Wednesday, September 2, 2009
The Great White Nope
Posted by Bruce VanWyngarden on Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 10:42 AM
If you live in one place for a long time, you tend to get cynical about it. At least that's been my experience, having lived in such disparate cities as Pittsburgh, Washington D.C., St. Louis, San Francisco, and Columbia, Missouri, over the past 30 years. Long-time residents of all those cities are convinced that their politicians are the crookedest, that their drivers are the worst, that their clerks are the rudest, etc.
Memphis is no different. To our huge native legion of cynics, we're "the most racist city;" our politicians are all greedy crooks, our crime problem is the worst in America, etc. etc. (Often, the folks making these remarks are the ones who proudly write letters to the paper about how they've "escaped" to Fayette or DeSoto or Tipton counties. I think they're just lonely out there.)
At any rate, I was reminded of our universal provincialism when I read this article, about how Atlanta, a majority black city, like Memphis, may elect a white mayor for the first time in many years. My first reaction was, HA! See, racial politics — just like Memphis. And, yes, the article does point out how some black leaders are calling on one black candidate to drop out, to help assure that the mayor's office stays in the hands of an African American. But what really struck me were the following paragraphs:
And while blacks have been the majority population and voting bloc in the city for decades, the demographics have changed in recent years.
A large voting bloc — residents in the city's public housing — was erased as Atlanta's crumbling projects were demolished over the past decade. And young professionals, black and white, have flocked to opportunity in the city.
In 2000, Atlanta was 33 percent white and 61 percent black. In 2007, the numbers were 38 percent white and 57 percent black, according to the U.S. Census.
In addition, blacks may no longer feel obligated to elect a black mayor, Boone said.
"You have a young generation of blacks — not native to Atlanta — who don't necessarily see that as something that has to happen," Boone said. "They may be staking their vote on matters more critical than race."
This information truly gives me hope. If Atlanta can finally get past racial politics, so can Memphis. If Atlanta can lure young professionals, black and white, back into the city, so can Memphis. If Atlanta can get beyond "racial-majority rules" politics, so can Memphis. Can't we?
Just as we look back and are appalled at the firehoses and bombings and injustices endured by those struggling for civil rights in the '60s, I think the next generation will look back and be appalled at the racial stupidity of the Herenton/ThaddeusMatthews/MikeFleming/SidneyChism/etc. era, when the struggle was all about which skin color gets to wield political power. It won't happen overnight, but Herenton's retirement — if the stars are with us — will at least help stem the unbridled cronyism and attendent cynicism of the past few years. Then, it would help if we could elect a mayor who would govern and hire solely on the basis of competence and the best interest of the electorate. After that, the sky's the limit.
I hope.
Comments (9)
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What is the deadline to file for the special election? Maybe someone will step up who would meet your criteria.
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Hate to say this, but Harold Ford Jr would have made a good mayoral candidate.
Of course, he would have to have an actual interest in Memphis. And an actual desire to do the actual hard work of governing. And actually, he'd have to be an entirely different person that the person he has become.
But I think he would have made a good mayor because he'd be motivated to accomplish something positive for the city so he could use that to run for governor or senator. He'd be the perfect candidate precisely because he wouldn't stick around for very long. Strange to say, but Dubya Diva Herenton's biggest defect was his lack of ambition. He liked being mayor too much.
Being a native Atlantian, and having moved to Memphis a little over a year ago, this article was very appealing. Atlanta truly is moving forward I believe. However, I believe that there is a stark difference between Atlanta and Memphis which will prevent Memphis from following in its footsteps.
Atlanta as a city is viewed by people as a modern city. There are attractions, events, jobs, and communities that draw people to Atlanta. The population of the city is growing, not dwendeling like Memphis. City planners there work on mass scale projects to create all inclusive communties like Atlantic Station. Memphis cant even decide on what to do with its River Front much less the countless other vacant city attractions.
Atlanta can look past race and move forward because they have something to look forward to. I would love to see Memphis capitalize on the many possibilities here which could push us in the right direction, I just dont see it happening.
Bruce, I agree completely. As a returning Memphian I've seen some pretty grumpy people these past three months. Crime is really bad here, true, but we don't all have to move to freakin' Mississippi. The politicians are bad here, mostly, so let's vote them out. Look, we have Cohen now and a few others who show promise.
Living anywhere too long can really hurt your perspective in a big way. I've lived in beautiful rustbelt Ohio, Raleigh (N.C.), London and NYC and people will always tell you that where they are is "not like..." (insert wherever you just came from). people need to get out there and see that we're in a great city and fight for this place.
We need to take our city back and not just give up and move to the sticks or get all racist (see paradiso article comments. wow.) and divisive. we have a great president and congressman representing us. the city people here, i don't know. just really glad willie's gone. he's just terrible.
After reading Bruce's thoughts and seeing AC's new campaign spot on TV I've actually got a little hope going on here. No, wait...it passed. Nice while it lasted.
Bruce, I do agree with you about being cynical of where you live. I am very fortunate and have traveled around the world for past 20 years for both work and recreation. The truly sad part is that I have felt safer in some third world countries than I do walking the streets of Memphis. Don't get me wrong, I am a native Memphian and this city has some great things (the zoo, Dixon Gallery, Brooks, Beale and downtown on weekends, Graceland, parks, golf courses, the main library), it just seems that the city is constantly being bamboozled by the "pet project of the week" instead of focusing its energy on the major problem. In Memphis' case it is crime. This is a multi-tiered problem that begins with basic education, jobs, and breaking the cycle of poverty. Our past leadership has acted like a 6 year old child with ADD, jumping from one project to another with out any seemingly coherent plan.
The root problem as I see it is that the racists in this community have succeeded in disillusioning the rest of the electorate. Racists of any color never account for more than 15% of the vote, and that's a very generous estimate. With Memphis essentially being a one-party city, the possibility exists for an anti-racist majority coalition to emerge. Most of us can agree that candidates who wish to divide the city on the basis of race should not be elected, but we have yet to make any concerted effort to organize ourselves along those lines.
Jeff, if, if, if. If HFJr wasn't a dilletante who wasn't interested in anything involving actually having to work at difficult problems that being a mayor entail, instead of merely appearing on talk shows, he might have made a good mayor.
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