Racial Disharmony In New Orleans

This is so depressing I hate to even post it.

New Orleans folks really do not have time for this nonsense. The racial situation in New Orleans has always been complex to say the least.

I would like to respond to this comment that is left on the blog. The commenter says in part
"What is that light at the end of the tunnel? Other than citizens standing up, as they have been; volunteers standing up, as they have been and true federal leadership and commitment, which there has been no sign of, I see no shot at 'light', hope, recovery.

It is all our hands this election. The next President of the United States will have the chance to resurrect this city and this region, as well as, our country. The President can be the light, put One True Czar to work and enact a good faith plan to rebuild New Orleans (the city damned by the Federal Flood) and to aid in the recovery of the Gulf Coast."

I must say I differ with this the tone of this a tad. I saw within days after Katrina that we were about to be screwed. Why? Because of the blame game. Blame for what happened can be spread out in a thousands different directions. Rarely when people point fingers do they realize that 4 fingers our pointing back at them.

I hate to tell the Mr Hebert this but it matters little who the next President will be as to the fate of New Orleans. That fate is in our hands. The most we can ask is that we redouble our efforts to get Federal help to stop coastal erosion. Because if we don't do that then this is all pretty pointless. New Orleans as well as many other areas will be under water in 60 years.

THe fact is that there is enough blame to go around. I do have to laugh at the people that were calling Harry Connick racist. Good Grief the black community was reelecting him for years.Harry Connick's main soluton to his case load was never to offer plea deal 9 times out of 10. That way no one could blame him for making a hard choice because he rarely did. I thought that approach overall was a disaster. It was well known if you wanted trial experience go the Orlean's DA's office. Since they never pled they were in trail constantly. Result was often Judges having to make calls or Jury nullification

The sad fact is that the problems of New Orleans have to do with race, the economy and sometimes just bad mismanagement. Yep there was "white flight" in the 70's and 80's. However, that could have been largely held back if property taxes did not go through the roof back in that period. OF course people were leaving. You couldn't afford to live there. That is one reason when the floodwall broke and started flooding mostly white and middle Class Lakeview , I knew that a big problem just got a lot bigger. That revenue has been hurt bad.

Can we blame the Federal Govt because years after the oil bust we never replaced those oil related industries? Can the Federal Govt be blamed for NOLA's horrible public schools? I mean if you couldn't afford a private or religious school then you were moving to Jefferson or another surrounding parish.

Now, it seems that New Orleans and surrounding areas are going out of their way to make the area very "hispanic" immigrant unfriendly. I realize that many of these people are of to say the least mixed legal status. But my goodness they work. Anotherreason why we need sane comprehensive immigration reform. One must question the wisdom of all this since the area has had a negative population growth for years. Also hispanics are the people we see that are opening small business at a rapid rate in this country. Something the area needs badly. Oh well that is another discussion.

I will try to do a post in the future that points out the good things happening in NOLA. There are some and it needs to be told.