I’m just sayin’
5th March 2012 · 0 Comments
By Edmund W. Lewis
Editor
Mardi Gras is over, temperatures are rising and the focus is shifting to a number of political issues as local and statewide political contests and the presidential election loom on the horizon. Whether we’re visiting with a neighbor across a backyard fence, standing in line at a supermarket or sitting in a barbershop as we wait to get ourselves “lined up,” it’s important that we talk about the issues and challenges that confront us as we continue to strive to achieve “equal protection under the law” and recognition as free human beings in this society.
The more we talk to and share our stories with our loved ones, friends, neighbors, fellow church members and others, the more we come to realize that we share many of the same concerns and issues. There is strength in numbers but before that strength can be maximized, we must first gain clarity, unity of thought and a sense of purpose.
How do we do that? By simply talking to one another and taking the time to pass along information of critical importance to those around us. In that spirit, I share with you more questions that are on the minds of many in the community. Here we go:
• If you have held a position of decision-making power for two or three decades at the New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board and the city’s water system remains in horrific disrepair, haven’t you earned the right to be summarily handed a pink slip?
• How does someone who is being paid $200,000 a year tell elderly residents that sometimes have to choose between paying for groceries or prescriptions that they will be expected to pay twice as much for water services in the near future?
• Why should an elderly resident have to pay twice as much to the S&WB when he or she is told by workers at the agency that he or she has to go out into his or her front yard and dig up the water line if there appears to be a block in the flow of water to or from the home?
• When did customer service, professionalism and social skills go out of style?
• Does anyone at the New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board — or any city agency or department, for that matter — deserve to make $200,000 annually if that salary is based on job performance?
• Why is the mayor so quiet about these excessive salaries being handed out to the Sewerage & Water Board’s top executives?
• When are New Orleans residents going to make the dismissal of Sewerage & Water Board executives who do absolutely nothing an issue for those running for public office rather than wait for someone who probably receives campaign contributions from some of these same individuals to bring up the issue?
• Anyone out there feel like turning the city’s antiquated water system into the second-biggest cup of tea in history, a la the Boston Tea Party?
• How could anyone in a position of authority EVER think it would have been a good idea to use New Orleans firefighters to address the problem of inadequate police protection?
• How are you planning to celebrate Women’s History Month?
• How many other U.S. presidents did Judge Richard Cebull— Montana’s chief federal judge who recently forwarded a racist email that suggested President Barack Obama’s mother engaged in bestial sex with an animal — dislike and how many times did his disapproval of a president compel him to degrade and disrespect that president’s dead mother?
• What makes officials from city agencies and departments think they can get away with simply ignoring the concerns and questions of the media and New Orleans taxpayers when it is residents who pay their lucrative salaries?
• What kinds of improvements to the city’s water system could the Sewerage & Water Board make if it laid off one or two of its executives raking in $200,000 in annual earnings?
• Why aren’t the mayor and his deputy mayors ever around to face the music when questions arise about policies, procedures and decisions that place agencies and departments like the S&WB, RTA and NOPD in a negative light?
• How does a Burger King employee rushing to work at 5:30 in the morning end up in a gun battle with New Orleans police?
• Why would New Orleans police feel threatened enough to shoot a handcuffed man in the leg?
• Why is it so hard for New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson to pay Marques Colston, Carl Nicks, Drew Brees and all the other free agents what they are worth based on their job performance?
• What message were St. Bernard Parish sheriff’s deputies trying to send by using a photo of FOX 8 investigative journalist Lee Zurik for target practice?
• Why do local mainstream media outlets continue to refer to the Algiers carjacking murder victim as a “Good Samaritan” while depicting Black murder victims with criminal backgrounds as animals and predators?
• Why don’t we start a new tradition in communities of color during Black History Month, like giving up some of the vices and self-destructive mindsets and behavior that impede our progress as a people?
• Why do so few Black elected officials representing majority-Black districts attempt to introduce laws that address issues that are of critical importance and disproportionately impact communities of color like the inequitable distribution of wealth, the inequitable administration of city services, the misappropriation and misuse of funds budgeted to improve urban schools, prosecutorial misconduct, the misappropriation of funds earmarked for communities of color, racial profiling, excessive police force, environmental racism and the unlawful termination of Black public school system employees and Black civil service employees?
This article was originally published in the March 5, 2012 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper
