We, as African Americans, have to be very careful about pulling race out in this ever-changing globalized world where – lo and behold – we have a black president.
This case clearly had nothing to do with race. Surely, positions can be created for black folks … even in Baltimore … even in 2009.
By Doni Morton Glover, www.bmorenews.com
(BALTIMORE – June 15, 2009) - According to The Sun, Baltimore City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake stated Friday on The Anthony McCarthy Show on WEAA 88.9 FM: “(Morris) is a professional. … Many of the top-level positions were created for individuals and not advertised. But we are living in a city where a brown person can’t get that treatment. If a job is created for one of us, your credentials are questioned, your background is questioned, the process is questioned,” she said.
I won’t get into Andres Alonso’s future given his faux pas last week of not properly vetting a deputy CEO of Baltimore City Public Schools position last week – a position worth $175,000 per year that was created in the worst American economic times in nearly a century.
I’m not even going to comment on Brian Morris’ blunder of incorrectly answering a pointed question from Alonso about his past/background.
Nor am I going to get into Gov. Martin O’Malley’s connection to Morris.
What does enrage me, however, is Madame President’s abuse of the race card.
We, as African Americans, have to be very careful about pulling race out in this ever-changing globalized world where – lo and behold – we have a black president.
This case clearly had nothing to do with race. Surely, positions can be created for black folks … even in Baltimore … even in 2009.
When we pull the race card for the wrong reasons, it taints the testimony of those who have actually been unfairly discriminated against because of the color of their skin. Even more, it spoils the contributions of the fallen soldiers who died to lynching, police dog attacks, fire hoses, the bullet, and the like.