Good Day or Good Night New Orleans

By Pat Bryant

We are at the junction of progress or ruin. The pathway to ruin is littered with “let somebody else take care of it” and “I don’t want to be involved because others may not like me” and so many other lame excuses.

Do not buy into that any candidate has the November 13 primary election locked down, including Mayor LaToya Cantrell. Data proves that wrong. The data is attached.

Two Public Forums This Week

Come out to two forums one at Ashe Powerhouse, 1731 Baronne Wednesday October 27, 5:30 for free poboys and music by Yusa and Fernando Lima and Thursday October 28, at the Upper Room Bible Church 8600 Lake Forest Boulevard performing Gumbo Funk. We have invited all candidates for Mayor, City Council “B” at Ashe, and City Council “E” at Upper Room, and at-large city council beginning at 6 pm each day. Mask wearing required. Forget yours, we got one for you.

The forums are sponsored by Let’s Make Them Accountable NOLA.

The garbage is picked up differently in Lakeview and English Turn than Gentilly, New Orleans East and the Lower Nine. Police response and approval is the worst ever in all areas, but totally unacceptable in Gentilly, Mid-City, Ninth Ward, and the East. We have rolling black outs every month.  This is a snapshot before pandemic or Hurricane Ida. Unless we change, this is what life in New Orleans will be until there is a change in direction. This is the direction of Mayor Cantrell and the current City Council.

A recent quality of life poll conducted by a new group and funded by ACORN International and A Community Voice proves the sliding decay of all systems of New Orleans service delivery. Neither The Advocate/Times Picayune, nor the television stations have published this data provided for free. Why ? We don’t know. But if we acknowledge these terrible facts then we have to engage in serious dialogue about the future and how to get unstuck from our current positions.

Elections usually in a democratic society offer us a means to influence the way we will live. When Entergy polled citizens and reported Mayor Cantrell had re-election locked down and she had a war chest, few front runners stepped forward to qualify, although the Mayor’s approval was really lower than Entergy’s poll reported. The complacent media has kept in recent days their limited focus on whether the impact of Councilman Jared Brossett’s DWI will influence the election.

Our concern for our utility bills sent by Cox, Entergy and Sewerage and Water Board, $15 minimum wage, ample police protection, our dwindling low and moderate cost housing are not in focus, but they should be.

You can bring some sense and relief to our sorrows by getting involved. We must remember and sing the songs from our heritage “Nobody knows the trouble I seen” and “We Shall Overcome”.  Keep the faith baby. Keep fighting. Don’t give up on New Orleans and let Entergy, Cox Cable, Sewerage and Water Board and dishonest politicians RULE NEW ORLEANS. Don’t let these tails wag our dog!

Chuck Perkins, a people’s poet of New Orleans penned a poem following Katrina “We Ain’t Dead Yet”. Which is appropriate for us now.

We are not dead. But we are hemorrhaging. The bleed out must be stopped. Together we can do it. Together we can save New Orleans. Come out with your neighbors to protect and build for our freedom at Ashe Powerhouse 1731 Baronne Wednesday October 27, 5:30 for food and music and at 6 pm for candidates. Come out with your neighbors in New Orleans East to Upper Room Bible Church 8600 Lake Forest Blvd Thursday October 28, 5:30 pm for poboys and music by Gumbo Funk and candidates at 6 pm.

Let’s make it NEW GOOD DAY NEW ORLEANS!

Pat Bryant

Pat Bryant is a freedom fighter who at 75 years old follows in the footsteps of Martin Luther King, Jr,  Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, Rev. Avery C. Alexander, Aretha Castle Haley, Dorothy Mae Taylor, Llewyn Soniat, Rev. Jerome Owens, and many others. Pat has been named a founder of the Environmental Justice Movement, and was a founder, along with Rev. Dr. Dwight Webster of the local weekly dialogue Justice and Beyond. Pat has been active in the South for over 60 years and has been jailed for civil rights 69 times.  He was married to Judge Clare Jupiter, who passed 3 years ago. He has children and grandchildren who reside in New Orleans. Pat is now chief organizer of Let’s Make Em Accountable NOLA.

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