one hand. Five minutes.
I redouble my vigilence. Know where I stand. Where and when is the next Eracism meeting? Ah, that would be…
Saturdays
10 to 11:30 AMWRBH Building
3606 Magazine Street
New Orleans, LA 70115
I’d attended more than one of these meetings in the past. They are well facilitated, and true to their mission of fostering community dialog.
Thus, in that spirt. If anyone has anything they want to say according to the guildlines, please do so.
comments
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Comments 
You didn’t let the comment on here? I guess it’s in keeping with your non-aggression pact.
Now, for the record – there is a difference between outright racism and constructive criticism of a community/people. The way to tell the difference: if the criticizer practises what s/he speaks.
Practicing what you preach is a doozy of a metric.
That’s why I avoid preaching at all costs.
Maitri
No. In the morning it occurs to me that is was a robot, searching for MLK references and linking to a racist web site.
Anyway, I don’t believe an individual’s blog is a platform for pure free speach. An individual has the right to excuse someone from their comments. I will not tolerate trolls.
Have you ever had any trolls? I know that they are like from USENET.
Are you as hard on “your Democrats” as you are on yourself? That’s the extent to which I meant the practising and preaching comment.
As for disallowing the supremacist’s comment, I’m in complete agreement with you there. I’m quite familiar with trolls all the way from the old beebs of the late 80s all the way through yesterday. My question was just one of a little hurt – something on the order of “Oh, you should have let asshole on here so we could all have ripped him a new one, but I understand that you don’t want to turn your blog’s comments section into a war zone.” That’s all. Sheesh, stop being so defensive.
He seems to have made some rather strange comments.
Defensive? Who’s being defensive? You’re not calling me definsive are you? I’m not defensive. No, no. You’re the one whose defensive!