Deck is stacked against blacks returning to New Orleans (WaPo)

The WaPo has an exceptional piece in today's paper regarding the challenges facing New Orleans in the rebuilding, and the daunting issues facing those residents who are considering whether or not to return.


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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/27/AR2005122701125.html

All these displaced New Orleans residents aren't going to be very happy with the gopers - hopefully they'll take it out in the voting booth.

It's not necessarily clear that they would. I mean it's second nature for us to blame anything bad on President Bush and the GOP; but the Mayor of New Orleans and Governer of Louisiana are both Democrats (if memory serves).

Bryant
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and would someone please tell me what they have done wrong relative to Katrina and post hurricane cleanup and repair of the city and that part of the state. The gop savaged them from day one and gave haley barbour a pass. Gulfport, Biloxi are no further along or have received more federal aid then Louisiana

It's a matter of perception. If you are counting on the people spread out from New Orleans on blaming all the problems with the new New Orleans on the GOP, I don't think that's something you can't count on.

on finding a way home and being part of the solution. Cut the woe is me bullcrap, pick yourself up and move forward. Its been four months, the pity party should be over by now.

that is the voting base of the democratic party here, of course we want them to return, talk otherwise is just nutty to my view & some of it is being published by writers or bloggers or internet kibbitzers who frankly don't know what the heck they're talking abt

nagin is a little shaky as a dem, but blanco and landrieu are sincere democrats, they do not want to lose their loyal black voters and have them scattered to states such as texas where their vote may not count for much

however we can't put a gun to people's heads and tell them to camp out in destroyed homes, the couple interviewed who are camping out in lakeview are admirable, but everyone can't do this

coming from the blue enclave of New Orleans, those who are relocated into blue states will add little to the prevailing view, while those relocated within red states will find their voting power reduced, and NO will go red next time around.

I've said it before, there is a certain amount of ethnic cleansing going on, and I doubt that NO will go Democratic in the next election.

That would require action from somebody. Whom might that be? What group is forcing black residents not to return to New Orleans? If there were evidence of such I would lead the revolt but I just don't see it. FEMA, with all its faults, is still providing trailors for displaced homeowners and there are plenty of employment opportunities in the city right now, and the support organizations continue to provide incredibly wonderful services for free. Maybe I'm blind but I've yet to see the city ordinance preventing blacks from going back to their city.

With black unemployment twice that of white unemployment, who is going to be better prepared to return? Unless the government fully funds the return of the displaced citizens (real likely, huh?) even with all else being equal -- insurance reimbursements, federal programs, subsidized housing -- the black population will not be as capable of returning. Certainly the middle-class blacks will be able to return; the teachers, the physicians, the professionals. But the poor, who after being displaced are now working at minimum wage, if they are working at all, will not have the resources to move back and re-establish themselves; and the majority of the poor in a black majority city will be black.

Simple as that. There doesn't have to be a white-paper declaring the intent to reshape NO politically and economically. Just under-fund everybody and let economics take it's course.

If former NOLA residents don't have the resources to "move back and reestablish" where are they now and what are they doing? And I reject the notion of no white paper. I want to see it. I want to see the government document planning a whiter New Orleans. I don't want to be told there doesn't have to be one. Copoutus Erectus! If I were a resident of the ninth ward and I wanted to return from Houston, Arkansas, Atlanta, whereever, what is preventing me from doing so? If New Orleans only means enough to a former resident that federal assistance is required to bring them back then I guess New Orleans don't mean much to them at all. If a former resident decides that they'll come back with or without government assistance then that may be step one towards a greater New Orleans. Overcome underfunding and let the masses take back their neighborhood.

The deck is stacked against displaced New Orleans blacks only if they let it. Its time to end the pity party.

it happened. They ignored Earl K Long (charity) patients and rescued the (whiter/richer) hospitals first. My son was born at a charity/EKL, we'd have been last in line, too.

The way it's going with this racist nazi mis-administration,blacks are going to have to start all over with the civil rights movement.It better take place soon,before it's too late. It's a shame and a disgrace how low bu$h and his ilk have taken this country. Keep rolling back the clock is their mantra.:-(

Could we have a little evidence of that? Blacks aren't coming back because their homes were destroyed by a hurricane and a portion of their neighborhood is toxic. How does that make them last in line? I just don't get it. White neighborhoods have been devastated. I don't see any lines. I drove through a mostly white neighborhood in the New Orleans suburbs yesterday; it sure don't look like those folks are first in line; four months later and their neighborhood is still trashed.

There is no law or no ordinance or no secret movement or no media push to prevent blacks from returning to New Orleans. However, if they don't come back what should the city do with their neighborhoods? Don't be a part of the problem from afar, come home and be part of the solution.

we're all in this mess together, lakeview is in terrible shape, pretending they are getting significant aid or that they are happy w. aid received is simply not the case, the washington post could have found just as many displaced lakeview residents to say that blacks are getting aid first and whites are getting it last, i've heard them

they could also look at some white neighborhoods in new orleans east and ask them what they think abt all the help they're getting, ha

the truth is the feds don't give a damn about ANY of us and we had better not fall for the divide and conquer crap even if it come from the sainted :sarcasm: washington post, these days i'm highly suspicious of anyone who is playing divisive games, we need unity now

if people want to be part of the rebuilding, they need to come back and at least camp out, stake their claim, if someone is really living somewhere else and getting better pay & schools on top of it at their new location, don't think it's quite fair to criticize from afar when they don't even know the true situation, they're just repeating what they themselves have read in the media, it's a bit recursive

by both blacks and whites so he must be doing something right.

I drove down Pontchartrain Drive towards the lake in Slidell yesterday, its like the hurricane just hit. Godawful mess.

as far nagin, he's in a no-win situation, he gets it coming and going, i don't envy him at all

This state is well on its way to becoming another Miss/Ala.

but are the displaced residents supposed to be forced to return or should the process just be months of begging them to return? If the population landscape of New Orleans changes it won't be because anyone was forced to leave and then prevented from returning.

hurricane was the best thing to happen here. I kid you not.

How tragic that people actually believe that.

and may tend to agree with that statement. Five years from now we may be hailing New Orleans as the greatest comeback story of the new century; with a bustling Ninth Ward, lower unemployment and less crime and zero change to the culture of the city. I don't want New Orleans bigger and in my opinion there is no way it can be better. We'll get over this hurricane nonsense and let the good times roll again. And the dumbass racists will be exactly as they are today, only they'll be finding something else to bitch about in five years.

We are getting a lot of griping about our instant population growth here in Lafayette, but we are pressing on. We have about 20,000 extra people living here now, so, they are close by when conditions change in NO. They can get back relatively quickly.

For the most part, things are relatively calm; real estate is booming and though we have a need for additional police officers, the crime rate is not over the top, as some suggest. Mostly rumors about increase in crime. Traffic is bad and this is our most pressing problem. No easy solutions for this. Can't wait for our beloved New Orleans to recover, and we are determined that it will.

everything we cherish about New Orleans comes from the black culture. The music, food, poetry, writing, art, painting, family, people, everything beautiful in New Orleans is going to leave if they don't help people come home. New Orleans was always not just about the buildings, and location, it was about the people. Such a melting pot, such a mix of nationalities and races, sometimes all in the same extended family. African, French, Acadian, Spanish, Jamaican, Italian, Irish, American Indian, (many more I forgot to mention) everyone who's family has been down there for more than a hundred years can claim some relation to each other.

Although I'm sure they're all torn up at having to find new hired help.

Why do you think they all need so much plastic surgery.

:applause: