Oprah Talks to Former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu

Oprah Talks to Former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu
Oprah: Welcome, Mr. Mayor. 

Mitch Landrieu: Thank you. I’m thrilled to be with you. 

OW: And I with you, during these last few weeks of your second and final term. 

ML: Twenty-one days left. I’ve been in public office for 30 years. 

OW: And what’s changed over those years? 

ML: Well, when you look back on your life, as I did when writing my book, you make connections. I was born in 1960, the year my father was elected to the Louisiana legislature. This kid gets elected, and he’s one of the only people to vote against segregation laws. Afterward, he’s confronted by Leander Perez, one of the prominent segregationists in the South at the time, and another segregationist congressman. They tell him, “You’re a marked man.” And here we are, all these years later, and race still permeates our lives. 

OW: Your parents taught you well. I believe you’re one of the people leading the way in this country. And part of the reason is your willingness to say uncomfortable things. 

ML: I wrote the book and the speech because I felt it was important for a white person to say unequivocally something that should be really, really simple: The Confederacy fought to destroy the United States as we knew it and preserve slavery, and it was on the wrong side of humanity. Can’t we admit this is historical fact? We continue to debate that issue. It isn’t debatable. 

OW: When you said that in the book, I had to read it again. It’s so rare that a white person admits that it was just wrong. 

ML: When I formally said, “I am sorry for slavery,” people said, “Who are you to say that?” Well, I’m the duly elected mayor of New Orleans, a continuous body of government that’s existed in this country since 1718, thank you very much. More people were sold as slaves in New Orleans than anywhere else in America. 


Read more: http://www.oprah.com/entertainment/oprah-talks-to-former-new-orleans-mayor-mitch-landrieu_1#ixzz5NYZXu5QN