Thursday, July 3rd

“Let us be guided then by a sense of Justice. Let us build a system of just laws and and demand adherence to those laws. Let us create a city of equal opportunity for all, with all sharing in both the responsibilities and benefits. Let us create a city where neither the choice of religion nor the accident of color is an obstacle to opportunity and advancement nor a substitute for effort and ability.” Moon Landrieu Mayoral Inaugural Address. May 4, 1970

I found that quote on my latest trip to New Orleans. It was a plaque located right along the Mississippi River. We had actually come upon it accidentally and I'm glad we did find it or I would not have anything to talk about today. Inaugural Addresses seem to always stay with us. They are burned into the structure of society and become the foundation of social change and social movement. FDR's famous line "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself" lead to the New Deal plans and FDR bringing the country out of the Great Depression. Or John F. Kennedy's famous line "Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country." This famous line probably cost JFK his life because change comes at a price and some do not like to the pay the price of change. Even if it means a better tomorrow.

None the less, what our leaders say and what they do reflect our country's ideas to the rest of the world. Their words and actions also give confirmation to the ones they serve that they are doing the right thing although doing the right things is not always the correct thing to do. Adolf Hitler preached a message of hatred and discrimination based on nothing more than religion and lifestyle choices. His words lead the confirmation of the German's long standing anti-Semitism towards the Jewish people and gave the people permission to persecute them. His words and his actions were wrong and lead the deaths of innocent people.

However Martin Luther King's words lead to a social revolution of change. Where Hitler's social revolution lead to the murders of thousands and a lifetime of shame for his country, Kings social revolution lead to the freedom and civil rights to all individuals and not just to those with white skin. While I believe we have a long way to go before racism is a thing of the past, we have come a very long way from the days of separate bathrooms, separate water fountains, and separate restaurants for African Americans. Racism still goes on but not at the scale that we once saw.

So did Moon Landrieu's dream of a socially equal New Orleans come true? Did Landrieu administration "build a system of just laws and and demand adherence to those laws?" Did he and the people of New Orleans "create a city of equal opportunity for all, with all sharing in both the responsibilities and benefits?" What about creating "a city where neither the choice of religion nor the accident of color is an obstacle to opportunity and advancement nor a substitute for effort and ability?" To be able to answer these questions, we must look at ourselves and ask these questions of ourselves first. Societal change does not occur till after the people change their actions. Societal change does not occur till we gather together and commit to new ideas and a new process for society.

Happy Fourth of July! May we celebrate where our country has come from and where we are going!