Iraq and Amarillo—What’s the difference when it comes to representative government?
by L. Arthalia Cravin

If you have been watching the news lately, you know that the tyrannical form of government under the former, now deceased president Saddam Hussein, no longer exists. Yesterday, March 7, Iraqi voters in Baghdad began the process of casting their votes in the country’s parliamentary elections. Iraq is the home of approximately 28 million people. Those qualified to vote cast their ballots among 6200 people running for 325 parliamentary seats covering the eighteen Iraqi provinces. This year’s vote is the country’s second full-term legislature since America invaded the country in 2003. The first national election was held in 2005. We are familiar with the recent suicide bombings and raining mortal shells designed to stop the democratic process. But Iraqis are determined to forged ahead to move the country toward what they understand democracy to mean—namely the right of the people to vote directly for their representatives. Part of the electoral process includes a “quota” guaranteeing women at least 25 percent of the parliamentary seats. Uh, wasn’t it George Bush who exploited the term “quota” as a bad thing during his last campaign for re-election? But to the point of this column.

So far Iraqi voters have it better than Amarillo voters. Why? Because the city of Amarillo is governed by a commissioner form of government that most cities have abandoned because of real concerns that it violates the Voting Rights Act. By way of Texas civics awareness, Texas has 254 counties and some 4700 local governments. These cities and towns range in size from large cities such as Houston and Dallas, with populations exceeding 1 million, to small towns of fewer than 1000 people. How these cities and towns handle the wide range of issues affecting them depends on how the town is classified vis-a-vis the Texas Constitution as either “home rule,” or “general law” cities.

Amarillo is Texas’ 15th largest city with a population of 173,627. Based on the 2000 and 2006 census demographics, Amarillo is 63.6 percent white, 26.9 percent Latino, 6.5 percent black, and 1.9 percent Asian. In 1990 Amarillo’s population was 157,615; 82.7 percent white, 14.7 Latino, 6.0 percent black, and Asian 1.9 percent. In 1913, Amarillo became the first Texas city and the fifth in the United States to use the so-called Galveston Plan, a city commission form of government that originated in Galveston after the devastating hurricane of 1900. This type of city government combines the legislative and administrative functions into the offices of five city commissioners. Amarillo’s commission is composed of five elected commissioners, one of whom is the mayor of the city. The mayor and each commissioner serve a two-year term. Amarillo’s current form of city management harkens back to its so-called homogeneous origins in 1870 when it was known as “Ragtown” for the rag-tag bunch of workers who set up camp along side the then Ft. Worth and Denver City railroad tracks. Back then the town was 99.7 percent white. When the commission form of government was adopted in 1913, Amarillo’s population was around 15,000, and approximately 97 percent white. In 1930, Amarillo’s population soared to 43,000 with a black population up from 300 to 1600. I do not have the precise data on the Latino population in the 1930s, however, my black neighbor, who came to Amarillo in 1924, remembers a sizeable Latino population in the 1920s.

Fast forward to 2010 and even the late Ray Charles can see problems with a continuing form of Amarillo city government that does not recognize the voices and community needs of its divergent population, nor provide any incentive for direct participatory government. Read more »

In a letter addressed to parents and community members, a South Los Angeles elementary school principal apologized Thursday for “questionable decisions” about which prominent African Americans to highlight in a parade marking the culmination of Black History Month.

Lorraine Abner’s letter did not name the individuals. But her apology came after three teachers at Wadsworth Avenue Elementary School were suspended while the Los Angeles Unified School District investigates allegations that they had their first-, second- and fourth-grade students carry pictures of O.J. Simpson, Dennis Rodman and RuPaul at last Friday’s event.

“Unfortunately, questionable decisions were made in the selection of noteworthy African American role models,” the letter said. “As the principal, I offer my apology for these errors in judgment.”

Abner could not be reached for comment Thursday.

LAUSD spokeswoman Gayle Pollard-Terry said Simpson appeared on a school-approved list of Black History Month figures, which dates back to 1985. But she said the names of Rodman and RuPaul, among others, were added in pencil when teachers were selecting which prominent African Americans their classes would honor in the parade.

Read More … Principal apologizes for Black History Month celebration that included O.J. Simpson, Rodman, RuPaul

Books Reviews
by L. Arthalia Cravin

Last week I read two books that might be of interest. The first book was entitled, “Same Kind of Different as Me,” by Ron Hall and Denver Moore. It was published in 2006. The book is written with alternating chapters of two writers, one white, the other black. Both men grew up in Navarro County, not far from Corsicana during the late 1950s and early 60s. The early setting for the book was of particular interest to me because my maternal grandparents migrated to Frost, Texas, about 30 miles from Corsicana, about this same time to work as sharecroppers, picking and chopping “Blackland” cotton. I actually lived in Frost, Texas from 1959 to 1962 with my sharecropper grandparents and pulled cotton from many of the long, crocked rows, of cotton patches that surrounded the two-room share-cropper shack we lived in. I could identify well with Denver Moore’s story about working from “can’t to can’t” (can’t see in the morning to can’t see in the evening,”) being paid 50 cents an hours for working in the cotton fields, the outright racism, and never getting any money because of the “company store,” practice of always keeping sharecroppers in debt. Even though I was only 8 or 9 at the time, I fully understood how Denver Moore grew up and why he eventually landed in Angola Prison in Louisiana, how he hopped a freight train to California, then wound up at a Mission in Ft Worth. It was Ron Hall’s story that was so different from mine and Denver Moore’s upbringing.

Ron Hall went to college, then became a wealthy art dealer, making more money on one art deal that my all my ancestors combined could ever dream of making. His lived the typical privileged life of a white man. The kicker is how Hall eventually crossed paths with Denver Moore at a Ft. Worth Mission orchestrated by and through Ron’s Hall devoutly Christian wife Deborah who urged him to get involved with helping the poor. As the story unfolds these two men, from miles-apart social and economic backgrounds, eventually meet and begin a friendship. The friendship lasts through the death of Deborah from cancer– and beyond. The story of their meeting, their different lives, their sameness, and continuing friendship led to a book well worth the read.

Ron Hall and Denver Moore will be in Amarillo for a book signing on April 7th and 8th so mark you calendars. Read more »

What Health Reform Will Deliver – This Year
by The White House

In this week’s address, President Obama describes how American families will have more control over their health care this year, after health reform passes.

Watch the address below:

Dear God, Please Don’t Let Mo’Nique Win an Oscar
by L. Arthalia Cravin

The last first-run movie I saw was “What’s Love Got to Do With It.” I saw it in 1993 in Los Angeles at a theater on Hollywood Blvd. Angela Bassett didn’t win an Oscar but she should have for playing the multi-faceted and complicated role of Tina Turner. I chose not to watch the movie “Precious” although I read lots of reviews. One review said that Precious included every stereotype about black folks imaginable including, eating greasy fried chicken, incest, absent fathers, out of wedlock births, extremely vulgar head-rag wearing black women, abusive mothers competing with daughters over the same man, rampant community illiteracy, lazy trifling black men, obesity, cursing and verbal abuse, bullying, child abuse, lack of proper mothering of children, just to name a few. One review said that “Precious” made D. W. Griffith’s “The Birth of a Nation” look like a good movie about black folks. On the other hand there are those who claim that “Precious” brought the issue of familial sexual molestation out into the open to help free so many who were living in shame or dark closets about this type of abuse. Many others say that it is the Oprah, Tyler Perry production money that has pushed an otherwise bad movie up the ladder to at least five Oscar nominations.

Whatever anyone thinks of Precious as racist stereotyping or as “art imitating life,” it is up for Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actress (Gabourey Sidibe); Best Supporting Actress (Mo’Nique), Best Director (Lee Daniels); Best Film Editing (Joe Klotz), and Best Writing-Adaptation of a Book to a Screenplay ( Geoffrey Fletcher). I just don’t want Mo’Nique to win best supporting actress because she is one out of control, don’t know what to say, or how to say it with style and grace, open-mouth-insert foot actress. And I am being kind.

Read more »

Steppin’ “White Sisters”
by L. Arthalia Cravin

The air waves are abuzz since a white sorority from the University of Arkansas chapter of Zeta Tau Alpha, a predominantly white sorority, won the inaugural Sprite Step Off stepping competition, beating two predominantly black sororities. The contest was held on February 20, 2010 in Fayetteville, Arkansas and the first place prize was $100,000. After giving the “white sisters” first place, the sponsor acknowledged some type of discrepancies in judging and ordered that the first place prize be shared with the top black sorority.

The ongoing debate, including a whole slew of blogs and commentary, is over the fairness of judging the step moves, whether a white sorority should have been allowed to enter in the first place, and whether a traditional black form of sorority and fraternity initiation has been diminished, or compromised, after what the “white sisters” did.

The various and sundry blogs and commentary have ranged from judging’ bias and fascination with the white women, thus giving them the first prize, a type of reverse discrimination, to “who invited them anyhow?” Either way, the “white steppers” will be steppin’ some more real soon in an upcoming MTV program of some type. All of which points to the real reasons for the underlying rancor.

I attended Texas Southern University in Houston from 1965 to 1967, then went to the U of Wisconsin in Madison for a year of exchange student study. Before leaving TSU, I pledged Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA) sorority. I was “on the line” for all of three weeks before I took that little pot of ivy plant and told them where to stick it. Part of my disenchantment with having pledged a sorority was my basic aloneness. I was never a groupie. So, within a week of pledging, I realized that a lot of what was required was not for me. I could not see myself washing some “big sisters” underwear, and engaging in a lot of other demeaning “on the line” groupie activities, including step dancing before a large boisterous crowd in TSU’s “The Pit.”

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