You say: " I am not saying that it is all the white man’s fault or that the black communities in trouble don’t share in the responsibility to improve schools. I am saying that you have made a very one-sided argument that says to me that you lay most if not all of the blame on blacks. If you are not saying that, what are you saying?"

Racial dynamics in New Orleans were such that it was made very clear to whites that they were not welcome to comment on or participate in trying to improve the abysmal condition of the city's public schools. White participation was essentially limited to paying the lion's share of property taxes - along with the city's much larger than widely known black middle class - with the bonus of being publicly blamed for all educational ills. Many, many middle class whites - and blacks - had to scrape up private or parochial tuition for their children's education; it was either that or consign their kids to what had become an educational hell. This system was fostered and perpetuated by the city's black ruling elite. It was a closed, corrupt, and doomed system which penalized absolutely everyone, with the notable exception of those pulling the strings. Many was the time when I'd look up from the local newspaper and think, "You know, I'd cheerfully line up the entire school board and shoot them." I suppose you had to be there to believe it, but this situation was all too real and it was maddening - a classic Catch-22.

You say: "Mayor Daily and the current superintendent of New Orleans schools started out in the early ‘90s to improve their failing schools. They were able to stop social promotions rather quickly and have made significant improvements up until today, but it has been extremely difficult and a lot more needs to be done. You make it sound like it is so simple. I can assure you, it is not."

When we left in July '06, the superintendent of schools was a woman whose name escapes me at the moment, but she was most assuredly not a reformer and hadn't been at the job for very long before Katrina. The previous superintendent, an Hispanic man who truly was a reformer, ran afoul of the school board after about a year on the job and was rather rudely shoved out the door. Can't even remember the name of his predecessor - somebody who left in disgrace with a very large golden parachute... After Katrina, the state took over almost all Orleans Parish schools and since that development, there has been some improvement, thank heaven.

And no, there's nothing simple at all about trying to undo so many years of atrocious management and failure. Lest you think I'm some hardhearted Hannah, many was the time when I would see a small black child skipping down the street and know that, perhaps five years down the road, that child would almost certainly have a face filled with sullen anger and resentment, all interest in learning extinguished. And I would be the enemy.

You're ignoring the reality that however many Republicans voted for Hillary in order to gum up the works, an equal number have likely voted for Obama, therefore producing a zero sum effect. You're also ignoring the reality that many voters who went for Obama in early primaries - without having learned much of his history - would now not vote for him. In short, this whole affair has been skewed beyond redemption and the Democrats have produced little but a giant mess.

Re the Vietnamese who have settled in America: I have never understood how they could have so little animosity toward the country which had just virtually destroyed theirs. The great majority came here with the clothes on their backs, their professions gone, knowing no English, family members gone. Somehow, the Vietnamese have just dug in, moved on, and started over with a tenacity that's rather incredible.

I lived in an environment that you perhaps cannot comprehend. Either that, you're being purposely obtuse here. What happened in New Orleans may have followed years of institutional racism, but it was not part of a logical progression.

And while you're doing that, work on your reading comprehension.

Your 'questions' were largely rhetorical and more in the nature of accusations - no point in dealing with them. Well, nitey nite - time for more of those lovely white supremacist dreams.

You and deering both need to work on the reading comprehension. I hardly 'stumbled into' New Orleans 'after Katrina'. I lived there for thirty years and had to move away after the storm because we lost three-quarters of our income and could no longer afford to live there. My husband, a New Orleans firefighter for 26 years, had to take early retirement several months after Katrina because his health had been destroyed by the job. I think we contributed more than our share to the city, thank you very much.

Historic black suffering trumps all other human suffering, hands down. And we must never forget this, even in the midst of our own paltry suffering, otherwise known as 'whining'. Got it. I assume this is why we're now obligated to vote for Obama or commit our souls to the fire?