Black Politics Comes of Age in New Orleans

Well, it's not a racial thing anymore. As much as Markey-Marc Morial's supporters wanted to paint the investigation of Morial and his former City Hall buddies as an attack on a popular black politician by the evil white man, there are just too many corruption investigations in progress that involve black politicians for Morial's allegations of racism to get any traction.

It's not surprising that Morial would try that sort of defense, of course. He's one of the biggest racists in town. Don't expect the same sort of defense of Bill Jefferson, however. The conventional wisdom on Jefferson is that he's smart, and he recognizes the color green, not black or white. You'll also notice that there were no howls of racism against Judge Alan Green, either. That's because Green was so bloody stupid, getting caught on tape.

No, it's not about racism, it's simply that black politics in New Orleans has come of age. We're now well into our second-generation of black elected officials in the area, and that means they're doing business as usual. It's one thing to be charismatic and ride the wave of "first black in this-or-that office" to get into politics, but once you're there, you have to maintain your position. When your position is solid, it's a natural temptation to broaden your base of operations by getting friends and family elected. That sort of expansion takes money. The temptation to feather your nest is also a strong one among politicians, no matter what color they are.

Black politics is no longer about race. It's business as usual. It's important that law enforcement officials recognize this and keep a lid on corruption, no matter what the color of the politician.