A Sight to Behold

Since, over the years, I’ve been vociferous in regards to condemning the lack of minority workers on road and bridge jobs in African-American communities, I need to be just as vocal in praise of what I saw on Monday morning (Aug. 17) as I drove down Kinsman Avenue. A three-quarter mile stretch, from E. 93rd to E. 79th Streets is being repaved, and, while I wasn’t able to make an accurate count while driving, it seems that about 40 workers were on the job and — wonder of wonders — a full third of them were workers of color.

This kind of inclusion (especially on projects so highly visible) is something that I and others have been agitating about for years. So, to all of my well-meaning white friends who say “Why don’t you guys just get over it?” here’s your answer: If we had just “gotten over it” nothing would have changed. I applaud the efforts of whoever brought about this shift to fairness, and can only hope that it continues and expands. Things can — and do — change.

Getting a Jump on the Political Season

In the 1973 film The Spook Who Sat by the Door the protagonist is a black man who pretends to be an Uncle Tom so that he can gain access to CIA headquarters. His plan is to obtain training that he will then be able to use to start a revolution. This must be what State Senator Nina Turner is doing by accepting a "seat at the [reform] table:" She's just playing along with the advocates of so-called reform so that she can undermine their fake efforts. At least that’s the charitable version of what she might be up to; the other version is that she is simply attempting to enhance her own political career by going along with the machinations of those she thinks will be in power after the November elections. But what if they’re not in power? What if the measure doesn’t pass?

Her version is that she was at the table to insure fair treatment for minorities … but has she been able to accomplish that and, if so, how? Simply occupying space at the table doesn’t insure fair treatment, does it? In fact, seeing how unfair the reform construct has been, one is left to wonder why she is proudly saying that she was “at the table” when the plot was hatched.

Asking Parma Heights Mayor Martin Zanotti why judicial reform (an issue critical to people of color) was left off the table got me no answer; so, since Senator Turner was at that table, maybe she can explain to me why it wasn’t included.

It’s really a straightforward question: If the proposed reform plan calls for 11 districts, why not elect county judges from those districts? This would insure that a minimum of 10 judges would look like their constituents, instead of the name game we now play in the county, which limits the number of minority judges to a paltry few. This is not a new idea, it’s been around for years. So, again, my question is, why wasn’t it included if this “reform” package was designed with fairness and inclusion in mind? I’m still waiting for an answer.

Ward Politics

Shifting gears just a bit, when will citizens vying for elective office at the entry level of city council representative learn to play a new version of politics? If there are, say, four, five or six people in the contest in a particular ward, and they all are saying that the incumbent is a bum who should be booted out of office, why don’t they band together, campaign together — for the good of the ward — and promise that in the general election they will support the member of their ad hoc group that comes in first or second in the primary?

This is one sure way to bring about positive change … but most candidates are not bright enough or unselfish to see the wisdom of this type of politics. The plain fact is, most of the candidates are only secondarily interested in the good of the ward … their desire to win so they can tell others how to run their lives is paramount. Too bad, there might have been some contenders in some of the ward races.

From Cool Cleveland contributor 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.

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