SAVING NEW ORLEANS: In Defense of Huey Long & Mayor Ray Nagin

On the last day of August, the full impact of Hurricane Katrina settled in the soul of America. Media reports were wrong. The city of New Orleans was not spared the catastrophe of the century. Whether or not the persistent rumors are true that the Army Corps of Engineers deliberately blew the levees, drowning the ninth ward in order to save more prosperous neighborhoods (the answer may not be clear for decades), the devastation was complete.

After weeks turned into months of government inadequacy, inefficiency and indifference, we were left to wonder, with heavy and breaking hearts, if the city of jazz would ever re-emerge from the rubble.

As we enter the Christmas season, it has become clear that the Gulf Coast is to domestic politics what Afghanistan is to foreign affairs and New Orleans is Kabul, a city under siege. Few in American politics would blame beleaguered President Hamid Karzai for the state of affairs in Afghanistan, yet many would point the finger of blame at Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans.

I am not among them.

The images and events that cling to the mind, like the ghosts of Saint Louie Cemetery or the face of an innocent child pleading for help, are sometimes strange and mysterious. They pull at our hearts. They inform us that something remains to be done. Like that innocent child, they plead with us not to forget.

I recall the relentless scenes of destruction, the piles of debris, the floating corpses, the makeshift grave, the faces of desperation outside the convention center, and the enduring image of abandoned animals shot by heartless soldiers or police and discarded like a nightmare we wish had never happened – but it did.

I remember the angry voice of Mayor Nagin, the vacant look of FEMA Director Michael Brown, and the solemn promise of our president in Jackson Square that he would address the burning problems of racial discrimination and poverty, that he would rebuild the city of New Orleans.

I remember rapper Kanye West’s penultimate moment of truth to power: "George Bush doesn’t care about black people."

I remember as well a curious moment on MSNBC’s Hardball, in which host Chris Matthews interviewed New Orleans jazz musician Harry Connick, Jr. In an exchange that stood out for its incredible inappropriateness, Matthews prefaced an inane question with the observation that Huey Long was a clown. A befuddled Connick protested that he was not knowledgeable in politics but he did not think Huey Long was a clown.

It is beyond strange that a man like Chris Matthews, who prides himself on his knowledge of history, should use his media pulpit to hurl the ultimate insult at a man whose life was taken by an assassin’s bullet seven decades ago.

In the state of Louisiana, they remember the Kingfish and if a man is inclined to believe he was a clown, he had better keep it to himself in the lower ninth ward.

In the annals of American politics, Huey Long is the definitive populist. He was a champion of the common people. He took dead aim at the corporate elite and the energy industry. He taxed the wealthy to finance schools and public works. Without the politics of Huey Long, many believe the New Deal of Franklin Roosevelt would never have happened. In August of 1935, shortly before his death, he stood poised for a run at the White House and the White House was running scared.

Huey Long made many powerful enemies. He was accused of corruption, bribery and exerting dictatorial control over Louisiana politics but no one regarded him a clown.

I do not know the political philosophy of Mayor Ray Nagin but I hope he is a student of history. I hope he understands that what his city, his state and his nation need now, more than ever, is another Huey Long.

A mountain of evidence has accumulated that the federal government bears the lion’s share of responsibility for the devastation of New Orleans, that the federal government is responsible for the dismal emergency response, and that the federal government is guilty of wasting precious time and resources playing pin-the-blame on state and local authorities while the people of the Gulf region were struggling for survival.

What would Huey Long have done?

Governor Kathleen Blanco and Senator Mary Landrieu are pushing hard for long-term funding from the offshore drilling operations and the industry that profits from the Port of New Orleans. It is the very least the government should do but the likelihood of the president supporting a measure that takes money from the coffers of his corporate sponsors is negligible.

What would Huey Long do?

For those former residents of New Orleans who have vented understandable rage at Mayor Nagin, I ask them to understand that no mayor in any city (including former Mayor Rudy Giuliani) possesses the power and resources to respond to such a disaster.

As Mayor of New Orleans, he is doing what he can. He is desperately trying to keep his community intact. He is trying to keep the story alive in the media as well as the halls of Congress. He is trying to shame the federal government into fulfilling its solemn promise.

If Huey Long were alive today, he would be railing from the rooftops of the lower ninth ward, and the power of his voice would reverberate across the land, and its message would shake the very foundation of government in America.

If Huey Long were alive today, the corporate elite would be paying their fair share instead of plotting to buy the rubble for their own nefarious purposes.

If Huey Long were alive today, every able-bodied resident of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast would have a job and temporary shelter until housing could be constructed.

Sadly, we do not have a Huey Long on the political landscape today but we do have individuals who remember him. We ask them to rise up now and claim his legacy before it is too late.

Louisiana is not some third world country that ceases to exist when we turn off our televisions and New Orleans is not Kabul. In many ways, it is the heart and soul of America. If our government can turn its back on the people of New Orleans, they are serving notice that they will do the same for all Americans.

Jazz.

JACK RANDOM IS THE AUTHOR OF THE JAZZMAN CHRONICLES (CROW DOG PRESS) AND GHOST DANCE INSURRECTION (DRY BONES PRESS). THE CHRONICLES HAVE APPEARED ON DISSIDENT VOICE, THE ALBION MONITOR, BUZZLE, COUNTERPUNCH AND PEACE-EARTH-JUSTICE.