Herman Cain: Able to be Paid for Sex?

 I have abstained pretty much from even reading much less writing about the GOP pop phenomenon Herman Cain, whose 15 minutes should have expired months ago. The man is so obviously unqualified to be president that his very presence on the Republican platform is troubling. Yeah, I know, the same could be said about a lot of their candidates, but Brother Cain is spectacularly unsuited.

Truth is, he seems to know it. The hat, the cigarette-smoking campaign manager in the commercial, the non-traditional media focus that is clearly not focused on delegate collection, the superficial answers to virtually every question. I have to think that Rachel Maddow pegged him correctly as having a good laugh at the nation's expense.

 Of course, the man doesn't know when to exit the stage. He has messed over several women's lives in the process, and as the letter below indicates, is still trying to profit from his skanky ways even as he extends his departure through a painful "campaign reassessment".

 I just have to say that I don't believe Cain would have been considered a serious candidate for five minutes were it not for the enormous discomfort most Republicans feel with most black people. Until now, that discomfort has allowed Cain to make money selling his books, and enabled Republicans to pretend that they are an open, welcoming, and affirming party.

Nov 29, 2011: Stand With Me  Dear Patriots and Supporters, As you probably heard yesterday, a troubled Atlanta business woman used national media outlets to promulgate a fabricated, unsubstantiated  story about a 13 year affair with me.  I am writing you today to assure  you that this woman’s story is completely false. I do know Ms. White.  I have helped her financially at times over the  past few years, just as I have helped many friends and acquaintances  throughout the years. I thought Ms. White was a friend in need of a  supportive hand to better her life. Ms. White has made it apparent that she was abusing the friendship. But now I am asking for your friendship.  I am also asking for your prayers  and support. This is a trying time for my family, my campaign, and for me.   It is also a trying time for our country as we are all distracted from the truly  important issues facing our nation. This evening I have an important speaking engagement at Hillsdale College  in Hillsdale, Michigan, where I will be outlining my foreign policy and national  security plan.  While recent events have taken a toll on me, the people in the  audience this evening will not know it.  I will deliver my message with vigor  and enthusiasm. Let me assure you, I am not deterred.  America’s future is too important.  We will continue on this journey to make America great once again. Thank you and God bless. Sincerely,  Herman Cain

BREAKING NEWS: Annette Butler appointed Common Pleas judge

Annette G. Butler will become the newest judge on the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court bench when she takes office on Dec. 12 after her appointment today by Gov. John R. Kasich.

Butler replaces former Judge Timothy McGinty, who resigned on Oct. 31. In order to serve out the remainder of McGinty’s term, which ends Jan. 1, 2017, Butler must run in the November 2012 general election.

She received a bachelor’s degree in sociology and psychology from Case Western Reserve University and earned her juris doctorate from the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. For nearly 25 years, Butler served as an assistant U.S. Attorney for Civil Trials and Appeals in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Ohio. She has additional legal practice experience in both the public and private sector, and has taught numerous courses at the Academy of Court Reporting & Technology and the Justice Department National Advocacy Center. 

Butler is the past president and current board member of the Federal Bar Association’s Northern District of Ohio Chapter. Butler continues to serve on several boards of trustees, including that of the Cleveland State University Development Foundation, and has been recognized by various groups for her service within her profession and community.

McGinty resigned to run for Cuyahoga County prosecutor next year. Ironically, Butler ran for county prosecutor against incumbent Bill Mason in 2009; she lost decisively.

Until her appointment Butler was serving as a member of the reconstituted Cuyahoga County Board of Revision.

Turner files to run against Fudge for Congress

State Senator Nina Turner filed petitions yesterday with the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections to run for the Democratic nomination for Congress from the newly-redistricted 11^th Congressional District. The seat is currently held by Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge.

Ohio’s federal primary election is presently scheduled for June 12, three months after the state’s primary for local and state offices. State Republican legislators created the second primary, at an estimated added cost of $15 million, to allow time to negotiate with Democrats over Ohio’s congressional remapping.

Ohio is losing two Congressional districts effective Jan. 2013 because the state’s population has grown more slowly than the rest of the nation.

Ohio Republicans have drawn the new Congressional map in a way that eliminates most inter-party competition and almost guarantees GOP wins in twelve of the districts. Democrats are believed to be currently pushing a 6-6-4 plan that would make six districts more competitive, favoring Republicans in only six districts, and Democrats in four.

Unless negotiations between Republican and Democratic state legislators result in an agreement this week to adjust  the GOP majority’s congressional map, it will be nearly impossible to hold both primaries on the same day, because the original filing date for partisan office is next Wednesday, December 7. Congressional candidates presently have until March 14 to file, but are likely to file by December 7 so as not be left out in the cold by any last-second legislative deal that might restore the single primary.

This is Ohio so of course it’s more complicated than that. Democrats are working to collect  hundreds of thousands of signatures [they need 231,150 valid ones] to delay implementation of the GOP’s 12-4 map and bring the issue before Ohio voters next November. And of course, court action by either party is a possibility.

Whatever the federal filing primary election dates turn out to be, the Fudge-Turner battle is certain to be fierce, and likely reshape the political landscape in the area as much as the GOP-gerrymandered map.

Nonprofit Thursday

Send your Nonprofit Thursday info to:    nonprofits@cuyahoganews.net

 

EVENTS

Cleveland’s own George Fraser, one of America’s most prolific and polished public speakers, will address the City Club of Cleveland next Friday, November 30.  Five of his speeches have been published over the past ten years in the widely distributed Vital Speeches of the Day.

Fraser ha also written several books, including Success Runs In Our Race; The Complete Guide to Effective Networking in the African American Community (HarperCollins 1994, 2004), Race For Success; The Ten Best Business Opportunities for Blacks In America (HarperCollins 1998) and Click: Ten Truths for Building Extraordinary Relationships (McGraw-Hill 2008).

Fraser is widely recognized as a leading authority on networking, economic development, and building effective relationships.

Call 216.621.0082 or visit www.cityclub.org for reservations.

• • •

The Foundation Center is offering several basic programs next week of great utility to executive directors and trustees new to the nonprofit world. The programs are free and are presented at The Foundation Center-Cleveland office in Playhouse Square: 1422 Euclid Ave., Suite 1600:

Wednesday, November 30
Introduction to Fundraising Planning, 10:00 - 11:00am
Learn a basic planning process for diversifying your organization’s support.

Brown Bag Lunch:  Boards, Fundraising, and The Art of Asking,  11:30am - 1:00pm
Bring your lunch and come hear resource development expert Barbara Rosenthal discuss the basic principles of good fundraising, working with your board, and learning "the Art of Asking."

Your Board and Fundraising, 1:00 - 2:00pm
This class addresses why board members may be reluctant to fundraise and how to overcome these concerns.

Thursday, December 1
Proposal Writing Basics, 10:00 - 11:30am
Learn the key components of a proposal to a foundation.

How to Approach a Foundation, 1:00 - 2:00pm
From initial contact to getting funded, this class will teach you the field-tested best practices to increase your chances of getting a grant.

To register, call 216.861.1933 or click here.

 • • •

OPENINGS/OPPORTUNITIES in the Nonprofit World

• Can your agency or organization use a Summer Intern? The Cleveland Foundation just might provide you with one if you apply by next Wednesday, November 30.

  

The Cleveland Foundation's Summer Internship Program is accepting applications from area nonprofits or governmental agencies until November 30, 2011. College students, recent graduates, and graduate students work full-time for an 11-week session during the summer.

The Cleveland Foundation provides funding to cover the intern’s stipend.

 More information can be found by clicking here.

• • •

The Mahoning Youngstown Community Action Partnership is looking for an executive director.

The successful candidate will be responsible for the operations and management of the community action agency. The preferred candidate will have a master’s degree in nonprofit management or public administration, together with a minimum of five years experience in a nonprofit executive leadership position.

For more information contact The Prout Group  [1111 Superior Ave., Cleveland OH 44114 • 216-771-2260].

• • •

Send your Nonprofit Thursday info to:    nonprofits@cuyahoganews.net

Next week’s deadline is Monday at 3pm.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!


NonProfit Thursday will appear tomorrow.

Unity and Class Issues in the Black Community, Part II

Properly understood, the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s was one of the most democratic episodes in American political history. There was no script written by some great playwright in the sky, handed out in communities across the country. There was no universally acknowledged director, no head of central casting, and no formal audition process. The relationships between leaders and followers were often fluid.

Compared to earlier socio-political movements — the Abolitionist, Women’s Suffrage, Labor — the civil rights movement was considerably more organic, decentralized, communal, and emergent. Much of its strength, brilliance, and resilience came from a shared set of ideals and a growing belief in the possibility of change.

It is fair to say that during the movement there was a more dynamic symbiotic relationship between whoever was leading at the moment and the masses of black people and their allies. It was often messy and it certainly wasn’t perfect; nonetheless there seemed to be a widely shared understanding that followers were as important as leaders.

A major consequence of the civil rights era was an opening of the political sphere to broader participation by black people as both voters and consequently as elected officials. In the aftermath of Movement success, the number of black elected officials holders has increased from fewer than 1500 in 1970 nationwide to more than 10,500 today.  There are about eighty African American elected public officials in Cuyahoga County alone today, and possibly a few hundred in the State as a whole.

What is less clear is how this apparent political power has operated to advance the community in whose name it has been sought and wielded. Some observers argue that black political leadership is by and large disconnected from the community. It is no longer axiomatic, if it ever was, that black political leaders are of, from and for the people.

Compounding the analysis is a series of demographic and geographic changes that no longer concentrate a vast majority of African Americans within a single political boundary. Does it make a difference to be a black elected official when ten or twenty or fifty or eighty percent of your constituency is nonblack? What impact has this had on the fact that poor Americans of all colors and stripes have been virtually dropped from the political discussion?

• • •

Richmond Heights Parents Press School Board for Answers

Our regular readers know that we have been reporting on the Richmond Heights school district since our curiosity took us to a school board meeting there six months ago. It soon became apparent that the rogue behavior of the basketball coach was merely the presenting problem, and that dysfunction in the district was longstanding, systemic, and deeply rooted.

The selfless, courageous and united action of the boys basketball team in demanding the immediate removal of the coach commanded the support of their parents, who then asserted themselves on behalf of their children, and eventually on behalf of all of the children in the system.

The parents won the support of the superintendent quickly enough but were regularly obstructed by a school board majority whose attitudes and actions, both public and private, began to come under the community’s persistent pressure.

The number of concerned parents gradually grew as concerns expanded from the coach’s abuse of his charges to issues of district mismanagement, instability, malfeasance, finance, and, not least, substandard delivery of educational excellence.

Two key developments occurred over the summer. Two of the more active and involved parents — Bobby Jordan and Frank Barber — had applied in April for a vacancy on the school board. The board majority selected Barber, who declined, and ultimately Jordan was awarded the seat.

The first key development was Barber’s subsequent decision to run for a full term. His victory, coupled with Jordan’s election earlier this month to serve the balance of the term to which he was appointed, very likely signals a new day at district headquarters. It is likely that those two will team with the senior board member, Linda Pliodzinskas, to form a new majority that will focus on stabilizing the district, eliminating personality-driven private agendas, and advancing educational goals.

The second key development was the formation of PARENTS 4 KIDS as an advocacy group for children and education. P4K has met several times over the summer and fall. On Monday, in advance of last night’s regularly scheduled board meeting, the group delivered a letter to the president of the school board and the interim superintendent. A copy of the letter was obtained by The Real Deal has obtained a copy of the letter, which runs to three pages of single-spaced copy.

Styled as an open letter to “Parents, School Board Members, Administration, Teachers, and Community”, its stated objective is to “raise awareness among parents and in the Richmond Heights Community as to the grave conditions which have drastically impacted our children’s education.” A request is made for a town hall meeting or community forum with the board “for the purpose of dialogue and interaction pertaining to strategies to both address and overcome every obstacle that has been a hindrance to success for our children.” P4K wants this meeting to occur by December 10 and hopes “to establish mutual purpose, mutual goals, and mutual solutions.”

The letter expresses P4K concerns in three broad categories: Diversity Tolerance, Academics, and Finance. Under Diversity Tolerance, parents express anxiety over the current investigation by the US Dept. of Education, Office of Civil Rights, which is widely expected to find the district and various parties guilty of discrimination, negligence, and retaliatory conduct. P4K also seeks an update on the Community Building Project initiated by Linda T. Hardwick before her suspension. And, the parents also want answers about the removal of at least eight individuals “who have been non-renewed, forced to leave, fired, or downsized on what appears to be the basis of race or retaliation and even gender in the past three years.”

P4K’s academic concerns include the status of credit recovery and tutoring programs, and how the accreditation process will proceed in the absence of the superintendent who initiated it. A companion concern has to do with the number of middle school students who are without textbooks in some classes, and high school students using books published almost twenty years ago.

The letter also asks “what mechanisms have been put in place to improve the status of ‘Continuous Improvement’ at the elementary school” and how the elevation of the school’s principal to interim superintendent will “impact our struggling elementary students”.

The third area of P4K concern deals with financial and policy matters. Five questions are asked, including:

“• Exactly how much has been spent in legal fees, combating complaints of discrimination, and attempting to justify poor practice of firing Superintendents, and retaliating against student, parents, and administration who speak against it?

• Is it true that RH teachers received a retroactive 2% raise, and will possibly incur an additional raise in the next year? Why is the teacher’s contract unavailable to the public? Why were teachers not asked to make concessions or retain their levels, when the district has said to parents concerning the purchase of books, computers, extra-curricular activities, elective classes, and transportation, there is no money?

• Why were Race to the Top dollars awarded, yet turned down by our school district?”

At Tuesday’s meeting, board president Josh Kaye promised to get back to the parents by Monday on a date for the community forum. He also promised to make the teachers contract available soon.

Unity and Class Issues in the Black Community, Part I

A wonderful op-ed in this past Sunday's Los Angeles Times about a certain kind of integration reminds us of a vibrant time when the late Judge George W. White was a city councilman.

White was laid to rest last Saturday, rightfully celebrated for many achievements, among them his founding of B.O.S.S. [Blacks Organized for Social Services], a self-help group that later merged with the Negro Community Federation to create the United Black Fund of Greater Cleveland. UBF will celebrate its thirtieth anniversary next year.

White was representing Cleveland’s Lee-Seville community in May 1968 when Cleveland mayor Carl Stokes proposed building 274 single-family houses in White’s black middle-class ward. The development was to be on 51 acres of vacant land the city had acquired from the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority. 

Coincidentally — or not — White, along with fellow councilmen George Forbes and Leo Jackson, had just been soundly thrashed earlier that month by Louis Stokes, Carl’s brother, in the Democratic primary for the newly-created 21^st Congressional District. It is interesting to note that all five of these politicians went on to bigger things.[1]

Councilman White led the opposition to the housing development, arguing that the community already suffered from a dearth of adequate city services, especially police protection. Mayor Stokes labeled White and fellow councilman Clarence Thompson “black bigots” for using tactics similar to those employed by white suburbanites to exclude blacks from their communities.

Economic class was the elephant in the room. White’s constituency was primarily middle-class homeowners; the proposed residents of the development were to be families displaced by urban renewal. The housing was never built, as the all-white anti-Stokes faction in Cleveland’s thirty-three member council were all too happy to side with White and Thompson to punish the mayor.

What happened in Cleveland in 1968 was not unique to that time or this location, as the essay by L. A. Times contributing writer Erin Aubry Kaplan points out:

It wasn't always like this. Economic diversity used to be a given in black communities, and it made them far more cohesive and resilient. Black people now, including my neighbors, talk longingly about those days when the poor lived among the professionals and the working class, and about how we need to get that kind of unity back. The irony is that that cohesion was largely a product of segregation; my father grew up in a segregated neighborhood right in the heart of L.A. While nobody I know is suggesting that we return to the good old days of Jim Crow, the "unity effect" is sorely missed.

These days black unity is a cherished ideal rather than the fact of life that it used to be. Part of the reason is that, since the 1960s and the end of Jim Crow, blacks have lost the thread of their own story. As we have scattered out from our compact communities, a freedom narrative that was once clear and urgent has become muddy and uninspiring, replaced with tons of downward-trending data and statistics that move no one.

The catalyst for Kaplan’s piece is the entry into her Inglewood neighborhood of a Section 8 family. It’s a brief but compelling read. We urge you to check it out and then return here with your thoughts tomorrow for Part II.

---

[1]  White was appointed a federal judge in 1980. Jackson served on the Eighth District Court of Appeals from 1970 to 1986.  Forbes was president of city council from 1974 to 1989. Lou Stokes won election to Congress in 1968 and served until he retired 30 years later. Carl Stokes completed two terms as mayor and then moved to New York where he became a television reporter and news anchor. He returned to Cleveland in the 1980s and became a Cleveland municipal court judge. His public career culminated with service as US ambassador to the Seychelles.

Note: An earlier version of this post reversed the order of Stokes' judicial and diplomatic service. Thanks to eagle-eyed reader Dick Peery for alerting us to the error.

Nonprofit Thursdays Report

We start this Nonprofit Thursday recalling the zest that Judge George W. White had for community and self-help. Obit writers, including us, noted his affability, but he was steadfast in his pursuits and possessed of a certain feistiness to boot. The time of his passing has poignancy reminiscent of  the natural passing of the seasons.

The judge’s proudest community achievement was undoubtedly the establishment of the Cleveland chapter of the United Black Fund. This weekend will witness not the judge’s funeral but also the retirement party of his longtime UBF colleague and friend, Ruby Terry, who served as both board chair and then chief executive officer for more than twenty years.

The bookend events perhaps form a springboard for the launch of UBF’s next phase, which will be led by its new president, Cecil Lipscomb. We had the chance to chat with Mr. Lipscomb for a few minutes when we stopped at UBF offices earlier this week. He is an impressive young man with a bold agenda for a vital agency in need of a shot in the arm.

Lipscomb was presented as a candidate to the UBF board through the efforts of Barbara Danforth, former YWCA Cleveland president and CEO who this year launched a new career as executive search consultant. She appears to be off to a great start!

Judge White charted an independent course as a politician. He would probably applaud the efforts of the Cuyahoga County Young Democrats in their sponsorship of a series of panel discussions addressing the issue of city, county, and regional  population decline.

Tonight’s panel discussion, “Media and Self-Esteem of the County”, is the second of an eleven part series. It will focus on the County’s image in the local and national media.  Tonight's panel will be moderated by radio personality Bijou Star [aka Kim Sadler] of Radio One Cleveland.  Panelists will be Kenny Crumpton and Angelica Campos (Fox 8) Colby "Colby Colb" Tyner of Radio-One, Felicia Haney of the Call and Post, and Rocky Robinson of Plain Dealer.

The series aims to provide in-depth and often surprising information regarding the state of Cuyahoga County through eleven topical discussions - each focusing on an aspect of life in the region. The program is intended to involve and elicit input from the public. 

The eleven panel discussions will culminate in the “Why Stay Conference” scheduled for September 2012. Emphasis is on ways regional government can retain the so-called Echo Generation, the 80 million tech-savvy Americans born between 1977 and 1997.

The panel discussion is free of charge and is open to the public.  No reservations are required, so head over after work to Loft Works in midtown [1667 E. 40^th street, Suite B1]Midtown from 6-8:30PM.

For more information, please contact Charmaine Pope, Co-chair, Why Stay Executive Committee, at 216.200.2761. 

• • •

If you have been curious about the Occupy the Hood movement, you might want to head over to The Audacity of H.O.P.E. Foundation tomorrow. Topics being addressed include firsthand reports from homeowners victimized by fraudulent foreclosures, and how to fight back against them.

The program will start at 6PM at 11239 Superior Ave in the Glenville area just north of University Circle.

No charge, no reservations, all are welcome. Contact Natalie Fitten of Occupy the Hood Cleveland [216.383.4873] or Griot Y-Von

[audacityofhopefoundation@yahoo.com / 216.355.3374].

^{• • •}

The Cleveland Council of Black Colleges Alumni Association and the Metropolitan Cleveland Alliance of Black School Educators (Metro  CABSE) are sponsoring their annual Historically Black College & University College Fair.

The event will take place this Saturday from 8:30AM until 12:30PM on the main campus of The Word Church South MultiPlex in southeast Cleveland. Contact:

 Mary Rice [216.932.4639 • 216.570.1200 • meryldene@aol.com ]

• • •

OPENINGS/OPPORTUNITIES

The Mahoning Youngstown Community Action Partnership is looking for an executive director.

The successful candidate will be responsible for the operations and management of the community action agency. The preferred candidate will have a master’s degree in nonprofit management or public administration, together with a minimum of five years experience in a nonprofit executive leadership position.

For more information contact The Prout Group  [1111 Superior Ave., Cleveland OH 44114 • 216-771-2260].

Send your Nonprofit Thursday info to:    nonprofits@cuyahoganews.net

Deadline for consideration is Fridays at 3pm.

• • •

BULLETIN: US Judge George White, 1931-2011

George W. White, retired chief judge of the U.S. District Court in Cleveland, died Nov. 12, at age 80.

White’s steely backbone and incisive mind were encased in an affable personality, features that helped him become the court's first African American judge in 1980 and first black chief in 1995. The judge was in his third term as a Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas judge when President Carter nominated him on May 23, 1980. 

Judge White assumed senior status at the Court in 1999.

White was born in Duquesne, Pennsylvania on May, 6 1931. He graduated from Baldwin Wallace College (1951) and Cleveland Marshall College of Law (1955).

From 1964 to 1968 he served as a councilman in the Lee-Harvard area, representing what was then Ward 13.

 

Judge White’s wife of 52 years, Lillian and son Steven, both predeceased him. He is survived by a son David (Myra Jackson) a daughter, Lori White Laisure (Daryl), and five grandchildren.

Services will be held at Antioch Baptist Church, 8869 Cedar Avenue, Cleveland this Saturday, November 19 at 11am. A wake will precede the service.  Calhoun Funeral Home is handling the arrangements.

References:

• http://www.cleveland.com/obituaries/index.ssf/2011/11/george_w_white_led_us_district.html

• Calhoun Funeral Home, 17010 Lake Shore Blvd., Cleveland, OH 44110-1018 216.738.0300 www.calhounfuneral.com

PROPOSED REFERENDUM ON HOUSE BILL 194 REQUIRES ADDITIONAL SIGNATURES

Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted announced today that almost 10,000 additional signatures are needed by next week to place House Bill 194 to a statewide referendum next year.

Petitioners seeking to place House Bill 194, “the voter suppression” bill on the November 2012 ballot need almost 9600 more valid signatures to get the referendum on the ballot. They submitted 333,063 total signatures, of which only 221,572, about two-thirds, were valid.

Petitioners now have ten days, until Thursday, November 24, to gather the additional valid signatures. The petitions submitted have satisfied the other constitutional requirements to collect signatures from at least 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties, and within each of those counties collected enough signatures equal to three percent of the total vote cast for governor in the most recent gubernatorial election, 2010. The three percent threshold was achieved in 52 counties.

Failure to secure the additional signatures would result in immediate application of HB 194, including curtailment of early voting.

Congressional Democrats hold hearing on nationwide voting law changes

In Washington DC, today, House Democrats, including Representative Marcia Fudge (OH-11), held a forum entitled “Excluded from Democracy: The Impact of Recent State Voting Law Changes”.  

Here are excerpts from Rep. Fudge’s opening remarks:

"It is time that the American people hear from more than just us that there is a concerted effort across this country to limit, to suppress and to undo our right to vote. It is deliberate and it is by design. From Ohio to Wisconsin, down to Florida, across Texas, the franchise is under attack today in this country. A certain predetermined segment of Americans are being targeted; young people, the elderly, our disabled and minorities, will all feel the repercussions of this concerted effort. There's nothing new about what we're seeing today if you have lived as long as I have lived. These are the tactics that have been used for years to compromise the franchise.” …

“Legislation passed or proposed in the state of Ohio, which is my home, and a number of other states has ended Sunday voting. Think about it, Ohio's Republican legislature has voted to reduce not only Sunday voting but voting early from currently what was 35 days a year ago down to 16 days. In 2008, African-American voters accounted for 22% of early votes and 31% of Sunday voters. Latinos accounted for 22% of Sunday voters. Minorities who work long hours all week and don't get time off need the flexibility that early voting and Sunday voting provide. On Saturdays and Sundays, before Election Day, people of faith across the country remind their parishioners to vote. But those orchestrating this suppression effort know full well the importance of Sunday voting and early voting. They know minorities in particular will be disproportionately impacted by these laws.”

 

New Occasions Teach New Duties: Joe Paterno's Choice Point

For a variety of reasons I don’t typically write a lot about national & international matters. Part of it is the adage to write what you know. It is difficult to be sure-footed about things you can see only from a distance. Also, there is no lack of folks ready to pontificate about the federal government, Pakistan, nuclear proliferation, global warming, Israel, etc. My rule is to think globally and historically, but to write/act locally.

But I do have a general inclination to fill in the gaps when important issues are not being acknowledged, where key aspects of a situation are muted or just dropped altogether from the story.

The Jerry Sandusky-Joe Paterno-Penn State outrage is one of them.

As usual in stories of serial abuse, money and power are factors.  In this case, the victims by definition had neither money nor power. It was their lack of family resources that profiled them for screening and assault by coach Sandusky through his Second Mile charity.

What permitted Sandusky to assault and abuse young boys for so long was the immense enabling machine that was Penn State Football, an institution unto itself that provided $50 million in profit to the University. Every year.

No wonder JoePa was next to godliness in Happy Valley. Remember Ohio State University president E Gordon Gee’s sad joke about hoping that OSU football coach Jim Tressel didn’t fire him? Tressel headed OSU football only about a decade. Paterno was at PSU for more than half a century.

Paterno had more power at Penn State than its president. No matter how little he knew, or when and how he learned it, Paterno was the guy who could have stopped the abuse as soon he found out. It was his duty, and one that he could not delegate. Titles aside, he ruled the roost.

In observing that Paterno was the ultimate guy who could not pass the buck, I mean neither to judge him nor to absolve all the others who had knowledge of the abuse and did not do enough to stop it. The conspiracy of silence and inaction that betrayed those innocent young men was widespread.

The tragedy evokes for me a poem I first learned when I was a prep school student, only a year or two older than some of Sandusky’s prey.

“The Present Crisis” was originally written by James Russell Lowell as an anti-slavery statement.[1] It was introduced to me in chapel service as a hymn, rendered in foreboding and dreadful tone. The stanzas I learned had by then been adapted for Protestant worship, and encapsulate the choice point that may come to define Paterno’s life:

Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide,

In the strife of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side;

Some great cause, God’s new messiah, offering each the bloom or blight,

And the choice goes by forever ‘twixt that darkness and that light.

Paterno’s choice point came not when he reported the incident up the nominal chain of command, but at whatever moment he realized nothing was being done. As the ultimate Big Man on Campus, he had only to say a word, and justice could have been done. It appears that instead of a word, there was a wink and a nod toward presumed institutional interests — Penn State, the football program, and Joe Pa himself — and the choice went by.

---

[1] http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Present_Crisis

iPods and Ain’ts for fans of Music & Serendipity

My wife is a college professor and an executive coach. She does a lot of her work from her home office. She uses two computers and moves from one to the other like she was the keyboard artist for Santana.

Me, I don’t like to do housework, but since she has world-class allergies and we aren’t rich, a lot of the housework falls to me. So I am deeply appreciative to Steve Jobs for the iPod, which allows me enter another world as I mindfully do mindless but essential stuff like dusting.

The iPod is great because it stays with me in my pocket as I go from room to room and floor to floor in my attention-deficit mode of house cleaning. And it’s especially good for vacuuming because I can still hear the music.

I charged up the 32-gigger today in preparation for sweeping, mopping and polishing the kitchen, pantry and mudroom floors.

My iPod tells me it has 3288 songs. I believe I could listen to it 24/7 for three weeks without it repeating anything. Still, I get in a musical rut sometimes, captive to a groove that has me listening to the Spinners, Pharaoh Sanders, Freddy Cole or Beethoven’s Egmont Overture for weeks on end.

Not all of the songs are ideal for cleaning. Like I might be blue about having to clean but Brahms’ Requiem wouldn’t really capture it.

Of course I have playlists. R & B/Soul and Rock are usually good choices for large muscle activities like vacuuming or grass cutting, but I wanted something different today, and nothing came readily to mind.

So I decided to try something new. I went to the menu where all my tunes from Aaron Neville to Zubin Mehta were listed alphabetically by title. I’ve done this with a favored individual artist like Keb’ Mo’ or Robert Cray but never with the entire collection.

I skipped the first few songs, choosing to start with Roy Meriwether’s smoky nightclub piano jazz trio number that lives up to its name: “After Hours”.

“Affinity”, off a LaVerne Butler cd, followed as a pleasant surprise. It was an instrumental that I didn’t recall being on the singer’s cd.

John Coltrane’s “Africa”, rendered by Conrad Herwig, was up next. I have no idea where I got that cd. Must have been free.

Next came that soul singer of great angst, Walter Jackson, with “After You There Can Be Nothing”. On the same theme but with different sensibilities came three versions of “After You’ve Gone”, performed successively by Joe Williams, Sarah Vaughan and Wynton Marsalis.

This was  starting to be fun! What would be next?

There came a neat change of pace with the lilting and infectious “Aguas De Marco” by Stan Getz. One of the drawbacks of digital music is that you can’t go check the liner notes to learn the name of the vocalist with the pretty voice [reliable authority tells me the voice belongs to the pre-famous Astrud Gilberto].

Then we got to the Aints. B. B. King said he was not going get upset, “Ain’t Gonna Worry My Life”]. Nina Simone came along celebrating [“Ain’t Go No/I Got Life”].

Now we came to a long string of Aints led off by Fats Waller’s “Ain’t Misbehavin’”, interpreted through the incomparable pipes of Johnny Hartman. Steve Tyrell was up next with the same song. Yeah!

The Temptations dropped in with a favorite from 40 years ago: “Ain’t No Sun Since You Been Gone”.

Nina came back with “Ain’t No Use”: there’s nothing that fella could say, he had treated her too mean and she was outta there.

Who could follow Nina but the Queen of Soul?

“Ain’t No Way” has always been one of my all-time favorite Arethas for so many reasons. It’s incredibly soulful, has fantastic brass progressions, Aretha’s own right on time piano, and a lyric of deep wistfulness and extraordinary power. But hey, I like it most because it has such a slow, steady, deep powerful, and rockin’ rhythm: there’s no better slow jam in recorded history.

I was going to play it again, but before I could put down the mop and extract the iPod from my pocket, Aretha started feeling like Nina: she was through with love and came back with “Ain’t Nobody (Gonna Turn Me Around)”.

Seems like both of them knew they weren’t in that real true relationship Marvin and Tammi sang about. But then everybody gets to a point sooner or later where they know that “Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing”.

And when you find the real thing, whether spiritually or romantically, “Ain’t That Good News”? Two versions of that gospel goodie by The Moses Hogan Chorale bookended a song by the same title but totally different lyrics by Sam Cooke. Mercy!

I finished the kitchen floor, put away the tools, came upstairs and sat down and wrote this to the accompaniment of variously, Benny Goodman [“Air Mail Special”], Nikki Giovanni [“Alabama Poem/((I’ve Decided to Make Jesus My Choice) / Peace Be Still)”], Art Blakey [“Alamode”], and Earl Klugh [“Alice in Wonderland”]. 

Can't wait 'til next weekend. I didn't even make it halfway through the "A"s!

It’s supposed to be 60° tomorrow. If, as usual, the Browns are getting drubbed, I will turn off the TV and wash windows to the “B”s, or maybe the “R”s. If that happens, my wife will be so happy I won’t have to play “Ain’t No Way”.

• • •

Anonymous Critics; Race; Belief vs. Conduct

Yesterday evening I removed a comment that had been posted earlier in the day by an anonymous poster. I want to share with you why I did so and to set forth a principle regarding future comments.

The comment in question was a direct attack upon Nneka Slade Jackson. We endorsed Jackson in her race for the ward 4 seat on Richmond Heights city council. (She lost but did far better than most first-time candidates usually do, but that is beside the point.)

This particular Anonymous made a series of claims about Jackson’s lack of fitness for public office, apparently in an effort to rebut our condemnation of the Sun Messenger’s endorsement practices. 

The commenter’s claims were harsh but if true they might have been fair comment. 

I didn’t want to make negative comments about a Real Deal endorsed candidate the basis for our  first occasion for censoring, even if there were elements in the comment  that were false as well as ludicrous on their face. So I did two things: I called Ms. Jackson and I did a limited search of easily available public records.   

Based upon my findings, I removed the offensively inaccurate comment.

Going forward, The Real Deal will immediately remove any similar comments published under the cloak of anonymity. We allow anonymous comments on this site because some people might have good reasons not to disclose their identity. But we will not allow unsubstantiated scurrilous attacks by squirrels. A squirrel is hereby defined as a person who makes anonymous scurrilous attacks on other people.

No offense to squirrels.

• • •

On a related note, an increased number of anonymous comments take issue with our reporting, analysis, and assessments, especially with respect to Richmond Heights. We welcome the dialogue, especially when it deals with specifics. Oftentimes the comments help us to understand where we might have been clearer, or presented us with an opportunity to restate information for some readers who may be new to the issues.

A lot of the anonymous commenters appear uncomfortable that much of what I write deals with race, again with special reference to Richmond Heights. They seem to feel that I put too much emphasis on race. They accuse me, and/or some of the black people I write about, of playing the race card. And they suggest that I am critical of such stellar public officials as Jason Popp, Josh Kaye, Bob Fox and Aaron Burko simply because they are white. 

Balderdash.

I am an equal opportunity critic. A casual perusal of my back posts will find me more critical of certain black folks than I have yet been of esteemed members of the Richmond Heights School District.

A more thoughtful analysis of my reporting will, I believe, warrant the conclusion that I criticize behavior. I criticize the actions of these public employees and officials.

I didn’t call Jason Popp a racist although he admitted using the n-word. Nor  do I think the obsessive desire of Messrs. Kaye, Burko, and Fox to fire the superintendent.

I think I pretty readily argue that life is complex, that humans are complex beings, and that motivation is most often multi-rooted. For instance, a white man can be a racist, as that term is generally misunderstood, yet pull the voting lever for President Obama nonetheless. His neighbor could be married to an African American but think that the president’s policies are horribly conceived, egregiously executed, and that a vote for Obama’s opponent is essential to the nation's survival.

Similarly, Herman Cain… No, skip that.

The point is that my criticism of Jason Popp is not based on who I think he is but on what he did: he routinely used racial epithets with a group of impressionable young black students whose care and education was entrusted to him. He got in their faces and showed disdain for their heritage and culture, for who they were, and for who their parents and grandparents are.

That’s not coaching. It’s child abuse. 

The research says it. 

Ohio law says it. 

And school district policy says it.

But board members Josh Kaye, Aaron Burko and Bob Fox did not publicly acknowledge, even with a thousand legal caveats, the impermissibility of such conduct for months. Even then it took a courageous parent, Nneka Slade Jackson, acting on behalf of an outraged portion of the community, to skillfully and persistently push the school board president to admit in a public forum that well, yeah, that kind of conduct would be inappropriate.

• • •

I will continue to address the conduct of these public officials as I complete my response to another anonymous commenter. I will also focus on the conduct  that is likely to result in multiple findings of misfeasance against the school district by the bevy of public agencies currently investigating Richmond Heights Schools. Then I will to turn to the future and what I hope will be a new course for the school district. 

The hope is based on the outcome of this week’s election and the probability that a new majority will evolve, a majority focused on the education of the children, stewardship of the public trust, and creation of a healthy environment.