Interesting op-ed article in the Observer that attempts to defend the indefensible called: Where to from here, Black Charlotte? Some excerpts: Our experience as Black Americans, we also know that Cannons arrest will sully the image of black leadership...In November 2009...., I wrote a column under the headline Charlottes last white mayor......In the years since then, nothing has happened to change my assessment of Charlottes political future [implied as being a future controlled solely by blacks in Charlotte]. ....people of color now hold the power to shape Charlottes political and economic destiny. Regrettably, the opportunist will use Cannons arrest....declaring that Charlotte will soon go the way of cities like Atlanta and Detroit. Like it or not, we ARE on the road to Detroit. Taxes in excess of affordability, more poor and less middle class (particularly in Charlotte), more black than white as whites flee to the burbs or to other counties. The author can carp about unfairness or opportunist references to Cannon being Black (though he is the first person in print I saw mention it in relation to Cannons problem); Charlotte was well on the road to Detroit long before Cannon was elected 6 months ago. It started before him. A first rate city isnt one that increases the number of poor and decreases the number of middle class which is what is happening in Charlotte. People with money are leaving and the poor are moving in. But if the author says that ALL future mayors will be black, where does that leave, Dan Clodfelter, Jennifer Roberts, Pat Cotham and other white Democrats? Are they mere tokens to get Black Democrats past the implied stain of this latest chapter? To be used as a temporary filler and later told they are not really worthy to be the elected voter-approved Democrat leader of Charlotte because as the author says we have had Charlottes last white Mayor. If a white guy wrote an article claiming some sort of last black mayor in Charlotte and expounding on how Charlotte would forever be ruled by whites, I wonder what Black leaders in Charlotte (preachers, NAACP, etc..) would have said about such tripe (or why such a thing would matter in a world where individuals are supposed to be judged by the content of their character not the color of their skin). With all the noise about the legal matters, it is possible to forget the ridiculous assertions in this article but the serious under-current that at its core will turn Charlotte into Detroit.
Posted on: Sat, 29 Mar 2014 13:13:37 +0000