Chocolate Schoolbus Preacher Man
Mayor Schoolbus Nagen apologizes for his vow to keep New Orleans "chocolate" and rant about how God is punishing the USA.
I wonder if he'll apologize to Pat Robertson for stealing his act of telling us what God is angry about.
Again, I digress. We all know the shameless double standard and what would happen if Bush or a Republican had made that remark. The poor guy is likely suffering from the stress of the truths he already knows. Let's look at them:
The biggest hurdle to re-populating New Orleans is simply to see it from the eyes of those affected: you rent your place and it gets destroyed. What motivation do you have to come back to it? As for others; you own your home that was destroyed destroyed that makes a motivation to come back. Assuming the city deems your neighborhood viable and doesn't turn it into a park/acceptable flood zone because your neighbors failed to return.
Then there is the other catch-
Neither person mentioned above has a job to come back to. In the meanwhile, you got a nice place to stay in a community that is desperate for workers and you quickly found a job. Your kids start in the local schools and are drawn in with open loving arms because of the tragedy. These new communities even made extraordinary effort to create conditions to bring your dog!
It's going to take years to get the city rebuilt, and what happens to those who are very happy with their new lives? Those same people are the "core of the New Orleans community" that Nagen and others want back. A recent survey finds that fully 60% of those people are happy where they are now?
What is their motivation to return? How happy the family combined with length of time away will dull the ache to live in New Orleans.
I am disgusted when on NPR I hear words like "the richest country on earth can't afford to house the black people of New Orleans..." or "the rebuilding is racially decided against the poor blacks of our town"... This racism twisted talk is an exploitation of a correlation to the reality, not the causation. Typical blind ignorance of truth to tweak the racial nerve any way possible.
Reality: wealthier individuals are more likely to have good insurance and higher land (therefore, more quickly repaired because less damage).
Reality: there are as many "white" neighborhoods devastated and not being prioritized as "black" neighborhoods.
Reality: flood water goes to the lowest point and doesn't care who is in the way.
Reality: major builders are looking at housing for Katrina victims in their new locations (Centex Homes) rather than building in New Orleans.
Reality is that many in the wake of Katrina are seeing the economic conditions available in Dallas, Atlanta, Birmingham, and Nashville (Memphis omitted intentionally). These cities have plentiful incomes and jobs versus the "good-old-boy-Democrat" AKA "Huey-Long-Style system" still fully functional and alive in Louisiana (and in Memphis under the family name "Ford").
Maybe Schoolbus's ranting about God and punishment are some kind of Freudian insight of his worst fears: God destroyed New Orleans to change it?
I wonder if he'll apologize to Pat Robertson for stealing his act of telling us what God is angry about.
Again, I digress. We all know the shameless double standard and what would happen if Bush or a Republican had made that remark. The poor guy is likely suffering from the stress of the truths he already knows. Let's look at them:
The biggest hurdle to re-populating New Orleans is simply to see it from the eyes of those affected: you rent your place and it gets destroyed. What motivation do you have to come back to it? As for others; you own your home that was destroyed destroyed that makes a motivation to come back. Assuming the city deems your neighborhood viable and doesn't turn it into a park/acceptable flood zone because your neighbors failed to return.
Then there is the other catch-
Neither person mentioned above has a job to come back to. In the meanwhile, you got a nice place to stay in a community that is desperate for workers and you quickly found a job. Your kids start in the local schools and are drawn in with open loving arms because of the tragedy. These new communities even made extraordinary effort to create conditions to bring your dog!
It's going to take years to get the city rebuilt, and what happens to those who are very happy with their new lives? Those same people are the "core of the New Orleans community" that Nagen and others want back. A recent survey finds that fully 60% of those people are happy where they are now?
What is their motivation to return? How happy the family combined with length of time away will dull the ache to live in New Orleans.
I am disgusted when on NPR I hear words like "the richest country on earth can't afford to house the black people of New Orleans..." or "the rebuilding is racially decided against the poor blacks of our town"... This racism twisted talk is an exploitation of a correlation to the reality, not the causation. Typical blind ignorance of truth to tweak the racial nerve any way possible.
Reality: wealthier individuals are more likely to have good insurance and higher land (therefore, more quickly repaired because less damage).
Reality: there are as many "white" neighborhoods devastated and not being prioritized as "black" neighborhoods.
Reality: flood water goes to the lowest point and doesn't care who is in the way.
Reality: major builders are looking at housing for Katrina victims in their new locations (Centex Homes) rather than building in New Orleans.
Reality is that many in the wake of Katrina are seeing the economic conditions available in Dallas, Atlanta, Birmingham, and Nashville (Memphis omitted intentionally). These cities have plentiful incomes and jobs versus the "good-old-boy-Democrat" AKA "Huey-Long-Style system" still fully functional and alive in Louisiana (and in Memphis under the family name "Ford").
Maybe Schoolbus's ranting about God and punishment are some kind of Freudian insight of his worst fears: God destroyed New Orleans to change it?
posted by Possum at 09:17
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