Ray Nagin

Idiot:

We as black people, it’s time, it’s time for us to come together. It’s time for us to rebuild a New Orleans, the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans and I don’t care what people are saying uptown or wherever they are, this city will be chocolate at the end of the day.

Now, imagine if the mayor of Cheyenne, Wyoming said this:

We as white people, it’s time, it’s time for us to come together. It’s time for us to rebuild a Cheyenne, the one that should be a vanilla Cheyenne and I don’t care what people are saying downtown or wherever they are, this city will be vanilla at the end of the day.

There would be outrage, and justifiably so. Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton et. al. would descend on the city in no time demanding sensitivity training seminars and who knows what else. Where's the outrage over Nagin's remarks? Why the double-standard?

And while such talk may be a new thing for many people, those of us in D.C. have heard it all before.

Update: Related thoughts here.

Another update: Nagin has apologized.