Mayor Nagin and the Chocolate Factory

It almost came full circle.

Moon Landrieu was the last white mayor of New Orleans in the early 1970s.

Yet his son Mitch almost became mayor himself in the recent election.

That he came so close shows how much Hurricane Katrina affected politics and its main fuel demographics in the Crescent City.

Or should I say "Chocolate City."

Yes, just like the old candymaster Willy Wonka, Ray Nagin has fallen in love with chocolate. So much so that he wants entire city of chocolate to rule over just as Wonka lorded over his magical chocolate factory.

Nagin took the first step by beating Landrieu and being re-elected to the mayor's office. Now to make his world of pure imagination come true, he's going to need billions from Washington in order to allow his oompa-loompas to come live in the Chocolate City.

Or it will never come to be.

In a day and age when supposedly such appeals cannot be made anymore, Nagin made one. A blatant one as has been uttered by any politician. He said back in February he wished New Orleans to be a "Chocolate City," meaning of course, majority African-American so that he could continue to be mayor.

No white politician could ever say so bluntly today what Nagin did. Heck, they couldn't have said such a thing 30 years ago. If it's true that white politicians have used code words in order to entice votes based on race there's been a reason for it. Popular political discourse and political correctness forbid such stark language from ever being said compared to say, the pre-1970s. Of course they would want to get around the rules to make their point.

But Nagin, honest man that he is, said what he said and made no apologies for saying what he honestly felt. And in so doing he secured another term as mayor, despite the fact his performance in office, especially during the hurricane, is hardly one that would win a Profiles of Courage award. Indeed, you believe Tulane University History Professor Douglas Brinkley's new book, Nagin is more akin to a drama queen than to a statesman.

But that's ancient history, even if its 11 months in the past and the lower Ninth Ward is still in ruins. What matters is who's going to be running things in New Orleans and if African-Americans wish to retain their political power, despite the fact they are now a minority of persons living in New Orleans, then Nagin was the only horse to ride on.

Even from long distance.

What made the difference in the election and subsequent run-off for Nagin were the votes of expatriate Orleans residents now scattered to the four winds in Baton Rouge and Houston and Atlanta and thousands points across the country. The Nagin campaign did an effective job organizing these voters and getting them to vote despite the distances in between. By making his raw appeal for racial solidarity and racial power, he got them motivated to cast a ballot.

Lester Maddox couldn't have done it any better.

Now Nagin better deliver the golden ticket. For if the city cannot be rebuild as it was before the storm, if the levees cannot stand a Category 5 hurricane and maybe beyond, then few Nagin's voters will come back and he will no doubt be the last African-American mayor in town.

And while the city may very well still be chocolate, it will be of the white kind.

---Sean Scallon