tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5274211.post3751593950473157478..comments2024-01-02T07:30:02.285-05:00Comments on The Real Deal: Thinking Globally, Acting Locally: From Obama to the QRichardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05300693291544680955noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5274211.post-177544700861948562017-05-01T18:23:18.858-04:002017-05-01T18:23:18.858-04:00So why hasn't Cleveland been like Milwaukee, P...So why hasn't Cleveland been like Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Atlanta in linking social services with sports development? We used to do that. The local NAACP led a boycott of Municipal Stadium in 1961 when the Browns played the bigotry named Washington NFL team that refused to sign any black players. The team quickly integrated and ended the NFL's national embarrassment on that score. (Unfortunately, Washington did it by hiring away the Browns' all time greatest pass receiver Bobby Mitchell, but that's a subject for another article.} <br />Although Cleveland, under Mayor Carl Stokes, led the nation in marshaling local political strength to force corporations to abandon their most outrageous discrimination practices, those efforts waned as former activists became comfortable in the new positions created for them. The Rock and Roll hall of Fame opened in 1995 after Mayor Michael White diverted $5 million from the destitute Cleveland school system to complete the construction. The inaugural parade included marching bands from suburban schools, but not Cleveland because music had be cut from the curriculum for economic reasons. {But again, that's another issue.}<br />So now we praise Dan Gilbert for supplying us with slot machines we can't afford and he only asks us to pay for an arena that we we don't have the means to enter.dickpeeryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16972158534793961679noreply@blogger.com