Oh No...Not again

I can remember being a student a Shannon Elementary here in Memphis and having a National Honor Society induction ceremony of which I was beaming to be an inductee. We had a very special guest speaker that day who our teachers tried to convey to us his importance and how glad we should be to have him attend our program. I had no idea who this man was. All I knew was that he was the Memphis City School's superintendant, Dr. W.W. Herenton. I can't say that I remember anything he said that day. All I do recall is his presence. He was tall and statuesque and he seemed just as proud to be speaking in front of a crowd of adoring fans as they were to have him there. Then jump to my sophmore year of high school, when I guess I was just an uninvolved, could-care-less type of youngster who began to hear rumblings of that name again. A black man just might be mayor. The Blacks in this city could definitely relate to the plight and struggle he constantly reminded them of. This did it. Willie Herenton defeated Mayor Hackett! People all over the city were shocked. The black population had gotten out to cast their ballots and Herenton won by a mere 146 votes! Blacks, for the most part were in sheer bliss and stormed the streets and their workplaces with catchy phrases like, "We can't Hackett, no mo!" There was such hope for the city, such hope for Blacks in Memphis. After eight years in office, the pride we had once felt just to be in his presence was fading for some of us in the community. I can recollect grumblings of "nothing has really changed all that much" from some, while others tried to smooth things over by saying, "it takes time to change all the stuff that has been going on in this city for years." That seemed to quiet the masses for a while, but after another four year term, many were starting up again with prior sentiments of disapproval. But was it too late? Had we created this character known as Willie Herenton and were now turning against him unfairly? The fact of the matter was that we were growing tired of the antics and showiness that for so long had masked the fact that real and lasting change had not and would not be taking place under his leadership. But who could run for Mayor and beat the incumbent? No one could. Herenton even won a fourth consecutive term. I had to ask myself if we were getting more sophistocated as a race. Could we vote on the issues and not on color alone? Could we not see through the meaningless jargon of "shake the haters off" and "don't bring me no stuff, won't be no stuff" that he was spewing in order to somehow relate to the younger, black voter? Was anybody else embarrassed and frustrated? The adoration Blacks had a few short years earlier had turned sour. It was as if Herenton was a magician, distracting us with a fancy wave of one hand while we had no idea how he was actually doing the trick of getting elected again and again with the other hand. Let's face the facts, this city had money problems, rising property taxes, one of the highest crime rates in the nation and a mayor who seemed to be employing his own version of the "good-ole boy" system by assigning his unqualified friends to many of the city's top jobs. Despite an FBI investigation, an illegitimate child scandal and no reasonable explanation for the state of our city, Herenton cannot be dissuaded from seeking public office repeatedly. He's up to it again, this time not for the Mayor's seat, but for congress. Herenton officially declared yesterday that he intends to run for the 9th District seat against Steve Cohen. His declaration proved my point all too clearly. Nothing about his arrogance has changed over the last sixteen years. He stands just as proud to be speaking in front of a crowd as he did when I was a child. His only platform is that he is black and the incumbent is white. There is no substance to speak of and he seems to fully believe that just because the 9th District is mostly Black that he is going to automatically be the victor in this fight. But this time his fan base is few and we are not as impressed by his mere presence alone as we once were. Wake up! This community wants results, not just expressive slang and empty banter. And I fear that that is exactly what we will get if we fall for the "slide of hand" yet again.