I am a serious New Orleans Saints fan. Our victory on Sunday was amazing and symbolic for me as we head into the final week before the New Orleans' mayoral primary on February 6. My partner, James Perry, is a candidate for mayor and I have been working on his campaign for more than a year. We are in the 4th quarter and we need your help.
If you follow me on Twitter then you already know that I am an obsessive New Orleans Saints football fan. On Sunday I screamed myself hoarse watching our guys manage an overtime victory against a tough Minnesota team. Like the rest of the city, I headed into the streets shouting "who dat" and embracing perfect strangers like they were my best friends.
Cities love their football teams, but in New Orleans this win is much more than a sports victory; it is a symbol of possibility. New Orleans is a city facing tough times. Even before Hurricane Katrina destroyed the city's infrastructure and decimated its population, this distinctive city suffered from crime and poverty. But divisions of race, class, neighborhood and ideology felt meaningless on Sunday as we collectively held our breath as our young kicker made history and earned the Saints our first Super Bowl bid.
The victory was also symbolic for me as we head into the final week before the New Orleans' mayoral primary on February 6. My partner, James Perry, is a candidate for mayor and I have been working on his campaign for more than a year. During that year, I have appealed to the national progressive community to help support James' efforts to run a progressive, honest, change-oriented campaign. You have always responded.
With the primary just days away we are in our own 4th quarter and we need your help. We have a clear strategy for victory. Our competition is sliding backward. Last week one opponent produced such misleading campaign materials that he managed to anger the family of New Orleans' first black mayor; to irritate the family of Martin Luther King, Jr. ; and even to force the President of Xavier University to disavow him.
While others are moving backward, James is moving forward. We have a popular new radio spot. Volunteers are fully staffing our phone banks. We are knocking on doors every day. But in order to truly get our message to the voters of New Orleans we need to have a significant television presence. We have a great new ad. You can have a sneak peek here.
I am coming to you once again, asking you to help us make the final push to help bring real, substantive, and meaningful change to New Orleans. Please consider donating $100, $50, $25 or even just $10 . Everything we raise will go toward keeping our ad on the air and bringing James' message to voters of New Orleans.
Here in New Orleans we are so proud of our Saints football team. We also need a mayor who can make us proud. Last week I wrote a piece at Huffington Post explaining why I am so proud of James.
In an election where some of our opponents are padding their resume and misrepresenting their professional credentials and accomplishments, James' career speaks for its self. James is a civil rights advocate who has spent his entire career working for just one goal: a more fair and equitable New Orleans for everyone.
As a young law graduate James had many opportunities to pursue a legal career that could have made him personally wealthy. Many of these opportunities were outside New Orleans. Instead, James chose a career leading a community non-profit. This means he hasn't made much money, but he stayed right in New Orleans, living in the 7th ward, where he bought a blighted home that he worked tirelessly to restore.
He made that choice a second time after Hurricane Katrina. Turning down dozens of offers to make a start a new career elsewhere, James returned to the city he loved just weeks after the storm. He committed himself to helping his parents and family in New Orleans East recover and rebuild. He reopened his organization and helped his staff recover. He fought for fair terms for citizens returning to the city.
After deciding to stay home in New Orleans, James decided to work and make New Orleans a better and fairer community. He has spent nearly a decade pursuing hundreds of cases of housing discrimination. His efforts in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast both before and after Hurricane Katrina have been focused on enforcing the law, which ensures that citizens have a right to live and work safely in any community they choose.
Most important, although he has worked tirelessly on behalf of racial fairness, James has resisted race-baiting or racially polarizing attacks.
We are in our own 4th quarter, but this is not a game. This is the most important New Orleans mayoral election of our lifetime. Please give what you can to help support our efforts. Your donation of $100, $50, $25 or even just $10 can help us make history.