[Mpls] 8TH WARD CONVENTION (City Pages & race-baiting)

[wmmarks]

Socialist2001 at cs.com wrote:

>Dennis S. Tifft wrote,
><<Since no endorsement was given it seems that some of the delegates and/or 
>candidates have not only accused me of blocking an endorsement but of being a 
>"white nationalist," which I personally find very offensive and completely 
>untrue.>>
>  
>
WM: Not everyone who becomes a candidate or a delegate is granted equal 
intelligence, good manners, or common sense.

Mr. Tifft was the second candidate to drop. The only candidate he could 
conceivably have "blocked" was Titi Bediako. Under only completely 
bizarre circumstances (I cannot imagine only one: that the other four 
candiates dropped dead before the first ballot was counted at the 
convention) could Titi have gotten an endorsement.

>Let's name names. The 8th ward convention coverage in City Pages was run as a 
>side bar to an interview with Mayoral Candidate Peter McLaughlin, entitled 
>"The Other White Meat"
>  
>
WM: The less said about the CP's coverage, the better.

>The sidebar, "Stalemate: Delegates Block Endorsement in Ward 8" was written 
>by Shannon Gibney, the managing editor of the Minnesota Spokeman-Recorder. 
>Gibney wrote: "Hard political lesson number 2: In a racially divided town, even a 
>black veteran of Minneapolis politics can't necessarily count on the support 
>of white voters." 
>  
>
WM: The statement, of course, reflects the mind set of the writer, but 
does not at all reflect the mind sets present at the convention. He's 
clearly talking about Titi since Jeff Hayden is not a "veteran" of politics.

To critique Titi's presentation of herself at the convention, she led 
off with her father's accomplishments. Where I was sitting at the time, 
several people dropped Titi from consideration at that point. I'm only 
guessing at motive here, but it could be that those around me expected 
her to lead off with her own accomplishments, not her father's. For 
those who have known her for probably her whole life, some thought 
Titi's scope "was too narrow" for the ward.

>Gibney quoted Titi Bediako as saying "What's happening here is obviously an 
>example of political strategy, but also straight-up white nationalism."
>  
>
WM: It's very hard to step up in front of god and everybody at a public 
meeting of some 500 people, give of your best, then be rejected. It's 
painful when you can look out and see people you've known as both child 
and adult who are there to judge you and have not given a positive 
judgment. Titi's quote was Titi lashing out. Naturally, she was not 
going to blame her own. It's very hard to swallow the fact that's it's 
your own dam fault you did not win. It doesn't happen the first day, but 
only in retrospect.

>Gibney goes on to write, "...After Hauser, a park board commissioner, was out 
>of the race, was out of the race, her supporters -a majority of whom, like 
>Tifft's, were white- split their votes between Glidden and no endorsement. None 
>of them voted for Hayden." That contention is not supported by the facts 
>presented in the same article. Hayden's share of the total vote increased by 4% 
>immediately after Hauser was knocked out, and didn't lose any ground in the last 
>round of voting. Glidden share of the vote increased from 31 to 46%, then 
>dropped to 43%, an increase of 12%.
>  
>
WM: This was true to a certain extent, but it's a mistake to give it 
more prominence than it warrants. The ward had voted for Belton and for 
Herron, neither of whom could have become the CM for the 8th without 
both black and white votes. For almost a generation the ward has solidly 
supported African American candidates. Titi and Gibney are just plain 
wrong to attribute her loss to white nationalism--whatever that 
nomenclature might mean.

Delegates made it abundantly clear that they were willing to vote for a 
black candidate--they voted for Hayden. At the sixth ballot, it was 
exceedingly clear that we'd seesaw back and forth between Hayden and 
Glidden till enough people were exhausted and left. Last one standing 
wins. Why do that?

>And there is certainly more to the dynamics of the 8th ward city council race 
>than the "race" of the candidates. With coverage of the 8th ward city council 
>election that helps to keep the masses of people in the 8th ward ignorant 
>about the political process, the candidates, and issues, City Pages is performing 
>a valuable service to those who profit from racial discrimination and 
>oppression in the City of Minneapolis.
>  
>
WM: Could we talk about proportion here? As in isn't this blowing it way 
out of proportion? I'm sure CP likes feeling that powerful, but get 
real. It's a weekly whoopee newspaper with a tiny news hole.

>WizardMarks, Central, 8-2
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