In the heat of the night
1st May 2017 · 0 Comments
By Edmund W. Lewis
The Louisiana Weekly Editor
Even days after news spread of the City of New Orleans’ clandestine mission to take down a monument that commemorates an attempt by white supremacists in New Orleans to overthrow a Reconstruction-era government, it all seems a bit surreal. But such is life in Antebellum Disney, our little banana republic by the sea where the great-great-great grandsons and daughters of our enslaved ancestors still turn down beds, prepare delectable meals, dig ditches and shuck oysters for the great-great-great-grandsons and granddaughters of former slaveowners.
After almost 14 months of debate, domestic terrorism and legal wrangling, the City of New Orleans finally took down the Battle of Liberty Place monument, the first of four Confederate-era monuments the City Council voted in December 2015 to remove from public spaces.
Before we start dancing in the streets like the Saints won another Super Bowl or like Black people are no longer living under economic injustice, educational apartheid, mass incarceration, unconstitutional policing and systemic racism, we should remind ourselves that while a symbol of white supremacy has been removed from a public space, the Black masses are still living in a state of emergency where white rule has never wavered or given way to federal rulings and/or acts that have led to desegregation or some modicum of justice, equity and fairness in other parts of the U.S,
Think about that for a second: Throughout the course of the city’s 300-year history, the ruling white minority has never relinquished control of the city and its resources to anyone. Not after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Not after the Civil War. Not during or after Reconstruction. Not after Brown v. The Board of Education or the signing of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. Not after the election of several Black mayors. Not after the election and re-election of President Barack Obama.
As the late Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong was fond of saying, the white folks are still running things in New Orleans.
Why then, we must ask ourselves, are the powers that be suddenly allowing four monuments to white supremacy to be removed from public spaces?
To apologize for the sins of the past or to signal the turning over of a new leaf? Not likely.
To ease some of the racial tension from the pressure cooker that has been growing since the 1811 slave revolt? Maybe. A case can certainly be made for the powers that be giving up a little bit of privilege in order to avert a major racial explosion that would forever impact the City of New Orleans’ economy and the way the rest of the world views the Crescent City.
I would venture to say that it is also likely that the monument melodrama is also a distraction from something else the powers that be are trying to accomplish to ensure that people of color never secure justice, equity or a seat at the table in New Orleans. And a chance for the mayor of this city to present himself as a liberator of sorts, one who all of a sudden has the courage and principles to take on the powers that be and right the wrongs of the past, even if that means biting the hands of his wealthiest campaign contributors.
I’m sorry, y’all. I’m not buying the mayor’s act, not after witnessing how he has had very public spats with Black elected officials, his policy decisions, his handling of the NOPD and its consent decree and his refusal to do anything to ensure that the City of New Orleans expands opportunities for contractors of color.
While the mayor would have us believe he is a golden David taking on the dreaded bully Goliath, I would remind everyone that Goliath has been his major campaign contributor and has used those campaign contributions to continue to call the shots from the shadows.
Goliath was running City Hall when the City decided to meet in Dallas after Katrina to decide how the future New Orleans would look. Goliath was calling the shots when Black legislators authored bills that paved the way for the firing of thousands of New Orleans public school administrators, teachers and staff members and the state takeover of the school system. Goliath was running things when the City didn’t lift a finger to block the building of a new public school for Black children atop a toxic landfill. Goliath was in control when city officials launched a plan to take the homes of African-American senior citizens and sell them to newcomers to the city looking to move closer to the heart of New Orleans. Goliath went out and recruited Ray Nagin to run for mayor and took him down when he decided to buck the system.
Now Goliath is putting changes in place to ensure that the ruling white minority never has to share decision-making power with the Black masses and is looking for Black candidates to crowd the field in this fall’s mayoral race to ensure that the candidate they have already selected has a shot at making the runoff.
This thing is far from over. Only four monuments have been targeted for removal from public spaces and there are at least 133 monuments, landmarks and street names that need to be removed or changed, according to Take ‘Em Down Nola.
In this city where change is hard to come by, that could take several lifetimes.
Then, of course, we’d have to get down to the very important work of doing away with the systemic racism and age-old practices and polices that have ensured the oppression, exploitation, mass incarceration and extermination of Black, Brown and poor people for centuries.
Angry white residents will no doubt use the ballot to pressure Black elected officials and political candidates into voting down any future efforts to remove other racially offensive monuments, landmarks or street names that honor proponents of slavery and secession.
It’s certainly within their rights as U.S. citizens to do so.
What we must do is counter that mounted pressure by letting elected officials and political candidates know that we will defend their efforts to do away with racist symbols and represent the interests of all of the people of this city and not just the privileged few. Even in the midst of sion. We’ve got to continue to encourage those who have not done so to register to vote and convey to inactive voters the importance of staying engaged in the political process, from voting to advocacy and making it clear to those we elect what we want and expect from them.
And to fight the good fight even when the odds are not in our favor. Especially when the odds are not in our favor.
All power to the people.
This article originally published in the May 1, 2017 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
