NEW ORLEANS— Former Mayor Marc Morial is in town this week. He’s the President and CEO of the National Urban League now, and he’s written a book.
He remains very engaged in issues important to New Orleans, including he challenges our city currently faces.
Morial said, “I see Mayor Latoya Cantrell taking some tough stands here, and believe you me, it’s not comfortable for her. But it’s necessary.”
That endorsement from Morial points to the results of Orleans Parish having the lowest virus transmission levels of any parish in the state.
The former mayor also spoke of access needs as it relates to the COVID vaccines, “(It should be)Community based like right here at the Urban League of Louisiana, at schools, at libraries, why not use the Superdome.”
Morial said that he’s spoken with the incoming Biden Administration about those concerns. Of course Congressman Cedric Richmond is a part of the administration and Morial says that Richmond should be able to affect change for our area, but we should be organized in what we’re asking for.
According to Morial, “I think that the mayor and the governor could play a role in defining what it is the city needs, what it is the universities need, what it is the institutions of New Orleans need from the federal government.”
Finally, Morial’s book, The Gumbo Coalition is a collection of stories on how bringing together different elements of our city paid dividends through the progress we saw under his administration.
Something Morial says we’re witnessing today, “I think it’s really is what you see Joe Biden trying to do with his cabinet. He is, in effect, building a gumbo cabinet, that looks like America, and in many respects in the 1990’s and the early 2000’s, it was what we were trying to do here.”
Tomorrow, the Urban League CEO will partner with new District Attorney Jason Williams in a forum titled, “The Power to the People, Policy, and Partners in Criminal Justice Reform.”
