New Orleans’s first female Mayor has been in office a month now and The Times Picayune wasted no time in disrespecting her honor. Race-baiting Jarvis DeBerry wrote an editorial last month titled “Mayor Cantrell shouldn’t let Confederate monuments go back up in New Orleans.”

Another recent story, which was all emotion and little substance, was headlined “Cantrell reignites Confederate monuments battle, critics attack lack of transparency.” It is a battle.  It’s a divisive issue for the city, and yet the Times Picayune, so out of touch with the city it writes about, wants readers to think the issue is one sided.

In the editorial column, DeBerry hypocritically lambasts Cantrell in an undermining manner, as if her opinion does not match up to that of his. And the news site’s articles imply she doesn’t equal him, with him being her predecessor, Mitch Landrieu.

An earlier story about the Relocation group’s proposal included as the second sentence: “they would also be back on public display, which directly conflicts with a directive from former Mayor Mitch Landrieu.”

Mitch was a second generation mayor, with sisters who served in the United States Senate and judgeships. Landrieu unquestionably earns the title of “man of privilege.” Perhaps even more insulting to the black community than bronze artwork, the Landrieu family has long hidden their racially mixed heritage and publicly concealed their black ancestors to appear white.

LaToya Cantrell offered to hear out monument supporters.  The monuments were removed from public spaces. The city cannot and has not lawfully proven true ownership of the monuments, and Mayor Cantrell apparently wants them out from Mitch’s makeshift shed.  Relocating the monuments on private property is a compromise. It’s quite fair and Cantrell demonstrated that she is diplomatic, much more so than Mitch ever was.

So it is astonishing to see the progressive staff at Times Picayune belittle the first female mayor’s efforts to govern.  On one hand NOLA.com wants to celebrate the African American first female mayor, then the news blog discredits her attempt to create a neutral ground solution.

The Times Picayune and Jarvis DeBerry are saying Cantrell’s opinion is inferior to Mitch’s. In other words, they think the female mayor needs to hide away and must only follow the decisions of a man who is the consummate “person of privilege.”

Jarvis DeBerry and The Times Picayune clearly only respect the opinion of our African American female mayor when it lines up with their narrow views.  They are showing they really don’t value Cantrell’s ability to exercise strong leadership. Their questioning of her ability to make balanced decisions, and actually include her opponents, illustrates that The Times Picayune leadership has no sense of fair play and they only utilize identity politics as rhetoric without actually respecting Cantrell.