Rampant Racism at BOCC
There is no discussion in all of politics that I detest more than talks of race. The fact that it is 2013 and there are people who still find it necessary to insert race into the public lexicon is disconcerting.
Atlanta based rap/metal band Stuck Mojo said it perfectly, “No one with any intelligence will deny that a great atrocity was committed against the black race at the hands of white settlers of this country, but a wound cannot heal if it is continuously re-opened.”
Over the last week, some members on our very own Board of County Commissioners have been seriously picking at the scar.
We can begin at last Tuesday’s BOCC meeting during the talk regarding the eventual tax increase. Commissioner Ridenhour was referencing something that a previous Commissioner had said and was uncertain as to whether it was Commissioner Dunlap or Fuller.
In a bizarre offhanded comment, Dunlap suggested that “we all look alike”, referring to the fact that both he and Commissioner Fuller happen to be black and ascribing to Ridenhour that race was the reason he couldn’t remember who had said what.
Now certainly, an uncomfortable laughter followed, as well as boos from the audience (which can not be heard in the video), but the comment is absolutely no laughing matter and has no business being uttered in a public forum by an elected official.
Fast forward to last Friday where County Commission Vice-Chair Kim Ratliff suggested that in looking for a new County Manager (following the recent firing of Harry Jones) that the search should be focused on finding a “non-white male who can bring good working relations with all people.”
Deflecting push-back on her overtly race based comments, Ratliff defended her position by attempting to clarify. “I wasn’t saying for white men not to apply,” Ratliff told WBTV on Monday. “What I was saying was we had a white male county manager. We had a black male. It’s a given those two genders and races will apply. I’m saying to the ladies of every race – take a chance at it.”
So now, rather than seeking a race based discriminatory hiring practice, the defense postulated is that a gender based hiring practice is what she actually meant…as if that’s any better.
Both of these Commissioners need to join the rest of us in 21st century America. If the goal is for a color blind society where ability and content of character are the desired methods for hiring practices and if we ever hope to move beyond the days of “blame race first”, both Dunlap and Ratliff need to look hard in the mirror and learn that such arbitrary uses of race peddling no longer have a place in our society. They are causing more harm than good.
Another milestone passed on the road to Detroit.
the future for detroit on the catawba?;
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130622/OPINION01/306220006/
I am glad George said that- Christian don’t be so naive, they hate white people. And it is not only some of the African Americans on the board who are racist. Dr. Vilma Leake,one of Meck’s most beloved civil rights leaders, has correctly pointed out that Dumont ClarkE is a classic racist. And if Dr. Leake says it, that is good enough for me.
If the comments from Ms. Ratliff are accurate, she should recuse herself from the County Manager selection process.
Zon- how could they not be accurate? They have her saying what she said on video. She hates white males. I am glad to know where I stand with her. As for me I am not that crazy about morbidly obese African American females, especially if they chew gum. It is what it is, what can I say bro?
Rick,
I don’t think she “hates” white males, although I think a lot of what looks like “hate” is jealously of a myth she and many others have in her community about the “affluence” of whites. Something that one of my black criminal justice professors at the University of Delaware used to stress was that whites didn’t understand the “black experience in America”. To some degree, the man had a point, and it is very valid. However, that point is lost when it becomes an excuse and a crutch.
The thing now is people like Ms. Ratliff and I’ll even include Obama in this, is that they don’t understand the “modern white experience in America”. They don’t seem to grasp that we’re not fat and happy and have money to throw away. A lot of us are stressed beyond healthy, whether from our jobs, where we’re working twice as hard for less money than we made ten years ago in real terms, or from other obligations that force us to try to be in two and three places at the same time. They don’t understand that we just don’t have the money to pay the taxes they want for programs that have forced us to pull our children out of the public schools. Also, they don’t get the fact that we’re tired of hearing that their issues are our fault. That doesn’t make us racists. Most of us wish to treat people as people as long as everyone plays by the same rules and doesn’t use status to divide.
Charlotte is a minority city now. White people will continue to vote with their feet.
A really sad thing.
Kim Ratliff, Vilma Leake, Harold Cogdell and LaWana Mayfield all attended Louis Farrakhans last gathering in Charlotte.
.
This is the same Farrakhan and Nation of Islam that are on the SPLC’s list of hate groups, yet the above mentioned elected officials touted what great work Farrakhan was doing. Leake sat behind him on stage.
.
Here’s Mayfield, a lesbian, stating that this racist, bigot who denounces gays, is doing God’s work. Here is her quote: “Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan at Little Rock AME Zion Church doing God’s will not his own,” Mayfield wrote”.
.
You voted these racist clowns into office and have no one else to blame for it.
.
The really sad fact is, they don’t care and it’s only going to get worse.
This is the same Farrakhan and Nation of Islam that are on the SPLC’s list of hate groups, yet the above mentioned elected officials touted what great work Farrakhan was doing. Leake sat behind him on stage.
>>>> Calypso Louie (Farrakhan), who claims rides in UFO’s once declared
Obama is The Messiah. Nuff said.
Just needed to read the comments to assure myself racism is alive and well in Charlotte.
i am with you will- I am saddened and bewildered by the racism of Kim R, George D et al.
Today racism is defined as “not allowing me to vote for Larry Kissell though I live in Mel Watts district.”
I completely agree with your article . Our BOCC has become a laughter in the community and really needs to step back to see that. It scares me deeply that I am going to send our county a check at the end of this year to trust them going forward. The racist over tone is so unprofessional and for Dunlap to “joke” about it is disturbing. BOCC lacks solid leadership and is in for a serious wake up call.
13 % of this country is in unbelievable denial, with a community sense of entitlement, while getting more and more obese and violent.
13%? Where does that stat come from exactly? You want to see “entitlement”? read on:
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/06/25/4129063/lender-hosts-tillis-event-after.html
I would suggest this statistic is what Bazinga was referring to:
~
US Census – Black persons, percent, 2011 13.1%
Yeah this is why Republicans will never win again.
Whatya gonna do if they do win again?
Will be less than 10% in a few years as the Democrats flood America with new;y minted ‘citizens.’ Under progressives, blacks suffer more than any other group, yet ironically, remain firmly planted on the Dem Massa’s
‘plantation.’ Go figure….
Interesting. I assume I am in the “13%” have never had a sense of entitlement. I am fit, a biker, a runner, a swimmer, and have never been violent. And, I am sure to your disbelief, NONE of my “13%” friends have ever been violent, nor as anyone from their families. But, of course, you must clearly know all 13% of the population you refer to….
So youre one of the 1% of the 13% who don’t just click the D button in the voting booth, who believe that your position in life is due to your choices and not some vague white privilege, and who doesn’t agree with 100% of the things Obama does while having disagreed with the same exact policy when Bush was President?
Christian – I am amazed you do not include the overtly racist comments of Bill James in your recount of “rampantt” County Commissioner comments.If a black politician had called the banking employees who helped create the recession or the GOP state leaders taking money from vested interests (gambling, high-cost lending) as “living in a moral sewer” I wonder what Pundit House would have had to say. Congratulations – you have achieved Stephan Colbert’s definition of “truthinews.”
James remarks are usually about culture. Have you ever heard him make a direct comment that someone should be disqualified for a job simply due to ethnicity? Too many are looking for men in white sheets while their kids are all running wild in the streets.
Seats. Have several. And if you don’t know what that means, look it up.
We should get rid of them all and start over. Only requirement for being a Commissioner is that you don’t even think about race as an issue.
As long as there different colored people in the world humans will always think about race.
White people…work harder,faster and be more productive. The new crop of politicians here in charlotte need your money.
Now your’re being as bad as Ratcliff.
Skyler,
For that,you must now start work at 5:30.
Goes without saying……
Americans, including blacks, view blacks as the most racist segment of the US populations.
From Rasmussen Reports…
Americans consider blacks more likely to be racist than whites and Hispanics in this country.
Thirty-seven percent (37%) of American Adults think most black Americans are racist, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Just 15% consider most white Americans racist, while 18% say the same of most Hispanic Americans. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
There is a huge ideological difference on this topic. Among conservative Americans, 49% consider most blacks racist, and only 12% see most whites that way. Among liberal voters, 27% see most white Americans as racist, and 21% say the same about black Americans.
From a partisan perspective, 49% of Republicans see most black Americans as racist, along with 36% of unaffiliated adults and 29% of Democrats.
Among black Americans, 31% think most blacks are racist, while 24% consider most whites racist and 15% view most Hispanics that way.
Among white adults, 10% think most white Americans are racist; 38% believe most blacks are racist, and 17% say most Hispanics are racist.
Overall, just 30% of all Americans now rate race relations in the United States as good or excellent. Fourteen percent (14%) describe them as poor. Twenty-nine percent (29%) think race relations are getting better, while 32% believe they are getting worse. Thirty-five percent (35%) feel they are staying about the same.