CPT • Change is Coming to Ohio's iconic 11th Congressional District — Part II

Cuyahoga Politics Today 

The 11th Congressional District is endangered as a fount of black power — Part II

Hollowed out central city, state’s slow population growth, along with altered political culture, are diminishing black community’s grasp on former stronghold

By R. T. Andrews

The Cleveland Browns were synonymous with excellence almost from the very moment they burst onto the pro football scene in 1946. From the beginning the team was exceptional, so routinely dominant as to play for a league championship ten consecutive years.

In eastside neighborhoods like Glenville, where future NFL Hall of Famers like Marion Motley and Bill Willis lived unpretentiously alongside their neighbors in the city’s ghettos, the Browns were beloved, a source of pride. The team became such a part of the town’s fabric that even when they sank into competitive irrelevance — their lakefront  home relabeled as the Factory of Sadness, it was inconceivable to think of our town without them.

Then one day they were gone, leaving only the team colors and faded scrapbooks featuring such team legends as Jim Brown, Leroy Kelly, and Paul Warfield. [On the west side of town, the revered names were undoubtedly Lou Groza, Otto Graham, Dante Lavelli and Dub Jones.] Under team owner Art Modell, they made bad decisions, suffered financial reversals, mortgaged the future on bad short term bets, and proved themselves thoroughly inept at making the organizational and management changes required for success in the constantly evolving world of the NFL.

While the city got a new team three years later, the new Browns are only now  escaping the shadows of institutional incompetence that have dogged their rebirth.

Don’t look now, but a deft redrawing of political boundaries by Ohio’s rightwing General Assembly could mean that a Congressional District that once seemed institutionalized as the bedrock of black Cleveland politics could vanish after a half-century run as swiftly as those Browns did 25 years ago.

Ohio's 11th Congressional District

Dismal turnout by black Cleveland voters in recent elections will make it harder for a black candidate, especially one without the benefit of incumbency, to win either a primary or a general election campaign for the seat. 

Cleveland’s black community — the place that gave the country its first elected big-city black mayor; the home base of a co-founder of the Congressional Black Caucus; the birthplace of the Twenty-First District Caucus, once so powerful as to show urban Democratic political machines that there was a drastic price to pay for disrespecting the black community — could lose its grip on a Congressional seat?

Yes.

Consider the following:

• When the District was drawn in 1968 to comply with Constitutional principles, the vast majority of Cuyahoga County’s black residents were crammed into a handful of neighborhoods: Central, Hough, Glenville, Fairfax, Mt. Pleasant, and Lee-Harvard. All of the first ring suburbs that today have significant black populations and are part of the Congressional District — Euclid, Maple Heights, Cleveland Heights, Shaker Heights, Bedford Heights, Richmond Heights, South Euclid, Garfield Heights, to name a few — were hostile to integration; collectively, they had less than five percent of the county’s black residents.

This concentrated black voting power was what the Ohio General Assembly kept a lid on through racial gerrymandering, until federal litigation and legislation — Baker v. Carr, the “one man, one vote” case decided in 1962; the Voting Rights Act of 1965 — helped lay the groundwork whereby an impressive cadre of local black attorneys and some staunch white allies, finally secured citizenship rights supposedly guaranteed one hundred years earlier by the Civil War Amendments. 

• Today, most county municipalities are at least nominally integrated, as are most of Cleveland’s west side wards. Black outmigration from the central city has seen substantial numbers of black families move across county lines, establishing homes in communities as varied as Streetsboro, Macedonia, Willowick, and Hudson.

The decennial redistricting that follows the Census every ten years is impacted by these migration patterns. Indeed, the current “Cleveland” district represented by Marcia Fudge snakes a narrow path down to north Akron to pick up several neighborhoods of black residents to pack into the 11^th District. That was a Faustian bargain struck at George Forbes’ house with then-Speaker of the Ohio House William Batchelder that benefitted both Republicans and the black Democratic establishment.

In several of her relatively rare public appearances in the district over the past few years, Fudge has referenced the dwindling margins of her majority minority district, pegging the percentage of black voters in the district somewhere around 50.5%. (We always found such hyper-parsing of her constituency curious: it made us wonder how it influenced her constituent relationship management, how she viewed her ability to win the support of nonblack constituents, etc.)

• In recent decades, Ohio has ranked among the nation’s ten worst states when it comes to Congressional district gerrymandering. In May of last year, voters overwhelmingly passed Issue 1, a compromise measure designed to limit the grossest excesses of gerrymandering. It is unclear how that will play out in the upcoming line drawing. The estimable Dr. Larry Brisker, the Tri-C professor whose analytical skills informed redistricting negotiations in ways that looked out for the black community’s political interests, has gone on to higher reward. Who is capable of assuming that role? 

• The willingness of the black state legislators to play footsie with their GOP legislative overseers a decade ago and create a second district more or less tailor-made for a black candidate — Joyce Beatty’s Third District seat in Franklin County —  could affect the State’s need to maintain the protected status of the venerable 11^th. Ohio’s 11-12% black population may warrant one majority minority district out of its soon-to-be 15 seat allocation; Beatty’s district may lessen the obligation of legislators to preserve a second such district. 

Are Ohio’s black and Democratic legislators willing to lay it on the line to preserve the 11^th District? The answer is not a clear yes, even before considering that House Minority Leader Emilia Sykes, a rising star, is likely maneuvering to support drawing a district that could be conducive to her own healthy ambition for a Congressional seat.

• And most significantly, dismal turnout by black Cleveland voters in recent elections will make it harder for a black candidate, especially one without the benefit of incumbency, to win either a primary or a general election campaign for the seat. Some informed estimates suggest that Cleveland’s 52% Census response rate means its city council will be reduced by at least six, and perhaps eight, wards. This will translate into fewer black elected officials than the already too aloof ones who populate public office now. This is not a recipe for enhanced civic engagement.

A few days ago, cleveland.com published a piece by retired political writer Brent Larkin that purported to list a half dozen likely aspirants to succeed Fudge. We saw it as a disservice to the black community. Too many of the names are retreads from an era of black politicians who never grasped the idea of elected officials as public servants.

Over the past few weeks, we have had numerous chats with community members regarding the District’s future, and sought suggestions of people who, blessed with a future outlook, could help guide the district into a new era of politics while echoing the best of our past. We will share those names  in the final installment of this series. But next, Part III will invite reflection on what qualities we would like to see in our next Congressperson? What should be the job description? 

Meanwhile, we invite you to share your thoughts on these questions, and to suggest names of potential candidates, whether they have previously run for public office or not. If you wish to share your suggestions in the comments, please use your real name. If you prefer to remain anonymous, email me directly. [It won’t be helpful to have Bill Neverwas anonymously float the name of Bill Neverwas.]

• • •• • •

SATURDAY SPORTS SCRIBBLES • Browns not ready to challenge elite

By R. T. Andrews

You are an unabashed Browns fan if you expected — as opposed to hoped for — some result other than the 38-7 laceration the Browns suffered when they ventured into Heinz Field last Sunday to confront the undefeated Steelers.

Sure, at 4-1, the Browns were off to their best record in more than a quarter-century. In fact their current record of 4-2 equals their best record during that span. But none of the wins were against NFL elite. And their other loss — in the season opener to the Baltimore Ravens, the division’s other powerhouse — was also a beatdown, albeit one that came with a wheel-barrow full of ifs that mean nothing in the reality of the NFL.

The Steelers whipping left no room for any ifs, unless they invoked the prowess and presence of Paul Brown, Jim Brown, Otto Graham, and Bill Willis. The superiority of the Steelers was evident on virtually every play.

But this isn’t a terrible thing. The Steelers are clearly a top 5 NFL team, characteristically loaded with a mix of talent, temperament, toughness, superior coaching and organization.

The Browns, just beginning to assemble some of that talent, coaching, and organization, are a heck of a lot better than they have been at any point since their rebirth in 1999. But they clearly have a way to go in the toughness and temperament categories.

They have a chance to rebound this week in Cincinnati against the Bengals, a team they beat at home in the season’s second week. The rematch will be one of the Browns’ most important games of the year. Win, and they are 5-2, staking a claim as one of the league’s better teams, just a few notches from the upper tiers. Lose, and they fall to a mediocre 4-3, having lost to a rookie QB who perforce outplayed their own #1 draft pick whose off-the-field chirping is at a higher level than his in game execution.

Last week confirmed what we already knew. Tomorrow’s game against the Bengals will tell us a lot more about the Browns’ toughness and temperament.

• • •• • •

Cleveland’s Arnold Pinkney pioneered role of black sports agent

Politician-Businessman became Triple Threat
representing professional black athletes

Former Browns Halfback goes on a long run against the
Cincinnati Bengals in early 1970s as All Pro guard John Wooten (60)
 is looking to block 15 yards downfield.

By Ryan Puente

Special to The Real Deal

This year’s National Football League draft will go down in history as the first and perhaps the only one to be conducted in a total quarantine. As dramatic and overhyped as that turned out to be, a less pronounced aspect of this year’s draft may prove to be far more consequential in the long run: a majority of the 32 players taken in the first round of the NFL draft — seventeen of them — were represented by African American agents.

That was a first in league history. And while most of those agents, many of whom are less than 40 years old, recognize the late Eugene Parker as the first black “super-agent.” — his client roster included Deion Sanders, Emmitt Smith, Larry Fitzgerald, among many others — they may not appreciate the trailblazing role played by Cleveland’s Arnold R. Pinkney as far back as the mid-sixties.

While Parker’s success may have “set the tone for all black agents”, Pinkney was not only a forerunner in pioneering sports representation by black Americans; he helped pave the way for the future hiring of African American coaches and front-office personnel.

Born in Youngstown, Ohio, in the shadows of the steel mills, Pinkney became a kingmaker in Cleveland and one of the nation’s most effective political strategists and influencers. He managed and worked campaigns for notable figures like Mayor Carl Stokes, Congressman Louis Stokes, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Ohio Gov. Richard Celeste, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and countless others.

Arnold Pinkney was already a successful
businessman in 1964. He would soon make
his mark in the worlds of politics and sports.

Pinkney was an experienced player on the national
political scene when he enjoyed this exchange with
Rev. Jesse Jackson in 1972. Pinkney would go on
manage Jackson's first presidential run in 1984.

Before making his mark in politics, Pinkney was a successful and well-known businessman. He co-founded Pinkney-Perry Insurance, earning the title of “Million Dollar Man” for regularly raking in more than a million dollars of premiums each year. Pinkney’s business smarts and negotiation skills enabled him to serve as a key financial advisor and representative to many of the NFL’s early black players. Pinkney was effective and successful in securing notable contracts for several star Cleveland Browns, including Leroy Kelly, John Wooten and Walter Johnson and running  back Eugene “Mercury” Morris of the Miami Dolphins.

Pinkney’s sports representation was not limited just to football or the Browns. He also led the negotiation team which included ex-Browns linebacker Sam Tidmore, that secured a healthy contract for Larry Doby Johnson from the Cleveland Indians after numerous meetings and several phone calls. Johnson at the time was a hot catcher prospect enrolled at Cleveland's East Tech High School.

Butting heads with Art Modell

It was the battle to earn fair pay for  star running back Leroy Kelly that launched Pinkney into the world of high-stakes sports agency.

Drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the eighth-round in 1964, running back Leroy Kelly seldom played in his first two seasons. After Jim Brown retired before the 1966 season, Kelly stepped in and rushed for more than 1,000 yards in his next three seasons. He won NFL rushing titles in 1967 and 1968 and played in four championship games during his 10 seasons with the Browns.

Pinkney talents and energy were marking him as a rising leader in the black community but he was unknown in wider political circles. Not yet 40 years old, he first gained broad public attention by breaking the impasse between Leroy Kelly and the Cleveland Browns when it appeared the halfback might sit out the 1967 football season because of contract difficulties.

In the summer of 1967, Kelly was one of five black players “holding out” from   Browns training camp along with John Wooten, Sidney Williams, Mike Howell and John Brown.

Jim Brown held a press conference at M-G-M Studios in Hollywood where he was starring in a movie. He blasted Browns owner Art Modell over the players’ salaries. Brown mentioned that Kelly “received the unbelievable salary last year of $20,000.” 

Said Brown, “This man represents the key to a championship for the Cleveland Browns. He is not even close to making the salary that average untried rookies are guaranteed.” These negotiations reached an impasse.

Pinkney had known Kelly since he was drafted and wrote a substantial insurance policy on him in 1966. By December 1967, he had gained the authority to conduct Kelly’s contract negotiations with Browns ownership.

In early 1968, after a four-hour bargaining session, Kelly signed a four-year, $320,000 deal — the longest contract ever awarded a Browns player at a time when the average salary in the 1960s and 1970s was between $10,000-$20,000.

Former teammates and local news coverage credited Pinkney for finalizing Kelly’s contract negotiations. The Cleveland Plain Dealer at the time reported:

“Modell and the Browns were fortunate, however, that Kelly selected a solid person such as Pinkney to help work out his problems. Matters between the team’s president and the National Football League’s leading rusher had reached something of an impasse. There was need for a third party.” 

I recently interviewed retired All-Pro guard and civil rights activist John B. Wooten about his former brother-in-law, Pinkney, and their early days serving together in the Negro Industrial and Economic Union (NIEU), later known as the Black Economic Union.

Headquartered in Cleveland, the NIEU was a first of its kind organization. Founded in 1966 by Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown, NIEU’s mission focused on eliminating poverty in African American communities and improving economic conditions through financial literacy, education, programming and other resources. Wooten served as Vice President, Pinkney was Secretary-Treasurer and soon-to-be mayor Carl B. Stokes was Legal-Secretary.

Pinkney began advising Wooten in 1968 during his ninth season with the Browns after Wooten was released following a dispute with a teammate, cornerback Ross Fichtner. Fichtner who held an annual golf tournament, called Wooten to say that because of complaints about the behavior of several of the Browns’ black players the year before, no blacks would be invited to play in that summer’s tournament.

Wooten offered to make amends to resolve the allegations but Fichtner remained adamant: no black players would be invited to the tournament. When Browns owner Art Modell read about the incident in the newspaper — Wooten spoke to a local columnist about the issue — he waived both players.

“I was very upset because I had been chosen earlier that season as one of the best guards in the league and here I am getting waived,” Wooten said.

Wooten, wearing a dashiki, and Pinkney met with then NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle while he was in Canton for the annual Hall of Fame game. They threatened to file a discrimination lawsuit if Wooten was not reinstated.

High-powered New York attorney Louis Nizer, whose client list included Johnny Carson, Charlie Chaplin, Julius Erving, Salvador Dali and others, offered to represent Wooten at no cost. Pinkney negotiated a solution for Wooten to play for new owner Edward Bennett Williams of the Washington Redskins.

“Arnold was involved in all of that with us, in terms of meeting with the commissioner, explaining to the commissioner what we were going to do and how we were going to do it, “Wooten said. “Arnold did all of the talking.”

During that same summer of 1968, as the Browns were preparing for a season of championship expectations, Pinkney and other black community leaders publicly pressured the owner to hire more black coaches and front-office personnel.

On August 6, owner Art Modell, along with his general manager and personnel director, met with Pinkney and ten other leaders in the black community for three hours to discuss the team’s hiring practices. Pinkney and his allies demanded the Browns hire more black coaching and front-office personnel. Modell took the position that the “Browns record of equal opportunity for the Negro player is legendary.” 

Later that month, in response to public protest organized by Pinkney and other black leaders, Modell and the Browns repeated their position in a statement that said, “We shall continue as we have in the past our practice of hiring people whether they be players or executives solely on their qualifications and fitness for the particular job with total disregard to the applicant’s color or national origin.”

In a 2017 interview, former Browns safety Walter Beach III, recalled owner Art Modell once telling him, “Walt, I’ve done more for black people than they’ve done for themselves.”

Beach also described an instance on the team plane when Modell instructed him not to read a book about Elijah Muhammad. Beach fired back: “A man can’t tell another man what to read. I play football for you. If you don’t want me on this team, when we get home, give me a check and I’ll leave. But, don’t ever think you can tell me what to read.”

“He actually believed he owned me,” Beach said.  “Not only me, but I think he believed he owned all of them guys. That’s that ownership mentality. That’s the mentality that I was dealing with. That was a contentious relationship.” 

And finally, a year later at only 38-years-old, Pinkney represented his third African American athlete, Browns defensive tackle Walter Johnson. Johnson agreed to terms on July 24, 1969, after final negotiations between Pinkney and the Browns general manager. Johnson played 13 seasons, including 12 with the Browns, and became a three-time Pro Bowler.

A Man for All Seasons

It’s fascinating to consider the dynamics that had Pinkney, now a prominent political figure with his friend Carl Stokes sitting in the mayor’s chair, growing a national representation at the height of the Civil Rights movement, negotiating head to head with the all-white Browns ownership that radiated a plantation mentality.   

While Eugene Parker is no doubt justly celebrated for his work as one of the earliest black sports agents, he would have only been a teenager in the mid-to-late 1960s when Pinkney was juggling balls on many fronts. And though Pinkney’s client list may not have included top first-round picks, many of the players he represented were Pro Bowlers.

Beyond just representing players, Pinkney was championing the hiring of blacks in leadership positions more than 50 years ago and helping to pave the way for those who followed. While he has not received the recognition, Pinkney was clearly a pioneer.

Former Cleveland Browns
All-Pro Guard John Wooten

“That's true,” Wooten said. “It's true and I know Eugene and all those guys. The point of it all is that Arnold never put on that particular hat and said, ‘You know I'm going to be an agent.’ He never got credit for that yet he was involved in all of these negotiations.”

As I told him early on, ‘You know, we just need you to help. We need your help, your expertise, your knowledge.’ Above  all, he just had a calmness about him. He had that legal thing in his mind and that's why he did such a great job for all of us. There's me with Rozelle, but also with Kelly, Walt Johnson and those guys but he never took on the vision of agent.”

# # ## # #

How the Cleveland Browns should draft

The Browns have been historically bad the past two seasons. They need help at every level on both offense and defense.
The fastest way to improve the team is by drafting the best player available every time, regardless of position. Even though they hold the first and 4th positions this year, they can likely get the two best players in the draft.
One plays offense, the other plays defense.
The Browns can get them both if they take running back Saquon Barkley of Penn State #1 and defensive lineman Bradley Chubb with their second pick at #4. They will be immensely improved immediately, especially if they continue that approach with their next THREE early picks.

​​Cleveland Champions

​I'm a hopeless homer at heart. I root for the bumbling Browns. I celebrate the Champion Cavs. And even as I indict the Indians for their loathsome logo, I nonetheless cheered them on this past season, as they fought fiercely against the odds, overcoming virtually every obstacle, becoming a team that combined organizational front office smarts, brilliant leadership in the clubhouse and on the field, and undeniable spunk and resilience on the diamond, to become much greater than the sum of its parts. Collectively the organization gave the community a season to remember and treasure, a glorious playoff run culminating in a World Series that was truly a Fall Classic for the ages, full of epic moments, the last hurrah for some, the grand debut for others; it had masterful managerial moves, spectacular plays, human errors, and abundant reminders that the game is never over until the last man is out.

The Indians didn't blow a 3-1 Series lead anymore than Golden State blew a similar momentary advantage in the NBA finals. Comebacks are more than theoretical possibilities, especially where world-class performers are committed to making them happen.

Unlike some of my more somber friends, I don't see sports as simply a diversion, an entertainment set apart from real life. They are an indelible part of our culture. I'll leave it to scholars to evaluate the social and cultural aspects of professional and major college sports in contemporary America. However, I did once ask former Cleveland mayor Michael R. White, in a sizable but semi-formal ingathering of black folk, if he wanted his political legacy to be the lavishing of nearly one billion dollars on professional sports palaces. The look he gave me in reply was more memorable than his verbal response, and I did not find myself invited to any such assemblies as he may have continued to host.

Professional sports is of course, a massive industry, albeit one that is heavily subsidized by the public, generally via some sort of Faustian bargain. In Cuyahoga County, the early 1990s Gateway project — the clearing of public lands for the building of new professional homes for major league baseball and professional basketball teams run by wealthy owners — was financed by a regressive sales tax on tobacco and alcohol, a so-called “sin tax” that continues today.

There was a time when, in recognition of the economic realities, I referred to Cleveland teams as the Modells, the Jacobs, and the Gunds. The Jacobs were wealthy developers. The Gunds were old money, part of the fabric of Cleveland society and philanthropy. Art Modell was a New York huckster who used borrowed money to buy his way into that society on the cheap, lucking into a championship on the back of a premier organization whose culture of excellence he neither respected or knew how to preserve. When his luck ran out here after decades of mismanagement, he summarily pulled up stakes and took his marbles to Baltimore, precipitating an emotional civic crisis at the loss of “our” beloved Browns.

In some communities, ownership of pro teams is held to be a sacred trust of sorts. In Cleveland, it’s often been more of a one-way deal. But for the huge public subsidies that underwrote the Cleveland sports temples originally christened as Jacobs Field [aka “the Jake”] and Gund Arena but which are now known as Progressive Field and Quicken Loans Arena [“the Q”], it is likely there would be no major league baseball in northeast Ohio and the Cavs, if around, would still be playing in a cornfield.

My question for the mayor was posed in the aftermath of the Browns’ bolt for Baltimore, and the mayor's attitude evoked comparison to President Johnson's declaration that he would not be the one to "lose" Vietnam. I was really asking three questions: whether Cleveland should pursue a new team, whether a new Stadium, used optimistically no more than 15 days a year, should be built on invaluable downtown lakefront property, and was an expensive, seldom-used playground a wise expenditure of public funds.

I recall that now as we celebrate what has been by any measure a magnificent year for Cleveland sports teams. On court and on field successes remind us of the entertainment and psychic value we get from hometown sports teams. Recurring school levies and low standardized scores for both systems and students remind us of the price we pay for those good vibes and entertainments, and the disproportionate way in which that price is extracted and paid.

 

Kyrie Irving
Cleveland Cavaliers

Francisco Lindor
Cleveland Indians

Chris Andersen, Cleveland Cavaliers

J. R. Smith
Cleveland Cavaliers

Terrelle Pryor
Cleveland Browns

It can perhaps be said, looking down the road that Kyrie Irving, Francisco Lindor, and Terrell Pryor epitomize the promise and the personality of success in Cleveland's sports future. Each of these young men is supremely gifted, charismatic, hardworking and possessed of sublime athletic confidence. Physically, each of them resembles, along with such hard-working colleagues as the super-tatted and shirtless J. R. Smith, the multi-hued Chris "Birdman" Anderson, and the extremely social Joe Haden, larger than life versions of what many of our urban public school students will look like in early adulthood.

In the case of the professional ballplayers, what we know is that they were supported and encouraged along their journeys to professional success. In many instances, they received favored treatment, were perhaps even indulged or pampered, when they made a misstep; rules may even have been bent to ensure continued progress.

Can we begin to envision how many champions we would have in our community if we invested in our young scholars the way we invest in our athletes?

• • •

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Cleveland's Sorry Sports Scene, Richard Sherman, urban trollers, Jazz, Black History Month

Since this is a commentary about Cleveland’s abysmal professional sports environment, I probably should post it tomorrow on Ground Hog Day. Like the movie, we seem to relive the same scenes over and over.

Collectively, the Haslam Browns, the Gilbert Cavaliers and the Dolan Indians are about as sad a trio of professional sports teams as exist in America. It would pain me less to acknowledge this sorry truth if I hadn’t been infected with an especially virulent case of hometown sports fever back in the Fifties. The Browns were the best team in pro football the first decade of my life, and the Indians won a couple of pennants and even a World Series during that same decade, though I hadn’t yet become emotionally chained to the city.

Even those glory days come with historical asterisks, however. The Browns’ best teams pre-dated the Super Bowl era, and several even pre-dated their admission to the NFL. The 1964 championship Browns team can be seen pretty much as an anomaly that unfortunately obscured the magisterially micro-mismanagement skills of one Art Modell.

Sad to say, the best three year football stretch in Cleveland over the past two decades occurred in those three or four years in the late ‘90s when we had no NFL entry.

The Cleveland Cavaliers were born during my early adulthood but still snuck into my sports heart. My favorite Cavs teams was the Miracle of Richfield bunch of the late ‘70s. They played as a unit, unselfishly sharing the ball. It didn’t matter who took the shot. Subsequent Cavs teams have had better talent. While this year’s team has some excellent talent, they play so disjointedly, selfishly, and with so little basketball intelligence that they are actually ugly to watch. [Exceptions: Andy Varajao, Tristan Thompson and newcomer Luol Deng.]

The Dolan baseball club is probably the best managed of Cleveland’s professional sports teams. However, they operate with the least money in the sport where money matters most. And they will be rightly cursed so long as they support the ugliest and most racist totem in pro sports.

I am given to occasionally reading the comments on various news stories of civic importance. I know beforehand that if the story involves any element of race or “inner-city” or increasingly, inner-ring suburbia, the commenters will be especially vitriolic. This phenomenon extended this week even to the announcement that The Ohio State University has selected an accomplished African American as its next president. While I don’t recall either the Plain Dealer or the Columbus Dispatch making much if any reference to his race, there was a healthy dosage of affirmative action commentary among the trolls. I suspect that these people are among the Chief Wahoo’s most fervent defenders.

• • •

On a related note, these trollers are probably among the most vociferous attackers of the tastefully named Richard Sherman, star cornerback of the Seattle Seahawks. Sherman was the hyper vocal face of the Seahawks who made amped up over-the-top Muhammad Ali-like comments when a microphone was stuck in his face immediately after he made a tremendously acrobatic play that ensured his team would be in tomorrow’s Super Bowl. Sherman’s intemperate, adrenaline-fueled remarks, coupled with his defiant manner and flowing dreadlocks, made it easy for incognito critics to call him a thug. While a gladiator on the field, Richard Sherman is actually one of the most intelligent, best-educated and thoughtful professional athletes on the scene today. Doubters may want to take a look at this profile of the man, written before the season started.

• • •

We intend in 2014 to do a better job providing local coverage of what some like to call “America’s music”, more familiarly known as jazz. We start with noting tonight’s Nighttown appearance of Dr. Phillip Martin [hat tip to local jazz aficionado Evan Morse]. Saxophonist Martin is crafting a dual career as a jazz sax man [clearly influenced by Grover Washington] with being a practicing dentist in Washington DC. For more info on tonight’s show, which starts at 8:30PM, visit here or here.

Elsewhere, also in Cleveland Heights, local singer Anita Keys will be performing at Rockefellers, 3099 Mayfield Road. Call 216.321.0477 for more info.

• • •

Finally, I was initially hilarious when I first heard about Atlanta’s two-inch blizzard earlier in the week. I became more sensitive as I learned about stranded students, the elderly, distraught caregivers, and expectant mothers.

I turned off the cable news accounts as “the snow event” [the Atlanta local’s current term of art] because of the disgusting efforts of the so-called news broadcasters efforts to assign blame. [Those folk would fit in well in Cleveland.]

No doubt, some of those castigating public officials, from the governor on down, were those opposed to almost all non-military government spending.

• • •

Today is the first day of Black History Month. In a few days the primary election season will be in full spring for a host of state, county, and local offices, including judicial races. Your Congressman will also be on the ballot.

There is a relationship between our history, the kind of policies our government advances or retards, who become our community spokespersons, the quality of our educational systems, the future of our children and our communities, and how involved we are in the political and civic process. Voting in the May primary is an essential duty. But it is not sufficient. Now is not too early to begin the process of self-education about who is running and doing some serious candidate vetting. We will do our part to help.

• • •

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