Kansas City's Mayor Sly James (the city's second black mayor in its history) basically came out and told a black political group to go fuck themselves, he did it a little more diplomatically than that though, but even that isn't the headline here.
I don't know Sly James that well but I did have the pleasure of meeting him a few occasions during my time in KC at various events around the area. I have a dear friend who knows him well from back in his college days and we would both say Sly is a stand up guy and a wonderful leader for Kansas City.As a longtime resident of the St. Louis area I am keenly aware that racial tensions run high in this area. That was clearly evident this summer with the incidents in Ferguson and elsewhere in the city's core.
It takes a dude with some serious stones to tell a black political group he doesn't care about them. It takes even bigger stones when that dude is a black man himself. On the surface it would appear that James is telling his African American base he doesn't care about him. But it is so much more than that.
You can read the complete history here in the original story from the KC Star but the bottom line is Freedom Inc. played some nasty politics recently and brought up Jim Crown in encouraging people to vote against a development and transportation project that James was in favor of.
Race relations are real, especially in Missouri. As a recent resident of KC I think the city is light years ahead of St. Louis in terms of integration. That's not to say KC doesn't have its share of racial issues. 1968 saw terribly violent riots in KC and even today Troost Ave remains as a socioeconomic and racial divide in the city's core.
It might be Jame's leadership, the collective attitude of its residents, a thriving business community in the urban core made up of both huge companies (H&R Block, Hallmark just to name a few) and start ups and small firms as well, or growing population of residents (vs. declining in St. Louis' urban core) but the racial line in KC is much more gray than it is black and white in St. Louis just 250 miles to the east. In St. Louis shit like this happens on a regular basis.
I am not saying its all kittens and rainbows either, but the fact that you have a black mayor saying "I'm just tired of racial politics. . . not going to put up with this racial bullshit," the message is clear. James is not about to let his city have a wedge driven through it.
Meanwhile in St. Louis leaders on both sides of the fence not only continue to allow the wedge to be driven in the metro area, they almost encourage it and welcome it. Leaders in Ferguson just dug their heels in deeper in response to the recent Department of Justice report that cast a dark light over a municipality where racial prejudice was allowed to run rampant. County and city leaders tip-toe around the subject for fear of upsetting their "base" which only draws the line deeper into the racial fiber of the metro area.
I'm like James on this one and am tired of the "racial bullshit." I am sickened when I hear white people put down blacks and I am disheartened when I hear black people talk of their distrust for whites.
Someone, anyone, needs to step up and yell "enough of this bullshit," and let's move this community forward into the 21st century. We are all in this together and the sooner everyone realizes that the better.
We don't have to look very far for our example or inspiration thanks to Sly James.
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