Dr. King's Legacy Lives On!

My comments, of course, in red:

New Orleans Mayor Says God Mad at U.S.Jan 16 4:51 PM US/Eastern

By BRETT MARTEL
Associated Press Writer
NEW ORLEANS

Mayor Ray Nagin suggested Monday that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and other storms were a sign that "God is mad at America" and at black communities, too, for tearing themselves apart with violence and political infighting.

"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, who is black, said as he and other city leaders marked 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."

I'm not quite getting the differentiation between "America" and "Black America." I guess, based on this statement, that "America" is everyone that's NOT black...the Asians, Latinos, Anglos, etc.

Well, thanks for sharing blame on this one, Ray. All this time, I just thought God was pissed with the white, yellow and brown folks. Glad to see that the black folks haven't gone unscathed.

Nagin also promised that New Orleans will be a "chocolate" city again. Many of the city's black neighborhoods were heavily damaged by Katrina.

"It's time for us to come together. It's time for us to rebuild New Orleans _ the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans," the mayor said. "This city will be a majority African American city. It's the way God wants it to be. You can't have New Orleans no other way. It wouldn't be New Orleans."

A chocolate New Orleans? I'm flabbergasted. Beyond pointing out the obvious racial slur, no further comment is really necessary...

...or is that kind of a "nigga" thing? You can say it but if I did, I'd be deemed racist?

Nagin described an imaginary conversation with King, the late civil rights leader.

Are the voices in your head talking to you again, Ray?

"I said, `What is it going to take for us to move on and live your dream and make it a reality?' He said, `I don't think that we need to pay attention any more as much about other folks and racists on the other side.' He said, `The thing we need to focus on as a community _ black folks I'm talking about _ is ourselves.'"

Nagin said he also asked: "Why is black-on-black crime such an issue? Why do our young men hate each other so much that they look their brother in the face and they will take a gun and kill him in cold blood?"

The reply, Nagin said, was: "We as a people need to fix ourselves first."

Nagin also said King would have been dismayed with black leaders who are "most of the time tearing each other down publicly for the delight of many."

Kinda like when a group of black folks start pelting a black Republican with Oreos. You know...the whole black on the outside, white on the inside thing.

Actually, I can't fault the guy over this statement as he's spot-on. Just my opinion, but if MLK were to come back today, he'd be both amazed at how far blacks have come...especially in the South...but extremely dismayed over the fact that, overall, blacks are more responsible for victimizing blacks than whites are. Watch the news...how often do you hear about a white guy committing a drive-by? How often do you hear about white folks criticizing other white folks for "betraying their race" (see Oreo story above)?

A day earlier, gunfire erupted at a parade to commemorate King's birthday. Three people were wounded in the daylight shooting amid a throng of mostly black spectators, but police said there were no immediate suspects or witnesses.

Case in point.

I am, in now way, discounting the struggles that blacks faced up until the latter 20th century (I use the word "blacks" and should state now, for the record, that I refuse to use "African-Americans" for two reasons. 1. I don't refer to myself as a "German-Jewish-Irish-Scottish-White Trash-American", so I don't particularly recognize qualifiers in my label nor anyone elses, AND, 2. Because I grew up in South Florida, I know for a fact that Bahamians, Jamaicans, Haitians, etc., HATE to be referred to as "African"). I can't fathom the black experience (of the older and departed generations) and genuinely regret the suffering they went through.

In fact, since Nagin specifically mentions Iraq, I find it strange that he is so opposed to the Iraq War. Had the US not fought a war to "liberate the slaves", they'd still be picking cotton.

I'll be the first to admit that the US intentions were not so noble in Iraq...we were looking for WMDs...liberation of the Iraqis was secondary. Similarly, the Civil War was fought to preserve the Union...the liberation of slaves was secondary. Sometimes the ends justifies the means, Ray.

Bottom line, it's time for our prominent black leaders...as well as the rest of the community...to join our (the rest of America) reindeer games. It's not a matter of acting white...it's a matter of assimilating into a community of people who share a homeland, share an economy and share, for the most part, a culture.

Blacks are responsible for Rock and Roll, Cajun cooking, Hip-Hop and many other things that whites (and Asians, and Latinos, etc.) have embraced. It seems to me (and, I'm sure, based on my Southern, White pedigree, this could come off as racist), that if the black community could manage to bring it's wisdom, it's creativity and ingenuity to the table, while losing the chip on it's shoulder AND embracing those things which are "American", we'd be much closer to MLK's dream than we are today.

Just a thought...