2008 Woodie Awards
Guv's race not decided by color
Troy Brakefield
Issue date: 10/25/07 Section: Opinion
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I was reading Yahoo! News and saw my home state of Louisiana had elected a new governor. In the first line of the story, the point was made that the man was non-white - the first since Reconstruction to hold that office.
Good.
While it seems strange that in the 21st century the news services make special attention to the fact that the governor is not Caucasian, I understand.
Perhaps there is more attention to race in Louisiana because of the "Jena 6." Perhaps it is because of increased scrutiny of the use of the "n word."
And while these are good things, I am also glad in a selfish way.
As a North Louisiana native, I was blessed with a strange culture. We couldn't quite claim the sophistication of New Orleans French Quarter or the uniqueness of the Cajun settlements to our southeast, although we tried on both counts. No, for many in that part of the state, the best we could claim was to be rednecks or coon-asses.
I thought about it for a day, but it wasn't me. So like many of my classmates with a B or higher high school GPA, I moved to Texas. Seriously, I think we could have a reunion in Dallas and have a better turnout.
The reason I said I was glad in a selfish way is because I have tried all my life to be above the racist talk I heard from my early days. I had friends that were black and friends that were white - and yellow and tan, too. (But no Irish, please.) And while my intellectual self is above the idiocy of the traits my uncle tried to pass down to me, I still hear those thoughts in my head.
The last time I visited my uncle, he spent half the time cursing the new mayor.
"That stupid nigger is going to ruin this town."
I listened to this talk for hours, thinking about how the town had no new industry in the past 20 years. The auto plant had closed a few years ago. The mall, built in 1985, was losing retailers and revenue. And a fair majority of the police jury - kind of a county commissioners court - were under FBI investigation.
Good.
While it seems strange that in the 21st century the news services make special attention to the fact that the governor is not Caucasian, I understand.
Perhaps there is more attention to race in Louisiana because of the "Jena 6." Perhaps it is because of increased scrutiny of the use of the "n word."
And while these are good things, I am also glad in a selfish way.
As a North Louisiana native, I was blessed with a strange culture. We couldn't quite claim the sophistication of New Orleans French Quarter or the uniqueness of the Cajun settlements to our southeast, although we tried on both counts. No, for many in that part of the state, the best we could claim was to be rednecks or coon-asses.
I thought about it for a day, but it wasn't me. So like many of my classmates with a B or higher high school GPA, I moved to Texas. Seriously, I think we could have a reunion in Dallas and have a better turnout.
The reason I said I was glad in a selfish way is because I have tried all my life to be above the racist talk I heard from my early days. I had friends that were black and friends that were white - and yellow and tan, too. (But no Irish, please.) And while my intellectual self is above the idiocy of the traits my uncle tried to pass down to me, I still hear those thoughts in my head.
The last time I visited my uncle, he spent half the time cursing the new mayor.
"That stupid nigger is going to ruin this town."
I listened to this talk for hours, thinking about how the town had no new industry in the past 20 years. The auto plant had closed a few years ago. The mall, built in 1985, was losing retailers and revenue. And a fair majority of the police jury - kind of a county commissioners court - were under FBI investigation.
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