MANSFIELD: Tokenism at Its Absolute Worst

The More Things Change (the More They Stay the Same)

By Mansfield Frazier

As a wee tot, back in the late 1940s and early ’50s, my mother — who always wore a hat and gloves whenever she journeyed out and about — would take my brother and me on our annual visit to downtown Cleveland during the Holiday Season to see the bright lights and other sights. My favorite stop was Marrow’s Nut House on Euclid, near Public Square, which always emitted the most delightful smells of freshly roasting cashews, and my favorite, pecans. Nettie Mae (my dear departed mother) only purchased the extra fancy mix, and a large box at that.

One year, it must have been around 1948, as we looked into the window of Higbee’s at the array of miniature people dancing and twirling about, I turned to my mother and asked: “We like Christmas too, why aren’t there any toy people that look like us in there?”

My mother — who, the previous year, had been part of a group of blacks that had picketed outside of May Co. with signs that read, “Don’t shop where you can’t work” — responded that she didn’t know, but was about to find out.

She marched us right into Higbee’s and asked for the manager, and when the man finally appeared (looking miffed that he had been summoned to speak with a colored woman with two kids in tow … no matter how fashionably the trio was dressed) she posed the question to him that I’d posed to her.

He had this quizzical look on his face as he said he wasn’t sure, but that he’d try to find out. I don’t know if my mother ever went back to follow up, so I’m now following up for her.

This year the miniature folks are back in the same windows, caroling, frolicking and having a most wonderful time of it. The only difference now is that the windows belong to the Horseshoe Casino.

And indeed, things have changed, just not by much: There is one clearly identifiable black character out of the 50 or so displayed in the windows, while seven or eight other white characters appear to have been repainted with tan tones, which I suppose was an effort of making them appear other than white; Hispanic maybe — but then, not really. This pretend effort at inclusion failed miserably; the characters are what they appear to be: white people painted brown.

One could suppose this half-hearted effort is progress of sorts from the bygone days when all of the characters were white, but it really isn’t. Maybe some of the characters are representative of the LBGT community, but I would have no way of knowing, now would I?

The fact that one character is clearly black and some others are of color is proof positive that whoever is responsible for the display is indeed aware of the need for inclusion, just as long as it’s not too much inclusion, and the color is “easy” on the eye (that’s code for not “too” dark).

For those who contend this is much ado about nothing, just imagine if you will that all of the characters — except one — were clearly black or brown. I know it’s difficult to stretch the imagination that far, but if that were the case this then would be much ado about something.

There would be howls of indignation, editorials written about it … but then, perhaps not. Race is a third-rail that local media outlets are as afraid of as a hog is a slaughtering knife … they rarely go anywhere near the subject, in spite of the fact of the pervasiveness of it.

What the windows currently reflect is tokenism at its absolute worst; and this in a city that proclaims to be bent on establishing a global reputation for inclusiveness as it attempts to attract immigrants from abroad and convince native born minorities to move to Cleveland from other parts of the country. We’re collectively whistling past the graveyard on this issue, all the while wondering why folks are avoiding moving to Cleveland as if residents here are carriers of the plague. 

If media were serous about addressing this problem one thing that could be done is to initiate a “Diversity Scorecard” for businesses; in other words, call out those businesses that have demonstrated no interest in becoming fair employers. Have a reporter do a survey on who hires fairly, and who does not. But no one should hold his or her breath waiting for that to happen, not around Cleveland.

And that could be a large part of the reason people don’t care to move to Cleveland: they are aware of media timidity in being forthright about the challenges we face, and actually doing something proactive about it … other than just paying mealy-mouthed lip-service. 

Certainly other cities have faced (and some still do) similar situations, but have dealt with it much more openly, aggressively and honestly. Atlanta’s “Too Busy to Hate” campaign of a number of decades ago was a good model and it let minorities know they were indeed welcome (at least in that part of the south), so they moved there in droves.

Today, areas like Charlotte, NC and even Austin, TX (where 75 people move to each and every day) are making people of all races and ethnicities feel right at home … and both have better weather too boot. And people do tell other people of their experiences. We’re in tough competition here folks, but are allowing ourselves to be hobbled by the backwardness of naysayers and those satisfied with the status quo. The sad fact is, some folks would just as well see the city die before they give up their long-cherished prejudices.      

The closest we’ll get to calling out our problem vis-à-vis lack of inclusiveness is to use the polite term “provincialism.”  And yes, that certainly exists hereabouts, as it does, to some degree, in other places. But folks here take it too far. Cuyahoga County is rife with ill will towards those who were not born here (even if they happen to be white) and often slams the door of opportunity in their faces … but the door slams doubly hard if the so-called “outsider” is a person of color. 

While some posit we now live in a “post racial” society (believe me, I sincerely wish we do), and the new racism is … to deny that racism any longer exists — something else I sincerely wish were true, but alas, it’s not. And any who point this fact out is labeled a whiner or complainer at best, and a shit-disturber at worst.

So, 65 years after I made my first observation of lack of racial inclusiveness (some of you no doubt thought I only took up this cause when I took up the pen, but it’s actually the other way around; I took up the pen because, even as a child, I’d taken up the cause) I guess you could say that indeed things have changed … just not by all that much.

 

 

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://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.com.

 

 

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