Why Fenty Lost
Dear Voters:
I know that I’ll have to eat a lot of crow if my prediction is
wrong, but I need to try again to explain to Mayor Fenty’s adamant
supporters how he alienated so many people. Fenty has run what was
essentially a “bricks and mortar” race. His supporters, exemplified
by the members of the Washington Post editorial board, accepted
his campaign narrative that the rapid building spree of the last four
years represented “progress” and mayoral accomplishments. But think
of the way many of these building projects were done. Those that weren’t
already started under Mayor Williams began in Fenty’s office with
proposals that were kept secret until the last minute from the
neighborhoods in which they were to be located, rather than with
grassroots neighborhood demands. Since the plans were formulated without
citizen input, they alienated the neighborhoods they were supposed to
serve. Citizens who went to the so-called “planning meetings” for
these projects found out that the plans had already been finalized, and
that they were expected to rubber-stamp them. Any serious questions
about projects and plans were dismissed by the Fenty administration as
unwarranted; any objections from citizens ensured that those citizens
were frozen out of future discussions; any opposition from citizens put
those citizens on an enemies list, to be treated with scorn and contempt
by the administration.
When the building project would be completed, the Fenty
administration would brag about its accomplishment. The press would
accept the completed project as evidence of progress in the city. And
the affected neighborhoods, the citizens who had tried to work with the
government, would be left angry and alienated. “Look at all the things
I’ve done for you and given you,” said Fenty, and the people would
say back, “That wasn’t what we wanted, and you never listened to us
when we told you otherwise.” Fenty’s apologists routinely minimize
the administration’s disregard and disrespect for its citizens as just
a matter of “personality.” But democracy depends on regard and
respect for citizens. Fenty’s failure has not been one of personality
or of “style,” it has been a failure to govern democratically. Fenty
and his apologists argue that democracy is an ineffective way to govern
a city, and that unilateral decisions made by a strong man, an autocrat,
is the only way to make progress. They are wrong, and dangerously wrong.
The next four years aren’t going to be easy for any mayor. Steve
Chapman has written, in reference to the upcoming race to replace
retiring Chicago Mayor Richard Daley: “The situation brings to mind
what former New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller said when Hugh Carey was
elected to his old job in 1974: ‘He thinks it’s going to be fun
being governor. It’s only fun being governor of New York if you have
money to spend, and I spent it all,’” http://reason.com/archives/2010/09/09/what-mayor-daley-left-behind.
The Fenty spending spree, which financed the building spree, is over no
matter who wins the election; Fenty already spent it all, all we had in
reserve. Fenty claims to have made “tough decisions,” but spending
money freely when the government has plenty of money isn’t a tough
decision. In the next four years, with a restricted budget and a
depleted surplus, the mayor will have to make really tough decisions.
That’s when the mayor will have to have respect for citizens and for
democratic decision making, in order to earn the reciprocal respect of
citizens.
#####
Two videos for your amusement: too brief a clip of Vincent Gray,
dancing a “hand dance,” http://www.dcwatch.com/themail/2010/10-09-12a.flv
and http://www.dcwatch.com/themail/2010/10-09-12a.avi
(hat tip to Alan Suderman at City Paper for finding it); and a
clip of Marion Barry, singing the blues (and rather well, too), http://www.dcwatch.com/themail/2010/10-09-12b.mp4
and http://www.dcwatch.com/themail/2010/10-09-12b.avi.
Gary Imhoff
themail@dcwatch.com
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Before you go to the polls on Tuesday, you may want to peruse the
temporary homepage of the DC Board of Elections and Ethics (http://www.dcboee.org),
where you can check your voter registration, confirm your polling site,
review sample ballots, check you absentee ballot or early voting status,
and watch a video and interactive demonstration of the new voting
equipment the BOEE has acquired. Even though 15,354 individuals have
already voted at early voting centers as of Friday, lines at the polls
on Tuesday will likely be long, since voter turnout is expected to be
very heavy. In the last mayoral primary in the District in 2006, there
were 321,087 registered voters, and 106,465 votes were cast on primary
day (33.1 percent of all registered voters). In the past four years,
however, the District’s voter roll has grown substantially, to 436,669
voters, as of August 31, 2010. Moreover, within the polls there will be
two separate lines to process voters — one for individuals who are
listed on the BOEE’s rolls as registered voters and another for those
who must cast a special ballot (e.g., people voting outside their
assigned precincts, people who allege they have erroneously been omitted
from the list of registered voters, anyone who has moved and not changed
registration address; and those seeking to register on the same day as
the primary). Because of the time needed to complete and review
paperwork, including the required identification, the lines for the BOEE
to process applications for special ballots will be especially long.
In addition to long lines, you can also expect some mischief and
mayhem outside the polls. As anyone who has attended the candidate
forums and straw polls over the past few months will attest, the
campaigns have become increasingly aggressive, rowdy, and thuggish.
Electioneering is not permitted within fifty feet of the polls, and BOEE
officials are responsible for policing the fifty-foot perimeter.
However, the area beyond the fifty-foot limit will likely resemble a
wild west show, where anything goes and the supporters of various
candidates aggressively try to impress every voter with the merits of
their candidates.
Footnote: this year, it will require the vigilance of every voter to
ensure an honest election in the District. When you go to the polls,
watch and listen; be observant. If you encounter any problem or witness
any irregularity, whether inside or outside the polling site, ask to
speak to the precinct captain. The captain is empowered by the BOEE to
resolve most issues. If you are not satisfied with how the captain has
handled a matter, you can insist that they get a BOEE official on the
telephone or have one come to the precinct. In any case, be firm about
insisting that the captain include a written notation of your problem in
the precinct report. In addition, Ken McGhie, the General Counsel of the
BOEE, has established an election day hotline to his office, 727-2194,
that you can call with any problem not resolved at the precinct level.
You can also E-mail the General Counsel at kmcghie@dcboee.org.
Finally, because of numerous incidents at the early voting centers over
the past two weeks, the Metropolitan Police Department will station a
police car close to all 143 voting precincts. If you witness any effort
to buy votes, to intimidate or threaten voters, report the incident to
MPD because it is a District and federal crime. Please also let me know
of any issues or problems that you observe and report to the BOEE or the
MPD; my E-mail is dorothy@dcwatch.com.
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Making Sure There Are Facts
Mary Filardo, 21st Century School Fund, mfilardo@21csf.org
Just to make sure Rawn James [themail, September 8] doesn’t
undermine his own case about people voting with emotion and without
facts, I wanted to make sure he had the facts of how project funds for
school construction had been distributed across the wards. Rawn says:
“During his term as mayor, Fenty has distributed money for projects
equally across the District’s eight wards.” I don’t think it
counts if you distribute equal amounts of money by ward, but you don’t
have equal amounts of responsibility or need. So spending roughly the
same amount of public funds on ten schools in Ward 3 as on twenty
schools in Ward 8 is hardly equitable and certainly not laudable.
Actually, more total dollars were spent on school construction
projects between 2007 and 2010 in Ward 7 and 8 than on school
construction projects than in Wards 2 and 3, but because the number of
schools is so much more and the school buildings and sites are so much
larger, the students in these wards have not had nearly the building or
site improvements of the children in ward 2 or 3. Ward 3 students are in
schools that on average had $139 per square foot spent on them. Ward 8
students are in schools that on average had $59 per square foot spent on
them.
The Chancellor’s defense of the inequity — that the students in
the Ward 3 schools are from all over the city, as she was quoted as
saying — is not the point. The students in Ward 3 schools are from
among the most affluent families on the globe. The level of children
eligible for free or reduced priced lunch in the Ward 3 elementary
schools range from 3 percent free and reduced lunch at Janney and Mann,
to 32 percent at Oyster/Adams. Just compare this to the enrollment in
the fifteen elementary schools in Ward 8, where the elementary schools
range from a low 81 percent eligible for free and reduced price lunch at
Leckie to a high of 100 percent at Hendley and Malcolm X.
Absolutely, all children should be in high quality educational
facilities — the 21st Century School Fund is dedicated to this — but
this means all — the children of Wards 7 and 8 and throughout all
wards of the city, no matter the wealth of the families they come from,
should be in modern and inspiring school buildings that are beacons in
their neighborhoods for education and community life. To view the
project specific details of these findings you can go to http://www.21csf.org/csf-home/datashop.asp
.
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As autumn leaves will soon start to fall, thank God this campaign
season will soon start to wrap up. Although, I will not vote for Fenty
or Gray I will be bold enough to render my opinion and call a winner in
the race.
I believe Fenty will narrowly hold on to his seat and Gray will go
home. Ultimately, this race will be decided by voter turnout, which I
believe will be low. So it will boil down to who can rally their base.
Fenty’s base is young urban professionals of all races but mostly
white who are having a fabulous time gentrifying the city. Gray’s base
is older residents of all races but mostly black who are grasping to
hold on to the power they have come to enjoy over the years of living in
the city. The campaign is not a campaign about substance; it is about
personality and style. I say this because policy-wise most people can
agree that there is basically little difference between Fenty and Gray.
Over the last four years they have both governed the city together,
Fenty as the mayor and Gray as the chairman of the city council, the two
most powerful positions in city government. The condition of the city
today bares witness equally to the shared vision of both candidates: “Paris
on the Potomac,” a city where everyone is well educated, beautiful,
sophisticated, very green, fabulously gay, and of course mostly white,
with a few people from other exotic nations. The exotic people from
foreign lands enriches the international flavor of the city making the
new District of Columbia that much more sensationally fabulous.
For the other three candidates who ran for mayor — Ernest Johnson,
Leo Alexander, and Sulaimon Brown — one would think at least one of
them would have had the good sense to toss the Democratic Party and run
as an independent. This very simple strategy would have given them a
good chance of capitalizing on the anger of the losing candidate’s
voters and maybe going on to beat the Democratic nominee in the November
general election. However, unfortunately, they too will go home after
September 14. What a shame. So, whether Fenty retains his crown or Gray
knocks the crown from his head, either way for some of the citizens of
DC we will have four more years of Godless bankrupt moral values,
accelerated gentrification, and ramped up at-will firings. Just another
day in the hood called DC.
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Vote Against Fenty If. . . .
Bryce A. Suderow, streetstories@juno.com
Vote against Fenty if you want a revitalized teacher’s union that
protects incompetent teachers. Vote against Fenty if you want
micromanagement of the schools by the city council and the school board.
Vote against Fenty if you want a new superintendent of schools every two
years. Vote against Fenty if you want the lowest test scores in the
country. Vote against Fenty if you want to stop gentrification and turn
DC back into one vast ghetto.
If you vote against Fenty check back with me in two years and we’ll
check to see if I was right.
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Lars Hydle says, presumably regarding Attorney General Peter Nickle’s
questionable DC residence, that “he [does] not really object as long
as the appointee pays income tax to the District of Columbia, not the
suburban jurisdiction, as if he/she were in fact a bona fide DC
resident.”
I must ask if Mr. Hydle’s opinion on Nickels’ action is also
valid for every other citizen. Is it acceptable to simply change your
residence on paper in order to meet a legal obligation for any purpose?
So, if I had a summer home in Virginia, or perhaps if I just “rented a
room” from a friend who lives in Virginia, would he object if I simply
changed my legal residence on paper to an address in Virginia? I would
save thousands of dollars in state income taxes every year, and be able
to vote for a congressmen, too! I could also change my residence with my
automobile insurance company, also at substantial savings each year.
The purpose of residency requirements is not simply that there is a
paper trail that says that you live somewhere. The purpose is that you
live there. Considering that Nickles is not just any official, but the
very mouthpiece of the law for DC, I find it highly offensive that he
skirts this requirement by simply acting “as if” he were a DC
resident. Unless you actually live in DC, acting “as if” you are a
DC resident is no different than defrauding your insurance company or
state income taxes in exactly the same manner.
###############
Attorney General Peter Nickles Question
D. Clifton, frenchselmer@hotmail.com
The numerous E-mails questioning the legal residence of DC’s
Attorney General Peter Nickles has raised a question. If it is
determined that Nickles is not a legal DC resident, will any actions
made by Nickles, as attorney general, be overturned? I would love to
hear comments and legal arguments.
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Groups Release “Good Government” Candidate
Survey Responses
Parisa B. Norouzi, parisa@empowerdc.org
A number of groups committed to an open and transparent DC government
— Empower DC, DC We the People, Protect McMillan Park, DC Fiscal
Policy Institute, and DC Open Government Coalition — have posted
surveys on this topic that were completed by the registered candidates
for the DC mayor, council chair and at-large seats. The survey seeks to
educate voters about the candidates’ positions on a number of
opportunities to make DC government more accountable, open, and
responsive to DC residents.
The groups plan to work with whichever candidates are elected to
implement reforms highlighted in the survey. Questionnaires were sent to
all registered candidates for DC mayor, council chair, and at-large
seats this year. The questionnaires posted here represent those
responses we have received to date. We look forward to sharing
additional candidate responses with you and will continue to post new
ones as soon as they are received. Go to http://empowerdc.org/node/150
to read responses from David Catania, Council At-Large Candidate,
Independent; Darryl Moch, Council At-Large Candidate, DC Statehood Green
Party; Clark Ray, Council At-Large Candidate, Democrat; David
Schwartzman, Council At-Large Candidate, DC Statehood Green Party; Faith
Dane, Mayoral Candidate, DC Statehood Green Party; Vincent Gray, Mayoral
Candidate, Democrat; and Kwame Brown, Council Chair Candidate, Democrat.
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Daniel Pink Describes “Flip-Thinking”
Phil Shapiro, pshapiro@his.com
DC author Daniel Pink describes “flip-thinking” in this very
interesting Telegraph newspaper article. Flip-thinking applies to
education as well as business as well as other sectors of society. See http://tinyurl.com/3ybwox7
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David Schwartzman for DC Council
Debby and John Hanrahan, debbyhanrahan@yahoo.com
Two years ago when David Schwartzman was running in the general
election for an at-large seat on the DC council, we wrote the following
for themail: “As forty-year residents of the District of Columbia, we
have too often seen DC council and mayoral candidates campaign as the
voice of the people only to morph into mouthpieces for developers and
the business community soon after they take office. . . . DC voters have
a rare opportunity to cast one of their votes for a true pro-citizen
candidate, David Schwartzman, of the DC Statehood Green Party: a
candidate who takes no contributions from corporate interests, who has
been active for more than three decades on behalf of low-and
middle-income people, who believes in open government and access to
council members for citizens (and not behind-the-scenes cronyism), who
wants real democracy — i.e., statehood — for the District of
Columbia and not the sham one-DC Vote-in-the-House. . . .”
In Tuesday’s primary election, David is seeking the DCSGP
nomination for an at-large council seat in a contest with another fine
party candidate, Darryl Moch. We urge Statehood Greens to cast their
vote for David, and then for voters of all parties and independents to
vote for David in the November 2 general election. What we wrote two
years ago holds true today: we need David’s strong, independent,
knowledgeable voice on the council. In this city of one-party rule where
leading Democratic officeholders never pass up the opportunity for
another taxpayer-subsidized corporate, real estate or stadium boondoggle
— while telling advocates for the poor, for the jobless, for
education, housing, health care, and children that they’ll need to
tighten their belts — we need a true people’s advocate and watchdog
on the council. Through his four decades as an activist on behalf of DC
citizens and working for peace, civil, and human rights, David has
practiced his philosophy of listening to the people, rather than to the
high-powered lobbyists for monied interests who have the ear of and
campaign cash for the current mayor and most of the city council. He has
the support of leading community and labor activists, and earned a solid
rating from the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington, DC,
which called David “a thoughtful candidate who agrees with GLAA on
every issue.”
David brings solid credentials to his council bid. Since 1973 he has
been a member of the Howard University faculty as an environmental
scientist. An authority on DC government budgets and finance, David has
testified before the council dozens of times and attended thousands of
meetings and rallies over the years on matters ranging from tax relief
for working people to affordable housing for all in need, and for
statehood for DC. David’s detailed biography, record of
accomplishments, and positions on education, poverty, jobs for DC
residents, affordable housing, ending child poverty, public property
disposal, environment, health care, transportation, and green
development can be found on his web site — http://www.davidschwartzman.com.
As he has proposed for years, David would pay for these programs by
revamping the city’s regressive income tax systems and “making
millionaires pay their fair share.” Under his plan, a family with an
income of $45,000 would pay $1,000 less in DC taxes a year, while “a
modest tax hike for the top 5 percent income bracket would generate more
than $116 million additional revenue a year to better fund essential
programs in our budget.” If elected, David has pledged to donate
one-third of his salary “to non-profits working for economic, social
and environmental justice.”
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A Deadly Threat That Doesn’t
Discriminate
Leo Alexander, DC Mayoral Candidate, leo_alexander1@yahoo.com
Before we can have any meaningful discussions about
my ideas to address the HIV/AIDS rate in the District of Columbia, we
must be willing to admit that this is not just a LGBT community issue.
This deadly epidemic is a threat to our entire community. Last month, I
participated in a mayoral debate in Ward 6 where HIV/AIDS was the focus.
A question was asked, “As mayor, what would you do to reduce the
number of new cases of HIV/AIDS infection in DC?” I recall saying, “I’d
be willing to put my own HIV status on my driver’s license and would
encourage others to do the same. . . . And I’d also consider requiring
that this be mandatory for all District residents.” This position
comes from the fact that the District of Columbia is the nation’s
leader for HIV/AIDS infections, with an approximate rate of 3 to 5
percent of the population being positive for the disease. That’s the
problem; it’s an estimated rate. There are no hard numbers, largely
because very few people are getting tested. As mayor, my goal will be to
develop a comprehensive strategy to ultimately reduce the new case
infection rate to zero, but first we must know who is positive.
My proposed plan will start with officially declaring HIV/AIDS an
epidemic in the nation’s capital. This will allow the District to
receive additional federal resources to attack this deadly virus on all
fronts. Within my first one hundred days, I will convene an HIV/AIDS
Summit with senior level officials from the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC), Health and Human Services (HHS), the DC Department
of Health (DOH) and our many community stakeholders. The goal of this
summit will be to lay out one, five, ten, and twenty year strategic
plans to confront this public health emergency. These plans will include
a comprehensive strategy for mass testing, education, prevention, and
treatment. All options will be thoroughly discussed, including making it
mandatory for all doctors/emergency room visits to include HIV
screening. Obviously, this does not mean testing toddlers at their
pediatrician visits, but we must discuss when to begin age appropriate
HIV screening. The results of this information will be shared with the
patient and DOH.
As your mayor, I am prepared to be a staunch ally of all the
community stakeholders in this fight for a cure. However, in the
meantime, my administration will execute this new comprehensive plan to
halt the spread of this deadly virus. As the nation’s capital, we will
lead the way in the reduction of new cases and options for treatment for
those living with the disease. You may not support my candidacy or my
ideas, and I may not agree with your ideas, but somewhere in the middle
we must find a solution. For some, change is a difficult concept to
embrace; because no matter how miserable the present may be, it’s
still comfortable. We have no more time for empty political correctness
without decisive governmental leadership.
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Latest Issue of Brookland Heartbeat
Available Now
Abigail Padou, brooklandheartbeat@yahoo.com
The latest issue of Brookland Heartbeat is available at http://www.brooklandheartbeat.org.
The lead article in this issue is “Funding Drought Continues for Ward
5 Libraries, Parks, and Recreation Centers.” Analysis reveals that for
the past four years, Ward 5 has lagged behind all other wards in capital
spending and is the only ward not to receive a new or renovated library.
Other articles and features include “Brookland Streetscape Project
Still Unfinished,” “Chez Hareg Bakery Welcomes the Neighborhood,”
“Locally Grown Honey at the Franciscan Monastery” and more. Hard
copies of the newspaper will reach greater Brookland homes within ten
days. To receive a copy electronically, send your E-mail address to brooklandheartbeat@yahoo.com.
Brookland Heartbeat is a nonprofit, all-volunteer community
newspaper that is mailed to more than ten thousand homes in the greater
Brookland area.
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September InTowner PDF Issue Now Online
Peter Wolff, intowner@intowner.com
This is to advise that the September 2010 issue PDF (which includes
all content, including the popular Scenes from the Past feature -- this
month titled “Former Slave Keith Sutherland and Life in Hell’s
Bottom” -- plus photos and other images), has now been posted on our
web site, http://www.intowner.com,
and may be opened by clicking the front page graphic on the home page.
This month’s lead stories include the following: 1) “Unlicensed
and Non-DC Resident Vending in City Funded Adams Morgan Program Exposed”;
2) “Chinese Embassy Plan to Replace Old Chancellery and Residence With
New Building on Fast Track”; 3) “North Columbia Heights Green
Nearing Completion; Opening Set for September 11.” The Selected Street
Crimes feature, which is separately posted on the web site, will be
updated later on, at which time we will provide notification.
The next PDF issue will publish around midnight of October 8 (the
second Friday of the month as usual). For more information, either send
an E-mail to newsroom@intowner.com
or call 234-1717.
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Passion and Reason, Faith
and Trust, and, Finally, Respect
Alvin C. Frost, alvincfrost@msn.com
When I was growing up in Washington, DC, with both parents and their
five sons, we had to go to Sunday School for our “spiritual”
instruction, or we couldn’t go to the movies at the Mott Theater later
on. We lived near 25th and M Street, NW, one block from Foggy Bottom and
one block from Georgetown. I, for one, enjoyed Sunday School, and I
accepted many of the lessons that were taught, such as: 1) “do unto
others, as you would have them do unto you”; 2) “one good deed
deserves another”; and 3) there is something larger than ourselves.
Now, I bought into the understanding and belief that we, each of us,
should follow the above, not because a deity, or religious text, told me
to do so, but because I accepted it for myself, because it made, and
continues to make, sense to me.
My favorite poet is Kahlil Gibran, especially his most famous book,
The Prophet. One of my most favorite passages concerns “Passion and
Reason,” especially the last line, where he writes “. . . you too
should rest in reason and move in passion.” My favorite political
figure is Frederick Douglass, and two of my most favorite quotes of his
are: 1) “Man’s greatness consists in his ability to do and the
proper application of his powers to things needed to be done” and: (2)
“where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance
prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an
organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons
nor property will be safe.”
One of the issues that appears to have been ignored throughout this
campaign to become the next mayor of Washington, DC, is the matter of
each candidate’s faith and/or spiritual upbringing and outlook. I
believe that this is just the kind of issue that needs to be explored in
order to determine whether the candidate believes in something greater
than themselves, like reducing poverty in the nation’s capitol. Now,
this could be a religious belief, demonstrated by involvement with a
specific religion and participating in a church and its good works, or a
spiritual belief that both informs and influences that candidate’s
desire and intent to help others who are in want of help, support and
guidance, as opposed to helping only those who support their candidacy
with money, votes, or a very important endorsement.
Thomas Jefferson is quoted as having said, “When a man assumes a
public trust he should consider himself a public property.” Dr. Maya
Angelou has been quoted as having said, “I don’t personally trust
any revolution where love is not allowed.” Dr. Dorothy Height is
quoted as having said, “We have to improve life, not just for those
who have the most skills and those who know how to manipulate the
system. But also for and with those who often have so much to give but
never get the opportunity.” Even Ronald Reagan was heard to have said,
or perhaps reading, “Trust, but verify.” Trust, it would seem, is an
extremely important characteristic for a public person, or official, to
have. This is especially true, since the DC mayor is an
at-the-will-of-the-people position.
Some years ago, I did an afternoon live talk show on CNN, when CNN’s
Washington Bureau was still located in the Union Labor Life Insurance
Building on Massachusetts Avenue, NW. When I left the interview, after
making sure that my on-air makeup was removed, and heading toward Union
Station to catch the Metro home, I saw Dr. Dorothy Height alighting from
a taxi cab with one of her aides, and a number of heavy bags. They had
gotten off at the West end of the building where there were no Red Caps,
so I offered to help Dr. Height and her assistant onto their train to
New York. I carried their bags onto the train and stowed then in the
overhead baggage compartment. I was happy to help a woman, an icon, who
had selflessly helped so many in her life, including me.
Dr. Maya Angelou, who taught at Wake Forest University, in her home
state of North Carolina, used to take the Amtrak Metroliner from New
York to Washington, DC, where her driver would meet her to drive her to
Wake Forest and her students. She would reverse this process to get back
to New York, where she currently lives. But, while she was in DC, she
would always stop off at B. Smith’s Restaurant in Union Station to
have a bite of something to eat, and to hold court at B. Smith’s
Whiskey Bar, where I met her a number of years ago. One day, a group of
young DC students, taking a shortcut through B. Smith’s, surrounded
Dr. Angelou, because they immediately recognized her, and her works, and
respected her. She very clearly instructed the kids that it was not
right to use B. Smith’s as a short cut, and she told them to go back
out the door that they had entered, to go to the front of Union Station,
and to enter the restaurant properly, and that she would then spend time
with them, and answer their many urgent questions. They all did as told,
without complaint or grumbling, and they all came back humbled, and yet
still excited to be in her presence. They both trusted and respected Dr.
Angelou, just as I had respected Dr. Height so many years before, for
her exceptional service to the nation.
“When we show our respect for other living things, they respond
with respect for us,” an Arapaho proverb. “To respect a person is
not possible without knowing him; care and responsibility would be blind
if they were not guided by knowledge,” Erich Fromm. The next DC mayor
must use both passion and reason to inform his thoughts, ideas,
planning, and actions. He cannot use reason for only what he and his
supporters want, and petulance when he doesn’t get what he wants. If a
mayor doesn’t show faith and trust in himself, his aides, supporters,
employees or the citizens, then he shouldn’t be surprised when his
contemptuousness is returned with an accompanying lack of trust, faith,
and respect. As some people would say, “You reap what you sow,” and
“Turnabout is fair play,” or, in other words, using street lingo,
meaning straight talk, “Payback is a B. . . .”
My final thoughts on respect is that it can only be genuinely earned,
and that you cannot demand respect. You can, however, command, or sow,
fear, but not love. Our next DC mayor needs many things, but chief among
them has to be the peoples’ faith, trust, and respect in themselves,
and especially in the government and the people that they seek to lead.
No DC mayors should ever, and I stress ever, be allowed to think, or to
act, as though they are above and beyond the law or the people. Dr.
Height also said, “ I want to be remembered as someone who used
herself and anything she could touch to work for justice and freedom. .
. . I want to be remembered as one who tried.”
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CLASSIFIEDS — EVENTS
National Building Museum Events, September
16-17
Johanna Weber, jweber@nbm.org
September 16, 12:00-1:30 p.m., Lessons of Modern Rome. For millennia,
architects have looked to Rome for inspiration. Rarely, however, has
modern Rome been regarded as a model for contemporary architecture and
urban design. G. Martin Moeller, Jr., Assoc. AIA, senior vice president
and curator at the National Building Museum, addresses lessons, both
good and bad, that may be learned from one of the world’s most
chaotic, frustrating, yet enchanting cities. This program is offered as
part of AIA|DC’s Architecture Week. Free, registration required.
Walk-in registration based on availability.
September 17, 12:30-1:30 p.m., Palladio and His Legacy: Exhibition
Tour. Members are invited to tour the exhibition Palladio and His
Legacy: A Transatlantic Journey with exhibition curators Charles Hind
and Dr. Irena Murray of the Royal Institute of British Architects
British Architectural Library. Free; members only. Space is limited;
preregistration required by Friday, September 10, to Katherine Potosky
at 272-2448, ext. 3456, or kpotosky@nbm.org. Both events at the National
Building Museum, 401 F Street, NW, Judiciary Square Metro station.
Register for events at http://www.nbm.org.
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Japanese American Experience During World War
II, September 19
Rosemary Reed, rosemaryreed6@gmail.com
The members of this panel discussion are from the Japanese American
Veterans Association, which serves the interests of Asian Pacific
American veterans. They will discuss the Japanese American experience
during WWII. The panelists are: Dr. Stanley Falk, a veteran of the
Military Intelligence Service (MIS) with service in the Occupation of
Japan; 2) Warren Tsuneishi, a veteran of the MIS; Dr. Falk and Dr.
Tsuneshi authored the book, American Patriots: MIS in the War Against
Japan; 3) Mr. Douglas Sterner, a historian, the author of Go for
Broke: Nisei Warriors of WWII Who Conquered Germany, Japan, and American
Bigotry; 4) Ms Mary Murakami, a high school student in an internment
camp; 5) Kelly Kuwayama, a medic of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team,
which fought in Italy, France and Germany, and 6) Grant Ichikawa, an MIS
veteran.
Free. Sunday, September 19, 2:30 p.m., at The Washington Historical
Society, 8th and K Streets, NW, in front of the DC Convention Center.
Metro Convention Center Station on the Yellow and Green Lines, or a
two-block walk from the Gallery Place Station. Street parking or on
various nearby lots. Contact Lea Adams, workingprogress247@mac.com,
or telephone the Historical Society at 383-1800.
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