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Quote:

Originally Posted by JV

Damn. That's a shame.:tsk: She oughta be canned immediately, with or without any sort of apology she oughta not be working with children.

Slightly OT: Nagin's "chocolate city" comment wasn't so bad. See the Paliament song by the same name, which was basically about Washington DC's emergence as a majority black city with a black Mayor. Black Americans don't have a second language like hispanics or other ethnic groups, so colloquial English is easily understood by whites, asians, etc. when it is spoken, and sometimes taken too literally.

Black people in New Orleans contributed over hundreds of years and made the city what it is today, same as the French and Spanish did in its early days. It's the same as the Mexican influence in the Southwest, Chinese in Seattle and San Fran, the many immigrants from all over in NYC, Chicago, etc. Take away that ingredient and you have a completely different flavor.

Nagin was certainly talking to the people who would know what the phrase meant when he used it. I'm sure if a hurricane hit Salt Lake City and the mayor came out and said Salt Lake must remain a "Vanilla Village" it wouldn't have the same connotation, because he'd be coining that phrase (or stealing it from me if he reads this forum), and not appropriating it from a pop culture reference or song or book, etc.

My .02 which ain't worth a penny.

JV

The only thing I would disagree with is that Nagin wasn't only talking to blacks. New Orleans is (as you've said) made up of all races.

Does that mean it was ok for Sen. Allen to make his "macaca" comment? He was talking to a group of whites...

And when they come to march on ya
Tell 'em to make sure they got their James Brown pass
And don't be surprised if Ali is in the White House
Reverend Ike, Secretary of the Treasure
Richard Pryor, Minister of Education
Stevie Wonder, Secretary of FINE arts
And Miss Aretha Franklin, the First Lady
Are you out there, CC?
A chocolate city is no dream
It's my piece of the rock and I dig you, CC
God bless Chocolate City and its (gainin' on ya!) vanilla suburbs
Can y'all get to that?

Quote:

Originally Posted by rebound

You're right, he wasn't only talking to blacks, but if you look at it as being the same as a Mexican American politician in L.A. giving a speech to his primarily Mexican American district, and peppering it with some Spanish words for emphasis (possibly even trying to better connect with constituents), that was where I was coming from. Difference is, to the media, if they hear that Mexican American politician say to the crowd: "this city is my life, it's mi orgullo", the majority of non-hispanic media don't know what orgullo means (it means pride). When Nagin says "chocolate city", the black people in the audience know he is speaking specifically to them and it's another way of saying "please don't abandon New Orleans because you and your ancestors made it what it is". Someone who has never heard the song he was quoting probably takes that phrase too literally. The majority of voters in New Orleans are black, and in my humble opinion, it ain't a bad idea to speak to the majority of your crowd in a way that they'll know you're speaking directly to them.

As for the lyrics of that song- staring at them on a computer screen isn't the way to understand them as the performer means you to. It's pretty much tongue-in-cheek, that whole song.

Sen. Allen must be taking lots of yoga, because he managed to put his foot all the way in his mouth with what he said. Even if it's been misinterpreted, the media has hold of it now and the perception here in the Old Dominion is bad. He was speaking to a crowd of whites, but his "macaca" comment was uttered as he looked directly at a man in the crowd of Indian (curry, not tomahawk) descent who he knew was there working for his opponent in the upcoming election. The man, Mr. Sidarth, was there specifically to videotape Allen's remarks to catch him putting his foot in his mouth, which he promptly did.

Macaca apparently means "monkey" in some Indian dialects, and the only person who knows if Allen meant to call the guy a monkey is Allen. Then again, he was known to hang the Stars N"Bars in his college dormroom.

Allen's camp foolishly tried to play it off as some made-up word his staffers coined for Mr. Sidarth to describe his haircut, which resembled a Mohawk. It did not make it go away, as it is still front page news here in VA.

JV

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric5273

Did anyone watch the Katrina documentary on HBO earlier in the week?

Something I did not know about is that hundreds of people trying to escape New Orleans the day after the hurricane were stopped on this one bridge which connected to a neighboring county. The sheriff of that county assembled a large force of cops with shotguns on their side of the bridge and they threatened to shoot anyone who crossed. Instead, the people had to wait for 3 more days without food or water for help to get there, since there was no other way out (the other directions were all under water).

Apparently that neighboring county is mostly white and they didn't want such a large group of black people entering their county.

Sounds like some big conspiracy theory, but they interviewed dozens of people who witnessed this personally.

Seems as if racism is quite common in Louisiana.

I think Geraldo was THERE when it happened and and decided to start shooting footage very shortly thereafter...Its when he starts crying and yelling frantically during correspondence with Shep Smith (I think it was Shepard)...

I hadn't heard about that event at all until I watched the documentary.

The only real scandal I had heard about with regard to Katrina was the alleged blowing up of the levies. They covered that fairly well in the documentary too.

Spike Lee is too funny. He does split screen where on one side you have this local white politician explaining that there would be no reason why they would blow up the levies, and on the other side of the split screen is black & white video footage of them blowing up the levies several decades ago during another major storm. I don't think that guy will be too thrilled when he watches the film. :rofl:

Quote:

Originally Posted by rebound

Good point.

Of course, the driver will probably bring up Nagin's "chocolate city" comment he made during the election.

Snap homie.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JV

I read ya. In the end, I think this (Nagin) is more an example of how fragmented our society has become. Politicians attempts to appeal to specific segments is viewed with suspicion by others. A no-win situation for the politician...

As for Allen, I think he's screwed no matter what. Even if he truly meant nothing at all by his comment, no one will lose that last little bit of suspicion, if at all.

As for the lyrics, I wasn't trying to make any point with them, I know you lose the "flow" by just reading them on a screen. I was just posting a portion of the song, seeing as how I had never heard it before (and I assume there are others in that boat).