Dawn Crawford vs San Bernardino's Dirty County Politicians and  Officials

Wendy McCammack and City Council Send Bad Signal

Hardy Brown

So as I worked on my commendation, I was surprised to go home on Monday afternoon and turn on the television to watch the council meeting in session only to hear Councilwoman Wendy McCammack call the school board and district staff a bunch of "liars." The statement was made after an agenda item was requested by the Superintendent of Schools Dr. Alturo Delgado to postpone the agenda item regarding the opening of another elementary school. I could not believe my ears, when I heard Council member Wendy McCammack object to the request and call the school  board and district staff liars and said they could not be trusted. She went on to allege the district did not need the school and accused the school board of misleading the council in the past.

Now how many of you know when a district wanted to build a school that was not needed? Sometimes the data on student population presented to build, procure funding and maneuver through lengthy permit processes, might seem to be out of step with the current data, but to call them liars is going a bit far. McCammack even said the building of theschool would reduce the tax base by removing homes that now pay taxes.

Mayor Morris and former Colton school board member - now council member - Tobin Brinker cautioned the council that this was not the right signalto send another public elected body that the city will need cooperation on future projects. I want to remind the council that this is the body that trains our future workforce and leaders. The school district is also one of the largest employers in the city. Many other businesses exist in this city because of the school district. This same council member is always talking about attracting businesses and one of the first things businesses want to know is how are the schools? This is where the employees' children will be educated. Their employees will want to live in neighborhoods close to their neighborhood school. If your city doesn't have the schools, the families will then live in other cities that cooperate with the school district.

I have also noticed that Council member McCammack has questions about most agenda items. It is as though she is prompted by other people not at the council table to surface certain issues. Then she will hit a word blockage and look into the audience and ask, what word am I looking for? That is alright but most of the questions are designed or framed to embarrass another colleague or staff member who is making a presentation.

The bottom line of all this McCammack discussion is with the ugliness displayed and the short-sighted members on the council "Thank God" the schools can proceed without city approval to build a school to serve our youth.

Obama Speech On Race Last Week

First, let me say last week's Barack Obama speech is worth reading again and again.

I am about the same age as Rev. Jeremiah Wright and we have a lot in common when it comes to our treatment and old sayings here in America. I don't know where he grew up but I can tell he heard a lot about growing up on the farm, even though he might be from the city. I grew up under government sanctioned vigorously enforced legalized "Jim Crow" Laws  in North Carolina. I also grew up having to raise chickens from eggs after sending off and getting baby chicks from mail order catalogs. One of the things you learn quickly about chickens is that if you feed them in the morning they will wander all day into the woods and other places you don't want them to go, but at night "They (chickens)Will Come Home To Roost," its their nature.

I did not hear all of  Rev. Wright's message but I am very familiar with the saying about chickens coming home to roost, especially in his reference to Osama bin Laden's actions. According to a CNN Special Report several years ago, our government had a special relationship with Bin Laden and his Saudi family, and we helped train him in war strategies. We even trained Saddam Hussien and gave him some chemical agents to use against Iran. If I am wrong in my recount of our relationship with these individuals and leaders, I want CNN to correct me. Just like the chicken will come home after you feed them over a period of time, Barack Obama's speech showed us how race in this country has defined who we are.

The people of my generation love America, fought for America, and even as America denied us our civil rights in this country we have built with our blood, sweat, tears and life with 400 years of free labor.

My younger brother Charles Donnie Brown once told me a story about something that happened to him during the 1960's when he was wearing his U.S. Marine uniform in the south. He was dancing in what we called back then a "honky tonk" juke joint with a White woman. He was there with some of his White Marine friends from the north and not familiar with southern beliefs on the fraternizing of the races, especially between Black men and White women. Some White male patrons got angry with my brother and threatened to take him on because he was Black. Donnie said he started talking another language as though he was from another country and they left him alone.

That Black experience, during the 40's, 50's and 60's, does give me a different view on America than my children who grew up in California or my wife from Pennsylvania. Even though today, according to Governor Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania, he has a state full of White people who will not vote for an African American regardless of their qualification and ability to bring a healthy economy to his state. He should know he is White and from Pennsylvania, plus he's a Democrat.

Obama's point to America is we now stand at another crossroads with a great opportunity to break the shackles that have kept us attached while yet separated as citizens living in the same country. Andrew Hacker, author of "Two Nations, One White One Black, Separate and Unequal" point to the same conclusion. It is no mystery to those of us who see the many contradictions in our policies and treatment of other nations while boasting about how we stand for fair treatment of all citizens.

Let us embrace those different views of our country and move forward. None of us are traitors or love America less because of how we have been treated by our government.

So in my opinion let us take this opportunity to sit down with one another and share our experiences of growing up in a country that is moving toward a more perfect union. Let us discuss the real issues and real enemies of America including those in the White House now. Let us discuss why our gas is so high and unregulated or why big business is making unprecedented profits at the expense of working Americans and why we are  shipping jobs out of the country and laying off Americans. Like Obama said all of us are being taken advantage of on this race issue while our real enemy in making plans to continue to keep control.