The dog days of summer in Memphis are always hard enough, but this year’s bitter injection of race, rage and resentment has made it nothing short of debilitating.
Only Herman Melville conceived of a force of nature as relentless and obsessive as race in Memphis, our own great whale regularly surfacing to the detriment of community and civility and leaving ripples that wash over everyone, whether they like it or not.
Perhaps, as race becomes thematic to more and more political debate nationally, it was inevitable that it would ratchet up to a point that is almost deafening here. Then again, it’s not as if our racial rancor needs much gas since the embers always seem to be smoldering.
The tenor and the tone of this summer’s rhetoric have been a three-alarm blaze that sometimes burns away reality, if not reason, as the racial extremes shout over the majority that cares more about figuring out how to improve our community’s future than continuing to engage in the same old racial rituals that damage our civic resolve to join hands to attack the problems that will show no racial preference if they are not reversed.
Old School
If all of the diatribes on both sides – as seen in the old school politics of the Shelby County Democratic Party and the old style racial code words bandied about by suburban Republican leaders – amount to anything, it is the equivalent of a political dysfunction family. Its under tow is so familiar that it takes under people who should know better.
A few years ago, a poll by The Commercial Appeal concluded that 70% or so of us believe that race relations are improving. The real mystery is why we keep allowing the other 30% to dominate our conversation, particularly in light of their propensity to drag us into a quagmire of race-baiting and race-hating. Then again, we’re hard-pressed to think of anything that would be as significant a contribution to improved civility as disconnecting The Commercial Appeal comments, which consistently traffics in bile and bigotry.
There was a time when all of this was merely a sideshow that the rest of us could ridicule and ignore. It’s getting harder and harder to do so, because the price of this behavior makes our community pay such a price. This isn’t to suggest that the issues that are cloaked so completely in racial terms don’t demand our attention and serious debate.
There’s no excuse for the aftermath of elections to regularly include legitimate questions about the competency and transparency of the Shelby County Election Commission. These are questions that are best resolved by the cold facts without the overheated rhetoric, and it’s worth remembering that the snafus have happened whether Republicans or Democrats were in charge.
Us Versus Them
All of us should be concerned about these problems and demand assurance that our elections are fair and honest. We just don’t think casting this automatically in racial terms is as effective as it would have been to develop an argument that shows how all of us, regardless of party or philosophy, have a stake in elections that we can have confidence in.
The debate about consolidation is crucial and urgent, and reasoned debate between proponents and opponents serve the public interest. That said, the racially-tinged rhetoric by Democratic Party leaders and suburban Republicans quickly degenerate into “us versus them” posturing with the suburbs saying they don’t want Memphis out here and the Democratic Party talking more about power over the white power structure than the public good.
These are real issues, as are school funding, tax policy and sustainable growth, but we’ll never get to the toughest questions that we need to work together to solve if we can’t move past the old grudges and fears. We’re not saying that the past isn’t important and we’re not saying that history isn’t instructive, but right now, at this exact moment, our community needs to be singularly focused on the future.
It is an environmental of victimization that stalls serious problem-solving, and worst of all, it makes racial discord the dominant characteristic in a city that needs to be known for much more than conflict and controversy.
Moving Out
It takes only a few conversations with young professionals here to understand that the constant racial barrage contributes to an average rate of five per day who move away. Every young professional that remains here, regardless of their race, can tell stories of half dozen friends who have given up on Memphis and moved away.
We were reminded of this last week when a lifelong Memphian, a young Caucasian doctor, and his wife moved away. They had adopted two African-American babies that were literally left on their doorsteps, but they could not tolerate any more public comments about their family.
Then, there was the Caribbean mother who was thinking of moving to Memphis to be with her daughter, but after visiting, she decided to move somewhere else. Her comment: never had she been anywhere where she was made so aware of her race.
There was the young Caucasian lawyer who recently married, and despite Memphis being his hometown, he said he could not imagine starting a family and raising children in a city where racial animosity was a daily fact of life. He moved away.
Then, there was the 30-something African-American businessman who tired of the general “ignorance” shown in the constant racial haranguing and the lip service to minority business from “black government and white business.” He moved to Nashville.
Eye Off the Ball
Sadly, these stories are repeated weekly, and even the hemorrhaging of the best and brightest does nothing to halt the racial wars.
For them, it’s as if our city’s leaders are trapped in a time warp where only an H.G. Wells plot line could get them into the present where their racial rhetoric is more and more revealed for its fossilized underpinnings, where their obsession with all things racial is seen for its antediluvian concept of our city and where their role models of irrelevancy on race relations is exposed for the burlesque that it is.
Lost in this mélange is the reality that these words and actions are in fact poisoning the civic culture of the city. It is here that anything – absolutely anything – can get cast in shades of black and white. It wasn’t too long ago that one of City Council members, in the midst of his regular rants, referred to lessons learned from the slave masters. Meanwhile, in an aldermen meeting, a mayor extolled the virtues of the town and how important it is to keep “those people” out.
After years of being frozen out of the political system in any meaningful way, it’s no wonder that African-Americans became adept at using the kind of language that gave them the only power they could muster – the power to shut down public debate by injecting charges of racism. As more than one sociologist has pointed out, it was in this victimization that African-Americans enjoyed one of the few times when they could shift the balance of power and control the conversation.
As was shown in last week’s Democratic Party meeting, it’s as if some people would rather hold on to their grievances than acknowledge that they live in a majority African-American city, county and region.
But that’s not saying that white politicians deserve any prizes, particularly the pandering kind that spring up in the suburbs. They seem adept at pushing the exact issue guaranteed to create racial conflict and controversy where basic empathy and understanding seem to be the first victims of discussion.
The Other Memphis
What’s lost is the chance for our public sector to be a place where we can confront our past honestly and calmly while charting a bolder future in which we all join hands to accomplish. Instead of being the places where this kind of substantive discussion takes place, our governments fail in their first job – to create the common ground where citizens are encouraged to debate, discuss and engage in the substantive issues facing Memphis. Most of all, they fail to be the models for how this kind of respectful, consensus-building discussion should take place.
Standing outside the Council chambers during a meeting where race boiled to the surface, an African-American woman in her 20’s, said she couldn’t bear to listen.
“It’s the kind of arguing we (people her age) don’t care about,” she said. “The folks in there are always looking for the chance to march and to demonstrate or to talk about the old days and how bad they were treated. But they’re not representing us. They don’t even ask us. We can live anywhere we want, we can have any friends we want, we can live in any city we want and we just want the chance to succeed. We’re not interesting in fighting these old battles. They’re just a waste of time.”
Shortly thereafter, we were in a meeting with some people who work every day to solve some of Memphis’ worst problems. They aren’t elected. They avoid City Council meetings like the plague. They work at the grassroots. They work to engage community organizations in the hard work of community-building.
They unanimously agree that the racial chasm amplified in the news media exists primarily in politics, where ritualized racial posturing defines the culture. They tell of a different Memphis, one where community and neighborhood organizations all over the city are working on the grittiest issues and doing it with little regard to the fact that there are two races at the table.
The official Democratic Committee locally has weak leadership and little power or influence as shown from the August election . . . . with 0% victories in a Democratic county. While the committee can’t win elections, some of the members are very vocal and about divisive issues. Opposition to consolidation, based on veiled racial reasons is only the latest example.
I predict that the City of Memphis will vote strongly in favor of consolidation, showing the Democrats continue to have little local influence.
Having spent most of the day Saturday around a bunch of unrepentant bigots (some who live in Shelby, some from Mississippi) at a dove hunt, some of whom are local law enforcement and one who is an elected official in suburban Shelby County; if anything will drive me to move away from Memphis, it’s not black cime in this city, it’s the bigotry of a certain neanderthal segment of local white people. I mean, bandying about the N-bomb like it was still 1960. Very depressing, I had to talk to my son about it on the way back, and explain how, although some of those folks are people I know and love, they just can’t seem to give up the hate. Their attitude seems to be that when black people self-cure all the ills of black society, THEN they’ll stop being racist. Somehow I doubt it even then, and they can’t even see how their attitudes hurt Memphis.
packrat: Thanks for sharing your powerful cautionary tale.
shooting GUNS at defenceless BIRDS!
oh the HUMANITY!
There was a GALA event at the shell was there not? maybe you should have taken the sibling there, instead, so as not to expose him to aberrant behsviour…
IO, try hard, focus, focus..stay on topic…focus…
packrat: It’s hard for some folks to stay focused. And it was aberrant behavior and there’s no way to excuse it and certainly silly to make fun of it.
I also knew someone who was in a mixed marriage and who left town. I heard in part this was due to people’s reactions to the marriage. I was at Live at the Garden a few years back and the guy I was with wondered where all the “black people” were; said “they” never support anything in the city. Later, he saw a few african americans on the clean up crew and said – there they are. I could go on. The issue of race, or more to the point, the issue of what “blacks” do or don’t do comes up with disturbing regularity in normal conversation. I have never seen any city of any decent size with race relations this poor. I attribute a good bit of it to the fact that so many people grew up here, went to college with friends from here and came right back here. There is a bubble that some natives live in that is unlike anything I have ever seen.
What in the world can be done about it?
We think you’ve hit the nail on the head. We do live in a bubble and we are comfortable in our dysfunction. When you travel and see other cities and countries, it broadens your understanding of people and cultures. Of the top 51 largest metros, we are in the bottom for people who’ve traveled outside their own area. We’ve got to develop a wider lens and broader perspective.
Memphis is the tale of two cities- maintained by the public/private educational systems. How can we expect political collaboration and compromise among leaders that have minimal understanding of the needs of each other communities? Understanding those needs comes from lessons we learn outside of the classroom, growing up with friends that are not all like ourselves. Diversity is a beautiful thing- the latter is well quite offensive.
Aaron says, “How can we expect political collaboration and compromise among leaders that have minimal understanding of the needs of each other communities?”
I agree, but did not realize you were anti consolidation until I read your post. By the way, I think you can learn a lot in the classroom.
>>>There’s no excuse for the aftermath of elections to regularly include legitimate questions about the competency and transparency of the Shelby County Election Commission
There is no legitimate question on the validity of the August election. Every Democrat lost by thousands of votes. Yet the local Democratic Party allows a nut-job, disavowed by the likes of both the Democratic Underground AND Keith Olbermann, to run an election contest here*, planting in the mind of the least educated voters that the election results are invalid (I know this because I’ve spoken with several of them). Seems the local voting machines worked fine in 2006 and 2008 when Democrats were winning. Why haven’t local Democrats put an end to this absurdity?
*http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203×108750
Anon 5:22-
I could not agree with you more. As someone who was not born here but essentially grew up here, went to college in another region, and lived in several other cities before returning, I and a few others I know can testify to the basic premise you propose.
One of the issues is directly tied to the city’s economic and social stagnation. The minimal influx of individuals from outside the region over the past two decades has only allowed the region to become even more insular. It’s a vicious cycle: a lack of new individuals with new approaches only serves to discourage new individuals and the diverse backgrounds and perspectives that accompany them.
What do we do about it? The only approach I can identify, short of providing thousands of “travel fellowships” to regular citizens on an annual basis, is to encourage those that do come from other cities and posses a broader perspective to not only participate in the community, but form strong neighborhoods together. Seeing as this particular segment seems to form such a small minority of the population here, maybe we could create a critical mass that can broadcast a message strong enough to attract others from nearby cities or perhaps neighboring regions.
That and those with such perspectives need to become more politically active. As stated above, this segment tends to avoid City Hall like the plague. In order to take this message to a higher level, we need to identify a megaphone that is large enough to get our message across.
Anon 5:22 here. I met someone from a local really large company that I won’t name but that flies planes with packages on it who was very interesting and who, because I am an idiot, I lost touch with. She told me she has been told directly that many many wealthy families in this town actively discourage their kids from going “away” for school, because of the ideas they might pick up out there. So they go to nearby schools and come right back. Nothing wrong with the nearby schools, but that’s pretty discouraging. The bubble. Heck, I am a product of the bubble, but I escaped. But till I went to college, I thought the same way most white natives around here do. I also attribute some of it to the fact that there is no african american middle class. Its easy to rail against a “they” when you don’t ever deal with them, but when you have to work as equals with a “they”, acceptance begins. I could be wrong, but that’s something I have always thought.
Ok Nut, so someone needs to run for office I guess. Whose up?
Anonymous 9:37: This isn’t about Democrats and Republicans, because the Election Commission has failed to get its act together regardless of which party was in charge there. The yardstick isn’t about whether the problem would have changed election results. If it’s 10 votes, it’s an attack on the credibility of the election process, and it’s high time to have elections here without the aftermath of revealed errors.
Anon 10:15, i also was born and raised here, went away, came back and I also managed to bust out of the insular bubble. Wish more people around here would. Here’s the thing; it’s not like other cities in the South, like Nashville or Atlanta, don’t have their neandethal bigots, they DO. They’ve just had a lot more influx of people who don’t have the same narrow parochial views. we need more of that here.
Anon 8:42 says” I agree, but did not realize you were anti consolidation until I read your post. By the way, I think you can learn a lot in the classroom.”
Agreed, lot’s to learn in the class room too! What immediately comes to mind is the “brown eyes/blue eyes” documentary.
Not sure where you read that I was anti-consolidation. I have mixed thoughts on consolidation but I am not informed enough to really have much to say either way about the effort. My personal opinion is that any effort to get us thinking more “regionally” is a good thing. On the other hand, there’s plenty of other work in the City that needs attending too.
Consolidation of Memphis and Shelby governments is a winning proposition:
1. A tax rate will be set for Memphis (urban services district) and another tax rate will be set for Shelby County (general services district). This is the same as now and the worse case scenario is that tax rates will increase at the same pace under new government as current two governments (after 3-year moratorium, which is a nice bonus); and, although no one can prove one way or the other, there must be enough savings with a combined government to SLOW tax increases in the future.
2. Residents outside of Memphis will have a vote on the operation of the urban services district (Memphis) for the first time and will have a greater voice than on current Shelby County Commission.
3. The urban services district (Memphis) will not be able to annex unless approved by the voters from areas proposed for annexation. This will make the metro council more cautious about approving sprawl-type, low density development because of annexation difficulty. (Memphis always approved suburban development because annexation of these areas was a given). The people at the edge of the urban services district will get to enjoy their small town/rural atmosphere.
4. The difficulty of annexation will also keep the Shelby School system safe from Memphis’ annexation of schools; and State legislators don’t have to keep pushing for a special school district for Shelby County to freeze district boundaries.
5. The small suburban municipalities will not see any change in their power except they will have more influence on County-wide public policy and will continue to have annexation power over their reserve areas.
6. The Charter for the new merged government is unique and Memphis Shelby County will be noticed throughout the country. The organization of park improvements, child welfare services, safety services, law enforcement, neighborhood revitalization, etc. will be unified, which will quickly begin to support unified economic development and new jobs.
7. The “us” and “them” mentality will continue or fade depending on leadership, economic development, and moral reckoning; but consolidation does not have anything to do with how we view each other.
Feels like the reason everyone wants to consolidate is there isn’t much of the county to annex anymore. Only places left are largely un inhabited places.
Save Shelby Now:
This is about as accurate as everything else you guys say. There is 250 square miles that Memphis will be annexing. Do you folks ever get the facts straight on anything?
All those stories, so poignant, and nothing more than a distraction from the core cause.
MCS.
When your education system actually outputs ignorance, superstition, gossip, and racism, you get what we have here now.
Fix MCS, all of it, or this will not end until Memphis is a ghost town.
Consolidation will not fix MCS fast enough.
State standards that adhere to national standards that actually relate to college preparedness will help if there is no sandbagging to disguise results.
This is the reason our leaders truly need to be banned from holding public office and their money men really do need to be arrested.
You’d think we were living into the future where Memphis really is slated to be the next “escape from” movie.
The one thing that will be the biggest obstacle to reform is the “baddies of yesterday” are still vying for “their piece” of this long dying city, desperate to create the beginnings of the corruption of old disguised as new stuff, worded differently, but, with vapid indescribable plans, shallow veils, ideas with the depth of a mud puddle, all starch and no shirt.
The general public of Memphis has “Stockholm Syndrome” so bad that expecting much is a recipe for future upset. That would explain all the black leadership leading people to racism against whites, blacks, and everyone else, the real haters, the recalcitrant addicted to drug money incumbents.
I said 6 years ago, call the national guard to take over, it’s just as pressing today. They’re back in town, so take advantage while they’re here. You want good leadership, you have to take away big campaigns and the drug money used to back them. I’m not making that crap up either. That’s how it is. Deal with it or else.
Anonymous 9:31: The fact is that every major city is lamenting their school system, and yet, other cities don’t make it the excuse not to do anything. They succeed in spite of their systems, so while we work on schools to make them better, let’s don’t act like we can’t do anything else until we get them fixed.