Ohio Legislative Black Caucus: A Den of Prostitutes?

CheckSmart, those "nice" payday lending folks who routinely charge customers a whooping, ungodly 391% apr (annual percentage rate), is now partnered with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), an organization which hasn't had a office in Cleveland or Ohio for at least four decades that I am aware of, and the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus (OLBC), that den of black elected officials whose mission is supposed to be looking out for the best interest of the minorities that elected them.

What’s the aim of this unholy triumvirate? To host — hold onto your hats people, this one is so obscene, so far beyond the Pale, that it defies all sense of probity and logic — “Free Seminars on Financial Education.” Yeah, you read it right: These greedy bloodsuckers that make their living off of the penury of the working class are now putting on “seminars” that purports to teach folks how to manage their money, and they brought their unsavory tactics to Cleveland last week. And are these pricks ever clever: The held it at a college, to make it seem like real, legitimate education. Cute, real cute.

But when you stop and think about it, their logic is brilliant: The more money they can teach working folks to save … the more money they’ll be able to rip off from them. None of the literature they passed out at the “seminar” mentioned a word about how to avoid getting gouged by payday loan operators. Go figure.

Evidently this is these bastards way of attempting to say to an unsuspecting and often gullible public that “we care about you.” But, if they really cared, they would charge fair rates to people in need … and not set them up to be financially raped.

Last year the Ohio Legislature changed the rules that allowed payday lenders to overcharge (a move that was overwhelmingly seconded at the ballot box by Ohio voters) but the leeches found loopholes — gee, I wonder how those got in there? — and are still charging the same high rates while our elected officials say they are trying to figure out how to plug said loopholes. With black elected officials securely in the pocket of these unscrupulous payday lenders, how long that process will take is anybody’s guess. But the payday lenders are not the biggest culprits in this twisted scheme, not by a long shot. That title, unfortunately, goes to the statewide black elected officials who are putting their imprimatur on the shylocks by taking them by the hand and walking them into minority communities around the state. These whores — what else can you call them? — made a pact with loan sharks for a few pieces of silver, and agreed to play Judas by leading their own constituents … the same folks who voted to put them in office … to financial slaughter. Now, that’s fucked up. I called the OLBC office in Columbus and spoke with a young woman who said that she was the media relations person, and the position of the organization is that, while they know that folks are getting ripped off by payday lenders, they figure that by being in bed with them the black officials can eventually persuade them to change their ways.

Honest, that’s what she said … and I’m assuming she said it with a straight face, but then, I couldn’t see her face, so I don’t really know. What she wouldn’t say is how much CheckSmart is “donating” to this group of race traitors for “fatting frogs for snakes.”

By now you might have figured out that I’m attempting to stick these clowns so tough that they scream out in pain, or at least are driven to confront me about all of the names I’ve called them. This is an argument I’d just love to publicly engage in with any of them, but they are probably too cowardly to respond, even if I talked about their mommas … and I just might try that at a later date.

There is no doubt in regards to the need for the services outfits like payday lenders provide (working people do sometimes get in a tight and need a financial hand), just as there is no doubt in regards to the need for financial literacy in all communities (just look at the backbreaking credit card debt many families are suffering under). The question, however, is, at what price? How much is enough?; how much should our government allow financial schemers charge honest, hard-working Americans?

Rita Haynes, who runs Faith Community United Credit Union, has proven beyond the shadow of any doubt that institutions can make a decent profit while charging fair interest rates; she’s been doing it for years. Nonetheless, our black elected officials are not interested in strengthening the state laws so that ethical leaders like Faith United can thrive. Why? I’ll give you two guesses, and the first one doesn’t count.

When Leesa Patterson of East Side Organizing Project (ESOP) heard about the “seminar” she virtually blew a gasket she was so unset. She called on some of her troops and they where set to pass out fliers outside the seminar warning folks about the scammers inside … but then a funny thing happened: Virtually no one showed up.

So, maybe people are getting smarter after all. The question is, when will they get smart enough to elect representatives that look out for their interests, as opposed to the interests of the greedy businesses that grease the officials’ palms with filthy lucre?

When these folks — payday lenders and elected officials alike — get to Hades (where else, pray tell, can they be going?) Lucifer will be sitting there, patting his knee, saying, “I’ve been reserving a special seat just for you, right here on my lap.”

And when they get there, may they roast for all eternity … I just wish we could give them a good, old-fashioned horsewhipping before they depart on their collective journey. They truly, truly deserve it — goddamn them.

From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier's From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://www.frombehindthewall.com.