OPINION & EDITORIAL
Cities should laud denizens’ diversity
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Also by Jeff Carnes:
- Gay frat diversifies Greeks (May 4, 2007)
- Problems in city's environment vast (April 26, 2007)
- State budget must keep UW in mind (April 19, 2007)
- Students should take responsiblity for credit card debts (April 12, 2007)
- State must confront brain drain issue (March 29, 2007)
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- State of the Union disappointing, misses point (January 25, 2007)
- Support Fair Trade on Valentine's Day (February 14, 2006)
- Public bickering demeans tragedy (September 13, 2005)
- Rebuilding should go beyond houses (September 21, 2005)
by Jeff Carnes
Wednesday, February 1, 2006
On Martin Luther King Day, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin delivered his now famous "Chocolate City" speech. During the speech, he stated "it's time for us to rebuild New Orleans — the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans. This city will be a majority African-American city."
There is truth to the controversial statement of New Orleans being "chocolate." According to the 2000 U.S. Census, New Orleans is a majority African-American city: 67.3 percent of its residents are black compared to 28.1 percent white, 3.1 percent Hispanic and 2.3 percent Asian. New Orleans' demographics are nearly the opposite of Louisiana's ethnic breakdown, which is 32.5 percent black and 63.9 percent white.
Mr. Nagin is right: New Orleans is in fact a "chocolate" city. Madison, by contrast, is a very "white" city: 84.0 percent white, 5.8 percent black, 5.8 percent Asian and 4.1 percent Hispanic. What would happen to Mayor Dave Cieslewicz if he declared Madison "a vanilla city?" That would be a career-ending speech for Mr. Cieslewicz, forever labeling himself a racist.
Consider what happened to U.S. Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., in December 2002. Sen. Lott suggested during Sen. Strom Thurmond's birthday party that the United States would have been better off if, in 1948, Sen. Thurmond — then running on a segregationist platform — won the presidential election. Sen. Lott was forced to step down as Senate Majority Leader due to his thoughtless comments.
Mr. Nagin currently is the leader of a city that is celebrated for its blues singers, Cajun cuisine, his own creole culture and being mecca for the New Year and Mardi Gras. People flock from all over the country and the world to take part in celebrations varying from the traditionally Catholic Fat Tuesday and huge jazz festivals to the gay Southern Decadence festival. Mr. Nagin leads a city that is incredibly diverse. He should celebrate its diversity and not point out one group that, while composing a majority of its residents, is only one part of what makes New Orleans so great.
In Madison, we know that diversity is a key foundation of our local culture. No one element is the reason that we gravitated to the University of Wisconsin and the city. Restaurants from all corners of the world, the Farmers Market, Badger football and the range of world-class academic talent are all only a few things that attracted us to live and study here. If our city and university leadership singled out one group or one element of our culture that made this city one of the best in the country, there would be outrage. Every element of life in Madison makes it so attractive to live here, just as thousands of Americans across the country flock to New Orleans because of its long and diverse history and culture.
Mr. Nagin did address other less controversial issues in his speech on Jan. 16, such as an end to black-on-black violence and rebuilding the black community in New Orleans. These contentious issues have plagued the city and do need to be addressed, especially considering the city's chaos and lawlessness in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Mr. Nagin has apologized since making his speech, but his comments are completely insensitive to the others who have contributed to New Orleans' society. Mr. Nagin does not understand what truly makes his city so great: its diversity. Despite his apology, he still should be held accountable for the controversial statements he made in this speech, as other politicians have in the past for insensitive remarks.
Diversity is what makes cities such as New Orleans and Madison so great. Intolerance and elevating one group's status over another were and still are chronic problems in our society. People such as Martin Luther King sacrificed their lives so that everyone can have an equal opportunity in our country. On the day celebrating Martin Luther King's struggle for equality, Mayor Ray Nagin inadvertently went against all of what Rev. King fought for during the Civil Rights Movement by calling New Orleans a "chocolate city." Diversity — whether chocolate, vanilla, or any other flavor — is what makes his city so special, and every group should have the opportunity to be a part of the rebuilding of New Orleans.
While New Orleans will never be the same, we can only hope the diverse character of New Orleans, which made the city so alluring in the past, is preserved in its future.
Jeff Carnes (jcarnes@badgerherald.com) is a senior majoring in linguistics.
Anonymous (February 1, 2006 @ 9:48am):
Except that the term "Chocolate city" has been around for years. The only thing that confused the African American community about that comment is that Atlanta is typically referred to as the Chocolate City, although I assume that you would not know that. Either way the people of New Orleans are so entrenched in diversity that these silly little debates we have in Madison mean nothing to them.
Anonymous (February 1, 2006 @ 10:59am):
"This city will be a majority African-American city."
Just try to imagine the reaction if the mayor of any city were to substitute "white" for "African-American" in the above sentence.
Demonstrations?
Riots?
Hate-crime indictment?
Nagin doesn't care about diversity, he cares about getting re-elected.
Anonymous (February 1, 2006 @ 5:24pm):
Are people EVER going to realize that there is a difference between being black in america and being white in america? Of course there would, and should, be riots if a mayor said it should be a vanilla city. That's not exactly the point. The point is that you can read any history book ever written to see why blacks might like the idea of having one, ONE, city be theirs. Grow up republicans.
Anonymous (February 1, 2006 @ 8:31pm):
"Grow up republicans."
With politically-correct attitudes like yours, it's no wonder so many people ARE growing up Republican! I can't imagine anyone growing up a Democrat and putting up with your race-baiting garbage.
Anonymous (February 6, 2006 @ 11:38am):
i'm a uw alum from new orleans, currently living in new orleans doing system reconstruction work. what really amazes me is how out of all the powerful and tragic newsworthy stories coming out of my city, "chocolate city" is the one that has caught the attention of white people around the country. i'm no fan of nagin. i won't vote to re-elect him. but not because of "chocolate city". it's the least of his mistakes. but white political correctness has seized those two words in order to assert some pathetic high ground implying that white people are also victims of racism. do you know what's really happening in new orleans? do you know how competely screwed poor black folks are down here? do you know that the number one killer since the hurricane is the new orleans police department (there have been 8 killings since the hurricane, 4 of them came from nopd) and that their victims are black? i can't wait for the day that white people in this country begin to put human and civil rights ahead of their own defensive model of political correctness.
kl
detling hall baby
