[Mpls] 8th Ward

[Pamela Taylor]

List Members,

 

Going into the 8th Ward convention, I told several people that I was certain that there would be no endorsement, and despite all the political maneuvering and brouhaha, I am sure that the outcome surprised few other people as well.  True to form, the dynamics (i.e. tactics) of each candidate’s campaign, for better or worse, played themselves out, and the rest, as they say, is now history.  

 

Now what needs to happen is for the remaining ten candidates to find CREDIBLE ways to separate themselves from the pack.  And I literally mean “the pack.”  For as it has been noted time and again on our e-list forum, and in listening to the candidates in “their own words” at Sabathani, Phelps Park, and the convention itself, it has been a repeating of the same mantra.  And no one, and I repeat, NO ONE is looking forward to a long hot summer listening to that.  The constituents, not simply the any party delegates, need to hear something tangible.  We are all quite aware that things need to change at the governor’s mansion, so that tired campaign cry can be omitted for now.  Candidates need to look around the 8th ward and deal with the reality for which they are being elected to do something about.  Then, tell us something we can believe in, not just something you think we may want to hear.  There is a major difference.

 

And now, about that elephant (and not the GOP one) that a forum member mentioned which seems to have followed us all into the room, race.  Everyone wants to levitate above it, but when you come back down to the ground, it has not run out upon your disappearance, it has simply sat waiting to be dealt with.  So, as an African-American woman, this is my view as I sit perched astride the elephant’s back.  While there is a concentration of minority groups in the ward, the ward is predominately European.  Since their voting record is markedly higher than any other racial group, anyone to be elected will be so by a majority of their votes.  That said, it is a given that their votes will decide the race of the next council-member.  Those of you that want to fume do so now and get over it.  

 

Now as racial groups and individuals, we need to put our focus on encouraging each other to vote for the candidate based on factors OTHER THAN THAT. We all want to quote MLK’s words of judging one not on the color of their skin, but on the content of their character, but we think we get to be choosy on the occasions of its implementation.  Not true.  It calls for us to embrace that concept when it is not always one’s first inclination to do so, nor the most popular decision amongst the masses.

 

I believe that the focus should be placed squarely on the shoulders of each candidates qualifications, and not rest on the dubious laurels of party machines or past loyalties to such.  Look deeply into what the candidates are currently engaged in on behalf of their communities (social, economic, educational, etc), and consider how those pursuits play out in relation to the 8th ward.  Also, how are they viewed by constituents in other wards, as they will have to work with twelve other council-members while developing city-wide priorities, which in the long term will affect you?  Examine their past mistakes and determine for yourself whether you think they have learned anything or have simply repeated them and cleverly hid the evidence.  Under the light of politics, they will be read and quoted repeatedly.  Are their lives an open engaging book, or merely a pretty cover, a clever foreword, with a badly conceived storyline?  Most importantly, do they understand that what they are
 aspiring to be is a SERVANT of the people, not the other way around?  

 

And, DO WE UNDERSTAND that said council-member will not be our personal servant, but belong to the masses?  We need to look at ourselves, make the decision to grow up and grow together, and put longstanding issues of separatism (some real and some imagined) aside to prevent further loss and destruction.  Be frank and let honesty prevail; everyone feels more comfortable looking into a face that reflects their own color, and that desire is quite valid given the country we live in and its countless omissions and misrepresentations (past and present) related to our mutual American history, its contributing daily distractions performed systematically by various social and economic orders, and its current gentrification efforts within our cities, just to name a few.  Therefore, it is imperative then, that we do not falter in the task set before us, which is to choose someone who exemplifies not only who we know ourselves to be at present, but who can take that knowledge and incorporate it
 into the best of who we can be together in the future.  The simple need to elect the best person outweighs the race card automatically.  

 

In my opinion, the 8th ward IS THE WARD TO WATCH.  What is done now, as candidates and constituents, will determine what our loved ones and children will have left to work with in the future.  

 

Pamela Taylor
(In the 10th, speaking on behalf of some of the presumed voiceless in the 8th)       

		
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