By Sanashihla
Elected officials who have control over public tax dollars compromise with white supremacists and owners of major corporations who operate with capitalistic greed and a desire to maintain a white power structure.
After $7.5 billion dollars in wealth was generated for the year by tourism, the city of New Orleans should not have the extreme levels of poverty and disparities that exist here. Yet poverty is pervasive, even though many of the people living in poverty are folk who get up and GO TO WORK every single day.
The newly elected mayor, LaToya Cantrell, who is Black and the first woman to be mayor in the 300-year history of a colonized New Orleans, said “New Orleans is a city with two truths — the first is one filled with promise, while the second is one filled with crime.” Let’s take a moment to get clear what these crimes are.
New Orleans has a $647 million dollar budget, and 63% of it goes towards cops and jails that have shown NO evidence of making our city any safer. This demonstrates that the city’s primary existence is to feed mass incarceration, to exploit the labor of prisoners, fill the pockets of privatized prison owners and build the wealth of the rich ruling class on the backs of “free” working class people. Yet how free are working class people really?
Nearly 50% of children live in poverty, and only 3% of the New Orleans city budget is dedicated to children and families. This right here is a crime. A 3% investment is NOT the way to ensure New Orleans children have a fair start in life. Therefore, if such a LOW amount of money is invested into the lives of families and children, then clearly in a predominantly Black city, made up of predominantly Black families with predominately Black children the elected officials of New Orleans do not care about the overall well-being of Black families or Black children.
In New Orleans, nearly 50% of Black males are unemployed. So, to invest only 1% of the entire city budget on job development is also criminal. Investment in job development through a public jobs program that pays a living wage and provides quality “on the job” paid training would be a way to ensure residents are working and able to care for themselves and their families, in healthy, proactive, productive ways.
The city cries poor, saying that the $647 million-dollar budget is not enough to do all that is needed in the city. But does not redirect the 63% of the budget that is invested into cops and jails.
The city GIVES at least $140 million tax-dollars dollars directly to the biggest tourism corporations each year, bypassing the city budget. Rather than invest this money into the needs of the people, the city of New Orleans rings every tax dollar out of working class people and does not invest that money back into the working class. The city also refuses to pass/push/or demand an ordinance for a living wage for the same working-class people of New Orleans who keep the city running. The city should take back the $140 million into the city budget to serve the people who serve this city best. For New Orleans to make the kind of progress that it needs (symbolically & systemically), there must be:
- no more compromises with white supremacy!
- no more compromises with oppression!
- no more compromises with economic exploitation!
- We must DEMAND that elected officials stop using OUR money and OUR resources to keep the white power structure in place.
- We must DEMAND that our tax dollars be used to invest in children, families and job development.
- EVERY time the city allocates resources, we must remember, those resources are ours.
- Wherever there is oppression, there will be resistance!