With the reelection of Mayor Ray Nagin, New Orleanians can rest a little easier. If Mitch Landrieu had won, it would have sent a clear message to black evacuees: Even if the living isn’t easy where you are, don’t come back. As the New York Times reported:
Lawyers for New Orleans evacuees filed suit in Houston yesterday, asking a federal court to stop the Federal Emergency Management Agency from ending housing benefits for tens of thousands of people who fled the flooding of Hurricane Katrina. The evacuees had been issued 12-month housing vouchers by local governments but are now being told by FEMA that they must pay rent or leave.
A Landrieu victory would have begged the question: Why should the rest of the country care about pumping money into New Orleans when its residents, who had the resources to return, don’t care about black evacuees who are scattered throughout the Katrina Disapora?
Black voters showed once again that when they are “mad, glad or sad,” they will turn out and vote. Blacks are still mad about being left behind to fend for themselves. They’re mad about their treatment in the aftermath of the nation’s worst natural (and manmade) disaster. And they’re mad as hell that some opportunistic white politicians tried to exploit their absence to seize control of City Hall.
But let’s keep it real. Nagin was rebuked and scorned for good reason. Still, black voters threw him something (here and here). He now must get serious about a rebuilding plan that will help Katrina survivors get on with their lives (and here).
