Whites Take a Majority on New Orleans’s City Council: "A smaller, whiter city"

[DeepModem Mom]

Source: New York Times

By ADAM NOSSITER
Published: November 20, 2007

NEW ORLEANS, Nov. 19 — In one of the clearest signs yet of Hurricane Katrina’s lasting demographic impact, the City Council is about to have a white majority for the first time in over two decades, pointing up again the storm’s displacement of thousands of residents, mostly black. In local elections on Saturday, a veteran white politician, Jacquelyn B. Clarkson, defeated an African-American candidate, Cynthia Willard-Lewis, by 53 percent to 47 percent, in a contest for an at-large Council seat decided largely along racial lines. In addition, substantially more whites than blacks appear to have voted. Ms. Clarkson will become the fourth white member on the seven-member Council....

***

Since the mid-1980s, black politicians have held virtually all of the reins of power in a city where interest groups are sharply factionalized along racial lines and blacks were once two-thirds of the population. Saturday’s vote indicated a transition is in the making, perhaps similar to the one that occurred at the end of the segregation era here.

White candidates made other gains on Saturday, taking two New Orleans seats in the Louisiana Legislature long held by blacks, and a state court judgeship that had also been occupied by a black judge.

Voting was largely along racial lines. The apparently greater number of votes cast by whites — 29,700, compared with 22,900 black votes, according to an analysis by (Gregory C. Rigamer, a local demographic analyst) — makes uncertain widely quoted estimates that blacks, despite a disproportionate population loss, are still substantially in the majority here.

The weekend election appeared to confirm what many had predicted immediately after the storm in 2005: New Orleans became almost overnight a smaller, whiter city with a much reduced black majority. And the results suggested that the election for mayor last year, where voting percentages were closer to pre- Katrina norms, might have been something of a fluke....

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/20/us/nationalspecial/20orleans.html

[BrklynLiberal]

1. EXACTLY what BushCo had in mind for New Orleans......

Another "success" story for them, and a tragedy for the people.

How soon will "DisneyLand New Orleans" be opening up there??

[mrfixit]

2. White Chocolate, Mr. Nagin?

[acmavm]

3. The place will never be the same. It will be sorely lacking in the

heart, soul, wisdom, and spirit of the NOLA that was before Katrina.

[Benhurst]

4. Yeah, why travel all that way when you can have a similar cultural experience in

Peoria.

[provis99]

5. yuk

I can already envision ugly tract housing by idiotic land developers popping up. When can we expect Bourbon Street to be shut down, and replaced with a Creationist Museum?

[xxqqqzme]

6. looks like 'disaster capitalism' is firnly in place and

functioning as expected.

[KamaAina]

7. Factoid: That's Patricia Clarkson's mom

now you know why she's in those Louisiana tourism commercials. Unfortunately, all the quirky charm and fresh attitude appears to have skipped a generation. I've always thought that Patricia must take very strongly after her dad. Maybe she was adopted...

Her mom, alas, is a prissy little pill who once campaigned against an openly gay candidate (disclaimer: whom I strongly supported) with the coded slogan "Traditional Values Make The Difference". (Translation: Don't vote for the other guy because he's gay.) And her 15 minutes, post-K: she shrilly screamed "The French Quarter is under attack!" (her old district includes it) when, in fact, nearly every part of the city except the Quarter was under attack.

Insult to injury dept.: My favorite NOLA blogger endorsed her, albeit halfheartedly.

http://ashleymorris.typepad.com/ashley_morris_the_blog/2007/11/obtain-clothesp.html

In his defense, the runoff opponent, nicknamed Cynthia "Windy-Lewis", is a real piece of work, but No Endorsement would've worked nicely. Sad. Very sad.

[DeepModem Mom]

10. Thanks for this info, Kama. nt

[boricua79]

8. am I the only one that is not that shocked or bothered

Why would blacks want to repopulate and become a majority of a city doomed to undergo the same tragedy again and again and again.

Folks...the city is based under sealevel. With all we know about storms and Global Warming, it's to be expected that New Orleans' territory will become a no-man's land in the future.

Let the whites keep their "smaller, whiter city"...until it doesn't exist anymore.

I'd say they were left holding the bag is what happened!

As for the issue of the cultural transformation of the city, there's plenty of other places in the world to flavor black culture. If they do build Creationist Museums or other such places in place of Bourbon St, they and they're imaginary cavemen-ridden dinosaurs will be finding themselves sinking under the next hurricane or flood.

[KamaAina]

18. Must I run through this again?

Usually it only happens around the Katrina anniversary. But, not seeing any of the fine NOLA DUers around, here goes:

Why would blacks want to repopulate and become a majority of a city doomed to undergo the same tragedy again and again and again.

Folks...the city is based under sealevel.

About half the city is below sea level; the rest is up to five feet above. Surprise: more affluent whites built on the high ground, leaving blacks to fend for themselves "back of town". Also note that the lowest-lying areas weren't built up until after the invention of the Wood screw pump, still in use today. New Orleans will celebrate its 300th anniversary in 2018; in all that time, there never had been anything like "the same tragedy again and again" -- mostly due to the failure of floodwalls built by the U.S. Army "Corpse" of Engineers.

</rant>

[boricua79]

20. umm.

5 feet above? That's it...and you're telling me that in a few decades this city won't have sunk under the sea with rise in sea levels that global warming is unleashing?

Half the city is already in the danger zone, and the other half will soon join it with the sea level rising.

My points still stand.

If you want to trust in the "power of man" to control nature, go right ahead. I wouldn't buy real estate property anywhere near any coast. There's no man made levy or construction project that can offset the sheer power and weights of the sea.

[Bitwit1234]

9. Does ANYBODY not know why they scooped up all the poor and black

in New Orleans, and the rest of LA>...they wanted to get rid of their votes. They were assimilated into largely republican areas where their vote wouldn't count.

Can anybody not now believe the absolute EVIL in this president. Why did he not come to New Orleans aid..so he could KILL THE POOR AND THE BLACKS. Period.

[Joanne98]

11. I'm never going to New Orleans again! MURDERERS!

[Gonnuts]

16. Hey!

Don't blame all of us in New Orleans and quite painting this with a broad brush. With all the hits we've taken this is still a very unique city. There are more restaurants now then before Katrina and Frenchman Street might be the hippest place in America. The music is happening, the foods still good and the drinks flowing.

[AngryAmish]

23. What is made in NO?

Is tourism the industry?

[KamaAina]

24. Folger's coffee, for one

it's the world's largest roasting plant, or was when built in '02.

LOTS of stuff is made, or extracted, nearby in south La. Petrochemicals. Plastics. The country's second-largest natural gas reserves. 70 percent of the country's oysters. And so on. And so on. And what do they get back in return? Not too much. :(

[Critters2]

26. Folger's Coffee ain't much to be proud of.

They regularly screw the hard-working Central American farmers who raise their coffee.

[ladjf]

12. I don't know much about New Orleans politics. But, as a former

citizen of Algiers, I know Mrs. Clarkson's reputation as a hard working and fair minded politician. As far as I know, she has never acted along racial lines. I believe she will fairly represent both races.

[Beerboy]

13. What a disgrace. n/t.

[sofa king]

14. But a dozen cities throughout the U.S. are now, "blacker, cooler, and can play the trumpet better."

[syberlion]

15. Bigger Picture

I have a friend from LA and the thing she pointed out is politics are different in that state. Call me cynical, that's ok most of my friends do, it's been probably since the reconstruction days after the civil war since the republicans went in there and just took what they could and when it was all gone, left the empty hull for those too poor to leave the state. Now that enough time has gone by, and the state has recovered, there are new resources to plunder and Katrina was just another doorway for them to enter.

Freeport-McMoRan, one of the largest polluters is based in LA. Oil refineries and other big dollar companies are in LA. I suspect there were a lot of phone calls and help to these companies during the Katrina crisis, only there's little press on that type of "help."

Freeport has had some dealings internationally where the way they mine for metal was brought into question, how they ran the mining camps were questioned, and only independent news outlets and Human Rights groups were the only ones talking about it and getting the word out. Blackwater is the fruit of what has gone on before. American companies, like Freeport, going in, grabbing what it can and not caring about the local people, or the environment.

What does this have to do with Louisiana? In the bigger picture, what companies have practiced out in the world, honing their skills, making powerful political friends here and around the world, is now being pointed to this country. They have a strangle-hold and are not going to give it up without a fight. Corporation's psychopathic nature means they have the capacity to destroy anything and anyone that gets in their way. They anointed one of their own (actually two, if you count the real power behind the oval office) and like most psychopaths, there is no other way but theirs.

That New Orleans is now under a new guard is not surprising, I knew it was a foregone conclusion when I read relocation story after relocation story. It was a major coup, and it was never reported for what it was, the dismantling of a state's political system. We were distracted with the dismantling of a foreign country's political system and it was happening right here on our own soil.

What is left? As long as we feel castrated and ineffectual, the neo-right will continue to sap our monies and our rights. The time for action is not past, it is over-due. It is time to cast off the chains of false-powerlessness. It is time to stand tall and reclaim what we never lost. It is time to remove person-hood status to corporations. It is time to relegate corporations to the same historical trashcan that the carpet baggers of the post civil war were tossed.

Will it be easy? Not with Blackwater manning the guns. Will it be worth it? I don't know, let's ask the men and women who fought a tyrannical government that whisked people off to face abuse and torture, were taxed and when they weren't able to pay thrown in jail. When they were in debt, not given the chance to clear the slate and begin again. People thrown in jail for protesting the government's edicts, even over the objections of others in the government. Wait, you can't ask them, you can read about their heroic struggles in the American Revolution.

What are you willing to do to bring this country back under constitutional rule?

[Lochloosa]

17. Welcome to DU syberlion

Nice post.

:toast:

[DeepModem Mom]

19. Thanks for posting, syberlion -- welcome to DU!

[KamaAina]

21. Actually Freeport-McMoRan is no longer based there

they merged with Phelps Dodge and took the opportunity to hightail it to their HQ in Phoenix. :puke:

Good grief. That leaves New Orleans with one Fortune 500 company: Entergy, the electric utility (whose N.O. subsidiary is busily tripling customers' rates :grr: ). No wonder the repukes ignored the city so completely. By their $tandard$, it really isn't a major city. :(

The all-time Ex-Louisiana Corporate Bad Behavior Award, however, goes to Ruth's Chris Steak House. They announced they were hightailing it from Metairie (N.O. suburb) to Orlando two days after the freaking storm hit. :banghead:

[dysfunctional press]

22. it'll be a moot point in a couple more decades anyway...

when rising sea levels swamp new orleans, NOBODY will have a majority.

[Bleacher Creature]

25. I guess Bush can pull the "Mission Accomplished" banner out of storage now. (nt)