Cleveland NAACP 2012 Elections • Part II

It feels funny but not at all surprising that several paid-up NAACP members have contacted us since our last post inquiring about the details of this Sunday’s election of Branch officials.

Here are the details: the 2012 NAACP election will take place this Sunday, November 11, between 1PM and 5PM at the Cathedral Church of God in Christ, 2940 Martin Luther King Drive, Cleveland, OH 44104.  

The following positions will be on the ballot:

President

1^st Vice President

2^nd Vice President

3^rd Vice President

Treasurer

Secretary

Assistant Secretary

Executive Committee members

The Branch’s Nominating Committee issued a recommended slate of twenty for the Executive Committee at the October 18 Branch membership meeting. Five members were then nominated from the floor by petition.

As a result the following 25 names will appear on the ballot for Executive Committee positions:

Benny Bonanno

Terry Butler

Judge Pinkey Carr

Lang Dunbar

Carl S. Ewing

Michelle Felder

Annetta Fisher

Bruce Goode

Blaine Griffin

Leslye Huff

Leonard Jackson

Eric Johnson

Meryl Johnson

Rev. Charles Lucas

Jason Lucas

Dr. Sarah Mack

Mamie Mitchell

Susie Rivers

Leathea Robinson

Rev. Leon Thompson

Theodosia Caviness Tucker

Wendell Turner

Kent Whitley

Harold Wilson

Beverly Wright

The ballots are expected to be counted on the spot, with the results available likely several hours after voting closes. The results will be posted here as soon as they are released.

UPDATE: Video of Candidates Vying for the Presidency

Our twenty-two minute video on the candidates seeking to lead the Cleveland Branch NAACP, reported in our last post for the next two years is being uploaded now and will be available shortly.

Three Vie to Lead Cleveland NAACP

The eyes of the nation are justifiably on Cuyahoga County these days, for our county and state are ground zero in the presidential race. The turnout here could very likely determine whether President Obama or former Governor Romney carries Ohio; this in turn could decide who carries the Electoral College, and thus determines the next Commander-in-Chief, the man who could decide whether to enter another undeclared and expensive war or two, in addition to probably nominating the next couple of Supreme Court justices, who in turn are likely to determine a host of key issues for decades, including the ultimate outcomes of women’s right to choose, affirmative action, and a host of other social, economic, and political issues. Hey, not too much at stake here.

Obviously, the focus on Cuyahoga voters is well placed. A lot is riding on the outcome of Tuesday’s results: globally, nationally, statewide, and in many local communities. All voters should be careful to go all the way down their ballots TO THE END in order to weigh in on matters of importance.

• • •

For a select group of Cuyahogans, next week’s vote will not mean even a temporary political respite.

On Sunday, November 11, the Cleveland NAACP — which this year celebrated its 100^th Anniversary — will hold its biannual election to select its leadership for the next two years. While local NAACP elections have generally gone unnoticed for most of the past two decades — by both members and even many of the candidates! — this year’s vote is a potential watershed moment for the direction of civil rights in Greater Cleveland.

As we have previously reported — see for example, here, here, here and here — the NAACP has suffered under debilitating one-man rule for two decades. But the midterm resignation of former president George L. Forbes under almostslapstick conditions has resulted in three strong candidates stepping up to become the leader of what is still the city and the nation’s most important civil rights organization.

This has not happened since 1992, when Forbes won the presidency by defeating Rev. Larry Harris and former councilwoman Mildred Madison in a campaign that had nearly two thousand members turn out to vote.

After twenty years of autocratic leadership, many NAACP insiders doubt whether the Branch even has 2000 members.

Given the importance of the organization, we wanted to offer the community a first hand unfiltered look at each candidate, one of whom will soon be a regular public spokesman for Cleveland’s largest and oldest civil rights organization.

We invited each of the candidates — Clint Bradley, Jocelyn Travis, and Hilton Smith— to introduce themselves to the community and answer a few questions about their visions for the future. Unfortunately, we were able to capture only two of the candidates on camera; the third candidate travels heavily and thus appears by his written answers to our questions.

We are presently uploading the candidates’ responses as indicated and expect to have them online no later than Monday noon. We will post a notice here and on Facebook when the video is up. We invite your comments here on the election all this week.

State Auditor declares East Cleveland in state of fiscal emergency

The office of Ohio Auditor Dave Yost issued the following press release yesterday:

East Cleveland Placed in Fiscal Emergency

Columbus – The City of East Cleveland’s failure to present a feasible financial recovery plan prompted Auditor of State Dave Yost today to declare the city in a state of fiscal emergency.

“Deficits don’t go away by themselves,” Auditor Yost said.  “East Cleveland will be forced to make some difficult decisions, but the city’s fiscal health should be their first priority, and my office stands ready to provide the technical assistance to help make that happen.”

On January 5, 2012, Auditor Yost placed the City of East Cleveland in a state of fiscal caution after a review at November 30, 2011 found deficit fund balances of $5,872,222, which exceeds two percent of the funds’ annual revenue.  The city was placed in a state of fiscal watch on May 23, 2012 after the city failed to provide an acceptable plan for correcting the deficits.

Under the Ohio Revised Code, after a declaration of fiscal watch, the entity has 120 days to submit a financial recovery plan that identifies the action that will be taken to eliminate the conditions that prompted the fiscal watch declaration.  The plan must include approximate dates for beginning and completing the actions, as well as a five-year forecast reflecting the effects of these actions.  The Auditor of State’s office reviewed the plan that the city submitted, and it was deemed not feasible to correct the deficit fund balances.

A Financial Planning and Supervision Commission will now be formed to review and make suggestions to the city to correct the deficit fund balances.  The commission includes the Treasurer of State (or office designee), the Director of Office of Budget and Management (or office designee), the mayor, the presiding officer of the city’s legislative authority, as well as three members chosen out of five names provided to the Governor by the city.  Within 120 days of the commission’s first meeting, a financial recovery plan must be submitted to the commission by the mayor.

A full copy of this fiscal emergency declaration may be accessed online at www.ohioauditor.gov.

# # #

The auditor's letter to East Cleveland mayor Gary Norton can be found here.

NAACP General Membership meeting LIVE!

This is coming to you as a live report from the Cathedral Church of God in Christ, at the northwest corner of Martin Luther King Jr Drive and Lamontier Ave.

I am actually in one of the Church’s ancillary buildings, which serves during the week as the home of Woodland Academy, a charter school operated by White Hat Management.

This is the first real meeting of the general membership in several years, occasioned by the election of new officers of the local chapter.

Right now there are about eighty members in the room, including a handful of the organization's governing body, its Executive Committee. The purpose of the meeting is to select a Nominating Committee that will recommend a slate of sixteen to thirty-two officers and executive committee members. 

A substantial number of those in attendance are apparently members of Greater Abysinnia Baptist Church, led by the redoubtable Rev. Dr. E. Theophilus Caviness. Caviness is running a determined campaign to elect Hilton Smith, a vice president of Turner Construction as well as an assistant pastor at Greater Abysinnia.

Elected to the Nominating Committee thus far: former Congressman Louis Stokes.

In a bit of a surprise, the nomination of long time NAACP officer Eugene Jordan, DDS was defeated 28-17. Most of the opposition came from the Caviness-Smith faction.

Right now the meeting is bogged down over procedural squabbles about  the process for how the balance of the committee should be conducted.

A few minutes ago, the procedural issue was resolved when a motion passed to start over.

7:08PM
Thirteen people have been nominated: Louis Stokes, Darnell Brewer, Sara Harper, Jackie Caviness Tucker, Mary Hill, Eugene Jordan, Tyrone Bolden, Michael Nelson, Wendell Turner, Pippa Carter, Kyle Earley, Michelle Felder, Ron Kisner, and Sheila Wright.

7:34PM
As the votes are being tallied, president James Hardiman is leading a discussion on capital punishment and its discriminatory application against people of color. Attorney Michael Nelson urged that pressure be applied to Cleveland City Council for the passage of an ordinance installing cameras in  all police cruisers. He said Cleveland is the only large city in the State that does not mandate cruiser cameras.

Hardiman has just announced that this is the largest meeting of the branch in about six years. 

7:58PM
Community activist Gerald Henley urged Cleveland voters to support the November school levy, saying that some classrooms at A. J. Rickoff School  — where he said his wife teaches — on Cleveland's east side have fifty children.


8:08PM
Interim executive director Arlene Anderson announced the results of the voting. In descending order of most votes received: Louis Stokes, Sara Harper, tyrone Bolden, Jackie Caviness Tucker, Mary Hills, Pippa Carter, and Wendell Turner. The current membership status of Bolden, Hills and Carter is in doubt, subject to replacement by in order by Eugene Jordan, Michael Nelson and Ronald Kisner.

The next general membership meeting will be October 16 at a location to be announced.

Monday Morning Humor

These comments were reportedly made by South Carolina Troopers as captured on their car videos: 

1. "You know, stop lights don't come any redder than the one you just went through." 

2. "Relax, the handcuffs are tight because they're new. They'll stretch after you wear them a while." 

3. "If you take your hands off the car, I'll make your birth certificate a worthless document."

4. "If you run, you'll only go to jail tired." 

5. "Can you run faster than 1200 feet per second? Because that's the speed of the bullet that'll be chasing you."

6. "You don't know how fast you were going? I guess that means I can write anything I want to on the ticket, huh?" 

7. "Yes, sir, you can talk to the shift supervisor, but I don't think it will help. Oh, did I mention that I'm the shift supervisor?" 

8. "Warning! You want a warning? O.K, I'm warning you not to do that again or I'll give you another ticket." 

9. "The answer to this last question will determine whether you are drunk or not. Was Mickey Mouse a cat or a dog?" 

10. "Fair? You want me to be fair? Listen, fair is a place where you go to ride on rides, eat cotton candy and corn dogs and step in monkey poop." 

11. "Yeah, we have a quota. Two more tickets and my wife gets a toaster oven." 

12. "In God we trust; all others we run through NCIC." ( National Crime Information Center ) 

13. "Just how big were those 'two beers' you say you had?" 

14. "No sir, we don't have quotas anymore. We used to, but now we're allowed to write as many tickets as we can." 

15. "I'm glad to hear that the Chief (of Police) is a personal friend of yours. So you know someone who can post your bail." 

16. "You didn't think we give pretty women tickets? You're right, we don't. Sign here."

NONPROFIT THURSDAY: Resources for African American Youth; Wade Oval Wednesdays; Voter Suppression

The African American community is often castigated for its indifference to our young.  Critics, many of whom are not well meaning or constructive, fault us for ignoring our children’s education, manners, home training, health and the like.

To be sure, many of these self-assured pontificators and tut-tutters are African American themselves. And there is certainly room for improvement in pretty much every area of our community, regardless of how we interpret “our”.

The other side of the coin however is that there are many organizations and individuals who work and contribute to the general uplift of our young people. They often operate without fanfare.

We have come across a number of these outstanding efforts in just the last couple of months as we have begun to work more formally with what we have long referred to as “EAGs”, or ethnic affinity groups. We use that term to refer to those innumerable social, communal, neighborhood, professional, faith sororities, fraternities, beneficial societies and organizations that black people formed to provide essential community benefits when the larger American counterparts excluded us from participation.

While popular belief adheres to the fiction that that time was long ago and far away, the reality is that exclusion from opportunity has been and continues to be the norm in the lived experiences of most black Americans of all ages. This is true even in the nominal Age of Obama, Diversity, and Multiculturalism.

Rules and roles around racial and ethnic identity are changing, but the vestiges of centuries of legal and social practices and attitudes die hard.

The more racially retarded among us love to argue that we have become a colorblind society. Even worse, some whites see race/racism as a zero-sum game that they are now losing.

All of this is part of the background that informs our sense that compiling an inventory of the programs and services available to African American young people in Northeast Ohio would be a beneficial exercise.

The verbal and in some cases informational responses we are getting suggest that this listing can become a useful community resource. So once again, we invite you to join in this collective effort and respond to our request to send the pertinent info to nonprofits@cuyahoganews.net if your church, club, sorority, fraternity, social, auxiliary, civic or other nonprofit organization provides resources [programs scholarships, mentoring, field trips, college tours, etc.] to area African American boys and girls.

• • •

Wade Oval Wednesdays

It has been said with truth that 11am on Sunday is the most racially segregated hour in America. In Cleveland the antidote to that is Wade Oval Wednesdays.

The weekly summer picnic in Cleveland’s University Circle is beyond question the most eclectic, integrated, wholesome, heavenly recurring activity in our town. Old, young, robust, frail, wealthy, poor, urban, suburban, blond, dreaded, solitary, betrothed, pet lovers, the animal adverse, vegetarians, prime ribbers, tree huggers, chain smokers, hippies, Brooks Brethren, students, veterans, the blind and the bespectacled, Browns backers, LeBron haters, Frisbee throwers, music lovers, exhibitionists, the bi-polar and the ambivalent, the tall and lean, the short and stout, the bald and the hirsute, the tidy and the slovenly, the shy and the gregarious, PhDs and no degrees, the native and the transplant, the Asian, the South American, the European, the Middle Easterner and the African, and impossible to decipher amalgams of each all spread over a lush expanse of nature, encircled by the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Museum of Natural History, the Botanical Gardens, and Case Western Reserve University to enjoy beautiful weather and the strains of reggae, blues, classical, hillbilly, rock, salsa, et al in a FREE EVENT.

The naturalness of it all is extraordinarily blissful. Yesterday was like nature without predators. Lions and lambs and all that.

Next week is the last gathering for Cleveland Summer 2012. The music will mine the Blues/Rock vein, performed by The Soul Men and a Blues Brothers Tribute with Shady Drive Band. Six to Nine. Come early or come later.

Be there or be square.

• • •

Tomorrow, the Cleveland State University Black Alumni Association will meet up with the After Five Friday posse led by inveterate networkers Alton Tinker, Donna Dabbs and Jesse LeGrande for the post-workweek happy hour confection of music, libation, food, and networking at Bodega’s Restaurant, 1854 Coventry, Cleveland Heights. The evening runs from 5:30 to 11p.

• • •

And I don't know how I posted but failed to mention tonight's program at 7PM on Voter Suppression at the Cleveland Heights Public Library, 2345 Lee Rd.

The speakers will include former Cleveland law director Subodh Chandra, Kathe Mayer, co-president of the Heights-Hillcrest branch of the American Association of University Women, and State Senator Shirley Smith, D-21 Cleveland. Your correspondent will serve as moderator.

Tea and cookies will be served at this event, sponsored by the ADA of Northeast Ohio, a chapter of Americans for Democratic Action based in Washington DC.