[Peace-discuss] "Race relations" and mayoral responses to N-G questionnaire

[David Green]

“Perhaps mostintellectually debilitating of all is a third assumption: namely, that anysituation involving people of European descent and people of African descentautomatically falls under the heading ‘race relations’. Argument by definitionand tautology thereby replaces argument by analysis in anything to do withpeople of African descent. Probably a majority of American historians think ofslavery in the United States as primarily a system of race relations—as thoughthe chief business of slavery were the production of white supremacy ratherthan the production of cotton, sugar, rice and tobacco. One historian has goneso far as to call slavery ‘the ultimate segregator’.  He does not ask why Europeans seeking the‘ultimate’ method of segregating Africans would go to the trouble and expenseof transporting them across the ocean for that purpose, when they could have achievedthe same end so much more simply by leaving the Africans in Africa. No onedreams of analyzing the struggle of the English against the Irish as a problemin race relations, even though the rationale that the English developed forsuppressing the ‘barbarous’ Irish later served nearly word for word as arationale for suppressing Africans and indigenous American Indians. Nor doesanyone dream of analyzing serfdom in Russia as primarily a problem of racerelations, even though the Russian nobility invented fictions of their innate,natural superiority over the serfs as preposterous as any devised by Americanracists.”--- 

Barbara JeanneFields, “Slavery, Race and Ideology in the United States of America”

News-Gazettequestion: Describe what you would do concerning race relations.

Deb Frank Feinin: 

“I will continueto support the community coalition, the summer youth employment program, andefforts by our Police Department to engage with the public. I support increaseddiversity training and cultural sensitivity training in all departments at theCity. I will continue to actively engage people one on one, by attendingmeetings, and at community events. I will continue to support economicdevelopment aimed at minority contractors and minority-owned small businessesas well as working to improve infrastructure in lower-income neighborhoods. Iwill continue to support breaking public works projects and other contractsinto smaller bids when we can in order to provide a better opportunity forsmaller businesses and minority-owned businesses to bid.”

Karen Foster

“My strengths inbuilding partnerships and community coalitions will play a key role inimproving race relations throughout our city. Currently, I have been workingwith diverse groups in the city to listen to their concerns and work with citydepartments to help them. I believe a concentrated effort of economicdevelopment with small and minority businesses will create an environment ofeconomic prosperity for all people in our community. I would participate in theCommunity Coalition as an active member. I would continue to attend as manymeetings and events as possible to be a presence so that citizens would be ableto speak with me on an individual less formal level, if necessary. I believethat communication is the key and I have excellent communication skills. Plus,I already know personally many of the minority community leaders such asmembers of the NAACP, Community Coalition, and others which will serve as apathway to address concerns as they come up, and to collaborate with to findsolutions to those issues.”

Don Gerard

“During my tenureI have spent a great deal of time working to dignify everyone in the city tothe point of being told by a very conservative friend, "the Republicansfeel like you're not doing anything for them because you're always in the blackchurches and neighborhoods." I would say that was a bit of an exaggeration;however, it does reflect the change I have made in how the role of mayor isperceived. I am proud to have appointed an unprecedented number of people ofcolor, women and young people to boards and commissions as I feel those bodiesshould reflect our community's population. I am proud to have been mayor as wewelcomed Chief Cobb and believe his backing of the Community Matters programwill help us all continue to bring together our entire community. We must keepmoving forward together.”

Joe Petry

“A lot of goodwork has been done but there is still a great deal that needs to be doneconcerning race relations. I believe that a continuing dialogue between thecommunity and the city is imperative. There is a need to develop trust andmutual respect and not just when there is a crisis or situation. I wouldcontinue to work with elected officials and community members to make suretheir voices were being heard and that needs were being addressed in a way thatwas meaningful and productive.”


 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20150327/10b2ec37/attachment.html>