By Ken Lumpkin, Publisher
Insider News
“Change” might be a national buzzword, but it does not start — or end — with a presidential campaign. In addition, the Insider News is gearing up to remind voters that all politics are local.
It’s important for Racine's African-American voters be educated about the great potential they have in determining the next mayor, alderman, and members to the school board.
In the past few weeks, nine African-American candidates have shown an interest in running for six-elected positions. The hottest contest race is that of Mayor of Racine, where four African-American candidates have filed their Declaration of Candidacy papers or have shown interest in participating in the upcoming June Special Mayoral election. There are also four black candidates running for aldermen in the city. Stella Young, a counselor at Gateway Technical College, and a long-time educator, is seeking to become the second minority seated on the Racine Unified School Board. Among the names mentioned for mayor are State Representative Robert Turner, Alderman/Supervisor Q. A. Shakoor II, John Bryant Center Director Leisa Hill-Driver, and Horlick High School’s former principal Nola Ratliff.
Alderman Michael Shields is seeking his 13th two-year term on the council, while Keith Fair is trying to make a comeback to regain the seat that he held two years ago.
Businesswoman Gloria Rogers is making her third attempt to unseat Greg Helding, who is running for mayor and Alderman of the 11th District.
Newcomer William Leverson, an African American, will be challenging Alderman Robert Mozol, a former Racine police officer.
Change begins with an informed and active electorate, and the selection of a new mayor, the chief executive officers of city government, is a perfect example of why minority voters need to be educated on how important their voting is to our local democracy.
Now is the time for the African-American community to move forward with an aggressive agenda for "change". The stages of developing a plan should include a job creation component, a reduction of crime segment, as well as an economic development strategy. These three issues are key to the Recovery Plan for Racine's inner city. How each mayoral candidate addresses the key concerns will gauge how favorable they will be to work towards the revitalization of the minority community. Anything less than their public commitment should not be tolerated by the African-American leadership.
Much like the written commitment that Kenosha lawmakers have made with the Hispanic and African-American community, Racine candidates for mayor should be willing to publicly commit themselves to improve the central city.
Lead organizations in the community such as the Racine/Kenosha Urban League, NAACP, and Racine County OIC program should spearhead the development of the recovery plan. With a new mayor being elected by June, it is imperative that plans be developed and completed no later than the first week in April to deliver to each candidate that will participate in June’s special election. Speedy, but necessary. In addition, plans to hold a community Summit will enable the lead organizations the opportunity to gather valuable input from various members of the community. These lists and forums could be held in community centers.
Some would ask why a Black Agenda is necessary. The Black Agenda assumes that no basic change for our benefit takes place in the African-American community unless the African-Americans organize to initiate that change. We have witnessed the putting aside of all the needs in our community. Our recovery plan assumes that we must have some essential agreement on overall goals, even though we may differ on many specific strategies. No time is better than now to implement a comprehensive recovery plan.
To the elected officials and the community, this is an initial statement of goals and directions for our own needs and the definitions of crucial issues around which Black people must organize and move forward. Anyone who claims to be serious about the survival of improvements of our community must be serious about the implementation of a recovery plan.
Time is of the essence, and we encourage all parts of the community to come together to make this happen. The Insider News pledges its support and resources in making sure that the community is aware of any evidence that will make the recovery plan a reality.
What do you think?
