Race matters
As The Hollies sang, “The road is long/with many a winding turn/that leads us to who knows where.” Who knows where. Such is the state of dialogue about race here in T-Town.
Take His Esteemed Honorable Mayor, Dennis Michael Collins. During the campaign against an incumbent African-American mayor, Collins famously told the NAACP that racial profiling doesn’t exist in Toledo. As the crowd rumbled, Collins waxed poetic as only he can, about policy and FBI statistics.
When sitting Mayor, Mike Bell, was asked the same question about the existence of racial profiling, he gave a single word answer: “Yes.”
Collins spent the remainder of the campaign trying to explain away his profiling denial with stories from the 1950s, of how delighted he was when his childhood neighborhood was first integrated. Not delighted enough to continue to live there into adulthood, of course, and Collins now lives in the lily-white bastions of South Toledo.
Driving while Black
The profiling-denier Collins fell backward into the mayor’s seat in the same Twenty Thirteen election that narrowly seated Councilman Larry Sykes. Sykes quickly proceeded to declare that he was pulled over by Toledo Police for what he claimed was no apparent reason. In a letter to the Chief of Police he went further, stating the only conceivable reason for being stopped was that he was “profiled.”
Condemnation was swift and severe. Police unions called for his resignation. Details of the traffic stop emerged. Sykes had no front plate, and his back plate, a vanity plate that translated to “Driving While Black,” was obscured by a plastic cover. Sykes removed the cover after the story went ballistic, and then spent weeks claiming he never said he was “racially” profiled, just “profiled.” No explanation on what basis. Then he said he was through talking about the incident.
Sykes has since changed his plate number to the random set of three letters and three numbers. And the issue of whether racial profiling is a problem in Toledo got pushed further into the closet.
Then came last year’s highly publicized deaths of African-American males at the hands of police in Ferguson, Staten Island, and Cleveland, coupled with nationwide protests, followed by the murder of two police officers in New York at the hands of a mentally ill man. And the rift between New York Mayor DeBlasio and the New York City Police Department, culminating in officers turning their backs during DeBlasio’s speeches at funerals for the slain policemen.
Enter the usual local suspects, The Activists. Or, The Opportunists. Local folks who latch onto the latest protest movement to satisfy their penchant for waving signs and chanting, seemingly without desire to do the hard work of social change—organizing average folks, working with policy makers, or developing proposals to make a difference at the local level. Screaming on street corners is so much more satisfying. And so much easier, as it avoids accountability.
There they were, predictably disrupting the MLK, Jr. Day event at UT, chanting “Hands up, don’t shoot” to a crowd of predominantly African-Americans before parading from the hall. Using an event organized by the hard work of others to sate their own egos.
We applaud that they reminded black citizens that black lives matter. It was just as meaningful as waltzing through a recent meeting of City Council to remind Council, with its five black members, that black lives matter. Sure wouldn’t have known it if The Activists hadn’t said so.
Dialogue now
Back to Old Man Collins. Never one to keep his ample foot out of his big mouth, he used the appointment of new Chief of Toledo Police, George Kral, to make his comments on the situation. Referring to the events in New York, he opined that DeBlasio turned his back on the New York police long before they ever turned their backs on him. He never explained how he would know, or why he felt the need to co-opt Kral’s big day to make his opinions known.
But Collins didn’t stop there. A former police officer, his voice rose to a whine as he blasted DeBlasio as just a “politician,” who has no idea what it takes to be a cop. Collins went on to slam elected officials as having no convictions, instead blowing in the wind to whichever position is most expedient. Apparently Collins, who blows harder than the most intense gale, forgot that he, too, is now an elected official, currently embroiled in stalled contract negotiations with the police union. Not turning his back, though.
Kral, to his credit, took the opportunity to discuss the need to make sure there is a strong connection between the police and the community they serve. His speech was an eloquent and well-considered response to recent events focused on his tenure and the needs of Toledo.
That’s where we are in early Twenty Fifteen. A mayor who has no clue about race in the town he governs. Activists who would rather hoot and holler than make a difference. A councilman who had the opportunity to start an important dialogue and lost it instead.
And a Chief of Police who wants that dialogue now. Perhaps we’ll make it after all.
