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EDITORIAL AND OPINION/tT^e Charlotte $at
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Clje Cljarlotte
The Voice of the Black Community
1531 Camden Road Charlotte, N.C. 28203
Gerald O. Johnson ceo/publisher
Robert L. Johnson co-publisher/general manager
Herbert L. White editor in chief
EDITORIALS
How 10 lax
for uptown
art plan
Lawmakers’ interests
served by staying on
speaker’s good side
In. Ralei^, N.C. politics is always in season, and the fate of
House Speaker Jim Black is the topic du jour. But
the embattled Mr. Black has support in the
Legislative Black Caucus, which staked.its posi
tion solidly behind him.
Although a handful of fellow Democrats have
called for Mr. Black’s resignation amidst allega
tions of campaign finance misdeeds, liis Afiican
American allies are steadfast in remaining in his
camp. Politically speaking, it’s easy to see why
Throughout his tenure as speaker, hhr. Black has
Black
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Consideration of boosting tax
on Wachovia property a start;
rental-car support is key
Nagin places black voters in a bind
Ray Nagin is in a political
bind. A former cable 'TV exec
utive, he was dected mayor
of New
Orleans four
Charlotte City Council’s decision to raise property taxes to help
pay for arts projects surely will set the anti-tax crowd to howling
about government’s abiise of taxaticai, but it’s necessary to
increase the community’s quality of life.
City leaders want to get the financing in order for $150.5 mil
lion in facilities that would include new museums and theatres
in center city The catch is theyll need the backing of the car-
rental industry, which would’ve seen its percent^e of arts-relat-
ed taxes rise to 15 or 16 percent. As it is, the city decided to
increase car rentals to 14 percent, an increase of only 3 percent
that would lower the rental tax’s share by an estimated $11 mil-
Hon.
Ib make up the differaice, the city will tack on a minimum of
$11 rmllion in property taxes earned by Wachovia’s South Ityon
Street complex. An office tower and several other buildings
would include a new Afro-American Cultural Center and Mint
Museum, perfoiming arts theater and modem art musexim as
well as a renovated Discovery Place.
Council members contend going this route is a no-brainer. The
extra property tax money will be available because the
Wachovia project will be worth as much as $800 million, more
than twice the original projection. That’s good news. The bad
news is all that conjecture is based on the arts project going up.
If Wachovia decides the arts aren’t worth the risk and goes
strictly with an office tower, the city could lose out on centraliz
ing much of its publidy-funded arts and culture facilities.
Even with those plans, there’s stall the task of convincing the
car rental industry to go along with the plan. It won’t be easy
Charlotte visitors don’t rent the majority of vehicle here. It’s
city, residents who in essence make the industry profitable.
Concessions to the rental industry — including a seat on the
tourism and Arts & Science Council boards — are under consid
eration. No one knows if that’ll be enough to win the industry’s
support.
Wachovia is building a new tower - with or without the arts
facilities. We think it’s worth the effort to make it possible,
because the entire community benefits finm programs and ser
vices provided by the likes of the Afix» Center and Discovery
Place. The city’s property tax plan has merit and is a good next
step to realizing the uptown arts goal. Ifthe rental industry can’t
be convinced to accept the tax, Charlotte may have to dig a little
deeper for financing.
years ago
with strong
support from
the corporate
community.
Blacks voted
against him
and after his
first term in
office, they remain convinced
that diey made the right deci
sion.
Entering Saturday’s elec
tion, the corporate communi
ty has abandoned Nagin in
favor of two white candidates,
Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu and
former Chamber of
Commerce Chairman Ron
Forman. Nagin has no
chance of getting re-elected
without carrying the black
vote, the very people that
rejected him four years ago
and, many say, he rejected
while serving as mayor.
Now the charismatically-
chaUenged Nagin is plaster
ing billboards throughout the
city urging people to vote for
“our mayor.”
Not only is Nagin in a bind,
he has placed black residents
of New Orleans in one as
wdl. They are faced between
voting for Nagin, knowing
that he has not served them
well, or helping a white per
son became mayor of a city
with a two-thirds black
majority for the first time in
nearly three decade.
According to a poll conduct
ed last month by Ed Renwick,
director of the Loyola
University Institute of
Politics, Landrieu was lead
ing the mayoral field with 27
pa:cent of the vote, followed
by Na^n with 26 percent and
Forman with 16 percent.
More than one in five voters
were imdecid-
ed. I
Among Black
voters, Nagin
led with 41
percent, fol
lowed by
Landrieu with
28 percent.
Forman, who
Nagin
was endorsed by the New
Orleans Times-Picayune and
is the favorite of big business,
received 30 percait of the
white vote. Wth 22 candi
dates vying for mayor, a May
20 runoff is all but certain.
Landrieu would pose a
major challenge for Nagin.
His father, the last white
mayor of New Orleans, was
considered a progressive part
of the ‘New South” and hJred
Afiican-Americans in
unprecedented numbers.
Landieu’s sister is a U.S. sen
ator. And more than any
other candidate, he has been
able to fashion a bi-racial
coalition of voters.
Despite early predictions
that Hurricane Katrina
would wash out black politi
cal power in New Orleans,
early indications are that
black voting strength in this
election wfil be equivalent to
what it was four years ago.
Althou^ final figures won
not available at press time,
durii^ the first four days of
early voting last week,
Afiican-Americans made up
70 percent of voters. That
compares favorably to the 68
percent Black population of
New Orleans and 65 percent
Black electorate.
Ts understand the dilemma
of black voters in New
Orleans, we must remember
that it hasn’t been all that
long that we’ve had Afiican-
Americans control City Hall,
even in predominantly black
cities Hke Sebna, Ala. and
Jackson, Miss. One of the
mantras of the modem civil
rights movement was: “We
want a Black face in a high
place.”
Supreme Court Justice
Clarence Thomas painfully
reminds us that having a
Black face in a high place is
not enough If that black face
is goit^ to vote against the
interests of Afii.can-
Americans, we’re better off
with that black face being in
a low place. Or, better yet, no
place.
For the past month, I have
•been co-moderating mayoral
debates/forums for the candi
dates in Houston, New
Orleans, Atlanta and Baton
Rot^e. In Houston and New
Orleans, Nagin boasted that
he is the candidate with the
best record and therefore,
best qualified to serve as
mayor.
He didn’t mention that he
was MIA for several days, or
that he failed to carry out his
own evacuation plan for peo
ple without transportation.
He said simply judge him on
his record.
The record shows that until
shortly before Nagin filed for
mayor, he had been a regis
tered Republican. And while
in office, he committed politi
cal suicide by endorsing an
unsuccessful Republican can
didate for governor. TOth his
ranting and cursing immedi
ately following Katrina, Gov
Kathleeen Blanco, a
Danocrat, wasn’t inclined to
work hand-in-hand with a
mayor who had sought h^
defeat.
Now, Nagin wants bladss to
trust him to be “our mayor.”
Yet, he has said nothir^ on
the campaign trad or in his
position papers that would
indicate that the Ray Nagin
today is any different fix)m
the Ray Nagin that aban
doned Afiican-Americans
before and diuii^ Katrina.
Nagin shotddn’t get a pass
simply because he’s black.
We’ve gone down that road
too often with too many politi
cians. Let all of them compete
for the black vote. Let’s hear
all of the plans for restoring
the Lower 9th Ward and
making sure black business
owners get a fare share of city
jobs and contracts. It shcruld
be on that basis that a candi
date receives our vote. Not
because they have placed us
in a political bind.
GEORGE E. CURRY is editor-
in-chief of the National
Newspaper Publishers
Association News Service and
BlackPressUSA/rom. To contact
Curry or to book him for a speak
ing engagement, go to his Web
site, www.georgecurryjcom.
Next step in Hispanic mobilization
The rec«nt mobilization of
Hispanics in many cities
around the covmtry was an
exceptionally important
event that has serious politi
cal consequences. However,
for it to yield
assigned several Afiican American lawmakers to prominait
positions as committee chairs, including Rep.
Beverly Earle (Appropriations and Aging) and
Pete Cunningham, who as special assistant to
Black, is an ex-officio member of every committee.
Reps. Earle and Cunningham are fiom Charlotte;
Speaks Black, who is firom Matthews, maintains
his practice of doling out money to adies through
a blank-check contribution scheme funded by
optometrists broke no laws.
As a group, the LBC is in good position to lever
age its influence. Its 19 House members can be the difference
between Mr. Black staying on the job (provided he
can avoid prosecution and prison) and being put
out to pasture. If there’s sufficient momentum to
replace him, the caucus could provide the swing
votes to pick a successor.
UNC Charlotte political science chairman Tfed
Arrington put it best last week “If you jump ship
too soon and Black wins, he’s going to be (upset).
“If you stay too long, you miss out on with the
(new) speaker. That’s a pohtical Catch-22 that
happens all the time.”
Nfr. Black has proven to be a skilled politician who has escaped
his share of scrapes. If he manages to wriggle out of this jam,
he’ll no doubt reward those who’ve stuck by his side. If not, the
LBC had best be ready to look for another benefactor.
the fiifit that
is intended,
there should
be some
equally seri
ous changes.
First, the
mass demon
strations had
the advantage
of being nar
rowly targeted to the situa
tion of imdocumented work
ers in a way that tied it to the
legislation and provoked
dear and direct, messages.
This movement rejects the
attempt to criminalize vmdoc-
umented immigrants and
feels that its contribution to
the American economy earns
it a place of respect and per
manence as dtizens in this
country
From my reading of. the
demonstrations they would
accept a guest worker status
as outlined in the McCain-
Kennedy legislation.
This biU, that was approved
by the Judidary Committee
12-6, would allow the nearly
12 million undocumented
workers to apply for tempo
rary residait status for six
years. Then, they could pay a
$2,000 fine for entering ille
gally, and if Ihey maintain a
dean work, pohee, tax and
other records they could*
apply for a green card to work
legally and get in line for dti-
zenship.
This bill, however, was
derailed by Right Wing
Republicans who want to
scuttle anything that looks
like an amnesty program,
which is what they consider
Ihe “guest worker” bUl. And
so, they began offering
amendments on the floor to
what supports^ of McCain-
Kennedy thought was a
dosed deal.
This was evidence that
there are two wings of the
Republican party that are
irreconcilable on this issue:
one which favors growers and
corporations who exploit
cheap labor and the other
wing which has an imforgiv-
tng(somesayracdst)“law and
ord^” posture toward undoc
umented immigrants. This
conflict means that nothii^ is
hkdy to be done.
This puts the Hispanic
movement in some difficulty
because what was an advan
tage of the mobHization risks
becoming a hability because
it may not result in obtaining
a quick legislative victory and
thus, the fires of the move
ment could go out.
This means that the orga
nizing agenda needs to cap
ture the moment and to be
broadened in ways that bring
on coalition partners, both
amor^ documented workers
and Hispanic-American dti
zens, as well as other immi
grants of color and Black
Americans.
The stakes are high.
Speakers at the rallies said
that today they would protest
today, but in November they
woTold vote. In fact, if nothing
happens to move their ^en-
da, their anger about that
should be stoked as the fuel
which turns on voter turnout
in big numbers.
The real prospects are that
a strong Hispanic vote, com
bined with those of other
groups in a coalition, could
help to change the political
complexion of the U.S.
Congress and set up condi
tions for lightening to strike
in 2008 as well.
The possibility exists.
Between 1998 and 2002,
Hispanics increased their
pohtical participation sub
stantially Registration
increased by nearly 20 per
cent and voting increased 10
percent. If this rate of
increase takes place again
this year, Hispanic turnout
could match black turnout,
but the combined turnout of
both could add a powerful
blow to the political system as
it is.
This depends of course, on
whether the anger of
Ihspanic voters causes them
to overcome their experimen
tation with the Right wing
sham pohtics of the
Repubhean party which
fooled them and some Blacks
with gay-marriage as an
issue in 2004, leading
Hispanics to give them 45
percent of their vote.
This mobihzation might
also cause Hispanic men to
turnout in big numbers as it
did for blacks after the
Million Man March of 1995,
when the following year, two
million more black males
went to the polls. Like blacks,
Ihspanic women vote on an
average of 5 pmmt or more
than Hispanic men, but the
mobilization that is occurring
could become a strong moti
vation for their men to step
up and vote.
I tmderstand the problems
that immigration has caused
low-wage black male work
ers. But in some quarters
blacks have significant
resources and it is possible to
negotiate an agenda which
would find them supporting
Hispanic issues of legaliza
tion and access to human
rights and Hispanics sup
porting fair access by blacks
to low-wage jobs.
The leadership of both
groups and indeed, others
that are relevant, need to get
down to work. The stake are
high.
RON WALTERS is the
Distinguished Leadership
Scholar, Director of the African
American Leadership Institute
and Professor of Government and
Politics at the University of
Maryland College Park.