Fresh from the Bill Bennett School of Cultural Awareness, Alphonso Jackson, Bush's Secretary of Housing and Urban Development,
says(warning:Moonie Times link)
New Orleans would not reach its pre-Katrina population of "500,000 people for a long time," and "it's not going to be as black as it was for a long time, if ever again."
Innocent observation though it may be, many are not happy about its phrasing:
Rep. Danny K. Davis, Illinois Democrat and a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, quickly took issue. "Anybody who can make that kind of projection with some degree of certainty or accuracy must have a crystal ball that I can't see or maybe they are more prophetic than any of us can imagine," he said.
Mr. Jackson
In the storm's aftermath, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rep. Maxine Waters, California Democrat, charged that relocating evacuees across the country was "racist" and designed to move black people, who overwhelmingly vote Democratic, out of Louisiana. The state elected its first Republican senator, David Vitter, in nearly a century in 2004.
Both the preacher and the congresswoman suggested that the residents be housed at the closed England Air Force Base at Alexandria, La., to keep them closer to home.
Rep. Bobby L. Rush, Illinois Democrat, said Alphonso Jackson's remarks and the prospects of real-estate speculators and developers in New Orleans are "foreboding."
Why on Earth would Jackson even think to make a statement like this? Maybe he was sending a coded signal to developers that the time is right to gentrify New Orleans. Whether the former residents of the city want to return or not is really beside the point. They should have the opportunity to return: that is Alphonso Jackson's job. Given the history we have though, the Bushies will make sure the deepest pockets get whatever benefits will accrue from rebuilding.