Did I Say Chocolate City? My Bad!

Apparently, someone was nice enough to hand New Orleans Mayor, Ray Nagin, a shoehorn. In a speech made during MLK Day observances, Mr. Nagin, that ever so competent of public officials, said he wanted to make sure that NO was a “chocolate city” once again. The veiled claim, of course, being that the White folk of the city were being treated more fairly than the Black folk, and rebuilding was happening much more quickly “uptown”. The gist is that he wants to ensure the Black voters return and he doesn’t lose his seat in the election that was postponed after Katrina. Oh yeah! He also said God was pissed at us and punishing us for liberating Iraq. Obviously Nagin’s description was less flattering than mine.

Well, yesterday, the 17^th, Nagin attempted to gently ease the foot out of his mouth. Which is a nice way of saying he did the Democrat Shuffle. You know the steps; dodge left, dodge right, backpedal, repeat. He decided to recant, or at least make a half-hearted attempt to in the form of a sort of apology. His song-and-dance goes a bit like this:

"If I offended anyone, I sincerely apologize," the mayor, who is black, said on Tuesday. "I need to be more sensitive and more aware of what I'm saying.

"I want everybody to be welcome in New Orleans -- black, white, Hispanic, Asian -- because that's the kind of city that we deserve going forward," he said. "I was trying to, and didn't do it very well, to deal with this whole notion, the undercurrent what's being talked about, and what's being talked about is who is going to come back to New Orleans at the end of the day."

How nice. After accusing the folks of his OWN CITY of blatant racism and apathy, he tells us what he “really meant”. He also, uncharacteristic of the left, acknowledges that he tends to speak without thinking. If only we could get Pelosi, Kennedy, Durbin, etc. to do the same. If only. However, with his response to Katrina, the evidence that he thinks at all is a bit thin. Evidence to the contrary actually shows he might not be firing on all cylinders:

"Surely God is mad at America," he said. "Surely he's not approving of us being in Iraq under false pretense. But surely he's upset at black America also. We're not taking care of ourselves."

What a sensitive, intelligent fellow. In another article, Nagin tried an even lamer attempt at backpedaling by saying he meant the chocolate comment to mean the peaceful commingling of Blacks and Whites. So let’s have three cheers for the incompetent, less than bright Mayor of New Orleans! Hip, Hip, Go Away! Hip, Hip, Go Away! Hip, Hip, Go Away!

-Jesse W.