Our astute
regular readers, whom we appreciate beyond our capacity to state, are likely
aware that we like to keep our eyes on leadership in Northeast Ohio’s black
community, and that from time to time we experiment with formats to help us do
a better job of reporting.
Today’s post is
one of those experiments, a first in what we excitedly expect to be a major
transformation of how we deliver news and opinion. We’ll have more to say about
that as we move into the New Year. But for today, we are offering a quick look
at some of what happened around here last week, and a head’s up for what’s on
tap this week.
Looking back
We noted in a
prior post
the Cleveland NAACP’s town hall meeting that was to offer an innovative
feature. As we understood it, a clinical psychologist was to address the
important topic of the psychological impact the election of Donald Trump as our
45th president might be having on our community. Properly used, psychology
is a most valuable lens for understanding human behavior at both individual and
group levels. Its importance is too little understood in society, especially by
those Americans who just want “the facts” and dismiss any analysis of the
“mumbo jumbo” that actually holds the keys to understanding why people do the
things they do. Those who don’t pay attention to psychology on both the micro
and macro levels have no chance to understand either the President-elect or the
people who voted for him or against Hillary Clinton.
So, as Fareed Zakaria would
say, that’s our take, now let’s get started.
I showed up late
for the NAACP town hall event after attending a recruitment reception downtown
for the National Urban Fellows program. NUF is a wonderful under the radar program
that supports and equips public service professionals. The program is geared to
people more or less between 5-12 years into their careers who believe that
government or civic service is their passion and who are ready to commit to an
intense 15 month experience that will place them with a top-rank organizational
internship while they earn a master’s degree in public administration from
Baruch College at City University of New York. Cleveland is a favorite NUF
site, given the committed institutional support from The Cleveland Foundation,
the Neighborhood Leadership Institute among other organizations, and a strong
alumni network of champions, including such folk such as Natoya Walker Minor
and Darnell Brown of the Jackson administration, and Sylvia Perez, who will be
moving from the Cleveland Foundation to a top position at United Way early next
year. If you or someone you know might be a candidate for this program, you or
they should immediately reach out to Miguel Garcia, NUF’s president and CEO to
explore joining NUF’s 2018 class, which will convene next summer.
NAACP town hall
When I left the
NUF reception I headed over to St. James AME Church to see what I hoped might
be a positive discussion on healthy community responses in the wake of the
election. Board president Michael Nelson had invited clinical psychologist
Natalie M. Whitlow to speak to address questions and concerns about community
mental health in the wake of Trump’s victory. This was a useful idea since the
Trump campaign has heightened insecurities in many communities, especially
communities of color and other groups less generally favored by mainstream
America. When black people, for instance, weren’t being ignored or targeted we
were being ridiculed or used as props in the Trump campaign.
As I entered the
hall in the basement of St. James, several things struck me at once. The
attendance was much higher than for any NAACP gathering I had attended in
years. Perhaps 200 people were there,
including a number of whites. I thought of this as a positive. Civil rights is
not the responsibility only of black and brown people.
The overriding
sensation I picked up on when entering the room was one of tension. One of the
challenges of public meetings is their tendency to become platforms for the
expression of raw emotions. Open wounds are on display, and it can be hard even
for skilled facilitators to maintain order. This is especially true in the
black community.
It’s a difficult thing for many outsiders to
appreciate how devastating America’s racial caste system has been on millions
of human beings. The United States has never honestly embraced its
fundamentally unfair treatment of its black citizens, continually finds ways to
perpetuate that unfairness, and in fact blames the victims of that
mistreatment, so a town hall meeting called to discuss the resulting discomfort
is almost sure to tilt towards bringing out those who are most wounded. More
heat than light gets generated and even a late arrival could feel that disorder
immediately upon entering the room.
Despite the
challenges, continuing to provide a forum to address important issues is a role
that the local NAACP should be encouraged to continue. Mike Nelson said later
in the week that the branch would be making some changes aimed at minimizing
the disruption caused by the unruly few.
Cuyahoga County Progressive Caucus
A couple of
nights later I found myself in the tiny village of Newburgh Heights, where just
over 2,000 of the county’s roughly 1.1 million residents live closely packed
into a community sitting just south of Cleveland. Newburgh’s mayor is a
self-declared progressive who is quite proud that his burg provides extended
family leave for all its public employees. Last Thursday, its village hall was
home to a gathering of the Cuyahoga County Progressive Caucus, a
group of citizen activists formed in the wake of the presidential campaign, and
initially assembled by a core of Bernie Sanders followers.
The meeting was
planned as a sort of TEDx
seminar, with a series of speakers each having 15 minutes to address a critical
public issue. A Lakewood teacher talked impressively about the conservative
assault on public education; despite his apparent sympathy for our current
president, he called Obama most anti-public education president in American
history, a label the president will likely deserve until at least day for 47 of
the incoming administration.
 |
Tish O'Dell, Community
Environmental Legal Defense Fund |
Tish O’Dell of
Broadview Heights, representing the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund,
decried the increasing corporatization of America and warned the Dakota
Pipeline conflict would soon find its counterpart in Ohio. There were also
speakers who addressed the fight to increase Cleveland’s minimum wage to
$15/hour; restoring the federal Glass Steagall Act [New Deal legislation that
kept bankers focused on banking and prevented their dalliance in the kinds of
speculative finance that caused the 2008 mortgage meltdown]; and climate
change.
 |
CuyCo Progressive Caucus
meeting, Dec. 1, 2016 |
But truth to tell,
what drew me to the Newburgh boondocks that night was the fact that one of the
speakers was a representative of Black Lives Matter, Cleveland. As I waited for
his turn, my curiosity was heightened as I surveyed the audience: it was 90%
white, its members phenotypically and sartorially indistinguishable from a
Trump campaign rally audience.
 |
Kareem Hinton
Black Lives Matter, Cleveland |
The BLM
representative was Kareem Henton. I didn’t know him but I had seen him at a
number of social justice events over the past year. Speaking in a low-key, direct,
logical, non-threatening manner, Henton said BLM was not connected to partisan politics
or politicians or anybody’s old guard and that they did not feel obliged to
play by the long-established rules of political engagement that marginalized
their concerns. He said that BLM Cleveland would focus in 2017 on seeking small
victories, specifically citing Cleveland city council races.
Henton
undoubtedly surprised many in the audience when he said, “We are not of the
mindset that all Trump voters are racist.” He said he thought that for many of
them concerns about personal finance had submerged all other issues, and driven
them to vote for Trump.
More surprising
to this observer than that observation was the response of his listeners. They
wanted to know, “how can we best support you?” and “how can we be your allies?”
Henton
encouraged caucus members to be visible in their support, stressing that
visible white support grossly reduced the ability of BLM critics to marginalize
their protests and initiatives.
“One of the most
important things a person can do is show up. All are welcome.” Your presence
“defies the image” that BLM is a racist one-issue fringe group and “gives us
legitimacy” because “we can’t be relegated.” And in this modern age, he urged
people to follow BLM Cleveland on Facebook.
• • •
Looking forward
Two local
nonprofits with notable pedigrees are holding their annual meetings this week,
unfortunately at the same time. This Thursday at 5:30p, the United
Black Fund will meet in the new Veale Center on the campus of Case
Western Reserve University. UBF provides funds to nearly one hundred area
nonprofits each year. Founded in 1981, it was an outgrowth of Blacks Organized
for Social Service [B.O.S.S.], an effort founded by George White, who later
became the presiding judge of US District Court for Northern Ohio; attorney and
quiet philanthropist Roosevelt Cox; and the Rev. Thomas Chapman of Avon Baptist
Church in Mt. Pleasant.
Rev. Dr. Stephen Rowan, pastor of Bethany Baptist Church and chairman of the Cleveland Foundation, will be the keynote speaker.
• • •
Starting just 30
minutes earlier is the annual meeting of the Phillis Wheatley Association,
established by the remarkable Jane Edna Hunter in 1911 as the Home for Colored
Working Girls. Phillis Wheatley was once
the center of civic and cultural life for aspiring black Clevelanders. Hundreds
of Greater Clevelanders have attended its Camp Mueller, which at one time
occupied more than 200 pristine acres in Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
PWA’s meeting
will take place at its landmark Midtown headquarters, located at 4450 Cedar
Ave.
Faith and
Finance Also Noteworthy
Also on
tap this week is the Christian Business
League’s quarterly Faith and Finance Breakfast. This Friday’s program
will feature Darrell McNair, CEO of MVP Plastics. McNair is the public-spirited
businessman who recently purchased the headquarters building of the Urban
League of Greater Cleveland and leased it back to them, thereby greatly easing
the financial burden the building had become for the League.
The
breakfast costs $15, runs from 7:30am to 8:59am, and will take place at Mt.
Zion Congregational Church, 10723 Magnolia Dr. in University Circle.
Also Noteworthy
The City of East Cleveland could serve as poster child for our observation above regarding the devasting consequences of America's racial caste system. Once again, the insolvent city is spending money to recall its political leadership. Mayor Gary Norton is the target this time. We'll post the results here; they should be available by no later than 9pm tonight.
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