Racial disharmony alive and well post-K

By Richard A. Webster, Staff Writer

Everything in New Orleans tends to fall along racial lines, and the uproar surrounding New Orleans District Attorney Eddie Jordan is no different.

At Wednesday’s City Council Criminal Justice Committee meeting, called by Councilman James Carter to address Jordan’s recent dismissal of two high-profile homicide cases, the largely African-American audience stood firmly behind the embattled DA and bristled as three white Council members aggressively questioned him.

“The community is outraged,” Councilman Arnie Fielkow said to Jordan about his performance.

“No, we’re not!” someone shouted from the crowd.

“We got your back Jordan!” another said.

While Fielkow described Jordan’s recent dismissals as “unacceptable” and “unfathomable,” the crowd shot back.

“Y’all want that old racist Harry Connick back!”

“They’re tryin’ to enslave us!”

With each accusation and pointed question aimed at Jordan, unrest in the audience increased. An elderly African-American woman seated behind me called Councilwoman Shelley Midura the “lynch lady” and the “leader of the KKK.”

It wasn’t only white elected officials who found themselves in the crosshairs. Two African-American politicians, state Reps. Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans, and J.P. Morrell, D-New Orleans, approached the podium and started off in the crowd’s favor by saying Jordan couldn’t be blamed for the crime of New Orleans.

The audience cheered them on, prompting Richmond to say, “You may not want to applaud when you hear what I have to say next.”

Richmond and Morrell called Jordan to the mat for failing to file audits for 2005 and 2006 and said they had severe reservations about his performance. When they returned to their seats, an elderly woman admonished them like children: “Y’all need to learn your history and read up on what they done to us. This new generation is ignorant.”

The crowd’s opinion of the hearing was apparent — it was an attempt by white politicians to scapegoat and bring down an elected African-American official. No matter how far the Council went to illustrate how Jordan’s alleged mismanagement of the DA’s office was negatively affecting the low-income African-American communities — those hardest hit by violent crime — the audience supported Jordan and accused the Council of wanting to go back to the days of “ol’ racist Harry Connick.”

The meeting drove home the racial divide that separates New Orleans. And the anger and resentment is not one-sided. A new batch of bumper stickers can be found plastered to light poles and stop signs throughout the city and Jefferson Parish. The messages: “David Duke for Mayor,” “Wake Up White People,” “Thank You Houston” and the ubiquitous Confederate flag.

During the mayoral election, someone wrote “Nagin Coon Town” on a lamppost on Tchoupitoulas Avenue. The racist graffiti was clearly visible at a nearby bus stop where small African-American children often wait.

And how are people of color to feel when Jefferson Parish institutes an ordinance aimed directly at eliminating Hispanic-operated taco trucks?

Just log onto one of the neighborhood chat rooms on Nola.com and the racial hatred seeps through like poison.

Lance Hill, executive director of the Southern Institute for Education and Research at Tulane University, said distrust between African-Americans and whites in New Orleans is at an all-time high. African-Americans accuse the local, state and federal governments of doing everything in their power to rid the city of low-income minorities. Whites, meanwhile, lay the blame for all of the societal ills of New Orleans squarely on the shoulders of the African-American population.

“There’s a profound racial distrust and resentment and hatred that has shaped the life of the city the last couple of years,” Hill said. “Conventional wisdom is people who went through hell are more sensitive to others, but the fact is they aren’t more sensitive. Often times they are downright indifferent to the suffering of other people.”

Hill’s theory played out in the City Council chambers Wednesday, perfectly illustrating the idea that at times it seems like the only thing the whites and African-Americans of New Orleans share is a distrust of each other.