Neckboneology

As I ride through the streets of Racine, I hear Black voices of anger. I go out there and see these houses all boarded up. I see some gutted. I see vacant lots and weeds. I see young men standing around doing nothing. I feel so helpless, so hopeless. I wonder what they feel.

These are the thoughts that are shared by many community activists and myself. We all agreed that we are passing from one generation to another, a group of people who are hopelessly locked into a permanent underclass.

Ed Irons, a black Professor of Banking and Finance at Atlanta University says, “Even when the economy is going strong they (Black men) don't get hired. You can't attribute this to anything but institutional racism. America does not want to face this. Racine does not want to face it. At some point it is going to explode.

In the decade of the 1970s, blacks gained on whites in only one broad area: education. As of 1978, the median for blacks had reached 11.9 years of schooling; it was 12.5 for whites. Yet, even these statistics are misleading in one important sense: the quality of public schooling that the blacks are getting in most major U.S. cities has sharply declined. Says Bernard C. Watson, a black Vice President of Temple University in Philadelphia; "The education too many children receive in these classrooms is nothing short of a national scandal, an absolute disgrace."

To make matters worse, women now head 30% of all black households, a fact stemming partly from the rate of illegitimate births; it is six times as high among black women as white. One startling example: 42% of Chicago's births in 2000 were out of wedlock; 80% of the mothers were black. The welfare rate of black women heading families is a devastating more than 50%.

Politically, the blacks have made substantial strides in the past ten years. There are black mayors in Los Angeles, Washington, Detroit, Atlanta and New Orleans, and black councilmen and black judges in respectable and growing numbers across the nation—some 4,600 black elected officials in all. Racine has its own six African Americans, holding seven elected positions. We can even boast that we have an African-American President.

The president recently stressed personal responsibility in his speech at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's 100th Anniversary convention, saying that black parents must tell their children that their disadvantages in an unequal society are not an excuse for personal failures. "No one has written your destiny for you," he said. "Your destiny is in your hands – you cannot forget that. That's what we have to teach all of our children: no excuses. No excuses."

But, what happens when doors are closed in the face of those that we have told that they have no excuses. What do we tell those that are being locked up and out of the American dream?

We must asked ourselves is the election of a Black or mixed president a signal that everything is all right now. I think not. Let me ask you, have you noted any suffice change in the City of Racine since Obama’s election? Has crime gone down and employment gone up in the Black community? Are the Black leaders and Black elected officials being invited to the table more to help carve out the destiny of Racine? Again I would say, “I think not.”

What is very notable is that others are saying what is best for the African American community, rather than getting constructive comments from those that it is impacting.

Would it be great if our senior Alderman Q. A. Shakoor II, President of the City Council would convene a listening session in the council chambers where the minority community could speak out on their concerns? Something that I again doubt will happen.

It is becoming more and more apparent that Racine’s minority community is lacking of tangible leadership. The organizations that Blacks have traditionally turned to for answers are vastly becoming irrelevant in helping find solutions to the urban problems we face in Racine each day.

Today, Black elected officials should express what they are doing to shape the future of our community. It shouldn't rest in just the hands of those who shaped the past.

The two major challenges we face are that our today’s leadership is able to illustrate they're still relevant at this point in time and illustrating what it is that they do.

What do you think? Your comments are welcome.

Will the next mayor of Racine be Black

And the plot thickens. First State Representative Robert Turner, an African American, and a veteran politician, announced that he would be a candidate for Racine’s mayor after former mayor Gary Becker was caught in a child sex sting operation at Brookfield Mall in Milwaukee.
In January, Representative Turner in a press release said, “I believe I not only have the tools, but the honesty and integrity to restore credibility and fiscal responsibility to the Mayor’s office in Racine.” He seemed to be one of the top contenders until bloggers started to question whether he planned to give up his state position if he elected.

Soon after Turner entered the race, State Representative Cory Mason hurriedly exited out of the competition.

Then, enter Kim Plache, a well-known community leader in Racine, and former state senator turned community activist. She joins the ranks of a growing number of candidates seeking the city’s top post and seems to rank high among voters. Shortly after her announcement, she was quickly criticized for being a “carpetbagger” when she decided to rent an apartment and move back into the city from Mt. Pleasant. She was also looked at unfavorably by bloggers for jumping out of the Racine Unified School Board race and into the Mayoral race.

Now the name of John Dickert, a Real Estate Broker and a Political Analyst for WRJN, has again surfaced as a most likely candidate for the open seat. Some years back, many feel that he ran a nasty campaign against Rep. Turner. After losing that election, Dickert has been somewhat salient in the political front.

Interesting you say. Wait and second, there’s more. While we were preparing this article, Mr. Shakoor II, another African American, walked through the door and handed us a press release announcing that he had decided to tip his hat towards being a mayoral candidate.

At this time, it is exciting to see three qualified African-American candidates seeking the top city office as mayor.

Let’s take a look at our choices. Robert Turner: For many years, Robert “Bob” Turner has been the war house for the Dems Party, and throughout his political career has been very pro union, voting an almost perfect union vote during his tenure in Madison. He was a longtime Alderman holding the seat that Shakoor II holds now for over 20 years. In my opinion Turner would rank high among the general voters as well as the African American community voters. Let me also add that Turner has announced that if he's elected he will give up his seat at the state captol.

Yet statesman like Shakoor II has always shown the drive, and hard work that is necessary to win elections like the one we are witnessing unfold. Well liked by the majority community, and gifted with the Obama personas, “Q’ could be a spoiler in this race.

One of three women to hop in the race is Lesia Hill-Driver, the Director of the Dr. John Bryant Center, and as the only African-American female candidate left in the race, could also make a surprise finish. Hill-Driver, who served as a member of the County Board for 10 years, also is no stranger to galvanizing large blocks of voters. Recently, when former Mayor Gary Becker threatened to close down several community centers, Hill-Driver was able to mobilize over 500 voters over night.

The Insider News wants to know how each of these as well as all the candidates feel about issues prevalent to the African American community.

We have compiled four questions that we are asking each candidate. Their responses on video will be posted on our web/blog site at Racineinsider.blogspot.com for your viewing. Already, Jody Harding, and Greg Helding have been interviewed and can be seen on our web/blog site.
Feel free to share your comments with us.