Whistlin’ Dixie
9th January 2012 · 0 Comments
By Edmund W. Lewis
Editor
Oh, I wish I was in the land of cotton. Hard times there are still not forgotten, look away, look away, look away, look away. It’s Antebellum Disney, hooray, hooray! In this strange land I’ll make my stand to live or die for freedom… Look away, look away… Now that I have your attention, what are we going to do about the persistence of racial hostility and discrimination in the Land of Southern Gentility?
Off the bat, I’m guessing we’ll start by doing what we can to seek out signs of life among the sleeping giant that is Black New Orleans and reminding folks that it is better to die on your feet than live on your knees.
Before we can change things in New Orleans, we must first raise the consciousness of the masses and convey to them the importance of knowledge, culture and a sense of purpose in our ongoing quest for liberation and true democracy.
In the meantime, let’s share some questions and insights with those who actually think that what they have in New Orleans now is all they deserve and will ever get so that they will begin to lift their heads and know that things can and must change. Here goes:
• Why do so few people with decision-making power in New Orleans — or anywhere, for that matter — understand that before we can stop the physical violence that has claimed so many lives, we must first end the “invisible violence” of harmful legislation, ordinances and policies that systematically limit the educational and economic opportunities of one group while giving the dominant group an unfair advantage?
• Why was Louisiana Governor Piyush Jindal surprised that former Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards would rather spend Monday in the City That Care Forgot rooting for the Honey Badger and the Bayou Bengals rather than attending Jindal’s January 9 inauguration ceremony in Baton Rouge?
• With so many cops blanketing the CBD and French Quarter during this past weekend’s big-time sporting events, wouldn’t it make sense for those who want to survive in New Orleans to hang out downtown rather than risk their lives in the comfort of their own homes?
• Who exactly was the mayor talking to when he told reporters that he wanted New Orleans residents to “be on their best behavior” this past weekend as the Saints played Detroit and the LSU Tigers played Alabama for the national championship?
• Even though African-influenced recipes like gumbo and jambalaya, jazz, brass bands and second lines are all things that fans in town for the Sugar Bowl, Saints playoff game, Hornets game and the BCS championship game looked forward to, how much did Black-owned businesses really benefit from the estimated influx of 250,000 visitors to the city last week?
• With local elected officials and administrators running roughshod over the constitutional rights of working-class and low-income citizens, wouldn’t New Orleans be as good a place as any to resume the Poor People’s Campaign the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was working on in 1968 when he was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn.?
• Why don’t we ever hear about the sale of African-centered books, films and other items going through the roof during the month of February?
• Why are so few young Black men and women being groomed for leadership in communities of color?
• When are we going to finally understand that it is imperative for the survival and future of Africans in America that we establish independent Black financial and educational institutions?
• What are your plans for Black History Month 2012?
• When did Black families stop teaching manners and old-fashioned “home training”?
• Why are most of the Black people in America who have achieved any significant level of material wealth seldom conscious or committed to uplifting the Black masses?
• When did we stop listening to the Staple Singers who implored us to respect ourselves?
• Why is it so hard for so many people to see that a society is being shaped in New Orleans that makes it a crime to be Black and poor?
• Why have so few of us listened to Frederick Douglass’ prophetic words that told us that “[p]ower concedes nothing without a demand”?
This article was originally published in the January 9, 2012 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper
