 EDITORIAL |
We can do better
by Afrique Kilimanjaro
Carolina Peacemaker
Originally posted 6/30/2010
In recent months, there have been some disturbing accusations made by Greensboro NAACP president Rev. Cardes Brown about the retiring Greensboro Police Chief Tim Bellamy and an alleged culture of corruption within the police department. The strangeness behind all of this is that a few months ago, Rev. Brown was actually defending the chief because a then mayoral candidate and now Greensboro’s sitting mayor, William “Bill” Knight stated that Chief Bellamy received the position as chief solely because he is Black.
It was Rev. Brown and other concerned citizens, both Black and White, who came to several city council meetings to ask Knight to apologize for making such a statement, since he is the current mayor and is supposed to represent all the citizens of Greensboro. Knight has never apologized for his campaign rhetoric and venomous words.
Now, Brown says he may owe Knight an apology. In a Thursday, June 24 press conference at New Light Baptist Church, Brown told reporters, “I want to apologize to him (Knight) because he made a statement some time ago and I challenged the statement.
“He made the statement that the chief was only made chief because he was Black. And I stood up against that statement and I really have to apologize to Mayor Knight because the more I researched this (culture of corruption) the more I am inclined to believe in part he was right.
“He (Bellamy) was only made chief because he was Black and would show favor to the majority of officers on the force. That is what I believe, that is my opinion after I have looked into this (culture of corruption) much more.”
Perhaps underneath all of the apologizing, Rev. Brown and Chief Bellamy simply do not see eye to eye on community and police department issues. It is obvious that Bellamy refuses to go along with the wishes of Brown and Rev. Nelson Johnson of Beloved Community Center.
Rev. Johnson said last month during an NAACP community meeting that he hated to bring it up, but the culture of corruption within GPD can all be directed back to the events of Nov. 3, 1979.
Many will remember that it was on this date when members of the Communist Worker’s Party, led by Johnson, were shot, injured or killed by members of the American Nazi/ Ku Klux Klan in the Morning Side Homes Public Housing Development in southeast Greensboro. Many decades after this event, the Greensboro Human Relations Commission convinced city officials to issue a “statement of regret” because of the city’s involvement and lack of police protection provided to CWP members during the 1979 march.
The Greensboro Police Department may have problems, but because Chief Bellamy does not agree with Brown’s assessment of the crime fighting unit, Bellamy is automatically tagged as being a part of a “culture of corruption.”
Let us also understand that Mayor Knight made his statement at a political forum as a candidate for mayor. It would not surprise me if his statement was advised by a paid consultant in order to achieve election as mayor. Knight’s statement should have also incited people who truly love Greensboro to show up at the polls and vote against him.
Anyone who evokes race under the guise of winning supporters, as Knight has done, would have belittled the academic or career accomplishments of any person of color – Black, Asian, Latino, Middle Eastern, in order to win. It is unfortunate that the so-called supporters of then mayor Yvonne Johnson, an accomplished Black woman, slept through the fall 2000 election.
So where does this giant mess of apologies and disagreements leave our community? Absolutely nowhere.
Do we truly need Mayor Knight to apologize for demonstrating to the citizens of Greensboro that he has a low tolerance for all things multicultural? Not really. Perhaps he’s a victim of a very mono-cultural upbringing. It takes a big person to admit when he is wrong. I doubt that Knight will ever make such a metamorphosis.
It is also important to note that anyone appointed to police chief after the dismissal of former Chief David Wray, who is White, would have also been mired in controversy. Bellamy has conducted himself appropriately when confronting issues of department upheaval and community mistrust.
Can we ever begin to work on issues of economic parity between east and west Greensboro? Can we build a community where all Black parents are invested in their children’s futures outside of the unlikely prospect of becoming an NFL or an NBA star? One has a greater chance of being stuck by lightening.
Greensboro’s Black community is confronting many issues- the most dangerous one being our apathy and nonparticipation in our own city. Such apathy is made worse when our leaders make accusations and forget to provide true leadership.
We must all participate, because we can do better.
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