Quoting Shakespeare’s Macbeth, “Lay on … and be damned he who first cries, ‘Hold, enough!’”
Apologies to one of the people I admire most on earth, former First Lady Michelle Obama (who believes in going high when they go low), and to any readers that I may have offended in my last column when I called the folks who are attempting to tear Ward 7 apart with a recall effort “spoiled brats, clowns, and haters.” However, my commentary is only going to contain stronger language in the coming months as the recall effort progresses. My goal is to “clown” these interlopers, to ridicule them, to make them look exactly like the buffoons they happen to be.
Respecting opinions that differ from mine on any subject is something I readily do, as long as those opinions are honest, fair and reasoned. But in the case at hand, the folks initiating this recall effort against Basheer Jones are none of those. They are dishonest, unfair and unreasonable, and I shall accord them all of the respect they deserve: Absolutely none. From me, they’re going to get what their hand calls for — rough treatment.
I believe in meeting force head-on with equal or stronger force. And here’s the important part: It must be in the language your opponent understands, respects and is fearful of. To “go high” when they “go low” results in the rise of despots, as is evidenced by the fact Donald Trump is in the White House. I believe that you have to fight fire with fire.
But please, know that I didn’t fire the first shot in this battle; the opposition has already gone low against Jones in print numerous times. I can predict they’re going to go even lower, because that’s who they are, and also because they have no real issues of substance on which to justify their recall efforts.
So I’m going to have to go lower. It’s not a battle I want to engage in, but I have no choice. If I sit back and do nothing, these forces will tear the ward apart, similar to the U.S. Vietnam-era strategy of “burning down villages to save them.” They would eagerly destroy the ward if TJ Dow isn’t allowed back in office — which would result in the ward being destroyed even faster.
Certainly, the opposition has some petty complaints against our councilman; in any ward in the city that’s to be expected. No elected official is going to please everyone. But if their primary issue is Jones’ residency, that question has already been legally settled by the proper authority, the Board of Elections, which ruled that he indeed does live in Ward 7. Now, do I tuck him into bed every night to make sure of where he’s sleeping? No, and neither do any of you, so you really need to move on to something else. But the fact is, there is nothing else to move on to, now, is there?
Basheer Jones certainly has his faults (who among us doesn’t?) And there have been issues that I’ve addressed with him, and he listens and takes my counsel, at least most of the time. Also, I’m well aware that he has made some rookie mistakes, and probably has ruffled some feathers along the way. He has pushed back against some people that were coming at him a bit too hard, but I like the fact that he’s a fighter when he has to be, and not a softie or a pushover.
I like Jones because I detest cowards.
And that perhaps goes to the core of my complaints against Dow. His moral compass is broken, if indeed he ever had one. He lacks the backbone necessary for successful leadership.
Allow me to cite an example: Not long after he first won the seat, the issue of a domestic partnership registry was coming up for a vote before City Council. I asked him prior to the vote to support the measure, and he said that he didn’t have a problem with it and that he would. Now, if he did have a problem supporting the legislation, all he had to do was to say that morally he couldn’t support it and that would have been the end of it. I would have respected his view on the matter. But, again, he said he would support the legislation.
However, on the night of the vote, a group of black pastors cornered Dow in the back of council chambers and browbeat him into changing his vote. When they let him go his eyes were as big as dinner plates — full of fear. None of the pastors lived in the ward, but he did not have the moral courage to stand up to them and say that he had already agreed to vote for the issue.
But here’s the worse part: When I saw what had gone on, I tried to engage him in conversation afterward but he wouldn’t even speak to me. Dow was too much of a coward to tell me man-to-man that he had changed his mind — or that his mind had been changed for him. He broke weak, and, like I said, I detest cowards.
His vote on the issue is a matter of public record.
From CoolCleveland 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 in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author at http://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.
One Response to “MANSFIELD: When They Go Low, I’m Going Lower”
John J. Polk
Most bullies are also cowards, preferring to do their destructive work behind closed doors and in the dark…Our elected political class is long overdue some tough-minded accountability…As are the hacks and corporate oligarchs who buy them their elections so they can do business with compliant and ethically flexible elected officials…Grassroots activism like Mansfiels’s is so invaluable because, in Cleveland political courage is as rare as a Browns. Ictory…