Factual Analysis: Strong Words & Tough Times Ahead
Nagin, Responsibility and Truth in Post Katrina New Orleans

By Ashahed M. Muhammad
Volume 13 · No. 2 
Web Posted: January 2006

A classic strategy of political leaders, religious leaders and anyone else whose functional activities include  public speaking is to claim that they were misquoted, misinterpreted or their words were taken out of context when their words are exposed to the public, usually via the media.

Anyone who has ever spoken before an audience has experienced this. Psychologists say that it is caused by the nervous system production a natural emotional response that occurs when one is standing at a podium or at a rostrum receiving auditory sensory feedback from others.  This can sometimes result in the speaker getting carried away in the moment, often resulting in the utterance of words that they will later come to regret.

Living in the information age ensures that your comments – especially if you are a public figure – will be transmitted via print media and broadcasted on the airwaves to thousands and perhaps millions of people beyond those in the listening audience that were present.

Recent comments broadcast by embattled New Orleans Mayor Ray A. Nagin have caused many pundits and commentators to again question his competency, his ability and his circle of advisors.

TAKE ANOTHER LOOK AT THE CRITICISM AND THOSE WHO CRITICIZE

This is being done for a variety of reasons by those who consider it their responsibility to interpret words and actions for a generally gullible and viewing public.

Many conservative commentators have relentlessly assailed Nagin for his handling of Hurricane Katrina. As it goes – in the case of political leadership – they (political leaders) often receive too much credit when things are going well and too much blame when things go wrong. 

What must be properly understood by taking another look at the critics is that their fault finding and disapproving words directed toward Mayor Nagin’s administration are motivated by their desire to obfuscate the wholly inadequate response of President George W. Bush and the Federal Emergence Management Agency (FEMA) led by Bush political crony Michael Brown.

There is also an attempt to control Black political leaders by controlling who they can and cannot use as advisors and who and who they cannot work with to solve the problems of their constituencies.  That is another discussion for another time.

By all accounts, Mayor Nagin is an upstanding citizen who is not classified as your typical “say anything to get elected” politician.  He was a businessman prior to being elected mayor and carried that experience into his post.

While the pre-Katrina economic financial outlook was promising and certain industries in New Orleans were experiencing good times, a substantial  and widening gap existed  between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’ in New Orleans.  This considerable level of inequality was understated prior to Katrina then magnified by the subsequent fallout in the wake of the handling of the disaster.        

Many Blacks in New Orleans have also been critical of Mayor Nagin asserting that many of his past initiatives have been initiated with the goal of enhancing and improving many of the affluent White-dominated areas of New Orleans .  

His rebuilding plans therefore are being monitored closely by the same individuals who want to ensure that the redevelopment and reinvestment plans include Black residents of the affected areas, Black-owned operators, Black entrepreneurs and Black developers.

What is so controversial about what Nagin said?

He was absolutely correct in his words about America sending troops into war in Iraq under “false pretenses.”  That is not very controversial and furthermore, he was not the first to say this.  There are many who have been saying this over the past year.  In fact, former US Secretary of State Colin Powell in an interview heard on NPR recently (January 17^th 2006)  as well as in other broadcast interviews over the past few months admitted that the pre-war intelligence he received and transmitted to the public was inaccurate.

Nagin’s words about God wanting New Orleans to be a “ Chocolate City ” should not be considered very controversial. This is already a reality in many major cities across America .  Our people at present are not collectively unified and therefore unable to capitalize on this reality.  This is changing as our people become more conscious and aware of what is happening to them.

You might ask yourself, why are some upset that he invoked the name of God?  Because a strong religious message is at variance with that which is promulgated through television and movies in this society.  Consider the fact that just last night, we saw the decadence and immorality of this society on display as the two big winners at the Golden Globe Awards were “Brokeback Mountain” – a love story about two gay Caucasian cowboys and “Transamerica” a story about cross-dressing man desperate to become a woman.

A CALL FOR PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY

Perhaps his most important words were those aimed directly at the Black community when he said:

"We are not taking care of ourselves. We are not taking care of our women, and we are not taking care of our children when you have a community where 70 percent of its children are being born to one parent." Source: BET.com

That very fact is what should be emphasized within our communities. It is our hope that Mr. Nagin’s administration and his Bring New Orleans Back Commission place changing that painfully true reality at the top of their list of goals and objectives for if that reality is not changed then there will be nothing worth coming back to.

This goes to Mr. Nagin and all elected officials located in major cities and districts in which the populations (also known as their constituencies) are predominately Black:

Stand strong and back your words with action. You will receive the right type of support in all that you do for the betterment of our people.  

Ashahed M. Muhammad is the founder and executive director of the Truth Establishment Institute. He can be reached via email at amuhammad@truthinstitute.org.

THE TRANSCRIPT OF NAGIN’s SPEECH 01.16.06

A Quick Note from the TEI:  New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin delivered this speech Monday commemorating the birthday of slain civil rights leader Dr.  Martin Luther King Jr. Some comments have been broadcast on news outlets across America. What follows  is the entire speech.

I greet you all in the spirit of peace this morning. I greet you all in the spirit of love this morning, and more importantly, I greet you all in the spirit of unity. Because if we're unified, there's nothing we cannot do.

Now, I'm supposed to give some remarks this morning and talk about the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. You know when I woke up early this morning, and I was reflecting upon what I could say that could be meaningful for this grand occasion. And then I decided to talk directly to Dr. King.

Now you might think that's one Katrina post-stress disorder. But I was talking to him and I just wanted to know what would he think if he looked down today at this celebration. What would he think about Katrina? What would he think about all the people who were stuck in the Superdome and Convention Center and we couldn't get the state and the federal government to come do something about it? And he said, "I wouldn't like that."

And then I went on to ask him, I said, "Mr. King, when they were marching across the Mississippi River bridge, some of the folks that were stuck in the Convention Center, that were tired of waiting for food and tired of waiting on buses to come rescue them, what would he say as they marched across that bridge? And they were met at the parish line with attack dogs and machine guns firing shots over their heads?" He said, "I wouldn't like that either.''

Then I asked him to analyze the state of black America and black New Orleans today and to give me a critique of black leadership today. And I asked him what does he think about black leaders always or most of the time tearing each other down publicly for the delight of many? And he said, "I really don't like that either.''

And then finally, I said, "Dr. King, everybody in New Orleans is dispersed. Over 44 different states. We're debating whether we should open this or close that. We're debating whether property rights should trump everything or not. We're debating how should we rebuild one of the greatest cultural cities the world has ever seen. And yet still yesterday we have a second-line and everybody comes together from around this and that and they have a good time for the most part, and then knuckleheads pull out some guns and start firing into the crowd and they injure three people." He said, "I definitely wouldn't like that.''

And then I asked him, I said, "What is it going to take for us to move and live your dream and make it a reality?'' He said, "I don't think we need to pay attention anymore as much about the other folk and racists on the other side.'' He said the thing we need to focus on as a community, black folks I'm talking to, is ourselves.

What are we doing? 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? He said we as a people need to fix ourselves first. He said the lack of love is killing us. And it's time, ladies and gentlemen.

Dr. King, if he was here today, he would be talking to us about this problem, about the problem we have among ourselves. And as we think about rebuilding New Orleans , surely God is mad at America , he's sending hurricane after hurricane after hurricane and it's destroying and putting stress on this country. 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. We're not taking care of our women. And we're not taking care of our children when you have a community where 70 percent of its children are being born to one parent.

We ask black people: it's time. It's time for us to come together. It's time for us to rebuild a New Orleans , the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans . And I don't care what people are saying Uptown or wherever they are. This city will be chocolate at the end of the day.

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 . So before I get into too much more trouble, I'm just going to tell you in my closing conversation with Dr. King, he said, "I never worried about the good people -- or the bad people I should say -- who were doing all the violence during civil rights time.'' He said, "I worried about the good folks that didn't say anything or didn't do anything when they knew what they had to do.''

It's time for all of us good folk to stand up and say "We're tired of the violence. We're tired of black folks killing each other. And when we come together for a secondline, we're not going to tolerate any violence." Martin Luther King would've wanted it that way, and we should. God bless all.

Source:  New Orleans Times Picayune  & WWL Radio 

The White Population of New Orleans has been dwindling for the last century.  What will you do with the opportunity to rule?