New Orleans Recovery Czar says Everyone's a Racist in New Orleans

Edward Blakely, the former Recovery Czar for the city of New Orleans, says Everyone's a Racist in New Orleans

** Note, Edward Blakely now lives in Sydney Australia - Ed, is there a lot of racism in Australia?

** He sounds a little bitter about a terrible job he did while he was in New Orleans - but you can judge for yourself.

Everyones a racist, Blakely said when Dou asked who was the target of racism in New Orleans. Its part of something we have in this country. But its deeper and more virile and more visible and entrenched in New Orleans than any place Ive seen.

Blakely said that racism was a factor in the recovery effort and that it polarized the city, saying decisions by government were interpreted by New Orleanians through a racial lens as they often wondered if the decisions would benefit black or white citizens, rather than considering if a decision would benefit all New Orleanians.

There is a sense now in the white community that there is blood in the water and they can recapture the political apparatus, and kind of put their foot back on the black peoples throats and that will be explosive and very dangerous, he said when asked if racism will continue to impede the recovery.

And I think unless the next mayor is very clever, its going to explode and there will be race riots in New Orleans.

Blakely said the forces of nature are such that its unlikely that New Orleans would exist in 100 years.

Because if the Mississippi (River) blows and a hurricane comes at the same time, New Orleans would be wiped off the map. And thats a likely event. While Blakely pointed out the many faults of the city, both environmentally and socially, he said he believes he was successful in streamlining the citys bureaucracy, explaining that 20 people used to report to the mayor and now only five do. He said trimming 4,000 employees from city governments workforce to 2,000 employees was beneficial to the city.

Saying that cities such Los Angeles and San Francisco has very sophisticated professional bureaucracies, according to him, nearly 30 percent of the city government staff needed literacy courses and many were under qualified for their jobs.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• New Orleans
• Racism
• Edward Blakely

[midcity42]

I am white and there and I have heard/felt NO expressions of this!

[grapej00se]

@SuperHollygrovechick Bullshit. I'm from texas and whites and blacks definitely get along better here than in Lousiana. Theres still a LOT of racial tension in the N.O. dating back to when it was one of the biggest slavery ports in the world. You cant even go too far uptown without getting robbed if your white, and thats a fact.

[midcity42]

@Mddarch:  Not all white people you encounter in New Orleans are from New Orleans.

[SuperHollygrovechick]

I'm from Nola. And I think we might be one of the least racist cities, at least for the south. I'm born and raised. I love everyone in Nola. After the superbowl you saw random people of all races huging and singing in the street. We're just a big pot of Gumbo here.

[bravo23delta]

The blacks were racist. Of course this black guy will try to turn it around. The blacks destroyed or stole everything that they could after Katrina and that is why some white people stayed behind to protect thier property.

[rocketman6464]

ed blackly is a worthless pile of shit.