Tuesday, August 1, 2023

An election is coming, an election is coming: Get ready, get set, vote


COMMENTARY –
The Durham Municipal Election is rapidly approaching with 12 people vying for three city council seats and eight people hoping to become mayor.

Early voting for the municipal primary begins on Sept 21 and ends on Oct 7. The Oct. 10 primary will narrow the field of candidates for city council to six and mayor to two for the Nov 7 general election. Early voting for the general election begins Oct 19 and ends Nov 4.

Durham voters have a lot to consider before casting votes. These candidates for both city council and mayor are a mixture of present council members, former council members, candidates who tried before and lost and people unknown to most residents.

What is the average voter to do beyond gauging who to select based on campaign signs or the endorsement of their favorite political action committee? Most voters are detached from the working of city government beyond the fight recorded by WRAL-TV after a council meeting.

How do you pick from a group you barely know? Who do you trust when what matters most is discussed less than the personal battles defining the work of the city council?

Durham City Council elections take place every two years with the mayor on the ballot every election. At-large council seats are on the ballot this year. Terms for ward seats expire in 2025.

In 2021, voters overwhelming supported Elaine O’Neal to become Durham’s first Black woman to serve as mayor. Her win responded to a call to defund the police. Rev. Mark-Anthony Middleton and DeDreana Freeman were re-elected riding the coattail of O’Neal, a former district and superior court judge. Leonardo Williams, owner with his wife of Zweli, a Zimbabwean cuisine restaurant, defeated A.J. Williams, a 34-year-old community activist, by 300 votes. A.J. Williams lost despite loads of funding and the backing of Durham Beyond Police and Durham for All, grassroots coalitions effective in mobilizing a diverse community of younger residents.

The 2019 election centered Mayor Steve Schewel campaign for affordable housing against Farad Ali, a former member of the city council and CEO of The Institute for Minority Economic Development. Ali advocated for shared economic prosperity.

Jillian Johnson, Charlie Reece and Javiera Caballero, who replaced Schewel after he became mayor in 2017, joined forces to form the Bull City Together Platform as incumbents on the council. Ali endured criticism for his business connections while Johnson, Reece and Caballero were celebrated for promoting a progressive agenda.

History informs the context for the upcoming municipal election. If affordable housing and police funding are the narrative for the previous elections, what’s on the ballot this year?

Civility Matters

The shout heard around the Triangle measures the communal rage felt by many Durham voters. In March, allegations of malfeasance against Councilwoman Monique Holsey-Hyman during a work session carried over to Freeman accusing Mayor Pro Tempore Mark-Anthony Middle of bullying Black women and allegedly accidently striking Councilman Leonardo Williams in the face.

A lack of civility among members on the council impacted O’Neal’s decision not to pursue a second term as mayor. Bickering during council meetings lends credence to no current council member (Williams and Freeman are both campaigning to become mayor) having the ability to effectively facilitate council meetings.

Durham voters should consider the impact of a culture of incivility in voting for mayor. Who among the candidates processes the demeanor essential in managing a crowd of people with opposing perspectives?

It Takes Four Votes

Bearing in mind all the bad related to establishing a coalition like the 2017 Bull City Together Platform, the name of the game is winning four seats on the council. In Durham, the mayor is the symbolic head of the city and a member of the city council but has no executive authority. The city manager oversees the day-to-day operations and implements the policies and manages the budget approved by the council.

When casting your votes, consider how the positions and perspectives of each person align with the rest of the team. The work of the council is not the life of lone rangers. Ideally, they should build together in ways which reflect the general consensus of local residents. They represent voters, not their own views related to what it means to hold a position of power.

Each vote is an affirmation of a collective mission statement. It isn’t a popularity contest.  Each vote signifies how we, as a community, understand and support how infrastructural changes advance or impede the work of our city.

Growth or Slow it Down

Voters should ponder the consequences of growth. Are we building for the people who are coming, or is growth benefiting the people who are already here?

Are we positioning growth in celebration of what Durham has always been – an incredible city with a rich legacy of inclusive prosperity?

We are one of the homes of Black Wall Street - where dreams come true transcendent of race, gender, gender identity, place of origin, religion or past mistakes. Are we building for a future imbedded in the life, culture and witness of what brought us to Durham – what keeps us in Durham? Or, are members of the city council favoring zoning changes and other policies to entice and satisfy the desires of the people who aren’t here?

Before you vote, decide. What is your vision for Durham? Are you willing to accept more growth? If so, at what expense? Who wins when we keep building? Who loses when the growth results in an invasion of richer, white people with limited knowledge of why many people celebrate “Dirty Durham”.

They are welcome to come, but not at the risk of losing our happy home.

Shared Prosperity

Again, considering where we’ve been helps frame where we’re going. Voters rejected Farad Ali in 2017 due to his business connections. The claim that Ali and Joshua Gunn, a former Durham Chamber of Commerce executive and hip-hop recording artist who lost in a bid for city council in 2017, were too business centered missed the mark in fully understanding and affirming the goals of Black and Brown economic mobility and inclusion.

It is problematic to measure Black capitalism using the same constructs as white centered, institutionalized capitalism. Black capitalism is rooted from a place of survival for both individuals and a community massively impacted by the weaponizing of white centered capitalism.

They are not the same thing.

Ali called for the implementation and execution of strategies aimed at facilitating shared prosperity. If voters embrace continued growth coupled with ongoing gentrification, the widening of white versus Black and Brown economic disparity and shifting demographics reflective of more white and fewer Black and Brown residents, are we becoming a community different than what we’ve come to celebrate.

Voters should consider policies which protect our desired image. What is our community brand? How do votes by members of the city council assure the sharing of prosperity? Should we care?

A few things to consider as you prepare for the upcoming primary and subsequent general election.

Next up, a summary of the people running for mayor and city council.