Nope, not a racist bone in his body.
The residents of St. Bernard Parish in New Orleans have been engaged in a heated debate about changing the name of a main street from Colonial Boulevard, which represents the Spanish colonization of the Parish, to Martin Luther King Boulevard. The street runs through Violet, Louisiana, where the city council voted down the name change, but not until after a contentious city council meeting where residents were allowed to voice their opinions on the name change. Many of the comments were racially charged during the heated discussion. From
NOLA.com:
Violet is the only majority African-American community in the parish – about 56 percent of its homeowners were black residents, according to the 2013 Census estimate. But the majority of people who showed up at the council meeting were white residents. The parish as a whole had about 73 percent white residents and 21 percent black residents in 2013.
While some noted the history of the Spanish colonization, others were not so subtle in their remarks, including St. Bernard resident Brian Acosta, who made his comments in a camouflage shirt with a Confederate flag on the back:
I've never had a racist bone in my body. I've worked for a bunch of 'em, been in their houses, been in a lot of you guy's houses. But if you keep pushing me, I will show you my racist ways. Mitch Landrieu can go to hell. Praise the Lord for Bobby Jindal. If it wasn't for Lee, we may be British instead of American.
Watch a portion of the comments by Acosta and others:
Without any discussion amongst themselves, city council went on to vote down the name change. Proponents of the name change say they are not done yet:
On Tuesday, Baton Rouge-based attorney Mike Bell said that he and New Orleans attorney Keith Sanchez had been "contacted by the St. Bernard chapter of the NAACP to look into their legal rights in reference to any discriminatory practices by the council." Bell said that they might refer the matter the Department of Justice for further review.