The "Cartoon"

Gee, I never knew that mainstream Cleveland media was so concerned with fairness in matters of race until the Call & Post lampooned State Senator Nina Turner can you include a hyperlink to the article? on its front page, depicting her as a subservient (but nonetheless jovial and congenial) Aunt Jemima. The condemnation of the imagery has been swift, loud and unrelenting.

However, given the fact that Native Americans have been disrespected by that racist image of Chief Wahoo for close to a century without a comparable media uproar, one has to wonder at the selectivity of the current outrage. Additionally, there’s the old saying about people living in glass houses throwing stones … the PD certainly has published its share of cartoons of questionable taste over the years.

Editorially the paper went so far as to call supporters of Issue 5 (which it opposed) “co-conspirators,” a term any reasonable person would associate with criminal activity.

All of the foregoing raise the question: Is there more to the vociferous rebuking of the Call & Post by these media organs of the establishment than meets the eye?

Certainly the characterization of Turner in the C & P was over the top, and, while I can’t read his mind, I can well imagine that George Forbes now wishes he hadn’t used the offensive image … not because of any fear of censure on his part (he’s tough enough to take all of the criticism anyone wishes to dish out) … but because the cartoon now overshadows the editorial message that accompanied it.

The editorial, in essence, stated — in response to a highly laudatory front page story in the PD the Sunday before the cartoon ran touting Turner as the area’s emerging black leader for her support of Issue 6 — that no white newspaper was going to determine who our black leaders are going to be. By itself, the position taken in the editorial probably is reflective of the mindset of many, if not most, area blacks.

A quick vignette: A mother and father go to see their son graduate from military school, and, as the 500 young men march in precise order across the field, the mother turns to the father and says, “Oh look, honey, 500 young men marching, and our little Johnny is the only one who isn’t out of step!” By her stance on Issue 6 Nina Turner is either audaciously saying that she knows more than the collective wisdom of the area’s black political leadership (which overwhelmingly were opposed to the Issue), or she was merely doing what’s in the best interest of her own career; it appears to be one or the other, you’re free to make a selection.

For all those who point to the fact that half of the voters in black neighborhoods supported Issue 6, please read Thomas Frank’s brilliant book “What’s the Matter With Kansas?” In it he details how Karl Rove was able to get dirt poor Appalachian whites — folks who to this day remain as broke as the Ten Commandments — to cast their votes for someone who implemented policies that allowed Wall Street to financially rape the country, and in effect (in reality?) leave them poorer.

The point is, in many instances the electorate really isn’t all that bright or well-informed, and getting folks — black or white — to vote against their own vested self-interests really isn’t all that difficult … and the passage of Issue 6 proves it. As currently constituted, Issue 6 favors wealthy business interests over social concerns, but it’s wise to keep in mind what the fictional character Jay Billington Bullworth said, “White people have more in common with black people than they do with rich people.” Amen to that.

Does the county need reform? Does Pinocchio have a wooden pecker? Damn right it does, but what was foisted off on the public wasn’t serious, fair reform and any expectations that somehow, once the new system of governance is implemented we’ll then be lead by a single county executive of Jeffersonian stature is pure hogwash.

The blowback against the cartoon is, in all likelihood, an attempt to deflate the efforts of opponents of Issue 6 from organizing to assure that the implementation of the new form of country government is fairer than the process whereby it was formulated. The plain fact is, opponents of Issue 6 need to lick their wounds and get over the loss: For better or worse the change they dread is on its way — the best thing they can do now is to make sure they have a real voice in that change by having real seats at the table.

Nina Turner’s comment that she had a seat at the table when Issue 6 was drafted is a boast that I wouldn’t care to make, for fear that someone might then ask me what was I able to secure for my constituency by being in the room. Based on how many minority concerns were left (or purposely taken) off the table, her presence had zero impact on the process.

The fear among many members of the black community is that, based on what Turner has been able to accomplish so far, she, alone, will not be able to accomplish very much more in the future. Politics is the art of making strategic trades and deals that enhance the wellbeing of the demographic the elected official represents, and, based on that definition, Turner, it is feared by Forbes and others, as either being totally inept or too self-serving … and in either case minorities will lose out if she is seen as leading the charge. Rightly or wrongly, the concern is, the only person of color that would win under Nina Turner’s leadership … would be Nina Turner.

One-party rule — what we’ve had here in Cuyahoga County seemingly forever — is never good in a democracy. The only problem is, two-party rule isn’t much better, at least not for minorities. Would-be young progressive leaders who want to have an impact need to go back and read Lani Guinier’s brilliant book, “The Tyranny of the Majority,” (which proffers other political and voting constructs that better protect the rights of minorities) and perhaps then they could weigh in with some real, innovative ideas on county reform. Otherwise, reform will only be a choice between the “Devils we know, versus the Devils we don’t.”

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.