Don't make me run for office!

The video of the four-year old crying conveyed how I feel.  “I’m tired of all the fighting between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney,” the precious girl stated on CNN.  The tears forced many to ask why a four-year old would be so emotional about an election.

It’s enough to make all of us cry.  This election has unveiled a pitiful display of conduct that forfeits the things we try to teach our children.  We forget the babies are watching.  Young folks have sense enough to know when we’re not practicing what we preach.

Civility has been thrown out the window.  Forget about being honest.  In the game of politics we are teaching our children lessons that contradict everything we claim as central in defining strong character.  We are teaching them how important it is to win.  We are teaching them to win at all cost, and that lesson will come back and bite us in the rear end.

Children are listening as their parents relate their hate for a candidate.  Yes, they are listening to racist garbage related to immigration, stereotypes involving people who receive food stamps, and assumptions regarding women who need an abortion.  Our children sit in church as ministers spew homophobic hate. Yes, the babies are listening.

They watch attack ads aimed at convincing voters the opposition has an evil agenda.  We teach our children to honor sportsmanship, to respect others and to do onto others as you would have others do onto you.  What happened to all that teaching? 

What are we teaching our children?  Does anyone care?  Is the war more important than the children God has given us to teach? 

Where are the politicians who care about the children?  Is it more important to prove you are right by revealing the wrong in others?  Where is the compromise?  Where is the respect for alternative views?  Where are the people who care more about what we leave behind than their getting elected to office?

This is not a boxing match.  So, I’m calling for a cease fire among those running for local office.  This war has to stop.  The children are watching.  Your behavior is juvenile. Stop it NOW!

Are you listening?

For those who missed it, the Herald-Sun reported that officials from the County Board of Elections were forced to call a meeting to warn local political leaders to put a stop to recent instances of disorder among campaign workers at Durham early voting cites.

Carol Anderson, board chairwoman, was forced to tell those present to “remember the golden rule and remember what your mother taught you.”  Help me understand why voters should trust this group of politicians to do the right thing when they can’t abide by the lessons they should have learned before they entered the first grade.

The fighting is reflected in the back and forth bickering that shows up in the newspaper almost every day.  These tattle tales have spent too much time consumed with their competitions campaign spending and who gets paid to work the polls.  I’m tired of the fighting.  It says something about the character of those running when they are overly consumed with things other than the strategy of their enemy. 

According to the report in the Herald-Sun, competing campaigners got into a fight that required police intervention.  Another incident was reported regarding the harassment of patrons of a county library by poll workers in the parking lot.

Those called in for the meeting included the heads of the county Democratic and Republican parties, Milo Pyne and Tom Miller of The People’s Alliance and Keith Bishop of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People.  Omar Beasley, Brenda Howerton, Wendy Jacobs and Ellen Reckhow – County Commissioners contenders – attended the meeting.  State Rep. Larry Hall, County Library board Chairman Allan Lang, Jacobs campaign manager Jackie Brown, T.E. Austin and Lorisa Seibel also attended the meeting.

Most troubling is what is fueling the fight.  It isn’t the clash between Obama and Romney that has campaign workers going after one another and those who vote for someone else.  The fight is over the Board of County Commissioners.  This election has exposed what we can look forward to after all the smoke settles.  We can expect a fight, and Durham deserve much better than this!

So, this I my warning to all of you – Reckow, Page, Howerton, Jacobs, Foster and Beasley –stop fighting and start serving.  Get it together fast.

Don’t make the Rev-elution mad! If you do, I may trade my pen for my name on a campaign sign. God knows I’m trying to find a home in another state, but I love Durham too much to watch people fight like children on a playground.

Voters deserve better than your childish ways.

Fix it!

Durham's People Alliance fails the fact check

We come to expect negative messages during campaign season.  Those who vote can’t assume everything they hear is true.  The truth is twisted in a way that makes it seem plausible.  We’ve come to expect this from candidates, but not from political action committees.

Durham’s People’s Alliance is tragically misinforming local voters on the position of two candidates for the Board of County Commissioners. Their endorsement sheet and website indicates that Michael Page, Brenda Howerton and Omar Beasley can’t be trusted in protecting the rights of gays and lesbians.  The attack against Beasley lacks any clear evidence to support the PA’s view, and their stance on Howerton fails to consider what she has stated.

Beasley was a strong opponent of Amendment One, and supports his sister who is a lesbian involved in a domestic partnership.  “How could I do anything that would go against my own sister,” Beasley says.

Beasley’s sister is Melody Wilkerson. She and her partner Kifu Faruq co-founded Greenspace Initiatives.  Faruq is known around Durham as the owner of Kukia’s Cookies, those wonderful vegan/organic treats, and recently became a columnist for The Durham News.  Wilkerson and Faruq are strong supporters of Beasley and are leading the charge for gay rights awareness in the black community. 

The PA has unfairly lumped Beasley in the same camp as Page and Howerton.  They assume a pro-751 agenda, something that Beasley has not stated, and his being weak in supporting gay rights.  Beasley’s position on 751 is to give him the chance to do what those on the commission were granted, a chance to explore all angles.  Beasley shouldn’t be blamed for a project he didn’t create.  His role, if elected, will be to maneuver around what has been decided.  He shouldn’t be expected to campaign on a record that isn’t his to own; thi]us, the PA is unfair in forcing candidate to take that position.

Taking a position against Beasely based on 751 is one thing, making assumptions on his stance on gay rights is offensive. It’s simply a lie

The same can be said about Howerton.  The truth is Howerton took a strong position against Amendment One.  “It hits too close to home when you start discriminating against any people,” Howerton was quoted in the Herald-Sun.

The PA’s attack against Michael Page may be warranted, but should be understood within the complex context Page brings to the Board of County Commissioners.  As a pastor, Amendment One presented Page a dilemma that is hard for those standing on the outside of the black church to understand. 

Page never supported the amendment to define marriage as a bond between a man and a woman, but he didn’t stand in opposition.  To his credit, Page did bring a symbolic resolution before the board to reflect the group’s opposition.  That resolution was strapped when GOP activist Dick Ford challenged the legality of the resolution.

The antics displayed by the PA have caused significant damage to race relations in Durham, NC.  At the heart of the matter are assumptions made devoid of clear dialogue with those who seek public office.  The recent actions of the PA are insulting to those running for the Board of County Commissioners.  It’s the type of maneuvering one can expect among candidates, but political action committees should avoid comments rooted in assumptions.

Omar Beasley deserves an apology for being labeled one who can’t be trusted for protecting gay rights.  It’s a lie that must be corrected.

If you don’t believe me, ask his sister.

Wanted: Five New Commissioners for Durham

Finally, our local Board of County Commissioners has proven they can compromise. After months of internal fighting, Joe Bowser decided to take a walk on the side of the street where sane people travel. He did the right thing by casting a vote for Pam Karriker to assume the seat vacated by the early exit of Becky Heron.

True to her uncompromising posture, Ellen Reckhow cast a dissenting vote remaining true to her claim that she would stand behind Wendy Jacobs until the ship sank. The remaining three Commissioners decided that cooperation meant more than personal agendas and opinions. At the end of the day, what mattered most is putting an end to the public image that the board needs group therapy.

It’s sad that Reckhow was unable to cast that last vote as a statement of board solidarity. As it stands, the local political climate resembles the war among politicians in DC. The hostilities among the Democrats and Republicans elected to serve us can be understood due to political ideological differences. This local muddle of indifference is harder to justify due to the common political affiliation of those who serve on the board. They are all Democrats.

To his credit, Bowser took the high road by compromising. To her fault, Reckhow placed her personal agenda above what the community needed to witness. For those standing outside the power strains of Durham’s political system, selecting a replacement to the board meant more than what the People’s Alliance, The Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People or any of the other PACs in Durham desired. It meant more than what Heron wanted in a replacement. Durham’s citizens deserve from their local politicians the same as they require from those who serve in office beyond a local concern. We desire politicians able to compromise when needed.

Reckhow’s dissenting vote exposed a weakness that voters should consider in the next election. There is no place for stubbornness in political office. This is not a place to stand by a promise made to a former Commissioner. The public needs unity and that last vote would have gone a long way to dispel the tension that has wrecked the reputation of the board.

All of the Commission members have tough questions to answer leading into the next election. It is the Rev-elution’s contention that Durham deserves a new set of leaders to serve this community. Yes, it may be time to replace all five members of the board with a group able to move past the inconsistent leadership that has fractured this group of misfits.

The good news is a strong cluster of candidates has emerged from this process. Hampton Delinger stands out among a group of highly qualified people willing to serve. Anita Daniels, who I can vouch for as a person of integrity, and Wendy Jacobs join Denlinger as serious contenders to the post. That’s three out of five. Any takers on the final two slots?

Citizens have a right to demand better from those we elect. If they can’t get along, and they have proven they can’t, get them out! Replace them with a group committed to making decisions best for the masses.

Again, anyone else willing to serve?

Living By the 3-P's

I live by what I call the 3-P’s. In dealing with group dynamics, never, and I mean never, allow for decisions to be made out of personal differences or political divides. I try to remain focused on policy-the P that matters

I learned that lesson at the age of 23 while serving as the pastor of the Sugar Grove Baptist Church in Columbia, Missouri. I arrived at the church one day for what I thought was a normal business meeting. Instead, I was cornered into a fight between the old establishment and those who had united with the church since my arrival. The bad news is those on my side weren’t invited to the party.

I sat and listened as they chastised me for moving the church away from what it had always been-a small family church hidden from view by the long gravel road and trees at the end of Rolling Hills Road. I was too young to understand what was happening to me. It was personal and political. What happened had nothing to do with my leadership style of ability to draw people to the church. I was condemned for being successful while undermining the comforts of those who had made the church their home.

Years of maturity have taught me that most battles are about something deeply personal or political. It’s sad that we can expect the same within congregations . You would think that all of that teaching about being humble and becoming a servant would sway the way church folks handle their business. Sorry to say that the games of the church make the wars between Republicans and Democrats look like a tussle between toddlers over who gets to throw the ball next.

It’s my devotion to the rule of the 3-P’s that compels me to stand up in defense for one of my brothers in ministry. Michael Page is the Pastor of First United Antioch Baptist Church. He is also the Chair of the Durham Board of County Commissioners. In a recent blog I declared the severe dysfunction in the way board members relate to one another. I maintained that their inability to move past two of my P’s-personal and political-is seriously hindering their ability to make decisions best for the citizens of Durham County.

One can forgive the political games played by politicians. I can even turn the other cheek when a few stones are thrown at personal integrity. What gets under my overly thick skin is when a person challenges the credibility of one of my colleagues in ministry. Them are fighting words, as the old folks say.
The first attack came from one of Joe Bowser’s dedicated supporters. Lois Murphy has attacked me on numerous occasions after my questioning of Bowser’s competency as a member of the Board of County Commissioners. She has blasted my work in ministry. She is an expert at making things personal. I laugh it off and walk away knowing she doesn’t know me or my work well enough to walk down that street. Negro please!

Like I said, I have tough skin, but back off Rev. Page. Murphy crossed that line drawn in the sand when she questioned Page as a Christian and a minister. She took her stabs on the blog “Bull City Rising” in a blog that quotes commentary from the REV-elution. Her statement appears in the comment section of the blog “Civitas investigation alleges conflict of interest, open meeting law violation in DSS change”

“Unfortunately, Commissioner Page has reduced himself to spreading and endorsing rumors although he claims he is a Christian,” she wrote. “He of all people should know the power of the “tongue” and how the word of God tells us to chasten it. In addition, he should also know that God wants us to spread brotherly love not rumors and hate.”

Murphy then does the very thing the good books talks about. She looks at the spec in Page’s eye while failing to consider the boulder in her own. “It saddens me that Commissioner Page and Kenney are not interested in the truth although both claim to be Christians. Thus, it is not an anomaly why the world is in such turmoil. I am sure neither of them consulted with God regarding their input in matter. I am hopeful in my lifetime blacks will stop being used to destroy blacks.” What is this, two preachers for the price of one day?

It gets worse when she digs up a rumor certain to put her in danger of going to the Hell she talks so much about. “Certainly, there are rumors regarding both Commissioner Page’s and Kenney’s preferences, but they are just rumors. Aren’t they?”

I did a double take after reading those words. No she didn’t! She pulled a move from Hip-Hop by accusing me and my brother in ministry of being gay. It’s an old tactic used in the African American community to destroy the reputation of a person when the accuser lacks the words or intellect to make a statement that requires words bigger than three syllables. It’s the type of play pen attack that separate those with no argument from those who do the best they can to rise above those two P’s-personal and political.

They say birds of a feather flock together. Murphy and Bowser are two hawks searching for anyone who refuses to play by their rules. I could excuse Murphy’s comments as passionate pleas hoped to defend the integrity of her bird mate, but it is difficult for me to overlook Bowser’s attack of my brother in ministry and Commission Chair.

“He’s a flat-faced liar, and he’s a disgrace to the clergy for saying that,” Bowser told the Herald-Sun after being told comments were made by Page that suggested he had meddled in hiring decision at DSS. My problem isn’t with Bowser defending his integrity. My issue is with anyone who takes a stab at a person’s spirituality and work in ministry.

There’s too much of that going around in Durham. From a homophobic candidate for mayor quick to label a person gay for standing behind gays and lesbians, to those in public office bent on lashing out at those who they simply can’t get along with. The blogsphere is filled with personal attacks that have nothing to do with the P that matters. People are being called gay, liars, cheaters and questioned for their take on Christianity. The only time any of that becomes a matter of public concern is when it gets in the way of that one P that matters-policy.

The upcoming election will force voters to consider more than the important P. Sadly; citizens should consider how personal attacks and politics gone wild can get in the way of another important P- productivity.

In other words, grow up or get out of the way.