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Sad That Harold Washington Tributes More Symbolic Versus Substance - 30 Years Later !!
part I


A member of the 30th year Harold Washington Tribute Committee sent me a press release and asked if I would join the public relations campaign and I said that I would for I too am glad to boast about my involvement as a youth coordinator, helping to organize thousands of young people for the historic election of Harold Washington as Chicago's first Black Mayor. But I also too the time to remind this committee member that today we should not be boasting that we are going to "immortalize" the achievements of the Washington legacy when it is clear that for 30 years our community has all but abandoned the most significant parts of the Washington legacy, and that for 30 years we have turned the achievements of Harold Washington in to "symbols" rather than any campaign of substance.

Quite simply, with each day, the Black community is shown to be an embarrassment to the legacy of Harold Washington. Today, the Black community is still over 30% of the Chicago population and with over double digit unemployment and with our perceived political power and clout has yet to attain over 10% in city contracts and then current Chicago Mayor Emanuel says he will increase this by 7% while far too many of our youth and others CONTINUE to seek the gang, drug, and other illegal street economies to battle and die over.  And so its like the Harold Washington establishing over 30% in Black/Minority contracts provisions over 30 years ago never happened when the Black community has all but settled for far less today while we continue to ask how we stop the physical violence while we have no real campaign to stop the economic violence which is STILL occurring today in all of the majority Black communities!

It continues that 30 years later and with double digit unemployment in the Black community that qualified Black contractors, service providers and workers have to CONTINUE to watch Whites and all other ethnic groups continue to work by the thousands while thousands of the Black community residents continues to fill up the criminal justice system trying to make ends meet from the illegal economies, and of course we have all but adjusted to regular prayer vigils and marches over the shootings and death, and still asking like idiots "What Can Be Done To Stop The Violence?" Wow,  and as we prepare for more violent and deadly confrontations over the illegal street economies will our Black elected officials continue to sign off on zoning and development projects in majority Black communities that continue to allow for every other ethnic group to be able to work and the majority Black residents? That is NOT what Harold Washington pushed 30 years ago and we should be ashamed that this is what we are about to continue allow as what we are witnessing today is NOT what Harold Washington proposed and achieved.

Another of the Harold Washington achievements the Black community ONCE was proud of was Harold Washington's long time "School Reform" legislative fight as State Representative, State Senator AND as Mayor was to take control of the Chicago Public Schools and Chicago Board Of Education AWAY from The Mayors office and develop legislation that gave that control to the people.  Washington even stated that even though he had been elected Mayor that "even HE" should not control the schools and board as Mayor. The Washington legislative legacy was sound when his School Reform Legislation finally became law the gave the power of the school's and the board to the people when the Local School Council process took shape.  I enjoyed being a part of this movement as a founding Local School Council member and was ultimately elected to be a Commissioner with the Washington legislation that created The Chicago School Board Nominating Commission where the community had the majority votes in how The Mayor had to select The Chicago Board Of Education which gave us the power to position longtime educator Florence Cox as President of The Board and other local empowerment that came from the community controlling the process.

Now while Harold Washington once boasted that this School Reform legislation was one of the proudest of his legislative achievent, the Black community in particular did almost NOTHING to stop the dismantling of the Harold Washington education legislative legacy by allowing new Mayor to go to Springfield and have the power of the local school movement taken away as also dismantled the Mayor Washington's School Board Nominating Commission and now Daley took the control from the people and put the power back in the power of the Mayor's Office and it remained that way until as Daley himself remained in power until HE decided to retire even while the Black community sustained the majority of registered voters for every year that Daley remained Mayor. And current Mayor Rahm Emanuel has continued using the power that Daley put back in the Mayors office to control the schools and the school board and despite the current protests over Mayor Emanuel's control, none of those protests include any new legislation to once again "in the name of Harold Washington" to put that control back to the community!

It's good to see the legendary Ed Gardner listed as a part of this 30 year committee for had it not been for Ed Gardner's financial commitment to the grassroots ground work  while the legendary Lu Palmer led the "talk" there would have been NO Harold Washington without the Gardner financed "Come Alive" Voter registration campaign. And quite frankly, those who opposed and continue to the real legislative legacy of Harold Washington know by now that the core of the Black community never sustained a "substanative" entity to truly sustain the legislative legacy of Harold Washington. The thousands who used to participate across the city in the first few years of commemorative efforts to commemorate and sustain the Washington legacy has dwindled to maybe a few hundred participants at best.

Finally, I'll say that this first commentary with some more of my analysis to come in the coming days, receiving this press release today AFTER all the planning had been done reminds me like yesterday that it was 30 years ago when I and other youth leaders had to step up and battle the alleged classism within the Black community and force grassroots youth and others to be heard and seen in the various aspects of the campaign, for many of our elder and established leaders did all the planning and then called on the youth to be the street heat.

And so 30 years later while I am sure that I know so many of the members who have done a good job with all of the strategic planning for this upcoming 30th year commemoration of the Harold Washington legacy, that here I am again 30 years later being sent a copy of a FINAL agenda, and yes, I will assume my role in providing as much promotional support as I was asked to provide, and somewhere in this process, I and other former youth leaders of the '83 campaign will find their way into the future "intergenerational" planning on how we truly commemorate the legacy of Harold Washington of substance and another year of symbolism. Harold Washington deserves better than what we have given him and his legacy these past 30 years.