There are so many rumors and so much misinformation flying around town, and a lot of it deals with race.
It is time for someone to start a discussion with facts — especially after Monday’s council meeting.
First, let’s dispel some rumors. Here’s a biggie: The Black Caucus and Sheriff Peter White want Juanita Sommerville to become the mayor of Henderson so she can lead the council to fire Henderson Police Chief Keith Sidwell so drug dealers will be protected and their business will not be interrupted.
Think about this rumor. Even if it were true that, professionally speaking, there is no love lost between White and Sidwell, so what? I have worked for many principals who did not like the other principals or their superintendent, and I am sure many of you have been employed with co-workers who you felt should do things differently. It is not true that if Juanita Sommerville were elected mayor that she could protect or would want to protect the drug business by firing Sidwell.
First, elected officials have no say-so over the hiring or firing of personnel in the city and, in fact, they are prohibited from any such discussions. That is the job of the city manager. Second, the city has performance-based observations, and the city should certainly have the documentation to back up Chief Sidwell’s performance. Third, the mayor has far less authority than any council member, whether in voting or forming policy. So, the idea that all the black members of the council are going to band together under Sommerville’s leadership to fire Sidwell so the drug business can thrive in Henderson is conjecture at best. Ludicrous might be a better word.
There is another big part to this rumor. To think that Juanita Sommerville wants to protect the drug business in our community is preposterous. I have known Juanita for over 30 years, and she has been in my home as recently as last week. While I have told her that I do not support her in her race for mayor because of her votes on the Redevelopment Commission, I do not believe that Juanita Sommerville would ever defend or protect the drug business in this city. This rumor needs to be exposed for what it is – race-baiting. Proposing that Juanita is a part of a “big conspiracy” to fire Sidwell is, I believe, a scare tactic used by certain members of the white community who are afraid we are going to have a black mayor.
An acceptable question to get us to the facts is to ask Juanita or the other mayoral candidates if they think Sidwell is meeting reasonable law enforcement goals. Then, if she says “no” and you, regardless of your race, think as I do that Chief Sidwell is doing a very commendable job, then you obviously need to vote for another candidate.
Next there is the rumor that C.J. Dale is going to “get the Feds to get the council to fire Sidwell.” First, Mr. Dale does not reside in the city, as far as I know. While it was a grave error for the city council to break their own rules and to allow him to address the council in the way he did this past Monday evening, and while Mr. Dale should not have been allowed to discuss city personnel in such a manner, and while the mayor and the city attorney should have stopped his personal accusations against city personnel, he was allowed to make his protests.
We should dissect this incident and try to find out why it happened. Why was Dale allowed to speak when he did not witness the event? I taught school for 35 years, and I know first-hand that people sometimes see events not as they happen, but as they perceive them to have happened. Even that would have been impossible for Mr. Dale, since he did not witness the events and only had hearsay on which to base his opinions. The city has a policy for addressing grievances, and it does not involve taking testimony from someone who was not present.
Mr. Dale doth protest too much in many cases, and that is why his accusations and threats lose credibility. As he seeks recognition and attention, his message is lost. I believe Chief Sidwell is the most racially just police chief that has ever been employed in Henderson. That is why it is so ironic that Mr. Dale continues to attack him. It appears that Mr. Dale has a personal axe to grind, and the city council gives him the all the time he wants to grind that axe however he wishes. That is not good for race relations in this city, and can you imagine what it does to employee moral.
Council members’ statements like “Authority is messing up our young folks” and black judges “…won’t consider giving black folk a break” don’t help matters either. These kinds of comments set back race-relations regardless of who makes them. All of us want our youths and adults to respect authority because that is what makes us a civilized country. All of us want our judges to treat all of us fairly and not give anyone a break because of the color of their skin. If a person is arrogant, or vain, or ignorant, or criminal, it is not because they are white or black or yellow or red. It is because they are human and have flaws.
Until we stop the race-baiting and the scare tactics, and until we start judging people by their actions and character and not by the color of their skin, we are not going to have a progressive city. Monday night’s council meeting really set us back, and I do not know anyone in city government who can step up and fix it. Until all of us – in both the white and black community, the human community – are mature enough to analyze our prejudices and work every day to overcome them, then we will flounder.