Chocolate?

Mayor Ray Nagin does have a way with words. His speech in New Orleans on the celebration of the King holiday raised both spirits and eyebrows when he advocated, nay promised, that his recently deluged city would once again be predominantly black. Immediately the pundits went to their microphones and the networks started cutting sound bites. He is a master at getting the word out, and the word is “chocolate.”

But I think I get it, at least in part. The challenge before Mayor Nagin is not only to rebuild New Orleans, but to remake it as it was. Gentrification is defined as what happens when a lot of money comes pouring into a poor area, making it no longer suitable for the poor. Without careful planning there will be a city rebuilt on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain, but it won’t be New Orleans.

The mayor is not so much the governor of a city as the guardian of an attitude. We saw the same kind of mantle fall on Mayor Giuliani after the Towers. It is a prophetic calling to stand and lead.

As to the Mayor channeling God and Dr. King, I am not certain he speaks for either one. But his comments in total were more pertinent than the sound bites give him credit. Is God mad at America? Quite possibly. If God is true to His word, then yes, we are not where we ought to be. Is it because of Iraq, though, or because of New Orleans? One of the big issues on God’s to do list appears to be defending the cause of the poor and powerless. I think of the video footage of Iraqi citizens with blue fingerprints after voting. Then I think of the footage of those left behind at the Superdome. Who was more powerless and neglected?

The Mayor’s address was incendiary. I’m sure he meant every word of it. But was it racist? If there is real racism in Mayor Nagin’s speech, it will show on the news the next time New Orleans floods and the people standing chest deep in sewage are mostly black and all poor. Again.