The end of civility
3rd October 2011 · 0 Comments
By Edmund W. Lewis
Editor
Last week’s racial explosion over anti-Obama signs at an uptown New Orleans home forever killed the myths about a so-called post-racial era in America and a “new” New Orleans where it doesn’t matter if you’re Black or white.
Oh, it still matters. It always has.
Last week’s blowup over these offensive signs that depicted President Barack Obama in a diaper, dunce cap and as a puppet was simply the latest in a series of messages that make it clear that the more things change, the greater the resistance to change grows.
The racial tension in this City That Care Forgot is as palpable and oppressive as August humidity.
Despite the racial makeup of this city, New Orleans is not a place where Black people’s needs, concerns and grievances are taken into consideration by the powers that be. This is Antebellum Disney, the Big Uneasy, a place that for centuries has been the epicenter of white power and privilege.
We see that in the way the current administration handled the waste management contract dispute earlier this year and the way the current mayor is attempting to purge City Hall of a mostly Black civil service workforce that has kept the city running for decades despite inept, myopic leadership at the top.
Even before Hurricane Katrina, moves were being made to solidify and expand white decision-making power. We saw that with legislative moves to pave the way for the takeover of the city’s public schools and efforts to do away with the city’s residency rule.
Was it a coincidence that many of the NOPD officers convicted in the various post-Katrina killing cases by federal prosecutors lived outside of Orleans Parish? You tell me.
The sobering reality is that the moves to marginalize Black New Orleans residents were made with the help and approval of Black elected officials and boot-lickers who were all too willing to become co-conspirators in their own people’s demise.
Even though most of the city’s most affluent whites would not dream of enrolling their kids in public schools, these residents have been longtime supporters of certain candidates in school board races. Why, you might ask, would these residents finance the campaign of certain school board candidates while doing nothing to address problems like crumbling school buildings, broken air conditioning and heating units and outdated textbooks? Because by controlling these candidates with financial contributions they can control the decisions these candidates make if they are elected with regard to school resources and public contracts.
Make no mistake about it: The oppression in New Orleans that led to the enslavement, exploitation and marginalization of Black people in this region is continually evolving and being refined by those who insist on preserving white power and privilege.
For centuries, Black people in New Orleans have been undereducated and miseducated so that they can grow up and not question the lives they are expected to lead as “The Help” in the tourism industry. We are the shrimp-peelers, door-openers, room-cleaners and oyster-shuckers that make it possible for tens of thousands of visitors to come to this city annually to wax nostalgic about “the land of cotton, where good times are not forgotten.”
This guy with the anti-Obama signs isn’t likely to morph into the next Adolf Hitler or David Duke. He’s simply an angry, confused Tea Party follower who desperately needs attention and went out of his way to piss off a lot of people. When you think about it, he’s a pitiful soul, a man with limited social skills who thinks that because he has some dineros in his dungarees he can do and say whatever he wants. He’s also someone who proves once again that you can’t buy common sense, good taste or social graces.
But Timothy Reily and some of his neighbors were probably among those members of the white ruling class who met secretly in Dallas immediately after Hurricane Katrina to come up with a long-term blueprint for seizing control of New Orleans and its future. They could afford to do so because many of them lived in homes that didn’t flood and could afford to hire special-ops types to guard their precious, ill-gotten gains.
Reily probably doesn’t even understand how ridiculous he sounds when he insists he has Black friends and speaks glowingly about his respect for and support of GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain.
Herman Cain? Please. Herman Cain, the former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, is simply the latest in a long line of African-American boot-lickers who are willing to do and say just about anything for a pat on the head from their masters.
It’s always interesting to listen to the stories of rich white people who resent Black people even though these whites haven’t been beaten out for jobs, promotions or even a seat in a college classroom by a person of color. They just figure that all nonwhite people are beneath them and not worthy of their love, respect or Christian charity. That’s just the way it is.
Or maybe they’re angry because Black people can no longer be bought and sold on the auction block and worked like beasts all of their lives. On top of that, our African ancestors in Haiti had the audacity to overthrow white rule and establish the first free Black republic in the Western Hemisphere. If the violent reactions by some whites to the Civil Rights Movement taught us nothing else, these incidents taught us that white privilege can be as addictive as political power or any kind of power, for that matter.
Every time people in New Orleans like Timothy Reily open their mouths or do something to demonstrate their lack of respect for people of color, they show the rest of the nation and the world who and what they are polite society. What those outside of New Orleans witnessed last week was the underbelly of the Big Easy, the ugly, hateful side of the city that has been around since New Orleans came to be but doesn’t get talked about much on local newscasts or in tourism brochures. These are descendants of the same ruling class that crushed those who participated in the historic 1811 slave revolt and decapitated them. They are also the same folks who made it clear to every New Orleans mayor that this city would never under any circumstances apologize for executing and beheading enslaved Africans who participated in the revolt and placing their heads on pikes along the Mississippi River and in Jackson Square. Talk about sending a message.
This was simply the price that had to be paid for the privileges, liberties and luxuries our oppressors enjoyed.
As genteel, civilized and well-mannered as racist members of the ruling class in New Orleans profess to be, they can’t muster up an iota of humanity when it comes to extending kindness, respect and equitable treatment to people of color.
There was never any real effort made to return displaced Black New Orleanians to the city after Katrina because those poor souls languishing in every nook and cranny of the U.S. who still wish to return home represent potential Black voters who could restore voting power to Black New Orleans. The last thing Timothy Reily and his comrades want is for a return to Black leadership at City Hall. Mind you, I said Black “leadership,” not Black occupation.
Hopefully and prayerfully, Reily’s signs will wake some Black folks up who have fallen for the okeydoke about a post-racial nation and a “new” New Orleans. With a twist to the popular New Orleans Hornets fan campaign, “I’m not in.”
In the spirit of The Last Poets, Black people, what y’all gonna do?
• Register to vote and vote like your life depends on it, because it does.
• Call Black elected officials who fail to represent your interests to the carpet and let them know that their public service is no longer needed or desired.
• Support Black businesses that invest in communities of color and encourage others to do so. Take the time to locate Black businesses throughout the city and get to know the business owners who run these companies.
• Engage your friends, neighbors, co-workers, former classmates and loved ones in conversations about the future of this city and the need to create opportunities for young people to develop their skills and talents.
• Pass along critical information about opportunities and challenges in this city to everyone you come into contact with.
• Utilize as many media resources as you can to find out what is happening in New Orleans and what you can do to make a positive difference.
• Choose your news sources wisely and read as many different newspapers as possible.
• Don’t accept anything as factual or reality simply because you heard it on the radio, saw it on the news and even, yes, read it in a newspaper. Question everything.
• Take the time to call or write your councilman, state legislator or congressman BEFORE you have a problem and let them know that you will be paying close attention to the way they vote on critical issues.
• Take the time to research Tim Reily and his business affiliations and make a conscious decision NOT to support that with which he is associated. While we may not be able to send Reily to the poor house, we can certainly put a dent in his pocket and sleep well with the knowledge that our hard-earned dollars will no longer finance the campaigns of candidates and elected officials who have demonstrated their utter disdain and lack of respect for us.
• Make the resolve, as hip-hop duo Dead Prez says, to “get free or die tryin’. We can’t keep living like we’re living and making the same mistakes if we expect to someday achieve self-determination and our rightful place in the world as the descendants of a proud, ancient people who refused to die despite the unimaginable horrors they faced daily.
‘Nuff said.
All power to the people.
This article was originally published in the October 3, 2011 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper
