Jeffrey says that photographs showing protesters from last night's theatrical objection to Mayor Nagin's insulting award for "Excellence in Recovery" will subvert effects of the mobilization because the protesters are white.
Yet, here is the Times-Picayune's headline:
Inside, Nagin's a hero, outside, he's a joke
And the article takes it further. You really have to read the whole thing to get a sense of its construction. The article describes the protest itself as a party and juxtaposes the party on the street with the one occurring at the Ritz.
Look:
In a scene reminiscent of a satirical Carnival parade, about 75 protesters chanted and waved handmade signs outside a posh Canal Street hotel Friday evening while inside a gilded ballroom two stories above them Mayor Ray Nagin accepted the inaugural Award of Distinction for Recovery, Courage and Leadership from an honorary committee packed with his political allies.
It then titles a subsection of the article "who's edgy," implicitly ridiculing the Nagin quote to follow:
"I think around the anniversary we get edgy, and I think we're edgy right now, and I think we'll get past it, "Mission accomplished.
I think it was a great success.
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But, on the other hand, I do entertain some criticism that speaks to Jeffrey's concerns regarding race and perception. And I think that with some honest reevaluation, the next time people get together to criticize the mayor, regardless of the racial diversity of the mobilization, they'll achieve an even greater success.
While of course crime concerns everyone throughout the city and affects everyone throughout the city, it is better to consider the systems.
I don't just angrily criticize Nagin for being unable to control the city's rate of crime. In poor cities throughout the country, the crime rate has risen during the Bush administration. There are sometimes trends above and beyond the control of a Mayor and his Police Chief.
That is not to absolve Ray Nagin and Warren Riley of any wrongdoing, for certainly they are guilty of incompetence and disengagement. Riley's police force has unacceptably low morale as a direct result of Riley's poor leadership. And certainly the NOPD needs more help than it is getting.
But is the high crime rate the biggest reason why I think this recovery has been a failure?
Absolutely not.
What about housing?
What about fair wages?
What about health care?
Where are the infrastructure improvements?
What about the coddling of the tourist industry's monopoly men?
What about the misappropriation of CBDG money?
Where is the vision?
And so on and so forth.
These are the things that make Nagin's administration exceptionally bad, not the crime rate.
The high rate of crime might not even represent the most glaring failure of Mr. Nagin's leadership related to the criminal justice system. This city has one of the highest rates of prosecution for non violent drug offenses in the nation. This state has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world. The police department continues a 'catch-and-release' policy when it's own paid consultants have suggested the implement community policing practices with all deliberate speed.
What has made Ray Nagin's award for excellence in recovery exceptionally insulting is his pathetic execution of an even more pathetic reactionary ideology.
Saying that the crime rate is too high is a tremendous oversimplification.
Mayor Nagin deserves more blame than that.
It is more even than an ideological refusal to address the underlying social conditions of which crime is a consequence - Nagin's reactionary and regressive recovery policies exacerbate them.
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