Ed Blakely lambastes New Orleans, saying its residents are racist, lazy

Times-Picayune ^ | 11.2.09 | David Hammer

[trumandogz]

Just months after leaving New Orleans, former recovery czar Ed Blakely gave a television interview lambasting the city, saying its people are racists, its city workers are unsophisticated and its residents lazy.

[trumandogz]

Obviously not breaking news.

[Paladin2]

Turn the French Quarter into a National Drinking Park and let the rest flood.

[mowowie]

Ed Blakely is a RACIST!

[Recovering_Democrat]

So this guy is saying the "chocolate city" is racist? How is Mayor Nagin gonna take that?? :-D

[a fool in paradise]

He neglected to mention the corrupt politicians that plague Louisiana.

[Laissez-faire capitalist]

I hear that the next Mardi Gras is going to be a “Chocolate Mardi Gras.”

[trumandogz]

"Everyone's a racist. It's part of what we have in this country, but it's deeper, more viral, more visible and more entrenched in New Orleans than any place I've ever seen," Blakely said.

Not everybody, but almost everybody.

[RC2]

Typical.....when you give people welfare, they stop working go on the doll......forever. If you don’t give them welfare, they riot and burn down their own city. Just watch.

[Dr. Ursus]

No shinola!

[MNDude]

this city proved Bush right about illegals doing the work Americans won’t do during the reconstruction

[mowowie]

Very good idea!

Plus the scuba diving would be superb.

[OldMissileer]

And the new news is?

Would this be considered a “well, DUH” moment?

[mort56]

Speaking truth to power?

[trumandogz]

Yes.

[pgkdan]

"New Orleanians expected someone else to do it all along," Blakely said in an interview with CalTV, the University of California-Berkeley's online television station. "They never expected to do it themselves."

True dat!

[dblshot]

racist, unsophisticated, lazy. Sounds like that coon ass ex of mine, but man, she can cook!

[ozzymandus]

Wait, so a black man can tell the truth, but if a white man does, he gets in trouble.

[Laissez-faire capitalist]

BTW, this can’t possibly be true.

Liberals believe that those sins committed against dead and buried black people by dead and buried white people are transferred to white people living today. No way that blacks can be racist, given that white people have so much to make up for concerning their dead and buried forebearers.

[DoughtyOne]

“...the foot of Whites on the neck of Blacks...”

“...race riots...”

God, not another race baiting goober...

If there are riots in New Orleans, it will be because the media has declared the people there completely blameless, and the rest of the nation responsible for what happened to them.

Who failed to spend government funds on the flood barriers?

Who failed to use the buses to evacuate the populace?

Who failed to vote in people who would make the right decisions on behalf of New Orleans and it’s residents?

I am so sick of this Bush’s fault and the rest of the nation’s fault mindset.

There are some fantastic Black citizens out there. There are also many Blacks who can’t take ownership of anything that Blacks do that is self-destructive. They blame everyone else, and this is extremely destructive.

Has there been one productive race riot? What always happens is the destruction of people and property that leaves Blacks living in a no-go zone for decades.

Who would urge that on anyone, let alone Blacks they think need saving?

[trumandogz]

Only DB tourists drink in the French Quarter.

[FourPeas]

He's equally hard on white people:

He then said white New Orleanians saw the turmoil after Katrina as an opportunity to regain political power.

"Now, the white community, there's blood in the water, and they can recapture the political apparatus and kind of put their foot back on black people's throats," he said.

[clintonh8r]

You are beginning to get it now....

[Anti-Bubba182]

He means the White people in New Orleans.

"Now, the white community, there's blood in the water, and they can recapture the political apparatus and kind of put their foot back on black people's throats," he said.

[Boiling Pots]

Does he think that people tend to prefer their own “tribe” only in the US?

Liberals are so provincial, it’s stunning.

[pallis]

What is it with these white, black guys calling the black guys on the street racists? Can’t they all just get along, and blame it on Bush.

[donna]

President Bush ignored something:

AZ Maricopa County 2008: Illegal aliens down 30%. Total felonies down 18.5%

County Attorney Andrew Thomas says the number of illegal immigrants sentenced for felonies in Maricopa County dropped 18 ½ percent from 2007 to 2008. The County Attorney also says a report for the Center for Immigration studies shows the number of undocumented workers in Arizona has declined 30 percent in just two years.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

Well, it is known as “The Big Easy!”

[musicman]

[Emmett McCarthy]

Half of Louisiana is underwater and half is under indictment is what I’ve always heard.

[AlmaKing]

2000 census data on racial makeup of the city of New Orleans :

White: 135,956 (28.1%)
Black: 325,947 (67.3%)

Now, who’s racist? Is he talking about the 28% or the 67%?

[a fool in paradise]

William Jefferson using the National Guard to get a personal escort to his home and his stash of cash during the Katrina aftermath was also an insult to the people of Louisiana.

[equalitybeforethelaw]

He then said white New Orleanians saw the turmoil after Katrina as an opportunity to regain political power.

How did they do that with Mayor Chocolate City Nagin still in office? Man, white people are scary crazy; they run the world but elect black men to office to keep their foot on the black man’s neck. I am so confused - can someone help me here - who is Czar Ed Blakely, what are his responsibilities, who does he report to, and what budget does he oversee? What metrics are we to use to judge a Czar? Cordially, Soup Czar Nazi

[jimt]

How is Mayor Nagin gonna take that??

Mr. "Chocolate City" is obviously a racist himself, by his own words.

He's also incompetent. He could have done much to save people there, like using the busses.

Our current mayor here in Houston may be a 'rat, but when Ike came he was flat excellent both before and after.

Thank God Lee (period) P (period) Brown had moved on to another inept sinecure. He wouldn't have been as bad as Nutless Nagin, but he'd a been pretty close - without the obvious racism.

[trumandogz]

Who failed to spend government funds on the flood barriers?

That would be the US Army Corps of Engineers who not only designed flawed levees, but also did not build the levees to specification. And yes, the Corps of Engineers has admitted responsibility for the levee failure.

In addition, while the State of Louisiana, the City of New Orleans as well as the parishes objected to the feds Miss. River Gulf Outlet (MRGO) project, the feds built it anyway. And in was MRGO that caused much if not most of the flooding in New Orleans.

Who failed to use the buses to evacuate the populace?

The people failed to evacuate themselves from New Orleans and the school busses had nothing to do with the disaster.

If you are actually interested in facts you would know that of the 500,000 people in the City prior to Katrina, 450,000 evacuated leaving 50,000 people in the city. After the storm, 200,000 flooded cars were removed from the city. If those people wanted to evacuate, they each could have jumped in their car and gotten out of town.

Who failed to vote in people who would make the right decisions on behalf of New Orleans and it’s residents?

Nagin has been elected twice and both times he was elected by a coalition of underclass and middle class blacks and white conservatives.

[Laissez-faire capitalist]

I just love that euphemism “undocumented immigrants.”

The overwhelming majority of the time when illegals are busted in raids at factories, they aren't undocumented at all. In fact, they have all kinds of documentation: phony id's, phony birth certificates and so on.

[DoughtyOne]

Hadn’t heard of that one. Ouch! Good call.

[trumandogz]

He's also incompetent. He could have done much to save people there, like using the busses.

Nagin is a corrupt buffoon, but his not using school busses was not a factor in the failure of some people not to evacuate.

Rather, 90% of the people of New Orleans evacuated prior to Katrina and the 10% who stayed did by their own choice.

And yes, I was there just before Katrina and did evacuate.

[trumandogz]

How did they do that with Mayor Chocolate City Nagin still in office? Man, white people are scary crazy; they run the world but elect black men to office to keep their foot on the black man’s neck.

Actually, without the votes of White Conservatives, Nagin would have never been elected.

Nagin is a product of the strange coalition of blacks and white conservatives.

[a fool in paradise]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1485609/posts
U.S. Rep. William Jefferson (RAT-LA) downplays stop at his New Orleans house (used National Guard)
2theadvocate.com ^ | 9/15/05 | WILL SENTELL

[trumandogz]

Now, who’s racist? Is he talking about the 28% or the 67%?

There are lots of black racists and white racists in New Orleans, few are immune from that disease of Racism.

[A Strict Constructionist]

“saying its people are racists”

The largest and most active group of Racists are the Black Preachers followed by the Democrat politicians.

[trumandogz]

<>He's equally hard on white people:

As he should be.

[Kenton]

He then said white New Orleanians saw the turmoil after Katrina as an opportunity to regain political power.

Heaven forbid! What would you expect them to do, resist the tide of change that's turning NOLA into a soggy version of Detroit? Name me one black-run city in this country that isn't a crumbling third-world piss-hole.

[DoughtyOne]

Who failed to spend government funds on the flood barriers?

That would be the US Army Corps of Engineers who not only designed flawed levees, but also did not build the levees to specification. And yes, the Corps of Engineers has admitted responsibility for the levee failure.

Evidently you are one of the few people in the United States who doesn't know that Congress approved funds for upgrading the barriers in New Orleans long before Katrina.  Those funds were diverted for other projects.  Trashing the US Army Corp of Engineers is not necessary here.

Admitting that responsibility does not absolve the political establishment of New Orleans that diverted funds approved to fix the problems of the faulty barriers.  Any way you spin it, the good people of New Orleans and their elected leaders screwed to pooch.  Blaming others just doesn't fly.

In addition, while the State of Louisiana, the City of New Orleans as well as the parishes objected to the feds Miss. River Gulf Outlet (MRGO) project, the feds built it anyway. And in was MRGO that caused much if not most of the flooding in New Orleans.

So you're dyning that the diversion of funds intended to upgrade the barriers was in any way responsible for what took place then?  LOL

Who failed to use the buses to evacuate the populace?

The people failed to evacuate themselves from New Orleans and the school busses had nothing to do with the disaster.

If you are actually interested in facts you would know that of the 500,000 people in the City prior to Katrina, 450,000 evacuated leaving 50,000 people in the city. After the storm, 200,000 flooded cars were removed from the city. If those people wanted to evacuate, they each could have jumped in their car and gotten out of town.

You do know that people today have more than one car per family right?  What leads you to believe the 50,000 people left behind each had a car?  What statistics do you have to buttress that claim?

As for the buses, they most certain did have something to do with the people left behind.

You had incompetents in leadership who refused to pull the evacuation trigger until it was too late.  The same people failed miserably to execute an evacuation plan, if they even had one to begin with.

Once again, you absolve everyone on the ground in New Orleans, and charge others with screwing things up.  For the record I am willing to accept a certain degree of federal culpability, but not until the dear folks in New Orleans wake up to the reality you seem destined to deny.

Who failed to vote in people who would make the right decisions on behalf of New Orleans and it’s residents?

Nagin has been elected twice and both times he was elected by a coalition of underclass and middle class blacks and white conservatives.

Which only goes to show how poor the other candidates must have been.  Of course that was the feds fault too I'm sure.  /s  Conservatives?  Not hardly.

[DoughtyOne]

It’s really shameful how these Democrats operate. They haven’t got one speck of morals.

[DoughtyOne]

Thank you for the link.

[anglian]

“Ms. Blanco burst into the state’s emergency center in Baton Rouge. “Does anybody in this building know anything about buses?” she recalled crying out.” - They were looking for buses to rescue thousands of people from the Superdome and convention center.

Ms. Blanco burst into the state’s emergency center in Baton Rouge. “Does anybody in this building know anything about buses?” she recalled crying out.
(There were 100+ buses at a facility on Canal Street and less than a mile from the Superdome.)

[AlmaKing]

Racism is not a disease. It’s just fear, simply put.

And I find most folks of any color are immune from racism.

You are the type who spreads the myth that racism is pervasive.

[PeteB570]

No he’s not.

I read the article.

He be blamin’ Whitey.

[trumandogz]

I am not going to defend the corruption in Louisiana or the ineptitude of the local levee boards however, the levee failures were due to a flaws in the design and engineering of the Corps of Engineers levees. This is not my accusation, but rather the words of the Corps.

“This is the first time that the Corps has had to stand up and say, `We’ve had a catastrophic failure,”’ Lt. Gen. Carl Strock, the Corps chief, said as the agency issued a 6,000-page-plus report...”

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/06/01/national/main1675244.shtml

And yes, it is well established that the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet had a major impact on the flooding and the local governments did not want the project built. Again, more federal interference on a people.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg18825244.000-ship-canal-was-storm-funnel-during-katrina.html

Again, the vast majority of the people who stayed in NOLA did so by their own choice. The city called for a voluntary evacuation more than 48 hours before landfall and a mandatory evacuation 33 hours before landfall.

I left the city and made sure that my friends and relatives were also leaving and had some place to go. Many of them ended up at my home in Texas.

From hundreds of conversations I had with people who stayed, the primary reasons they stayed were, if they left, their thug neighbors would break into their homes, their had been four evacuation orders over the last two years for storms that did not hit the city and they thought they could ride out the storm.

All in all, the evacuation was a success in that more than 90% of the population evacuated a large city that only has two major roads out of the danger area.