I know a lot of people, especially since I've lived in the South who often apply the N-word to people of ALL races who fit a certain reprehensible profile.

Personally, I don't use it at all because I don't like to make remarks that are open to interpretation.



Anyway, I lived in South Louisiana for two and a half years and I spent a fair amount of time in New Orleans while I was playing in a Ska band that was based there.

As much as I hate to say it, racism is (or rather, was) quite rampant there and none of what has gone in all of this disaster really surprises me. However, my experience here is that in New Orleans, racial discrimination is [mostly] carried out by blacks against whites, and yes, the City of New Orleans and State of Louisiana dropped the ball in several areas with catastrophic results.

Not that I don't think the Federal Government couldn't have done better in many respects (because I do), but 90% of the human toll here is the inevitable consequence of decades of political corruption, the failure of New Orleans and Louisiana to effectively educate their citizens (not only of the best actions to take in the face of a powerful hurricane, but even just an adequate High School education) and between two and three generations of welfare dependency.



And while I'm lucky that it seems all of my friends and acquaintances have come out of this OK, I still have a certain sense of heartbreak due to all that has gone on and it's accompanied by a Fishbone song:

Black flowers have lost their way
They've lost their way again...