[Dialogue] Big Business Sees A Chance For Ethnic and Class Cleansing

Fri Apr 21 15:53:03 EDT 2006

Harry

I read this article and while many things are accurate, it is a radical over
simplification of the situation.

1. There are not the neatly divided two camps. There is a whole spectrum of
differences as to how and with what timeline to rebuild New Orleans. Racism
and classism are alive and well and Ron Foreman is one of the candidates
that represents the least lunatic fringe of that group. Mayor Nagin did get
a lot of support from the uptown aristocracy in his first run but early on
started a campaign to address the racial divide. In my estimation his major
downfall has been the lack of coalition building skills and arrogance toward
civil servants. The so called back up candidate of "Big Business" (New
Orleans almost has no big business merely a snooty noblesse oblige
aristocracy which in many cases resembles Tennessee Williams characters)
Mitch Landrieu who we are backing and is the only candidate that is polling
significant percentages  in the Anglo (my choice of words) and African
American communities. A number of us in the Hispanic community are also
working for him. The more conservative candidates are trying to smear him as
anti-business. He has been endorsed by the Louisiana Weekly, (An African
American newspaper that take a back seat to no one in taking on the race and
class divide), City Business (a general business publication) and Gambit (a
liberal, artsy entertainment weekly). He is a consensus builder and has a
good social conscience.

2. The footprint issue of how to deal with the rebuilding also is all over
the universe and there are real issues of service delivery with a radically
reduced tax base which can be dealt with by timing and there are many models
which call for taking advantage of the situation and intentionally creating
diverse mixed income communities. The urban land institute report got very
little support across the spectrum. Are there people who want to ethnically
and class cleanse?  Absolutely! Will they prevail? I for one do not think
so. Do we stand to loose a significant number of the oppressed poor? I
believe we will certainly loose some and that bothers me as a Democrat. I
believe the amount of money that flows out of Washington will probably be a
reflection of Republican strategy to change election results. However, at
the end of the day New Orleans will be chocolate with a hefty infusion of
Hispanics that will stay after the recovery construction efforts.

3. The holding of the election now, while many residents still live out of
state is not a simple example of exclusion. I was in favor of remote voting
including out of state locations but the legislature which tends to be
conservative did not create that scenario. The fact that there have been
challenges, law suits, and a lot of publicity over this issue has made up
for a lot of this by creating multiple ways for voters out of state to vote,
an intense campaign by the civil rights community to get out the evacuee
vote and a consciousness of the importance to exercise the hard earned right
to vote form the civil rights movement. To postpone elections much longer
denies the opportunity of holding office holders accountable for their
response during this horrific crisis. Many of my African American colleagues
want to see Nagin replaced and are not for postponement. Many important
decisions from the public and private sector are on hold until the real
players are clear particularly the Mayor and the City Council.

4. I do agree that America is loosing interest. Our political delegation on
both sides of the aisle is saying that other members of Congress are telling
them that they do not want to hear another thing about Katrina. As I said
before, I hope this network applies appropriate pressure to keep adequate
funding for a long term project for the worst disaster in American history
since the virtual elimination of Native Americans.

5. Finally, we are not unique in all of the ugly things that emerged from
the Superdome, the Convention Center and the dismal response. We are merely
a reality check mirror for what is true across our society. A lot of us here
intend to do all we can to see to it that we seize the opportunity to become
a model for how to create true community. Feel free to join us at times in
this effort. Those of you who transitioned into doing well while doing good,
come play in our city. We are ready to receive you and show you a good time.
Jazz fest is a week away and the livelihood of many of those who are back
depends on a good turnout then and a revival of our tourist and convention
industry while we work for a more diverse and better paying economy.

Thanks again Harry for your endless helpful issue spam.

Carlos R. Zervigon, PMP

Zervigon International, Ltd.

817 Antonine St. 

New Orleans, LA  70115  USA

504 894-9868 Mobile: 504 908-0762

carlos at zervigon.com

http://www.zervigon.com

  _____  

From: dialogue-bounces at wedgeblade.net
[mailto:dialogue-bounces at wedgeblade.net] On Behalf Of Harry Wainwright
Sent: Friday, April 21, 2006 12:27 PM
To: 'Colleague Dialogue'
Subject: [Dialogue] Big Business Sees A Chance For Ethnic and Class
Cleansing

Colleagues,

In order to see

Published on Thursday, April 20, 2006 by the Guardian
<http://www.guardian.co.uk>  / UK 

Big Business Sees A Chance For Ethnic and Class Cleansing
Black and poor residents are excluded from the city elections and they're
still finding bodies, but America has lost interest

by Gary Younge 

Please go to http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0420-21.htm 

Peace,

Harry

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