Plessy v. Ferguson started in Louisiana in 1892 when Homer Plessy refused to "move to the back of the bus" (actually he had taken a seat in a railroad car reserved for whites only). Homer was 7/8's white. Today he would almost certainly be harrassed for being too white if he attempted to attend most rap concerts.

In 1960 Ruby Brown was one of the first 4 African-Americans to attend a previously all white New Orleans public school. The 1961 Freedom Ride never made it to New Orleans, its ultimate destination. New Orleans was not a hot bed of activism.

In 2006 New Orleans has become a focal point for civil rights activism. African America is watching. All of America is watching. Can a majority black city lift itself out of despair? Can $100 billion turn the monster around? Or are the problems just too difficult? Is entitlement just too strong a drug? Will cultural and behavioral differences forever keep the races apart? Welfare? Poverty? Crime? Drugs? Schools? Housing? Government? The city has the chance and the need to become world class to prove that a majority black city can thrive in America.