I guess you can say that a, "chocolate New Orleans" wasn't the most appropriate term for New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin to use during his Martin Luther King Jr. Day speech. His choice of words has stirred racial emotions among people from New Orleans, and many others around the country. Mayor Nagin's words were inappropriate not because they offended anyone, but because he did not take the time to explain exactly what he meant.

During the coming days he will most certainly be asked to shed light on his controversial speech, but it's an explanation that can be revealed today.

Mayor Nagin wants the rebuilding of New Orleans to be a project that maintains the city's Black majority, saying, "You can't have New Orleans no other way." This statement was driven by a history of imbalances in Black neighborhoods around the country that have been bulldozed for economic or political gain. Why should Ray Nagin or anyone else believe that New Orleans will be different?

Even more enticing for local prominent businesspeople who did not live in the areas most affected by the hurricane, is the scope and size of the rebuilding effort. The amount of damage to New Orleans demands massive reconstruction projects and many developers are already getting in line for a piece of the hurricane pie.

It is very likely that the city of New Orleans' largest reconstruction projects will fall into the hands of the city's wealthy upper-class councilmen and businesspeople, who will undoubtedly hand the development efforts over to huge construction companies. Maybe even some of the companies that provided financial support for their political campaigns.

The Business Council has already stated low taxes, luxury condos and hotels, and expensive homes, as their vision for the "New" New Orleans. In essence, the poor who occupied the most devastated areas, of which the majority were Black, are simply out of luck. Nagin sees this as another opportunity for the "haves" to change the dynamic in such a way that permanently displaces the, "have-nots".

In the eyes of Mayor Nagin and many Blacks, any attempt to reconstruct New Orleans into something that it never was, would be a clear opportunity for the "haves" to proceed with a "social cleansing" of the poor communities affected by the hurricane.

The Mayor is not seeking to keep the Caucasian population, the Hispanics, or the Asian populations from returning to New Orleans. He simply wishes to see the Black population return to housing, jobs, and a community in which they can thrive. Not thousands of acres of newly built communities they can't afford.

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