In a time when everything seems to slowly be getting slightly better for everyone except Black folks in Chicago, now is not the time to underestimate why a consensus candidate may make sense for Black Chicagoans.
In a time when everything seems to slowly be getting slightly better for everyone except Black folks in Chicago, now is not the time to underestimate why a consensus candidate may make sense for Black Chicagoans. Now, before I start, I must admit: the Republican, free-market guy in me really wanted to see the best candidate among the African-Americans vying for mayor of Chicago to politically duke it out, allowing the cream to rise to the crop. After all, this is America, and if we can provide an opportunity for a worthy underdog to make a name for one’s self through hard work and talent, then why should I or a slew of arbitrators for other candidates get in the way? Heck, only in America can an immigrant’s son with a funny name broker his way past a field of candidates and a predetermined favorite to become president. I’m all for the mantra of “may the best man win,” even if that means that “man” is actually a woman. However, I have no other choice but to disagree with Mr. Byrne’s op-ed concerning the political immaturity of Black people in Chicago, noted in regards to submitted by my friends over at the Tribune. The article misses the mark because, unfortunately, the writer misses the underlying point on the consensus process: Occasional calls of political immaturity pale in comparison to regular scenes of social calamity. Recently, data has indicated that both violent crime and unemployment are coming down in Chicago and throughout Illinois. Year-end reports this week highlight that violent crime is at its lowest point in decades. Don’t tell that to the Black communities of Chicago. Same with any report that one would offer conveying a positive spin on CPS and the student achievement rates of our young people. The finalization of the consensus – one where an actual person from the “Big 3 for 2011” emerged without an electoral battle on February 22 – says without words what many others are crying out to express but perhaps do not have the actual words (or political positioning) to say: If Black Chicago has not felt as though their needs for jobs, safety, education, and overall economic and social viability as equal citizens within the city are not being adequately met without needing a stronger, more connected persona to the community in the mayor’s office, then why is there such a fuss over political immaturity? If anything, this call to action around a single candidate to connect with – and hold accountable to – the Black communities of Chicago shows the recognition of political and social reality for many of the African-Americans that constitute 40% of the city’s population. Even if I disagree with the basic premise of this exercise in the first place. Yet, with all of the blame that is available to go around amongst leaders in the Black community (and there are some issues to address there) and the lack of parental and community leadership within our neighborhoods (and there is some of that to go around there as well), there is also something to be said about the state of Chicago’s schools and the conditions of its poor and how – or if – leadership in City Hall has effectively dealt with the daily crisis that some have accepted as permanent reality. The Rev. Senator James Meeks brought up the touchy point of minority contracts – an issue that mainstream Chicago took offense to – but his commentary on minority-owned businesses and lack of viable business options for Black businesses is likely a nerve that a consensus candidate would tend to more than, say, a consensus candidate hailing from Washington…uh…the North Side. Although Ambassador Moseley Braun’s New Zealand soirΘe hasn’t seemingly prepared her for dealing with the issues of Black Chicagoans over the next 4 years, the consensus blessing that she has received from Black leadership in Chicago should provide more guidance towards addressing and solving these ills than a curt F-bomb-esque sentiment towards Black leadership might should the other consensus candidate win over the day. Sometimes it’s hard to grin and bear it when the methods and processes of the day override the general principles that one lives by. However, there are times when the evidence of crisis, the inertia of decades, and calls of the disadvantaged dictate to us the need to invoke the old axiom: desperate times call for desperate measures. To anyone paying attention to the plight of Black people in Chicago, it’s pretty clear: the times are desperate. Hopefully, this consensus measure will invoke a maturity throughout Chicago to acknowledge and act on the reality that huge portions of the city cannot continue to go to the waste side (and the cemeteries) without having a huge drain on the best city in the nation. And if that maturity actually leads to us collectively waking up and ending this decades-long nightmare in the Windy City, then all calls about political immaturity will be condoned – and perhaps even overlooked – while we bask in a better, safer, and stronger society for us all.
Copyright 2011 Chicago Defender Lenny McAllister is a syndicated political commentator and the host of “Launching Chicago with Lenny McAllister” on 1690-AM WVON (www.wvon.com) and he will be on BET’s “Our World with Black Enterprise” this weekend. He is the author of the upcoming edition of the book, “The Obama Era, Part I (2008-2010): Diary of a Mad Black PYC (Proud Young Conservative).” Follow him at www.twitter.com/lennyhhr and on Facebook at www.tinyurl.com/lennyfacebook .
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