Chocolate City

And no, I speak not of Hershey, PA, the sogennante "Sweetest Place on Earth", but of the remarks made by Ray Nagin earlier today, and the reaction that ensued.

(Before I go any further, anyone on American Idol who says that they are set apart by their "unique voice" is doomed from the beginning).

Here's the gist: He said that New Orleans is meant to be a "chocolate city", with a black majority, and that God wants it that way. White people are welcome, of course. He also mentioned God being angry at America because of the war in Iraq.

I find that last part dumb because I don't think God gets mad at countries, but I could be wrong. No prophet, I. (it's also a questionable strategy to rip the President who you're going to ask for money). But that's not the important part.

The best response from a New Orleans resident (the only people who matter in this instance, by the way), is this: "He used the wrong dairy product to describe us. We're more Neapolitan, not chocolate," Gerhold said. "It doesn't do the city any kind of justice."

Considering the creole influence on New Orleans, I think that's a pretty good analogy. New Orleans is 2/3 black, over 1/4 white, according to the census. The fallacy in the census numbers is that only 1.3 percent are listed as "more than one race". Bull-honkus. Like Neapolitan, it's a great mixture of lots of different stuff (granted, it's mostly variations of black and white stuff, but that's not the point). So when the mayor comes out and says what sounds like "This is a black city, and if the rich white people don't like it, then tough," it rubs people the wrong way.

Without defending the idea that certain cities are only for certain colors (I think we tried that before, and it didn't work out too well for lots of folks), here's the context I put behind the statements: More than a few white people have said (and a bit more thought) "Now that those trashy blacks have been washed away, we can remake this city in our own image, the way it was meant to be." Somebody I know told somebody else I know (that's about as vague as I can make it) that Houston could keep all the refugees they got, because they didn't want them in New Orleans anymore.

Now if I've heard and read this refrain a few times, then imagine how many times the mayor of New Orleans has heard it. So during a political speech on MLK day, he sorta lost it. I think he was tired of hearing stuff like that and spoke a repudiation against the theory that a whiter New Orleans is a better New Orleans. That's the best I can come up with.