The Dirty Game of Black Politics: It Didn't Stop with Marion Barry

Is it just me or are there a lot of black political scandals? One politician’s involved in some kind of elections fraud. Another is accepting dirty money. The next is talking dirty on the phone to a staffer. Arrest here. Press conference there. And on and on. I don’t know if black politicians have more dirty laundry or if the laundry stinks more to me because they are black. (Or if, as the politicians involved seem to think, black laundry gets riffled through unfairly). In any case, it all still smells.

One recent case in Orlando is particularly fishy to me. This time it involves two black politicians at the same time, Daisy Lynum and would be challenger Ezell (E-Z) Harris. Yes, he calls himself E-Z. Anyway, Lynum has held the City Commission seat for 12 years. Earlier this year, at a Tea Party Express rally, Harris announced he would do everything he could to unseat her. He bought the rights to her name on the Web. So if you go to http://www.daisylynum.com/, you will find all sorts of mudslinging against Lynum. Harris is no dummy. He calls her “Crazy Daisy" among other things. He says she’s corrupt and he wants her gone.

When I saw this, I thought this was just another case of politics having black folk acting silly and fighting each other over scraps. There is a black seat or two in just about every district that all the black politicians have to fight for. It can get ugly. This time it really did.

But it gets uglier and stinkier. Right after Harris qualified to run against Lynum, Harris gets arrested for selling drugs. Okay, pump the brakes here please. Harris was running as a conservative who was going to clean up politics in Orlando, put a stop to corruption and enforce drug laws. Of course, Lynum was crushed, right? Not. This was right on time for her. In fact, it seems to be a little too on time for her. The Metropolitan Bureau of Investigations was investigating Harris for months. However, they waited until after he qualified to run against Lynum to arrest Harris. Of course, Lynum and her supporters say this is just a fortunate coincidence. But Lynum knew all about the drug investigation. Actually, more than that, she had reported a tip to the police that Harris was selling drugs. Harris is calling the whole thing a set up. He also owns the Orlando Police Chief’s name on the Internet. So Harris thinks Lynum, Val Demings and the entire Orlando Police Department are all involved in a big conspiracy to ruin Harris’ campaign and shut him up. He decided to pull back on campaigning so as not to tarnish the political process. Way too late.

Look, I know politicians are human beings. They get weak and make mistakes. But when one decides to seek office, that politician is seeking something higher. They are professing to represent the image, needs and will of their constituents. Often, black politicians represent mostly black constituents. Black people have many issues to deal with in our communities, drugs, violent crime, educational problems and so on. Commissioner Lynum represents (and Harris is seeking to represent) the downtown Orlando area, which includes the Parramore district. They need people to fight for them. Politicians, we need people who can fight for us. How can a politician fight for us if he or she is spending so much time and money fighting criminal investigations and scandalous allegations? Please leaders, try your best to stay above reproach at least during your campaign and term of office. We don’t want to hear about your infidelity, drug use, late night phone calls or abuse of power (using your title to get out of parking tickets and such). There is too much work to be done.

Motherless

Death has a way of making one contemplate life. Its purpose. Its brevity. Its rises and falls. Almost a week ago, my church lost its very dear first lady, Mother Doris Bell Hillery. Our community lost a lady among ladies. She was gentle and kind but never weak. She was strong and fearless but never overbearing. She served God for over 40 years by serving others. She stood by her husband, supported and aided him as he founded and led a church. Her reputation was immaculate. As I list all of these qualities, my heart is aching. We are so in need of women strong enough to stand, yet gentle enough to love. Take a look around. Our communities are filled with people in need of prayer and love. Young people are trying to fill the void with anything they think might work, illicit sex, drugs, things. God said that if we humble ourselves and seek His face, He would heal us. I lament because of the apparent scarcity of hearts left to cry out to God. Who will cry out for the children? I examine myself and seek for a strengthening and purification of my heart so that it will be useful to give the love that is so needed. What good is it otherwise? Mother Hillery left this world on November 8, 2009. She left her love with us. Really love is the only thing transferable from one life to the next. So let us cherish it, use it to serve and leave it for future generations. This is the joy and meaning of life, brief as it is.

Rihanna & Chris: A True Hollywood (and Everyhood) Young Love Story

When I saw Rihanna’s face black and blue beyond recognition, I immediately started questioning the girls I know to get their take on the whole thing. It was interesting. While most of them were horrified at performer Chris Brown’s violence toward a girl, many of the teenagers seemed to want to defend this young man. None of them came right out and said it was Rihanna’s fault. However, they gave a lot of “yeah buts” and “well maybes.” They were extremely hesitant to throw away this baby-faced pop prince. Maybe that’s because they are at the age where they can understand the complexity of the situation. Or maybe, like Rihanna has admitted to recently, the girls also felt embarrassed to have been duped by a sugary sweet image.

I felt tremendous sorrow and sympathy for Rihanna. But I also felt for this young man. I don’t want to give up on him either. For me, he represents the slew of boys who get into trouble early and get thrown away. I’m pulling for him. I don’t want to just give him a pass because he’s a pop star. I want him to sincerely fess up to what he did, learn from it and do better. I want to see him continue with his life and show our boys there is life after a really bad decision.

Rihanna’s coming out and saying she made a bad choice is great. Being a symbol of confidence and self preservation for young girls is admirable. But our boys need a symbol just as badly, if not more so. I’m praying Chris Brown will find the strength to be that symbol.

Rihanna’s interview about her relationship and domestic violence incident with Chris Brown will air tonight at 10 p.m. on ABC.

Still Seperate, Still Unequal, Now What?

The Supreme Court declared mandatory separation of whites and blacks in schools to be illegal over 50 years ago. Ever since that ruling, school districts have come up with all sorts of creative ways to do it anyway.

Orange County, Florida made a deal with the federal government to let them stop busing white kids to schools in black neighborhoods back in 1996. Now the NAACP has brought a law suit against the school district because the district has failed to hold up its end of the bargain, which was to make sure the predominantly black schools were not neglected.

The fact that school boards and white parents buck against and manipulate the system could be one reason why the whole integration experiment just doesn’t seem to be working. We’ve been fighting for over 50 years for true integration. We’ve done everything we can think of to prove how separation by race is harmful. Still, government reports and findings from agencies like the Center on Education Policy consistently show blacks lagging behind whites on every educational indicator.

Black students are absolutely capable of achieving. So what is really going on here? We need to have a frank discussion about what is keeping our kids from doing well in school. Sure, students at predominantly white schools get the more experienced teachers and more up-to-date equipment. But the question that presses on my heart is why can’t black students learn just as well in black schools. I am certainly not advocating for segregation by any means. I believe that exposure to different cultures is education in itself. But sometimes, as we can see, that just isn’t happening. Sometimes black kids will go to predominantly black schools. So I think we need to deal with the question of why does black school equal bad education. We need to candidly admit that good education begins at home. One of the problems (and I’m coming to see it as the main problem) is that our kids come to school with some disadvantages that the school itself did not create. But we expect the school to fix it. When people start talking like this, they get accused of blaming the victim. People jumped all over Bill Cosby for the following comments at the NAACP Brown vs. Board of Education anniversary dinner:

“Ladies and gentlemen, these people set… they opened the doors, they gave us the right, and today, ladies and gentlemen, in our cities and public schools we have 50% drop out. In our own neighborhood, we have men in prison. No longer is a person embarrassed because they’re pregnant without a husband. No longer is a boy considered an embarrassment if he tries to run away from being the father of the unmarried child.”

People accused Cosby of hating black people, of blaming the victim. Well I think he said those things because he loves black people. He’s just trying to figure out what is going on. No, we don’t need to blame the victim. We need to concentrate our resources on helping the victim help himself. We put all of our research, funding, and advocacy into trying to get the teachers, the principals, and the government to lift us up. Sure we pay taxes and we should fight for better schools. But some of our energy could go into closing the achievement gap in the home. After all, the problem starts before the student walks in the doors of the school. How can you solve such a major problem just depending on children who ultimately have to depend on their parents? We’re skipping the parents. That’s backward.

We put all of our money and resources into convincing school districts, principals and teachers to accept our kids and believe in them. Meanwhile, the cycle of low achievement continues. Our community can instead come together and work toward convincing, supporting and teaching our parents so that parents will know how to do what it takes to make sure their children are ready to learn.