In one of the clearest signs yet of Hurricane Katrina’s lasting demographic impact, the City Council is about to have a white majority for the first time in over two decades, pointing up again the storm’s displacement of thousands of residents, mostly black.

There has been so much incompetence in Louisiana politics for so long from white leaders and black leaders alike that I think the racial makeup of the city council, while necessary to note, should be secondary to the larger issue of creating some forward momentum for the city. I don't know that Clarkson creates that force, she has for years been divisive and controversial in her platforms but at the very least I don't think her loyalty to the city can be questioned. It would be my hope that the city retains a healthy racial balance, and I think it will, regardless of the color of its leaders at any given time. And also, since it seems impossible or improbable that any of us will ever be able to ignore skin color, it should be noted that while the list of corrupt or incompetent white politicians in Louisiana is long, it cannot be ignored that the most recent list is led by black men--Congressman William Jefferson, At-large councilman Oliver Thomas, District Attorney Eddie Jordan, and, love him, hate him, or laugh at him, Mayor C. Ray Nagin.

Incidentally, Clarkson is the mother of the very hardworking character actress, Patricia Clarkson.
- jimlouis 11-20-2007 4:55 pm [add a comment]

thanks for that.

i thought this was the key issue. that displaced poor black new orleanians were no longer writing in votes indicating they were accepting that they have been permanently relocated, accepted the fact and moved on. :

In the 2006 election, many of those displaced by the hurricane voted absentee or drove into New Orleans to cast ballots. That vote from elsewhere appears to have been largely absent on Saturday, over two years after the storm.

The apparently greater number of votes cast by whites — 29,700, compared with 22,900 black votes, according to an analysis by Mr. Rigamer — makes uncertain widely quoted estimates that blacks, despite a disproportionate population loss, are still substantially in the majority here.

The low number called into question recent optimistic estimates that the city’s population had attained as much as two-thirds of its prestorm level, which was about 450,000.