As each new generation comes to full awareness of inherited cultural structures which are inherently unjust, the seeds of revolt are sown and the evolution of the nation continues.
Young Americans are birthing a new nation every day. They are rightly objecting to intolerable social conditions which have long imposed upon people of color a cruel culture of violence visited by an exclusive economic system and the police departments called upon to uphold it.
Young people want action, not words, to address obvious injustices which derive from inequities in jobs, wages, health care, education, and housing and infiltrate, inevitably, into law enforcement.
The old world inevitably will give way to the new as the struggles, the marches, the protests, and yes, riots continue. The spirit of protest, carried along by the passions of our young people, can move America forward.
We must take care that which is dislodged will be replaced by structures which will, indeed, reflect enduring change of the underlying conditions which have given rise to protests.
Established power must be open, and willing to change, to reform, to restructure — and to provide mechanisms to share institutional power. As the once-Mayor of Cleveland, half of my major appointments were black, including Safety Director James W. Barrett, in charge of police, ensuring accountability for the conduct of law enforcement in the black community, and implementation of federal court-ordered busing, without incident. That was more than 40 years ago. Yet, whatever success we enjoyed here was temporary. Long-term, fair-reaching changes remain to be achieved.
The recent murder of George Floyd by police sparked an urgency to recognize the perils facing every person of color’s encounter with the current justice system.
The killing of Tamir Rice revealed the severe shortcomings in the administration of Cleveland’s police department, which filtered through the rank and file, resulting in a court-enforced consent decree with the US Justice Department which is still lacking in compliance. The conditions in the police department were not only a reflection of unresolved institutional racism, it is because those in positions of power either looked the other way or were too timid to deal with the internal challenges.
The abuses in the Cuyahoga County jail, detailed in a 52-page U.S. Marshal’s report, present a similarly disastrous abdication of administrative responsibility for suicides, attempted suicides, abuse and civil rights violations which continue to cry out for justice and accountability.
The Justice Department’s consent decree indicates much more work must be done in Cleveland to restore public confidence in law enforcement. But we must take care that remedies being offered not deprive any area of the city with trained safety personnel needed to protect public safety. This is the risk which attends broad demands to defund the police.
There are neighborhoods threatened by gangs, drugs and murder. We must not promote vigilantism or abandon communities to fend for themselves. We must remember, as Clevelanders, we have the capacity to come together as one community in support of those who demand change in the police department. This means reform, not the defunding and elimination of the police department.
The police must participate in the process of comprehensive reform. We cannot bring about reform without them. This means we must see each policeman and policewoman as individuals, not as undifferentiated agents of oppressive system, just as we should require police to understand and recognize each situation they encounter requires careful assessment, without preconceived race-based notions of threat levels.
The police department cannot exist without the trust of the people. It is time we re-engage at the community level. We need open, public discussions about the quality of policing in Cleveland and the protection of inmates in county jail.
We need new goal-setting, beyond the requirements imposed by the U.S. Justice Department and the findings of the U.S. Marshal. We need to plan aggressively and urgently for a re-imagined and reconstituted law enforcement system which will truly be of service to all in Clevelanders and Cuyahoga County. That will require leadership, courage and innovative thinking.
And we must involve young concerned citizens in the process. Each new generation understands it must bend or break boundaries to create social and institutional transformation. As someone who was elected to City Council at age 23, lost a congressional race by 2% at age 26, and won the Mayoralty at age 31, I know impatience for change is catalytic. I remain impatient. This is a call to envision and create a new community, and a new world, through direct action and civic involvement.
This article appears in Jun 10-16, 2020.
Carl Stokes got himself elected Mayor of Cleveland on November 7, 1967. On November 4, 1969, a 23 year old kid from Tremont named Dennis Kucinich got himself elected to City Council.
He got himself elected because he ran a non-stop racist campaign against Carl from the day Mayor Stokes was elected. The Tremont Ukrainians and Polish — those same folks who ran Tremont so far into the ground that you could buy a six bedroom house there for $15,000 in 1980 — just ate it up. He was their Trump before the genuine article. As a reward, they sent him to council two years later.
In fact, Dennis Kucinich is a shorter, skinnier version of Donald Trump. He will say anything and do anything in a desperate attempt to stay in somebody’s eye. I’m surprised he didn’t apply to be a crossing guard at John Marshall after he lost his last election, just so he could wave at people while still pretending to be in charge of something.
If Trump needs to be thrown into the trash, this little guy needs to be heaved in right afterward. Luckily, your baby sister would be strong enough to toss him in, and Trump is just spongy enough to break his fall.
Spot on sir, I miss you and your insight. And for the record I am an old conservative leaning white dude. You are the first person to hit all the issues here, not just spot light one or two.
It’s all of us, nothing else works.
There will be a massive backlash against the left and woke culture as a whole. Children aren’t as stupid as these adult leftists.
Methinks Dennis is prepping for a mayoral run
Ah thanks there, Bob. You may be an old conservative leaning white dude, and I may be an old socialist leaning white dude, but I appreciate people with brains, whatever their politics. (That’s what made Justice Antonin Scalia so damned infuriating. That boy could think things through!
Not a peep from Dennis, until he perceived benefit for himself.
If Dennis cared so much about George Floyd, systemic racism, and police reform why hasn’t he said a single word about it on his social media? I’m sure he wouldn’t want to offend any possible clients, as he’s restarted his “consulting” charade.
He is using Scene to promote himself, he doesn’t care about you, he cares about power.
I would like Dennis Kucinich to explain what in the City of Cleveland does he thinks unjustly treat so-called “people of color”.
I say so-called, because it seems to mean people, who are not white– even though, Asian-Americans are not treated by American Society as being “people of color”– especially, when it comes to Affirmative Action programs.
Cleveland is already headed by an African-American mayor, who will probably run for his fifth term in office.
Cleveland already has an African-American Chief of Police.
Most of the judges on the Cleveland Municipal Court are African-American, and the Housing Court Judge, who deals with housing court cases, like evictions, is also African-American.
The Cleveland Clerk of Court is African-American too.
The notion that racism is institutionalized or systemic in the City of Cleveland is peculiar considering that Democrats, the supposed champions of “people of color”has had political control over the City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County for several generations of “people of color”.
So just what exactly is it that is systemically racist that is keeping “people of color” from achieving racial equality in the City of Cleveland?
Is it the Cleveland Municipal School District, which has officially been under the control of African-American Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson for well over two decades?
Is it Cuyahoga Community College, which has an African-American president?
Is it the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority, which has an African-American Chief Executive Officer?
The biggest problem facing African-Americans in the City of Cleveland is hoping in vain yet again that Democratic politicians are the solution to all of their problems, instead of relying on themselves by learning a trade or vocation and earning as much money as they can by working as much as they can.
Filipino-Americans are brown in color, and many come from economically-disadvantaged backgrounds that is far more severe than most African-Americans have to deal with in the United States.
Yet, the median household income for Filipino-Americans ($84,620) was over twice as much as it was for African-Americans ($30,555) in 2016.
Indian-Americans, from India– who also are brown in color– had an median household income over four times as much as the median household income of African-Americans in 2016 ($131,746).
Instead of repeating the mistakes of the past by relying on Democratic politicians to provide them with upward mobility, African-Americans would be far better off doing what Asian-Americans do to overcome racial inequality– that is, relying on themselves, a strong work ethic, and personal drive to not only get ahead, but to actually do better than most white Americans.
African-Americans should spend some time and think about the fact that even Bangladeshi-American, , Cambodian-Americans, Haitian-Americans, Nigerian-Americans, Palestinian-Americans, Pakistani-Americans, and Native American Indians have a higher median household than African-Americans.
As the old saying goes, “If you keep doing what you did, you’ll keep getting what you got.”
African-Americans should quit relying on the promises of Democratic politicians and start doing what other “people of color” are doing to get ahead, because as a group what African-Americans have been doing has them even behind immigrants to America, who speak English as a second language.
“The killing of Tamir Rice revealed the severe shortcomings in the administration of Cleveland’s police department”
I think what you meant was:
The killing of Tamir Rice revealed the severe shortcomings of being raised by a Single, Drug Addicted Mother who pawned her son off on his Grandmother so she could get high.
I love ya Dennis, but glossing over the role the intercity plays in it’s cycle of generational failures ain’t helping. The media painting him to be an angel, and blaming “our racism” for his death only compounds the issue as well.
We’re not buying the line that these folks aren’t to blame for 90% of their troubles in life. Like isn’t a cake walk for us, and we’ve about had it with the slack these clowns are being cut.
Rest assured, this shit will be solved one way or another. Peacefully or Violently, the choice is yours and theirs….although someone should teach them what 13% percent means before they make their choice.
There are reasons we do not let the youth run things – they are inexperienced (in many ways) and ignorant. That is why instead, they go to school and are raised by parents for the first 20 years of their lives or so.
It is idealistic at best to say that the youth are our future. They will be our future when they are 30 – 50 years old and have a rough idea of what’s going on. Until then, I couldn’t care less what they think or have to say.
Giving any ear to the youth would be like NASA planning a mission to the moon and taking advice from grade-schoolers who know how to make paper airplanes. You going to jump into that rocket?
There are a lot of claims that Dennis Kucinich made that I would like to comment on, but I believe most people who have read or will read his op/ed article already realize that it just contains a lot of political rhetoric designed to curry political favor from potential voters.
However, I do want to comment on one claim that Dennis Kucinich made– that is, “The recent murder of George Floyd by police sparked an urgency to recognize the perils facing every person of colors encounter with the current justice system.”
As an Asian-American, I’m a person of color– even though Asian-Americans are not treated like so-called “people of color”, because Asian-Americans as a group have a much higher household median income than white Americans.
My wife is an Asian-American and a person of color too, and her skin is as dark or darker than many African-Americans.
However, my wife and I don’t see any perils when we encounter the current justice system– especially, in the City of Cleveland, which is why we were surprised that an angry mob of Democrats and other people from the left began vandalizing, looting, committing arson, and committing other crimes to protest what a Minneapolis police training officer did to George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
But we don’t pass counterfeit money, like George Floyd was accused of doing.
We also don’t use fentanyl or meth, like George Floyd did.
Even if we were to be arrested by police for whatever, we are not going to resist arrest,like George Floyd did, because we both know that resisting arrest will cause the police to use force on us, and doing so will only make things worse for us.
We obey the law, and we both wonder why so many Americans don’t realize that obeying the law keeps you out of trouble and breaking the law leads to very serious trouble, which might not only cost you your freedom, but also your life both inside and outside of prison– because an angry prison inmate might try to take your life because you refuse his or her demands.
If you are a person of color– or even if you aren’t, you shouldn’t be afraid of the police if you are law-abiding and won’t ever resist arrest even in the very unlikely event that you will be arrested for a suspected crime..
Reasonable people, who don’t let emotional political rhetoric to cloud their reasoning, already know this– that is, the police aren’t the problem unless you are a criminal or want criminals to be safer from the police.
Denny……Denny……Denny, Denny, Denny, Denny and the Virtue Signaling Leftttt
Shikaka Seven…the former prison guard with a fascist prison guard mentality, showing his true colors…Trump Orange…and spewing all over this site. Who’s paying him by the word?
Shiwaku Seven, Congratulations! You are doing exactly what the Right-Wing Republicans want you to do! See, every time those guys are in danger of losing elections, they elevate a formerly “black” ethnicity by giving them honorary “white” status. The first time that happened was with the Irish. The next time was with the Italians. The last time they did it was with the Polish.
Now they so desperate that they are trying to white wash Asians. Based on your comments, it seems to be working. Congrats! You will be getting your “Honorary White” membership card in the mail. (But at the next meeting, please don’t try to use the front door. That’s for Real Whites Only. Sorry.)
Walt, lay off the booze, you’ve completely lost all grasp of reality…
Leonard Whineglass, no one is paying me anything, and I’m not Republican or Democrat.
I’m also not right-wing or left wing.
Instead, I’m a moderate political independent, who thinks that both Republicans and Democrats do the political bidding of the rich and special interest groups.
I fully admit that lately I have criticized Democrats a lot, but this is because it is angry Democrats who are complaining about local governments and local police departments being ran by Democratic politicians.
In Cleveland, where a mob of angry Democrats looted, burned, and vandalized the businesses of innocent business owners, Democratic policiticans have controlled Cleveland and its police department for several generations of “people of color”.
If the mob was made up of Republicans and were protesting how Republican politicians ran Cleveland City Government and the local police department, I would criticize Republicans too.
However, it isn’t angry Republicans who looted, burned, and vandalized Downtown Cleveland.
Walter Bruckner, I’m content being who I am, and who I am is Asian-American.
I also don’t seek equality with white Americans, because I rather be better off.
Feel to free to google to check whether what I said is true or not– that is, whether African-Americans as a group have a lower median household income than other “people of color”, which includes immigrants to America, who speak English as a second language.
If you know any African-Americans, who live on the East Side of Cleveland, they should be able to tell you about African-Americans, who shop in so-called “Arab stores”– even though many of these stores are owned by other “people of color” from the Middle East.
A lot of African-Americans resent these other “people of color”, because they are doing better than they are– but they are doing better even though they came from a more disadvantaged background.
If African-Americans want to do better as a group, they should do what “other people of color” do to even do better than white Americans as a group.
‘
Leonard Whineglass and Walter Bruckner, I challenge both of you to give practical advice to African-Americans on how to achieve equality– which to me isn’t good enough, because I think it is better to be better off than most.
My advice is for African-Americans to learn a vocation or trade and earn as much as they can by working as much as they can, which is what other groups of “people of color” do.
Learning how to prosper isn’t hard to do.
It is as simple as: (1) earning as much as you can; (2) living below your means– or spending less than you earn; (3) saving or investing your surpluses, which will occur by following Rules 1 and 2; and (4) avoiding debt, like you would a rattlesnake– and this includes avoiding using credit, like you would avoid a rattlesnake,, because credit is debt.
African-Americans should want compound interest working for them, instead of against them.
This is one thing that many immigrants to America do to be better off than many Americans, who have been brain-washed into “Consumerism” and to not leave their homes without their credit cards– that is, if you can’t pay for a consumer item in cash, you can’t afford it. Just wait until you saved enough money before you buy something you want– and this includes houses.
The compound interest you avoid paying on consumer items– and especially, on a 30 year mortage on a house, can be used to earn compound interest in an investment account.
To avoid being the subject of a police use of force incident they should be law-abiding and not resist arrest in the very unlikely event that they are arrested for a suspected crime.
So let’s hear your advice to African-Americans to get ahead– and it should be something other than to continue to vote for Democratic politicians, because doing this hasn’t worked for them, which is why they are protesting.
Marching and protesting alongside African-Americans might may you feel better, but it doesn’t really help them be better off.
Hey Shiwaku Seven, No! We aren’t playing by your rules anymore. No, we won’t kill ourselves to make the rich richer. No, we aren’t going to climb to the top by stepping over the bodies of others. No, we refuse to engage in your neurotic, narcissistic, capitalist rat race anymore. Please keep your advice to yourself, especially on Juneteenth. Either that, or come down to Glenville and give us your pearls of wisdom in person. See how that works out for you.
Walter Bruckner, I spent 34 years giving that advice to African-American prison inmates. I was thanked many times by African-Americans (by both staff and inmates) for doing so. For instance, I received a certificate of appreciation from the Black Muslims at Marion Correctional Institution for discussing ways with Black Muslims at MCI about how African-Americans can better themselves when they are released from prison.
I also sponsored an Asian Cultural Values program at another State of Ohio prison to help prison inmates learn Asian cultural values, like the importance of education, obeying the law, and working as much as you can to earn as much as you can,, which I spent around $3,000 out of my own pocket, which I didn’t claim a tax deduction for.
I did this after an African-American unit management administrator asked me to help create a program to help prison inmates to productively reenter society.
I still want to know what helpful advice you can give to African-Americans to better themselves, or don’t you care about helping African-Americans to achieve racial equality?