From a distance, his tie looks to be a seamless monochrome. Up close, it reveals itself as a speckled pattern of ocher dots on a cream background.
As the Los Angeles Times reports, that has always been Kip Holden’s talent—to make the crowded, messy integration of disparate elements look, from a distance, united.
But as mayor of Baton Rouge, Holden’s ability to hold together a city he has cajoled, flirted with and chided for a decade as its leader is being tested.
A black man named Alton Sterling is dead, killed by police here. Three law enforcement officers—one black, two white—are dead as well, gunned down while on routine patrol. The suspected gunman also was fatally shot by police.
The coalition of black Democrats and white Republicans that powered Holden to his first election in 2004 and had long stood by him splintered quickly after Sterling was shot.
Meanwhile, a rich, white enclave of south Baton Rouge has launched a campaign to split off from the poor, majority-black north, into a new city called St. George. Holden has fought the separation in every way possible, even annexing the land under the stores at the Mall of Louisiana to keep their massive sales taxes in the city of Baton Rouge if the secession is successful.
The break would prove devastating to the remaining city of Baton Rouge, according to an LSU economics study. It would also be a major blow to the legacy of a mayor who has preached unity.
Unity to Holden means the kind of peace and quiet that fosters business growth and keeps simmering racial tensions far from the public square.
He has long tread a cautious line between supporting the right of people to demand better treatment from their government while refusing to endorse the protests.
But few areas of Baton Rouge are neutral anymore.
The Los Angeles Times has the full story.
