A symbolic victory

Incumbent Mayor Ray Nagin, an African American, won a second term in office in New Orleans on May 20.

Nobody has illusions as to who Nagin is. Nagin was elected in 2002 with the blessings of some belonging to the local ruling class. He has worked with real-estate executive and Bush fund-raiser Joseph Canizaro to create redevelopment plans for the city that supposedly take into account the desires of its people, but actually exclude the poorest neighborhoods from participating by denying them funds and resources. (See Workers World, Apr. 27)

However, the reelection of the African American mayor should be seen as a statement by Black voters on how they would like their city to remain—a majority Black city-at a time when big business and real-estate developers are licking their chops at the prospect of gentrifying the area and keeping the mostly Black evacuees, a majority of them poor, from returning.

Nagin surely struck a chord with evacuees in Houston when he said at a campaign speech, “There’s a potential to be a major change in the political structure.... There are 23 candidates running for mayor. Very few of them look like us.” (New Orleans Times Picayune, Mar. 8)

Had Nagin’s opponent, Mitch Landrieu, won, New Orleans would have had its first white mayor since 1978. Polling results show that 80 percent of Black voters chose Nagin, and significantly, 21 percent of white voters did the same. In addition, thousands of evacuees voted through absentee ballots and satellite polling places—although a study reveals that while satellite polling places were set up throughout Louisiana, where evacuees were more likely to be white, none were set up in cities like Houston where more Black evacuees are located. (New York Times, May 22)

While this victory is important, it is by no means a substitute for substance. At Nagin’s victory speech, he told a cheering crowd, “We have citizens around the country who want to come back to the city of New Orleans-and we’re going to bring them all back!” Whether or not this is empty rhetoric remains to be seen, and will depend largely on the mass struggle for justice, led by Katrina survivors, for not only the right to return, but the right to a safe living environment—including effective clean-up of the area and reconstruction of the levees—and a real people’s say in any redevelopment plans.