The people commenting on this municipal election have no idea why Nagin was re-elected. There are all sorts of reasons why that might have happened. Perhaps the voters thought he was not to blame for what happened with Katrina. Perhaps they thought he was heroic in how he stood up to the Federal Government and pinned the blame where it belonged. Perhaps they thought he did the best he could and was satisfied with his governance in other areas. Perhaps they had no faith in his opponent that he could do better. Those who are claiming that he was re-elected by a bunch of stupid black voters strictly on racial grounds have no idea whether that's true and they don't care either.
All they know is that they excitedly see an opportunity where they think this sort of spiteful racial commentary -- which is normally beyond the bounds of what is acceptable -- is permissible here, and they can't pass up the chance to spew playground epithets about Ray Nagin's race and about the intellectual level of the voters who re-elected him. These ugly sentiments are never far from the surface in many people and it doesn't take much for it to come spewing forth.
May 21, 2006
Racism Shows It's Ugliness
Have doubts that racism is alive and well in the blogosphere? Check out Unclaimed Territory by Glenn Greenwald. Ray Nagin's re-election as Mayor of New Orleans is being framed in racist terms by conservative bloggers.
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I'm not blogging currently, but I would have said something similar to Greenwald's comments if I were. There is no grand mystery why Ray Nagin was reelected. Most people who voted for him did so because they think he is the better candidate to lead the predominately black, largely low-income city in its recovery efforts. History has taught African-Americans that when their interests are put in the hands of white people, including white liberals, those interests tend to get neglected. They are hoping that Nagin, who has some reason to identify with them, will not forget where he came from. The white 'business' voters who formed part of his coalition voted for Nagin because he has been sympathetic (perhaps overly so) to the interests of businessess.
I've found the comparisons of the reelection of Nagin to reelecting Marion Barry on Rightwing blogs telling. As far as conservatives are concerned, Nagin, who has never been accused of being corrupt, is a criminal based soley on the color of his skin and being 'out of his place.' Their embracing of racism proves the GOP's Southern Strategy is alive and well. . .and not just in the South.
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