Over a thousand concerned citizens of all faiths and denominations packed into the Olivet Institutional Baptist Church on Tuesday evening (Feb. 3) as the Greater Cleveland Congregations (GCC) presented Mayor Frank Jackson and U.S. Attorney Steven Dettlelbach with the organization’s recommendations they want incorporated into the consent decree the City of Cleveland and the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice will soon begin hammering out.
While there was a certain majesty and splendor surrounding the proceedings that can only be summoned up in a historic house of worship (with the recommendations presented by clergy who, if they know nothing else, they know how to work a crowd), in the end the suggestions presented — in a manner somewhat reminiscent of Charlton Heston portraying Moses as he descended Mount Sinai with The Ten Commandments — were quite similar to those every other group of citizens have put on the table.
There was nothing new or startling in their proffered suggestions, but if points are to be awarded for staging, lighting and precision theatricality in the presentation of the recommendations … the GCC goes home with the Oscar, hands down.
None of the other groups that have met with either the mayor or the U.S. attorney — while their recommendations might have been formulated with just as much brainpower — can match the GCC for real dog and pony. It was thrilling.
I actually thought for a minute — right around the time the magnificent Olivet Choir was finishing up “Amazing Grace” — that the Heavens were going to open up and some dude in a fiery chariot, being pulled by a pair of blazing white steeds (sort of like Silver, the horse the Long Ranger rode as he galloped across the movie screens of my long ago youth) was going pull to a halt, alight, and tell the assembled mass of the faithful that he was sent here by Him to monitor the consent decree. But that might have been a tad too dramatic.
Mayor Jackson was his usual brief self, but it didn’t take many words to convey his thoughts: If we don’t address and fix the broken criminal justice system that condones and actually encourages police misconduct … all of the citizen outrage, all of the pomposity, all of entreaties for change is only hot air; we’re doing nothing but blowing wolf poots. This is going to be a marathon, not a sprint.
When Dettlelbach spoke he was his usual diplomatic self, but he did pointedly remind those in attendance that he’s previously met with a dozen other groups and received their suggestions also, but he was kind enough not to say that none of the other groups came up with shit he didn’t already know either. This ain’t amateur hour that’s about to jump off. The feds know what the hell they’re doing — trust that.
The plain fact is, all of these groups are clamoring for attention rather than collaborating to plan a long-term strategy to really solve the problem. I must have heard the term GCC mentioned 137 times. But now that the Word has been handed down, the process can begin. The rooster has crowed, and now takes credit for the sunrise.
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.