Despicable behavior

As I have said before, I always find something to amuse me at the Selma Town Council Meetings. Tonight I got to see a small circus, and some despicable behavior by a council member.

During the course of the meeting, there was an appeal on the docket about a demolition order for some substandard housing. Two women who are sisters own four small, cinder block houses on South Raiford Street. It is important to the context to note here that the women are Negro. They appeared before the Council along with their contractor to appeal the decision to tear down their properties (all on the same plot of land) because none of them were up to the minimum standard housing code. This code is not a town deal, to my understanding. The town ordinances reflect and enforce that code, however.

The women received a notice to correct the condemned properties or have them torn down. They decided that they wanted more time to be able to hire their contractor to fix them to code standard. Extensive work is necessary on each unit. They asked for three months each house to fix the issues. This means that they actually have an entire year to fix the properties. During the course of discussion, it was offered by one council member for six months per house. That would drag out the process for two full years.

Mayor Charles Hester said that from his experience, even after fixing up a rental property to be acceptable for tenants, after the tenants move out, basically he still ends up with a shack because the properties are never maintained and the renters don't do anything to enhance the property. He added that one reason for getting the ball rolling on cleaning up the properties in town is to get rid of worthless properties, properties that do not enhance the town's image, appearance, quality of residents, and tax base. This is a condensation of what he has said, but you get the idea. Basically to get rid of undesirable properties and residents.

When Mayor Hester referred to a similar sentiment expressed previously by Mrs. Lacy, she indignantly denied having said so and declared to Mayor Hester, "You would get rid of the whole Negro race!" I even got a copy of the meeting recording to play it back again. That audio clip is now on the internet in Real Audio streaming format for you to hear for yourself.

People, I am telling you that this is a despicable declaration by Mrs. Lacy. She said it in public and on the record. At that point the entire meeting was out of control, which is lamentable. However, that does not excuse the blatantly RACIST statement by an elected official. Jackie Lacy basically accused Charles Hester of being a biggoted racist that wants to exterminate all Negroes. That sort of behavior is unacceptable when people like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and Louis Farrakhan say such outrageous things, and it is just as unacceptable when a local council member makes such a statement.

Jackie Lacy, you are a blatant racist. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. You have shown to all in attendance that you are the real racist, not Charles Hester. It was bad enough when you declared that we should hire a minority to replace one town employee who just left for a new job. That was tolerable. Your comment to Charles Hester was intolerable and you owe Mr. Hester, the entire Council, and everyone in attendance an apology for your remark.

I don't want to hear any of the (oh, I really want to type it!) [insert less offensive word instead] crap about how Blacks can't be racist because they are a minority and can't exert the institutional oppression that Whites have done. That is such crap it isn't funny. Racism is a condition of the heart, not of societal power or position. It is not an issue of skin, it is an issue of sin.

A lot of the Martin Luther King "I Have A Dream Speech" is a bunch of crap. There are a few tidbits that are accurate and worthy of repeating. Considering how Negroes in this country worship MLK as if he were The Messiah instead of the "man whore" who liked to commit adultery with white women and affiliated with Communists that he was, I find some of his statements ironic.

"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." Yeah, Jackie, so much for that one. Just because Charles Hester is a rich White man in a position of power, he is inherently racist and does not believe that you or your race are equal? It that it? Just maybe he believes as I do, that Negroes (I refuse to use the term "Afro-American". I am not considered a "Franco-American", nor do I make Spaghettios.) are free to excel as much as they want, can own property as they will, and are expected to meet the same societal standards that everyone else does. Just because one is Negro does not mean that laws and codes do not apply to you. Ergo, the thought is that they are also created equal.

Here is the best one. "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." The despicable character that was displayed this evening is hardly a shining example for others to follow. Should we judge you as Martin Luther King asked?

I am getting real tired of Jackie's flippant comments and accusations of racism. Not everything in this world revolves around race issues and the alleged oppression of the Negro by Caucasians. Get over it, that well of excuses for bad behavior has run dry.

Now that I am going to get hate mail, I will move on to another topic. The water tower debate is over, though it probably should not be. Stan Farmer openly said that we could pay for the tower demolition and removal out of the town's water and sewer budget with no problem. I find this less despicable, but despicable none the less. For months we have heard about budget woes, staff reductions, employee wage and benefit cuts and freezes, budget cuts, and a tax hike. To have all of that and then pull an extra chunk of money unnecessarily out of a budget to pay for the tower's demise is just plain insulting to tax payers, to utility customers, and to town employees. If we can take over $5000 out of that budget and not think much about it, then our water and sewer rates are obviously more than $5000 to much. There was obviously more money to help fund the budget shortfalls instead of taking away 401(k) benefits and asking emergency employees to pay a paltry $50 per month to take home a town vehicle for call back purposes. My column this week covers this topic more in depth.