“I didn’t come here to play games,” he told moderator Dan Moulthrop at the tail end of a wide-ranging conversation. “I didn’t come here to be here long. I came here to make a change, and I want the history books to say that while I was here, I was a fighter, that I stood up for all people … This Mayor’s race is going to be interesting.”
Jones presented himself as a crusader for justice and equity on city council, where he’s served the Hough and St. Clair-Superior neighborhoods since his defeat of TJ Down in 2017. He said he has been unafraid to rankle colleagues and stake out lonely positions, including his support for allowing public comment at council meetings, for Indigenous Peoples Day and for inmates at the Cuyahoga County Jail. He said in the future, he wanted to see a Cleveland where young people felt empowered, where the atrocities of police were reckoned with, and where investments in people were pursued as aggressively as investments in buildings.
Among the hot-button local issues Jones addressed was the recent council resolution declaring racism a public health crisis. He said the resolution was merely a first step, one which he hoped could be used to challenge local institutions to meet tangible goals, including pay equity and better representation in upper management.
On the subject of recent racial justice protests, Jones clapped back at Gov. Mike DeWine, who called the idea of defunding the police “absurd.”
“It’s definitely not absurd,” Jones said. “We have to absolutely look at how we are policing. It’s not working. When I have to battle the re-hiring of the murderer of Tamir Rice, that’s a problem.”
He said the single biggest issue related to policing in Cleveland was the powerful police union and mentioned renegotiating the union contract as a key part of defunding police.
“I’m not pro-police,” he said. “I’m pro-justice. And that means I support police when they’re right, and I’m gonna get on them when they’re wrong. It’s not black vs. white. It’s racists vs. everybody.”
When Moulthrop pressed Jones on what would replace the police if they were to be constrained or shrunk — how would communities “stay safe”? — Jones said it was unfortunate the question even had to be asked.
“If communities felt inspired and encouraged and motivated, they would take care of their own,” he said. “If the only time we can be safe is when the police come around, then that’s a problem.”
Jones said he wasn’t sure if he supported the complete removal of the police, but said defunding could be used as a strategy to bring the union to the table to force its hand on diversity, cultural competency and police tactics.
More broadly speaking, Jones said Cleveland could not keep handling 21st century problems “in an 18th century way,” and said in order to catch up with the times, Cleveland would have to confront a laundry list of structural inequities and rebuild trust in the community. That lack of trust has deepened even with Black political leaders in office for decades, Jones said.
“Some of the worst purveyors of structural racism are Black people in positions of power who continue to hold back the Black community,” he said. “The problem we have in our city is a lack of succession planning. We are not preparing a new generation to take over. We have people who literally want to die with the torch in their hand, instead of passing it to the next generation to take our city forward.”
Jones encouraged Moulthrop, as the City Club continues to host potential mayoral candidates in virtual forums, to ask not only what they will do, but what they’ve done.
“What issues have they shown courage on?” Jones said. “What issues have they stood alone on? You can’t be a leader for no one and nobody if you’re not willing to stand alone when nobody else stands with you.”
***
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This article appears in Jun 10-16, 2020.
There are laws against blacks running for mayor.
What? There’s not. Oh. But the racism though.
Finally a good Mayor candidate. Vote out snoozing Frank Jackson! 😴
total sjw idiot dope
White Supremacy is the E N EMY …………………..
Police Department and Law Enforcement across Amerikkk has been infuriated including Corrections.
I suspect that Shiwaku Seven is a wanna be White Supremacist …………….
We must replace the World of White Supremacy with a World of Justice…………..
hey caucadope, you are one dumb mfer
You don’t need to get rid of the police. You just need to break their union. America is really, really good at doing that. First, you create an alternative peace officer force. Base them on Violence Interrupters. Pay them the same as the police. Let them organize a union. Then shift resources to the violence interrupter/peace officers and away from the police. You let the police wither for about 10 years, then you hit them with a labor contract proposal that is so insulting that they have to strike. Then declare the strike illegal, fire the strikers, and decertify their union.
American business does this all the time. I bet you could even get legal help from Jones Day to do it. I think they have about 100 lawyers who specialize in union busting.
caucasoid, I got news for you– that is, the City of Cleveland is already led by an African-American mayor.
The Cleveland Police Department is also already led by an African-American chief of police.
The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction is also already led by an African-American director.
I’m not white or black. I’m also not Republican or Democrat. I am also not right wing or left wing.
I’m am posting as a moderate Asian political independent.
White supremacy in the City of Cleveland or in the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction is not a problem, because African-Americans are in charge of both.
Speaking of Unions, Teachers Unions are hands down the most destructive Union in America. Followed by the unskilled folks over at the SEIU.
I’d be willing to trade the Police Union for the Teachers Union tomorrow.
Memo to Shiwaku Seven
Again u claim that u and other Asian have all these Advance degrees but u came to Amerikkk because u could not make it in ur own country ???? u couldn’t make ur own country Great !!!!!!
So u come here an spew ur Ant- Black rhetoric !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dee Nguyen has been fired from MTV sports reality show “The Challenge” after making insensitive comments about the Black Lives Matter movement.
This further proof that Asian get off the Boat come to America and spew anti -Black hatred …..
just like the MAGA NUTS………….
btw :”, the City of Cleveland is already led by an African-American mayor.”
A Black Mayor biggest problem is controlling the police department that is dominated by violently
racist Eastern Europeans and Catholics White Supremacist……………..
The Cleveland Police Patrolmens’ Association union boss Jeffrey Folmer, i
Finnally:
Memo to that attention seeking whore above “hey caucadope, you are one dumb mfer”
u got my Attention know ???????
DM me and we can meet up at Euclid Creek Park. on he EAST SIDE !!!!!!!!!!!!
I will beat ur azz !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am so sick and tried of u racist white bastard …. One of us has got to GO
caucasoid, I’m an American citizen. The United States of America is my country.
Also, I did not post any anti-black rhetoric.
The police is not the enemy. Criminals are.
This is the truth, even if you don’t believe that police officers are public servants.
The City of Cleveland and the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction are both led by African-Americans, and the Cleveland Police Department is also led by Cleveland Chief of Police Calvin Williams, who is also an African-American.
The Cleveland Police Patrolmens’ Association is a collective bargaining organization that represent Cleveland police officers of all races.
It is not in charge of Cleveland police.
Instead, it serves them.
The Cleveland Police Patrolmens’ Association has a statutory duty under Ohio Revised Code, Section 4117.11(B)(6) to provide fair representation to all collective bargaining employees it represents.
If it fails to do so, the Cleveland Police Patrolmens’ Association can be charged with committing an unfair labor practice.
So no reasonable person should be angry that the Cleveland Police Patrolmens’ Association provides fair representation to any of its members, because it is required by Ohio Revised Code, Section 4117.11(B)(6) to do so.
Feel free to google Ohio Revised Code, Section 4117.11(B)(6) on your own.
FYI, Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams has the legal right to manage the Cleveland Police Department, which he does.
Whether disciplinary action is imposed on a Cleveland Police Officer for alleged misconduct depends on whether the Employer can establish just cause for discipline.
If disciplinary action is imposed on a Cleveland police officer, he or she has the contractual right to file an employee grievance, which can result in disciplinary action being reduced or removed.
This can happen during any of the steps of the employee grievance process, but it usually happens at binding arbitration, in which a fair, neutral, and detached arbitrator, who is selected by mutual consent of both the Employer and the collective bargaining organization, to decide the issue of whether there is actual just cause for the imposed discipline.
I believe you are unaware of the statutory duty of the Cleveland Police Patrolmens’ Association to provide fair representation to all of its collective bargaining members, which includes any Cleveland police officer that is charged by the Cleveland Police Department with alleged misconduct, which is why in good faith I have taken the time and made the effort to explain this legal duty to you.
Nothing says a good mayor like a guy who wears his own campaign shirt with his name on it and claims everyone is racist even though we had a black president for 8 years who was so bad they elected trump after him and we never even said a word about his wrongdoings or destroying Syria and Iraq with thousands of drone strike because we were to afraid of being called racist by people like basheer here with his name on his shirt.
Memo to Shiwaku Seven
u r well inform but Mis-inform !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The modern day police is an extension from Nat Turner’s slave rebellion Rebel slaves killed from 55 to 65 people, at least 51 being white. u folks should be glad that Black folks only broke windows………
State legislatures passed new laws prohibiting education of slaves and free black people,[
restricting rights of assembly and other civil liberties for black people, and requiring white ministers to be present at all worship services.
The residue from these and other Laws r still in effect while Cleveland Black Mayor, Cleveland Black Police Chief, ODRC Black Director are powerless Black Eunuch………….
…
armed antifa militants have taken 6 blocks in downtown Seattle including city hall. They are running an anarchocommunist zone with a warlord, private police, and checkpoints on public streets. They have plans to aquire more territory and have thus far been unchallenged by police or military. Instead of reporting on the terror, their local news is giving tours of the commune.
caucasoid, law enforcement in America actually originated with the New York Sheriff’s Department in 1626 under the Dutch. The State of New York abolished slavery in 1827 or four years before Nat Turner’s Rebellion in Virginia in 1831.
The first municipal police department with full-time police officers originated in Boston, Massachusetts in 1838, but the State of Massachusetts abolished slavery in 1783, or over four decades before Nat Turner’s Rebellion.
Prior to this, part-time night watchmans and constables also existed in the thirteen English colonies in America before the United States of America became a nation.
Sheriffs originated in England over a thousand years ago, and they kept the peace in a shire or county.
Jim Crow laws were passed by Democrats in Southern United States as a product of “the Compromise of 1877”, which was a political bargain made between Republicans and Democrats in which Democrats agreed not to contest the disputed election results between Democratic U.S. Presidential Candidate Samuel Tilden of New York and Republican U.S> Presidential Candidate Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio in exchange for the ending of “Reconstruction” in the U.S. South.
However, none of this is relevant to the issue of whether the police are the enemy of law-abiding Americans..
The police aren’t. Police serve and protect law-abiding Americans.. The enemy of law-abiding Americans are criminals, whose goal is to victimize them.
Criminals even often victimize each other.
caucasoid, I find your earlier claim that “Corrections” is controlled by white supremacists to be preposterous.
The reason why is because before I retired as an Asian-American State of Ohio corrections officer, I worked under a black lieutenant, a black captain, a black unit manager, a black chief of security, a black warden, and a black director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction– and all at the same time. Any complaint by a prison inmate was investigated by a black inspector of institutional security, and any work rule violation was investigated by a black investigator.
If you believe that racial discrimination is holding you back somehow, you should consider getting a job with the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, because there is plenty of opportunity for African-Americans to not only make a lot of money, but also to get promoted– that is, if you rather have a higher hourly rate of pay, instead of the opportunity to make a higher total salary at the end of each year than most supervisors do by working a lot of voluntary and mandatory overtime.
This is true because corrections officers, have far greater opportunity to work overtime than their supervisors do.
ODRC is hiring State of Ohio corrections officer, and there are three ODRC prisons within driving distance if you live in the Greater Cleveland Area (Grafton Correctional Institution, Lorain Correctional Institution, and the Northeast Reintegration Center).
However, you should keep in mind that State of Ohio corrections officers are required to work mandatory overtime if the need exists, because ODRC prisons have to be staffed 24/7/365.
If you research the highest salaries of State of Ohio corrections officer, you will find that many State of Ohio corrections officers are making well over $100k a year.
Feel free to conduct a more detailed search of the past salaries of ODRC employees by tailoring your search by clicking on the ODRC bar graph at https://interactivebudget.ohio.gov/Expenses/Salaries.aspx and narrowing your search to “correction officer” and on different past years, like 2017, 2018, and 2019 .
Perhaps, if you follow the advice that Booker T. Washington gave African-Americans in the early 20th Century to achieve racial equality, you will realize that you can “rise up” in social status by earning as much money as you can, because no one discriminates against “green”.
I am giving you this information, in good faith, because you seem to be angry at life.
However, what is holding you back is not White Supremacy, but rather you are not doing what other African-Americans have done to achieve success.
ODRC offers ample opportunity for African-Americans, and many African-Americans are taking advantage of opportunity in ODRC. However, you don’t have to be African-American to work for ODRC, because ODRC is an equal opportunity employer.
I encourage you to check out the hyper-link I posted for you.
Like I told you before, what is far more satisfying than protesting about discrimination is overcoming it.
I looked into it and there are no laws against black people running for office. I thought this was AmeriKKKa.
COuld all antifa members and supporters please move out of the area. We do not want you here. Instead, there is a commune in downtown Seattle you could go live in to try out real communism for once with your warlord Raz.
After 15 years of Taxin Jackson what does the is dump of a city have to show for now except 50% income tax increases, outrageous property tax increases forced upon us property owners at EVERY single election cycle, etc. etc.!!!
It’s time to recall Taxin Jackson, and his cohort, thief Budish, out of office now!!!
Until both of these crooks are finally, and forcibly, removed out of office, nothing will likely ever change around here except paying more and more taxes for more and more of their neverending shenanigans!!!
“I’m not pro-police,” he said. “I’m pro-justice. And that means I support police when they’re right, and I’m gonna get on them when they’re wrong. It’s not black vs. white. It’s racists vs. everybody.”
Spot on.
I know its not politically correct, but even if the police force was somehow transformed in to this utopian entity, you still have a black killing another black roughly every three days in Cleveland. Although no one want to talk about it, let alone admit it, The biggest life ender for blacks by a long shot is other blacks,
Weeding the aholes, racists and cops that simply cant control themselves out of police departments is a must do, but at the end of the day, even if they were somehow made perfect, they would still have work to do and lots of it.
Destroy the Cancer Spreading Teachers Union.
Memo to caucasoid:
“hey caucadope, you are one dumb mfer”
I think he has you figured out. Dont be mad at the messenger just because your parents gave birth to a double digit IQ ahole. And by the way, so there is no confusion, thats you.
Now go somewhere else and act all bad, no one here thinks you’re anything more than a keyboard warrior and a dumb one at that.
People like Basheer need to having their lying, manipulative, regurgitated, leftist “ideas” called out and shut down. The first term councilman wants to defund and reimagine the police while folks are committing murder and violent crimes all day. Why don’t we talk about remaking the police when Basheer convinces the 13% to stop criming everybody.
Dumb People further the ideology and goals of the Left, who’d have think it???
Let’s try the no police thing in Basheer’s ward as an experiment.
Say what you will, the old timers were right about giving people that didn’t deserve it a seat at the table.
“”hey caucadope, you are one dumb mfer”
SISSY i HEAR U LOUD AND CLEAR ????? i JUST WISH i COULD HEAR U FACE TO FACE………..
Red Neck how am i a keyboard warrior….. scan up LOL
When will Reggie Rucker be available to assist the neighborhoods?
the people blaming everything on racism are mentally challenged and do not belong in public service since they will not address the real problems causing the circumstances they are complaining about.
Basheer Jones is a career agitator. Now he’s complaining the CPD won’t cooperate with his demands after he publicly attacked them. Good luck with your 911 calls dumbass Basheer.