Power points

28th November 2011   ·   0 Comments

By Edmund W. Lewis
Editor

Although the holidays are upon us and it is tempting to sit back and enjoy time spent indulging in hearty meals and beverages and being consumed by the hustle and bustle of this time of year, there is too much important work to be done to allow our minds to take a day off. Injustice, discrimination, economic exploitation and poverty never take a day off and neither should we.

We need to get busy sharing information with our neighbors, co-workers, friends and loved ones about situations and policies that keep tens of millions of people locked out of the American Dream, including many in this city and state.

While we sip egg nog and find creative ways to allow our holiday spending to empower businesses of color, let us also continue to ask the kinds of questions that don’t get asked enough and spread the word about efforts under way to prevent the powers that be from permanently marginalizing people of color and the poor in this city, state and nation.

Viva la lucha, power to the people and all that good stuff.

Let’s get started.

• Why are there still so many business owners, elected officials and politically connected people in New Orleans who think it’s their God-given right NOT to pay property taxes, parking tickets, speeding tickets and other expenses that everyday people know they can’t get away with not paying?

• How much money do you think Black businesses took in on “Black Friday”?

• What is it going to take for Black folks to understand that during these tumultuous times it’s imperative that they exercise their hard-fought right to vote and that casting a ballot only scratches the surface of what it means to be socially conscious and politically active?

• Why are there so many Black elected officials who are willing to sell their souls and sell out their people to get ahead?

• Exactly when did politics become a family business?

• Why can’t Orleans Parish install sound walls similar to those erected in Jefferson Parish?

• If our white brothers and sisters feel so comfortable moving into previously all- or mostly Black neighborhoods across the city, why do Black people still get “hate stares” when they venture into places like Lakeview to visit someone or buy something?

• What exactly is an invitation-only public meeting?

• Why does the mayor think he can control criticism of his administration and police chief the way he controls every word coming out of the mouths of the members of the NORD Commission?

• Why does the mayor and his staff think that anyone who disagrees with him or criticizes a policy or decision he made is automatically a mortal enemy?

• Is it unreasonable for anyone who knows anything about the flare-up over the police chief’s pension to doubt that the May 6 signing date was an honest mistake?

• How does the mayor expect to inspire the public to become actively engaged in aiding the city’s efforts to reduce crime when the mayor does such a poor job of relating to many of the city’s Black community and civil rights leaders?

• Is anybody buying former NOPD Superintendent Warren Riley’s recent claim that the delayed prosecution of the officers involved in the Danziger Bridge shootings was former Orleans Parish District Attorney Eddie Jordan’s fault and not that of the local criminal court judge who dismissed the case, Raymond Bigelow, or the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana?

• How long will the people of New Orleans allow elected officials and political appointees run roughshod over their constitutional rights without holding their feet to the fire?

• What are you doing daily to teach a young person about the history of struggle in this city, state, nation and world?

This article was originally published in the November 28, 2011 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper