Mansfield: Snookered

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A pair of Cleveland black leaders got snookered, played like a couple of six-string guitars, by a clever West Sixth Street nightclub owner. Joseph Carey, the white owner of “Lust”, a popular gangster rap hangout in the Warehouse District convinced George Forbes and Rev. E.T. Caviness that racism was the reason police were leaning on his black clientele.

The two upstanding members of the black community rushed into federal court with Carey to prevent the club from being shut down, and, their involvement helped to carry the day for the club owner. The only problem is, the police, in this case, were reacting to thuggish behavior, not skin color. The end result makes it appear that these two pillars of the black community (as well as the black community itself) condone such behavior, which is not the case. The 99 percent of blacks who simply want to go out and have a good time on the weekend abhor negative, ghetto-ish behavior as much as anyone else, and indeed, we’re oftentimes embarrassed by such acting out.

 

But, it’s easy to understand how Forbes and Caviness got played: Untrammeled racism does exist in the Warehouse District, just as it existed on the East Bank of the Flats … where it went unaddressed so long it helped to cause the demise of that area as an entertainment venue … and, left unaddressed, will lead to the demise of the Warehouse District also.

 

It’s right there, in your face: Virtually the only blacks you see working in any restaurant or club in the Warehouse District are busboys. Now it’s nothing wrong with starting a career in the food service industry as a busboy, but it should lead to promotions … to waiter, and perhaps one day manager. But that rarely happens for blacks here in Cleveland. The hospitality industry nationwide is known to be racist, but, while cities in other parts of the country are overcoming the problem, we are, as usual, lagging far behind.

 

The exceptions are the restaurants run by Zack Bruell. He hires and promotes fairly, and has not lost business because of it. One of his top servers (who happens to be a black female) recounted this story: One night at work, when she approached a recently seated white couple and informed them she was to be their server for the evening, the woman asked the maitre d’ to be changed to another table across the restaurant. My friend says that in most cases it’s the wife who is prejudiced, not the husband. A couple of minutes later the same black server approached the couple at their new table and announced she was their server for the evening. Bruell, who quite simply is intolerant of bigots, had simply changed her station. Supposedly, the couple left in a huff, while Bruell smiled. As they say in the streets, “all money ain’t good money.”

 

The same woman believes that most restaurateurs in Greater Cleveland are not racists, they’re simply afraid of losing business by employing blacks in the “front of the house.” If minorities are hired at all, the industry standard hereabouts is one black female (preferably very light-skinned) and one black male (preferably gay).

 

But what if all of the restaurants in town hired and trained minorities? Would the bigots, in protest, just stay away? No, they would grow up and accept fairness like adults do in other cities around the country. The point is, racial tensions are ameliorated in truly integrated environments.

 

If there are problems in the Warehouse District, let’s address them … but all of them. Maybe people like Zack Bruell should be called in to consult. The alternative is to allow the Warehouse District to fall victim to increasing racial tensions and animosities, and end up as dead as the East Bank of the Flats. That doesn’t have to happen. But, mark my words, the Warehouse District is not going to be turned into some kind of apartheid entertainment zone, not in this day and age. Blacks are going to continue to go down there.

 

Reentry Forum

Thankfully, the subject of prisoner reentry is at last gaining more traction. A forum was held last week so the candidates for Cuyahoga County executive could strut their stuff and be queried as to their positions on the subject. Nine out of the 12 seekers of the office showed up, but noticeably absent was the Republican frontrunner Matt Dolan. Wonder why? Nonetheless the questioning went forward, with a few candidates demonstrating a good grasp of the issues facing those returning home from prison; others had a great grasp of the obvious, and others still were virtually clueless.

No matter the question, this one candidate managed to turn the answer towards shipbuilding. Yep, to his way of thinking, a revival of the shipbuilding industry hereabouts will solve all of our problems, even those of folks returning from incarceration. Another candidate, a very nice woman who served in the military, seems to feel that uniforms will solve all of our woes. At first I thought she was talking about school kids wearing uniforms, but then it sounded to me as if she’s suggesting that all county workers wear uniforms … or maybe she meant all residents of the county. In true Sarah Palin fashion, it was kind of hard to tell what she meant.

 

The majority of the candidates, however, fell back to the obvious position of “let’s solve the problem by sending fewer people to prison in the first place.” A good point, but not the focus of the forum. The question at hand was how to help the 10,000 or so people who come back to Cuyahoga County from prison each year land on their feet so they don’t recidivate and cost taxpayers even more money.

 

Nonetheless, it was good to hear that preventing lives from going off the rails in the first place is on some folks radar. Perhaps, if they really are genuine (and I feel that most of them are) we can at last get behind a Harlem Children’s Zone-type program, something I’ve said over and over is the only way to really break the cycle of dysfunctional behavior in underclass families. I know that such a program is being considered locally, but if we implement it in the same manner we implement most programs for the disadvantaged in Cuyahoga County, it will wind up being a spectacular failure. More on that at a later date.

 

Still, if we truly are interested in real reform, perhaps the winner of the county executive post should strongly consider utilizing the talents and ideas of some of the more thoughtful candidates who didn’t win. In particular, the very bright independent candidate and businessman Don Scipione. He has two chances of winning — slim and none — but in a fair and reformed county government he would be tapped for a very high position. Trouble is, we’re probably not yet reformed enough to do something like that. To the victor will go the spoils and in our zero sum game of politics no losers need apply … no matter how talented.

 

The Real Bully Pulpit

Norm Edwards, the head of a local black contractors’ organization, brings new meaning to the term “bully pulpit.” Standing about 6’6″ and weighing in at probably close to 300 pounds, he’s long used physical intimidation to make points for the business owners he represents. He’s been booted out of meetings all over the county for his tactic of engaging in brutal brinksmanship, and recently he got into an altercation with a Hispanic guy after yet another meeting. This guy is threatening to press charges, and I hope he does. A finding of guilty and being placed on probation might be the only way to keep Edwards from seriously hurting someone; if he acts out again after that, give him six months in the workhouse to think things over.

But the plain fact is, Edwards has every right in the world to be angry. The members of his organization have been getting the short end of the stick on construction contracts for years, and everyone at the county level of government knows it. It’s a part of the ongoing county corruption scandal you don’t hear much about. To this point the feds have totally ignored the racial exclusion angle in this dirty “Good ‘Ol Boys” network.

 

Nonetheless, Edwards is going about expressing his outrage totally the wrong way. The guy is like a bull in a china shop … everything he doesn’t break up, he shits on. His methods makes even people who would be sympathetic to his cause dig their heels in because they don’t want the world to see them getting punked out by some big black dude.

 

When the new country government is seated Edwards and his troops will have their best opportunity yet to finally obtain fair treatment; I only hope he doesn’t blow it by trying to physically scare whoever takes over county government into compliance. That’s why they have armed guards at meetings. And if he starts using those tactics out here in the streets someone is, sooner or later, going to bust a cap in his ass. I know that Edwards is not afraid of dying for what he believes in, but I’d rather that he lives and gets his mission accomplished, that would be good for all minorities.

 

Persistent racism has a way of angering people and pushing them right to the edge; I know, I was one of those people. I’m still angry about how we minorities are treated; it’s just that I’ve found a more effective method of righting the wrongs, and it’s working. I hope Edwards finds another way too, before he either has a massive coronary or hurts someone.

 

 

 

 

 

From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://www.frombehindthewall.com.

Post categories:

• News
• Mansfield Frazier
• Civic Affairs
• Commentary