IS DURHAM’S PEOPLE’S ALLIANCE AN ALLY OR ENEMY OF BLACK PEOPLE?
That’s the critical question raised by Henry McKoy, professor and director of entrepreneurship at North Carolina Central University, during “Black Public Leadership and White Liberalism: The Case for or Against Wendell Davis”, the first in the “Racial Equity Talk” series.
Millicent Rogers, co-president of People’s Alliance, defended the statement her organization wrote encouraging members of the Durham Board of County Commissioners not to renew Davis’ contract.
“Davis is slow walking progressive policy priorities and not putting back on their agenda the priorities that were identified by the Commission including tax incentives for long-time low-income homeowners and including LGBTQ plus protections,” said Rogers. “Davis' contract provides professional renewal in an extremely unusual clause that automatically renews the contract and includes a one-year incentive package, and so those are the issues that we were committed to raising with the Commission in hope that they would take those things into consideration.”
Antonio Jones, chair of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People, and Sheila Huggins, chair of The Friends of Durham, spent the night tag teaming in an attack on the credibility of the claims made by People’s Alliance.
“The International City/County Management Association has provided a code of ethics to guide the conduct of city and county managers,” Huggins read from The Friends of Durham response to the People Alliance statement. “Those tenants say that managers serve the best interests of the people and, although managers work closely with elected officials, they should also refrain from all political activities which undermine public confidence in professional administrators.”
Jones noted that the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People wrote their response to the PA statement to address issues involving all county Black employees.
“The constant pattern of negative opinions towards people of color in a toxic work environment. The racial insensitive language used by some of the commissioners. The micromanaging and the lack of trust in Black employees,” said Jones. “As of last night, was another prime example of how they use it to overstep an entire legal apparatus to go to an outside law firm for contract review when we have a highly qualified legal team that are County employees.”
During the April 26th board meeting, Commissioners Heidi Carter, Wendy Jacobs and Nida Allam voted to enter a contract with Denise Smith Cline, a white woman, to review Davis’ contract. Board Chair Brenda Howerton and Commissioner Nimasheena Burns opposed the motion.
“The county has several attorneys who can easily interpret a contract. This is a normal function of our competent attorneys to handle contracts of this nature,” said Howerton after the vote. “To use tax-payer dollars to carry out a task that staff can easily do, is not a good use of county funds. Therefore, I am voting NO to the proposal to hire an outside attorney to review the manager’s contract, using tax dollars for a process we have paid attorneys on staff that are capable of doing.”
Jones noted the importance of sorting out the racial undertones and overtones hindering good government.
“We're looking to be able to make sure that all of our public employees are in a good work environment where they feel safe to be able to share what's going on,” said Jones. “So, in terms of the black employees, we value black excellence, of course, and we value accountability in government.”
Huggins says the People Alliance statement is packed with racially charged language. She mentioned criticism regarding Davis’ compensation and concerns about how he was hired.
“If we don't want to call it a dog whistles, call it a cat whistle,” said Huggins. “To sort of say, well you were elected by lame duck commissioners, and so that somehow means that you are not really legitimate because you should have waited. They should have waited until the new Commission came on board. It was the same sort of tactic that was used to deny President Obama his rights to appoint a federal judge to the Supreme Court. You know, and yet we cried, and we got outraged about that, but when we do it on our side it's OK. Well it's not. It's just not. It's just as insidious, just as horrible.”
Huggins noted concerns The Friends of Durham had with the way the People’s Alliance statement addressed Davis’s compensation.
“So, I think we have to be careful when we just make general statements and that we don't take the time to actually look at that person,” said Huggins. “it's just really concerning. It just really is when we use some of this language that is not specific, but it's just designed to make it look like it's wrong without going into detail and that was just a really big concern of ours.”
When asked by a person in the chat room why People’s Alliance thinks they are the employer of the county manager and have a say on his continuing as Durham County Manager, Rogers says the People’s Alliance statement addressed the county commission and not the manager.
“None of this would have been covered if his letter last March would have gone through HR like Marquetta Welton,” said Rogers. Welton filed a lawsuit against Davis and Durham County claiming she was demoted by Davis in retaliation for being a candidate for County Manager. The lawsuit was dismissed. Did Rogers mean to say People’s Alliance’s statement was written in response to Davis’ accusation that Carter’s public rebuke was perceived to be racially insensitive?
Jones stressed the importance of understanding the distinction between the roles of the county managers and county commissioners.
“Any policy issues that you may have just take it up with the elected officials. Whether they are school related issue, whether they are city related issue, take those to elected officials,” said Jones. “If you have concerns with implementation, call the administrator. Take it up with the manager.”
Rogers pressed concerns regarding People’s Alliance's criticism of Davis slow rolling progressive policies by failing to place them on the commission agenda. She referenced the slow process in passing $15 minimum wage pay for county employees, tax incentives for poor homeowners, funding for public schools and a LGBTQ+ ordinance.
Huggins says it’s important to affirm the employees who are overworked and stressed.
“Keep in mind that when we have these conversations about our public employees that it sends this message to them that is highly negative with these undertones of some of the phrasing with these sort of cat whistles that let people know what we're trying to say in a way that doesn't really come out and say we all know what it's saying,” said Huggins. “So, I think we want to make sure that we're having open dialogue and conversations in a way that's not discriminate.”
McKoy ended the conversation with a presentation that dismantled some of the misinformation circulating in reference to the county manager. He began by stating that Davis' contract was written to model the previous county manager’s contract and was approved by a majority white board. Those white board members approved the contract to make it difficult for Mike Ruffin to be fired by the next board. McKoy also refuted the notion that Davis is not held accountable. Based on his contract, he can be fired for cause.
McKoy stressed that Davis’ contract is almost identical to his predecessor. It is also in line with other county managers in the triangle, across the state and country.
McKoy addressed the most fervent criticism of Davis – school funding. He presented research involving the 10 largest school districts in North Carolina. Durham ranks number one in the accounting average of cost per pupil, at $3,000 based on DPI data, 35% more than number two. He noted that funding for public schools was drastically cut in 2008 and 2009 by Ruffin while taxes were increased. People’s Alliance didn’t complain. McKoy asked if People's Alliance's silence then should raise concerns regarding racism.
There was a more important question to be answered after more than two hours of talk about Black leadership and white liberalism. Is People’s Alliance an ally or enemy of Black people. The answer was clearly given. An ally can also be an enemy when intent isn’t required. Huggins called it cat whistles. Rogers addressed the importance of a progressive agenda. Jones affirmed the needs of Black employees. They followed a powerful presentation involving the “Perils of Anti-Discrimination Laws for Black Professionals" led by Lisa Jones, a retired corrections administrator, and Shawna Lemon, with the law firm Stanek Lemon Crouse + Meeks. All the participants are Black.
Rogers’ opinion is the outlier.
People’s Alliance may not know they are an enemy to Black people, but McKoy and the other presenters vehemently disagree.
-------------------------------
The Rev-elution offers readers free and full access. At a time when independent, Black-owned, local journalism is limited by financial constraints, your contribution is needed more than ever. Help sustain this work by contributing at: Cash app, $CMizzou, or Venmo, @Carl-Kenney-1
“The Black press was never intended to be objective because it didn’t see the – the white press being objective. It often took a position. It had an attitude. This was a press of advocacy. There was news, but the news had an admitted and a deliberate slant.” - Phyl Garland
No comments:
Post a Comment