"Willy Nagin and the Chocolate Factory"

In 2002 I spent several weeks in New Orleans. Most of it was good, but there was racial tension just under the surface; much more raw than a born-and-bred Yankee was accustomed to seeing. The natural inclination is to blame unregenerate white Southern attitudes, and there was some evidence to support that view, but it's only half of the story.

Here's the other half:

On Monday, Nagin said God wanted New Orleans to be predominantly black and said he didn't care what the predominantly white Uptown section of the city had to say about it.

"I don't care what people are saying Uptown or wherever they are. This city will be chocolate at the end of the day," he said. "This city will be a majority African-American city. It's the way God wants it to be."

After the statement, he insisted he wasn't being divisive.

"How do you make chocolate? You take dark chocolate, you mix it with white milk, and it becomes a delicious drink. That is the chocolate I am talking about," he said. "New Orleans was a chocolate city before Katrina. It is going to be a chocolate city after. How is that divisive? It is white and black working together, coming together and making something special."

Yeah, right. I've heard that kind of backpedaling from white bigots, too.

It's time for this clown to be shown the door.

Also posted at The Jawa Report and Vince Aut Morire.