The
local government redistricting process has concluded,
at least the city council aspect, and not a minute too
soon. It has been painful for the black community to watch
its leadership implode, and turn on each other as they
have. Where was Rodney King when we needed him? Oh, that�s
right�they�re holding him for April and the 20th Anniversary
recognition of the 92 riots. Plus, the �all get along�
speech wouldn�t affect these three black city councilpersons
very much - at this juncture. They don�t need motivation
speeches. They need therapy.
Some
are suggesting it is too late for them to make up. I don�t
believe that it is the case. I believe it�s too late to
make up in the redistricting process or to change the
outcome of it. That should�ve been taken into consideration
a little earlier - like before the councilpersons in the
8th and 9th districts decided they wanted to front off
the Council President.
The
historymaking Council President, I might add. It
might have saved the community a whole bunch of �Eeeoooeewwws�
and �Daaaammmnnns,� and as well as might have saved downtown
and Leimert
Park. Contrition is not either
of these councilperson�s strong suits�but it might have
worked in a spirit of cooperation.
Instead,
they went straight at him in the most belligerent manner
they could. And the outcome hasn�t been pretty. The question
is, did the constituents of the 8th and the 9th districts
pay a price for their representatives� belligerence? Probably,
but then there may be a lesson here.
The
problem here was that these politicians representing the
8th and 9th district forgot who had the real power in
this process, and were so arrogant and belligerent that
they made a mockery of the process, and of themselves.
You
can�t talk to people any kind of way, or talk down to
people and expect them to come to your aid when your tail
gets caught in a trap. And that was the case with both
these councilpersons. They both talk crazy to you, their
colleagues, their constituents and then they expect you
to ride along with them whether you agree with them or
not. That�s the reputation both these politicians
have garnered, and they handcuffed themselves to each
other.
So
even if you wanted to help one, you couldn�t without
helping the other and that was unfortunate because they
have divergent interests. For instance, this wasn�t the
first time they tried to take downtown out of the 9th
district. They tried ten years ago during the redistricting
process. The difference was that 1,100 people showed up
in support of their councilperson and downtown stayed
put. This time, they could barely pull 300-400, for two
districts, because most of the community stayed away.
What
a difference a decade makes - and so did this new attitude
this same councilperson had from 10 years ago had. The
different attitude brought forth a confliction in the
community.
The
conflict got in the way because one of the councilpersons,
the community wouldn�t spit on if they were set on fire.
The other one, the animus isn�t as great. The community
would probably just turn their back, ignore the screams
and call 911.
The
community was conflicted - but not that conflicted
because they were dissing the City Council President,
who was also from the community, and who - quite frankly
- the community likes. The community is proud of
his accomplishment and expected their leaders to show
deference to it. They didn�t.
So,
as much as the community tried to stay out of it, it wasn�t
much of a choice as to with whom the community would side.
But the absence of contriteness only fueled an impending
fire. The two belligerents ended up crashing and burning,
handcuffed together, while the rest of the City Council
voted 13 to 2 to accept the redistricting plan. They didn�t
go quietly. Not without giving up the ghost first. Toward
the end of the fight, it got BUTT ugly.
I
don�t think I�ve seen this much pimp-slapping take place
in one beat down since Pretty Tony put it down in the
movie, The Mack, forty years ago, with all the
�Damn, Daddy, don�t beat me so hard. I feel your power.
I�m sorry Daddy� pleading goin� on. In fact, I put the
DVD in just to make sure, and sure enough, the Council
President had him beat. The Council President put it on
�em cold. Then you know you gotta� be cold when you b---
slap a cop�and he�s still b--- slappin� him. But they
made him �go there� by disrespecting him in such a publicly
belligerent way.
They
want to cry racism and everything else, but all it really
came down to was showing a little respect, as Aretha once
said. You can�t get love if you don�t give love and the
Council President got no love - and he gave no love. Why
should he? And he didn�t. Not one single once.
Time
will tell if the community pays a price for the loss of
downtown. Leimert Park is now in the Council President�s district, so there may actually
be some economic growth there. One thing we know�
There
is a price for belligerence, it is steep, and Jan Perry
and Bernie Parks paid dearly.
BlackCommentator.com
Columnist,
Dr. Anthony Asadullah Samad, is a national columnist,
managing director of the
Urban Issues Forum
and author of
Saving The Race: Empowerment
Through Wisdom. His Website is AnthonySamad.com. Twitter @dranthonysamad. Click
here
to contact Dr. Samad.
