There’s an old joke from the Civil Rights Era that goes thusly: In 1968, a group of black clergy and activists barged into the offices of a local manufacturing company that had been located in their community for decades to make a demand for equality in hiring.
The leader of the group pounded on the desk of the white CEO and said, “One-third of the residents of this city are black, and we’re not leaving until you promise that one third of your employees will be black also!” The CEO asked, “Are you sure this is what your want?”
“Yes, we’re positive,” the minister replied.
The CEO then picked up his phone and called the plant manager and said, “We’re going to have to lay off a dozen of our black workers.” He then turned to the group and asked, “OK, are you satisfied now?”
I relate this little tale because it puts me in mind of another demand: In return for helping Armond Budish win the seat as the new Cuyahoga County Executive, the black ministers on his team demanded that he appoint a black sheriff — which is how we ended up with the very able Clifford Pinkney in the job.
However, as demonstrated at the recent press conference he belatedly held to basically say that he wasn’t going to cave to political pressure by rushing his investigation into the death of Tamir Rice, the black community might have been better served if Budish had told the preachers “No, I’m keeping Frank Bova as sheriff because he’s a capable and competent man.”
This is not to say that Pinkney doesn’t have these same qualities, it’s just that it appears he suffers from what I now dub “The Obama Syndrome.” Our president was so concerned that he would be viewed by his enemies as “president of the blacks” rather than just a “president who just happens to be black” that, for his first term (and much of his second), he refused to do anything — no matter how fair and necessary it might have been — that in any way could remotely be construed as “favoring” his black constituency.
By way of example, while Obama has occasionally given lip service to the inequalities of our criminal justice system, he has used the power of the pardon — something he doesn’t need permission from Congress to exercise — fewer times than any president in history, because he fears conservatives will bash him if he did. The fact is, they bashed him anyway.
This brings me back to Sheriff Pinkney. Everything about his press conference — other than his repeating of the word “tragic” — screamed to the law enforcement community (which primarily is a white institution) “Hey, I’m not going to be any more compassionate towards blacks than you guys have been.” In other words, he’s saying, “I’m a cop first, black second.”
And indeed this is exactly as it should be … just like Obama has to be the president of all Americans first, black second. But that should not mean that either of them should go too far in terms of ignoring fair play and justice simply to avoid criticism from whites.
In Pinkney’s case, he seemed miffed that he had to even hold a press conference, and considering how he handled it, and the nonsense he stated about the “thousands of pages of documents” his investigators had to wade through, the multitude of interviews they conducted (really? I didn’t know there were that many witnesses!) and the search warrants they had to execute (I guess they were looking for some other suspect to pin the shooting on, or maybe they thought they could find some excuse that would allow them to maintain a straight face as they let the cop that killed Tamir Rice off the hook) it probably wasn’t a good idea.
Instead of having a calming effect, Pinkney — by his tone, demeanor and brusque manner — is only further roiling the already turbulent waters. He doesn’t have the right temperament for this aspect of the job, and the entire county would be better served if he allowed his boss, Frank Bova, to be the spokesperson for the sheriff’s office going forward.
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.