An article in The Democrat this past week about an invitation by the mayor to present a key to the city in 2016 to his buddy President Obama has some of us thinking, “WHY?” Has President Obama done anything for Natchez? Does he even know that the City exists?

Instead, why doesn’t the mayor consider something significant for the City. Most of us will recall that a few years ago when we were celebrating the turnover of the city to the United States from Spain, the Spanish ambassador arrived with a marching band that paraded down Main Street to the bluff, where a celebration took place. That was very impressive, and everyone present thought great good things about Spain!

Now we come to 2016 and the founding of the city by the French. Pierre Le Moisne D’Iberville had directed the settlement to take place before he died. There are few D’Ibervilles around, but there are some Le Moisnes, one family as close as Baton Rouge. It would be nice to invite a Le Moisne to represent his family from Iberville, France. However, in light of what the Spanish Government did in 2003, it would seem logical to invite the French ambassador and perhaps he would bring a band as well, and stretching it further, maybe even a French destroyer or cruiser!

And at the same time, the mayor should present another key to the chief of the Choctaw Nation which took in the survivors of the Natchez tribe. It would be rewarding to have the French ambassador shake hands with the Chief of the Choctaw Nation, and both state that there are no longer any mutual hard feelings for the ambush of the French colony by the Natchez tribe in 1728, and the annihilation of the Natchez tribe by the French in 1729.

If one wanted national coverage in the news media, what a scene that would make! And for those who had never heard of Natchez, what a wonderful first inkling. Maybe a cause for a visit?

 

Andrew Peabody

Natchez resident