notes from the low road...

• notes from the underground - nah
  • notes from the low road... - sam
    • even your beloved Faux - cubbie
      • Last week McCain was up. Polls go up and down.... - sam
        • Today (Wed) Obama's 10 points over McCain in - Calif., which has MANY delegates.

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Hi folks, sarah and I are both hiding underground now.  Please vote for us and we will pop up like groundhogs for the inauguration.

NOTES FROM NEW ORLEANS: A Hard Head Makes A Soft Behind

By Deborah Cotton

By now, you’ve heard the election results – Mayor Nagin against Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu in the run-off, the mayor coming away with the a large number of the Black vote, including those of my Black friends who swore they were done with him.  As one brother later told me, “At the end of the day, I had to go with my own.” 

     Forcing the issue of having a Black mayor for New Orleans, even when all his actions demonstrate an inability or unwillingness to make issues important to the Black community a priority, in the hopes that it will help us reclaim our ‘Chocolate City’, strikes me as, well…hard-headed. 

     I went to the Sheraton Election Night to cover Nagin’s speech.  The room was filled with nothing but Black faces, so shocking considering just two months ago, you couldn’t hardly find a Black person with a New Orleans driver’s license who had anything nice to say about our Mayor’s on-the-job performance.  I looked into those faces, faces of friends and people I’d met out at rallies and neighborhood planning meetings, all of whom openly discussed their dissatisfaction with the current leadership.  But this mayor’s race was no longer about the future of New Orleans.  This race has become about race. 

     At Nagin’s Election Night party, there was a distinct feeling of Black people welcoming the prodigal son back home, of redemption of the husband who strayed.  Once it was clear his White majority supporters were backing anyone but him, he started out on the ‘Back To Africa’ tour so many of our prodigal sons and daughters have performed in – OJ Simpson, Mariah, Vanessa…and was successful in securing a large number of Black votes.  There were literally tears in the eyes of many of the women there, cracked voices calling out “We love you!”  “Speak your truth!”  They loved that he said “Chocolate City” and pissed White people off. 

     The room was electric and his speech had some profound moments.  But then… the classic Nagin kicked in and he said something that fell like a bad note in his otherwise melodic song.   

     “This economic pie is getting ready to explode.  And it will be shared equally.  I want the community to get more comfortable with the Ray Nagin type. The Joe Canizaro type...”

     Smiles and tears froze.

     Joe Canizaro is a local land developer and one of President Bush’s biggest campaign contributors.  When Nagin tapped his choices for the ‘Bring Back New Orleans’ advisory panel that would create a rebuilding plan for New Orleans, he followed Canizaro’s advice and stepped over local talent and intelligentsia and hired consultants from Los Angeles called the ‘Urban Planning Institute’, of which Canizaro was a long time board member.  Many New Orleanians were upset they had so little representation on the BNOB panel.  And the ones that were included on the panel, like City Council President Oliver Thomas, voiced frustration at being dis-included from many a luncheon and social gathering were decisions and deals were made about the rebuilding plan.  When the plan was finally unveiled, it was clear to those watching why the planning lunches were secret.

     When the BNOB committee presented it plan to the public at the Marriot Hotel last November, we saw a map of New Orleans on the overhead screen that had large green swatches over areas that the ULI recommended for permanent closure -the Ninth Ward, New Orleans East, and Gentilly.  These areas are predominately Black communities.  Even more telling about the agenda of the planners was the fact that the plan made no mention of where else in New Orleans the residents of these closed Black neighborhoods could move to. 

     A plan for a new New Orleans.  “Oh, we don’t know where ‘those’ people went…” Residents were absolutely livid.  So much so that the ULI returned to the community months later with a revised plan that said the neighborhoods proposed for phasing out would be given four months to prove they could repopulate and be viable or the city would begin a forced buy-out program.  There still seemed to be a lack of understanding on the part of the from-out-of-town panel that people have not been able to repopulate their neighborhoods because their houses are destroyed, the insurance companies are denying claims across the board, landlords are price gouging the rental market, and FEMA’s STILL not provided even half the trailers requested. 

     Just as the BNOB panel began to take public comments after their presentation of the revised plan, a huge Black man bellowed out like a sonic boom from the back of the room:

“You’re not taking my land!!  If you come trying to take my property, you’re gonna have a baby Iraq on your hands!  Nobody worked the jobs I’ve worked, taking crap from employers I didn’t wanna take, to make my note every month to sit here and have you tell me I can’t rebuild MY own home!!  That’s my house and if you thinking ‘bout coming to take my land, you betta come heavy.  And Joe Canizaro – I HATE YOU!”

     Mr. Harvey’s explosion was a pivotal moment in this early phase of our reconstruction.  His face made the front page of the paper and he’s since been interviewed by dozens of media outlets.  His roaring outburst exposed the stifled anger, disgust, rage, pain, and grief so many homeowners felt at the slap in the face by these Los Angeles-based, Nagin-Canizaro sponsored planners. 

     Blacks here have an over-arching mistrust of Canizaro.  And the moment Nagin uttered his name on Election Night as someone we need to be checking for, we witnessed the first signs of the prodigal son returning to his old ways. 

     I looked at the Black faces around me, their responses to his Canizaro remark, and saw frozen smiles – and determination.  Determination to go forward, against all the signs and track record of what they knew they didn’t want, for fear of losing our Black foothold in local government. 

     “Don’t we even get to keep that?”, we ask ourselves here in the New Orleans.  ‘We lost our homes, every last stick of furniture, every appliance, photo albums and grandmother’s jewelry and all our files and the dog too and family, friends, neighbors we grew up with – everything that give context and meaning for even being here in this life…’  The only thing many Black people got out of here with before the levees broke, besides our memories, was their Black skin.  And a feeling is alive here that if we lose our Black leadership, the only thing that survived in New Orleans, we won’t have a future here. 

     When I first moved to New Orleans, I was saturated in blackness and I loved it.  Black people were everywhere and it really felt like another country, other than the United States.  One of my favorite jaunts then, and still today, is to go to City Hall and revel in the family vibe where ‘my folks’ are running things.  No other public office have I ever felt so comfortable, so…relevant.  And so included.   

     I, too, am still constantly wrestling with strong emotions about being a Black public figure, a Black woman, tearing away from the fold, away from ‘the Black man’.  I’d love nothing more than to be wrong about Mayor Nagin’s ability to lead us out of darkness.  But…you know - especially you ladies - how you know something deep inside that you don’t want to be true, so you say to yourself, ‘Maybe I’m wrong…’  But later on, when the sh-t hits the fan, you realize how foolish it was to doubt what your wisdom and intuition told you. 

     New Orleans can’t afford false pride based on race.  Our empire has been completely demolished.  Sometimes, there’s so much to do, so much wrong here that needs addressing, and you get so overwhelmed trying to hold it together, you just sit back down and start crying.  Crying for the old days.

     And that’s when faith comes in.  Faith that if we walk on what we know is His truth, that He’ll provide the best outcome.  And if we force things to be our way, moving from a limited, human mentality of fear, we’ll just end up with more of this hard knocks life. 

     My grandmother used to tell me whenever I was cutting up, “A hard head makes a soft behind!”  Her words came rushing to me when Mayor Nagin finished his speech and the DJ fired up the room with a song from the Gap Band:

‘Oops! Upside Your Head’

Sounds like foreshadowing to me…

     Deborah Cotton is a freelance journalist and public speaker based in New Orleans, covering on-the-ground stories of the city’s recovery and chronicling the rebuilding efforts of the historic Ninth Ward.  She can be reached at Deborah.cotton@gmail.com.

* From now until May 7th, check out her election/Jazz Fest coverage in her daily blog ‘The Second Line’ on http://blackvoices.aol.com

...with me.  This is cut and pasted from the web site.  While this does not specifically name soft drinks, anything that rings up as taxable on the register is ineligible.  In Ohio, only foods for home consumption are nontaxable; restaurant food is taxable;  soft drinks are taxable; paper products, soap, etc. 

Okay, NOW you're excused!  And still not credible.  But thanks for playing! 

Households CAN use benefits to buy:

	Foods for the household to eat, such as:
	--	breads and cereals;
	--	fruits and vegetables;
	--	meats, fish and poultry; and
	--	dairy products.
	Seeds and plants which produce food for the household to eat.

In some areas, restaurants can be authorized to accept benefits from qualified homeless, elderly, or disabled people in exchange for low-cost meals.

Households CANNOT use benefits to buy:

	Beer, wine, liquor, cigarettes or tobacco;
	Any nonfood items, such as:
	--	pet foods;
	--	soaps, paper products; and
	--	household supplies.
	Vitamins and medicines.
	Food that will be eaten in the store.
	Hot foods.

Memo to Hillary: Road trip to that place between King City and Coalingo

Dear Hillary:

I know you've been real busy with sniper fire and 3:00 a.m. phone calls, etc., but have you ever seen that commercial for AT&T internet service, where the guy says he's on the road between "King City and Coalingo" (sp?) (There are several commercials out there for this product, and the theme for them is people's "moments.")

In the one I'm referring to, there's a guy is standing near a big field with a bunch of cows, explaining how his service lets him do business anywhere, and after he's through explaining how it works and how his bid was the first one in, he gets a text message and says, "It looks like I got the account."

An old man appears and says, "Congratulations on your moment."

Hillary, PLEASE drive yourself have your chauffeur drive you (with or without your cell phone) to that field "between King City and Coalingo" and take a L-O-N-G walk through that field. (Be sure to fill up have one of your servants fill your gas tank first.) Pet a cow or two. Resist the urge to whip out that gun yer granddaddy taught you how to shoot if you become hungry for a filet mignon; maybe you could make a have your maid make a PBJ before your departure (you know, the kind of food that more and more of us hard-working white people are forced to rely on in today's economy). Along the way, don't be afraid to step into the very thing that comprises your soul. Take a deep breath (lots of them). Try to place yourself into Barack Obama's shoes (sans cow dung) and explore WHY it is that YOU believe you must control everything -- even when you're the loser. Why is it that YOU think YOU get to dictate the terms of everything, even if you don't have the right to do so?

You have repeatedly said you're "in it to win it." You didn't win it. Now pretend to have some grace and/or just some personal decency and do NOT try to strong-arm the person who DID win it. There are a lot of women who would be good Vice Presidential candidates, all of whom believe in and would be loyal to President Obama, none of them potential orphan-makers.

Take a good, long look at those cows, Hillary. Maybe you'll learn a thing or two about "moments." Hopefully, you'll even learn a thing or two about yourself.

Edited by Moderator for aggressive and strange language.

Bushisms

I appreciate that question because I, in the state of Texas, had heard a lot of discussion about a faith-based initiative eroding the important bridge between church and state.

I mean, there needs to be a wholesale effort against racial profiling, which is illiterate children.

See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.

The law I sign today directs new funds and new focus to the task of collecting vital intelligence on terrorist threats and on weapons of mass production.

http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_bushisms.html

I live in Wisconsin and am often also in Minnesota.

No, I'm not a stalker or a weirdo (my opinion, anyway).