COURAGE TO MAKE A TRUE DIFFERENCE

Clare Booth Luce once state that "Courage is the ladder on which all the other virtues mount." In 1977 I saw what we thought would be a ladder of courage in front of City Hall and that was Ernest "Dutch Morial", the first American of African ancestry to be elected as mayor of New Orleans. He had faced adversity and had defeated it over the years and had shown to us the courage that it would take to be mayor of this city. There were numerous firsts in this man's life but they came only through struggles and determination. Yes I note that he won because of his voting base but I had hope that this man who had been first to do that which at one time was considered impossible would continue to achieve the impossible. He won without the support of major political organizations. What I saw as a possibility was shortly overshadowed by his giving into the system out of anger at opponenets and a personality that he did not seek to control. He used his own methods of cronyism to develop control of boards, to fill City Hall positions, and to defeat the opposition. While, I would agree with some policies that would seek to eliminate discrimination, I cannot agree with policies that would destroy competency in our city's government. The courage that I had seen as a ladder was being destroyed rung by rung. While I would agree with some issues, such as the strike by police and the subsequent elimination of Mardi Gras in 1979 and the development and diversity in methods of economic gain, we cannot agree to the patronage game being used and the continued vindictiveness against his political opponents. However, those opponents, particulary Sidney Barthlemey, should have held out a hand of peace instead of allowing the anger to destroy this city and what should have been a new vibrance of unity. The ladder of courage was destroyed by the pestilence of anger. Sidney Barthlemey would gain his dream, that of being mayor, but he did not have an iota of the courage that Dutch Morial had at the beginning of Dutch's term as mayor. No one that has followed has had the promise and the initial courage and determination that Dutch Morial had but lost and unfortunately that only led to the continuing decline of this city that began may years before with the failure of Chep Morrison to take the lead in keeping peace during the initial period of integration. The ladder of courage has yet to be shown in the leadership of this city. Next I will address the weakness of a Christmas tree seeker, that I recognized as Sidney Barthelemy.