You may have thought New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu wasn’t paying attention to the carnage in the city he runs. Maybe you’ve considered him asleep at the wheel so to speak when it comes to all the violence under his watch. But this weekend the Essence Festival folks had a different take when they awarded our mayor the “Woke” award.

The “Woke” award was given to Mayor Mitch for being “woke” to social problems in the community. Do social problems include people getting shot? Because if they do I’d have to disagree with the Essence Festival folks and say our mayor is far from “woke”.

Based on what’s come out of Mayor Mitch’s mouth he does seem “woke” to those racist monuments that have driven people away from the city. His words not mine.  Yeah when it to comes to playing the race card Mayor Mitch is wide awake, fully woke.

Mayor Mitch hasn’t seemed to “woke” to the fact that his gutting of NOPD by a third has led to a long line of people in his city rushed to the emergency room after being shot. More than 700 in the past year.

On Sunday gunmen in a car traveling on I-10 in New Orleans East right before Reed Blvd. opened fire with dozens of rounds shooting at a car with two adults and a 7-year old kid hitting all three. The 7-year old was hit in the leg and will live as will the two adults. It’s the 23rd shooting along I-10 since 2016. Just another day in the city Mayor Mitch runs.

We can go ahead and say it now. Under Mayor Mitch driving on I-10 through New Orleans is no longer safe. Walking through the French Quarter is no longer safe. Taking a stroll uptown or downtown is no longer safe. Same for Treme’, Algiers, Lower Ninth Ward, Mid-City, Central City, or City Park. That’s right, even City Park. There was an armed robbery there this past weekend.

Under Mayor Mitch’s leadership our streets have become overrun with hard-hearted, callous, criminals who have no regard for life, limb, or property. Dangerous people who will cold-cock, sucker punch you on the side of the head. You won’t even know what hit you. Or they will just shoot you. Why not? Most of their running buddies get away with it. The rate in which murders are solved in Mayor Mitch’s city is well below the national average. Well Below!

Somebody nudge the mayor and “woke” him to the fact that playing the race card for political gain is deadly. It’s time for a leader with some tough love with the courage to clear our streets of the violent no mater how often so-called community activists or leaders in the Democrat Party cry racism.

These criminals are not violent because of racism, social injustice, or a few monuments. These are young men from broken families with no father, no hope, no mentors, no reason to do anything but join a gang, steal, mug, carjack, sell drugs, defend their territory. All they’ve ever known is violence. It’s tragic and our hearts should go out to them. But they must be taken off the streets.

How many big cities overrun with violence run by demagogy Democrats like Landrieu blaming “White Privilege” do we have to see until we realize selling the victim card instead of tough law and order policies is deadly, destructive, and disastrous. The sad part of all this is the people hurt the most by all of this violence, are the very ones that continue electing crime enablers like Landrieu. How many of their neighbors, family, and friends have to die until they wake up to the con game Democrats are running on them?

It’s time for law and order. It’s time Mayor Mitch is “woke” to the fact he needs to start locking people up in his city. Hiring more cops, district attorneys, whoever, whatever, to make New Orleans a place safe to live. Getting tough on crime won’t help Mayor Mitch with Democrats in a presidential primary, but it the right and humane thing to do.

I am sure in his gut Mayor Mitch knows what he is doing is politically advantageous. He has to right? If they gave “Woke” awards for the politically ambitious then our mayor would win hands down. He’s wide “a-woke” when it comes that.

Dan Fagan is a former television news reporter, journalism professor, newspaper columnist, and radio talk show host. He grew up in New Orleans and currently lives there. He is a regular contributor for The Hayride. If you have a news tip for Mr. Fagan you can reach him at faganshow@gmail.com or 504-458-2542.