A famous dictum
attributed to former US Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill declares, “All politics is local.” While no doubt an
exaggeration, it is probable that if black Republicans are ever to increase in
number — especially given the current toxic national political environment — it will be due to the efforts of people like Laverne Gore, who is
simultaneously and unapologetically black, proud, and Republican.
L-R: Arkeya Thomas, Laverne Gore, Judge Michael Sliwinski, Sam Gantous |
Gore has for sometime
been convening groups large and small of black Clevelanders and
bringing them together with local and national GOP hierarchy as well as rank and file party members. Last summer, for instance, she
hosted a cookout at her home in the tidy CHALK neighborhood just north of
Shaker Square featuring GOP national chair Reince Priebus. That brought black
Republicans from all over the state, including Youngstown and Cincinnati.
Gore has also been busy connecting with black conservatives around the country, facilitating get-togethers that put all manner of black people in the same space with Republican operatives and officeholders. Her diligent efforts began well before the GOP hierarchy decided to hold its 2016 convention here in Cleveland and will likely place her in the thick of much of the activity that surrounds a national convention spectacle.
Gore has also been busy connecting with black conservatives around the country, facilitating get-togethers that put all manner of black people in the same space with Republican operatives and officeholders. Her diligent efforts began well before the GOP hierarchy decided to hold its 2016 convention here in Cleveland and will likely place her in the thick of much of the activity that surrounds a national convention spectacle.
An example of Gore’s
efforts could be seen two nights ago
at the Academy Tavern, a well-known and popular
eatery owned and operated for years by Sam Gantous on Larchmere Avenue. The
restaurant is on the border of Shaker Heights and Cleveland, an area that has
weathered ethnic and socioeconomic transformation far better than most
neighborhoods in Greater Cleveland. Situated on the crest of the first foothill
of the Allegheny Plateau — the beginning of the Heights — one can
stand in the middle of the street and see clear downtown, though the route is
fraught with many demographic changes.
Shalira Taylor, GOP District 11 candidate for state representative, between Rev. Jeffrey and Mrs. Lori Jemison |
Larchmere turns into Woodland Ave. as it
moves westward towards downtown, passing through areas once heavy with industry
and residential areas full of European immigrants who could either walk or take
public transportation to work in the factories, foundries, and machine shops
that once comprised the heart of the city. Today, one traverses westward along
Woodland towards downtown and the largest complexes encountered are housing
projects, churches, and one of the city’s oldest cemeteries. Conversely, if you
headed the other way, you could enjoy a serene walk into Shaker Heights, where
former Mayor Carl Stokes lived during his years as the first black mayor of a
major American city.
The history alluded to
here somehow made the unpretentious and homey tavern’s rear patio an ideal
spot for a low-key mingling of black Republican hoi polloi and adventurous
white politicians. There were no speeches, no heavy-duty politicking; in fact,
had you innocently wandered into the space — as some Academy regulars may in fact have done
— you would have been hard-pressed to discern that you had stumbled upon a political
gathering.
It just may have been the
kind of political affair that could bring some healing to this era of political
malignancy.
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