After the meeting,front row from left: Urban Resoucre Center Director Terry McMoore, Wanda McMoore, Pastor Tommy Vallejos, and Naomi Jerkins; back row from left, Ward 5 School Board representative Jimmie Garland sr., Joann Latz, Pastor Jerry Jerkins, and Frank Washington of the NAACP and PCA.

CMCSS was deluged with phone calls for and against viewing the inauguration on school time, and the questionable e-mail to teachers was the result. The e-mail from the directors of high, middle and elementary schools read in part:

“If any of your teachers is going to show the Inauguration in the classroom it should be tied to their curriculum … I think you may leave yourself open to question if students are just watching the Inauguration in a passive manner. If it is tied to instruction the Inauguration can be a highly relevant event to learn about and from.

“The only reason I even send out this recommendation is that we have had a flood of calls from the community asking if the Inauguration is going to be shown in schools. Those calls represent different perspectives. Ensuring it is tied to relevant curriculum and instruction is consistent with how we use other teaching tools.” – CMCSS email to principals

On Inauguration Day, as the eyes of the world and the eyes of schoolchildren around the world were on Washington, a email sent out to teachers calling for a link to curriculum as a prerequisite for watching the inauguration meant that a number of teachers did not allow their students to watch this global broadcast. A second flurry of calls began Tuesday (1.20.09) evening when angry parents who had expected their children would view this event at school learned that their expectation had not materialized.

CMCSS Director of Schools Michael Harris

Harris said the e-mail was “misinterpreted” but that the directors of the schools were concerned about students “passively” watching. Harris acknowledged that the e-mail sent out to teachers “could have been clearer,” and that the communication was subject to misinterpretation by teachers.

In a press statement following the meeting, Pastor Tommy Vallejos called the meeting “constructive” but also said he was “satisfied” with the answers.

“We have a great school system,” Vallejos said, adding that meeting put “clarity” on the issue and re-focused attention to the message at the root of the root the problem.Vallejos and most of the participants commented earlier, though, that if the schools can find time for pep rallies and other events, they should have found time for an event that was “living history.”

Mr. Harris acknowledged that the e-mail sent out to teachers “could have been clearer,” and that the communication was subject to “misinterpretation” by teachers.

Jimmie Garland Sr., Ward 5 School representative and local NAACP President

Ward 5 School District Representative Jimmie Garland Sr. said “there will never be another day like this January 20th. We have to get it right next time.” He noted that if the McCain/Palin ticket had won, there would have been a similar impact with the first woman (Sarah Palin) elected to the vice-presidency.

Terry McMoore said the school system “has assured us that it will not happen again.”

Wanda McMoore, military veteran and nurse, said “the fact is that some students didn’t get to see it; students were told they were not allowed to see it. Frankly, if one missed it, then we all missed it.”

“People around the world were united in a common purpose, there should have been unity throughout the schools with the inauguration — not lack of access.” — Wanda McMoore

Harris admitted that the email was subject to “misinterpretation” and that “was not our intent.”

According to Vallejos, students had been expected to watch the event and the department “wanted every student to have the opportunity” to watch the inauguration. “Next time, there will be greater “clarity of message,” Vallejos said.

That statement remains a problem for Naomi Jerkins, who said there is no opportunity to make up this loss. “It happened. It’s over. It was living history. Folks were out there (in Washington D.C.) freezing, but they were there.” She was deeply saddened by this lost opportunity for some student to “live” history. “I witnessed the civil rights movements. I marched. I remember Wilma Rudolph. It is a shame that some of our children did not see (the inauguration).”

From left, parent Kelly LaPlante, FreeThinkers for Peace founder Debbie Boen, CO editor Christine Piesyk, NEHS student Bobby LaPlante, Urban Resource Center Director Terry McMoore and Ivan Roberts gather Sunday for a press conference on the "inauguaration watch" isse at the Montgomery County Library

Kelly LaPlante, who attended the meeting with her son, Robert,17, acknowledged that any resolution on this issue was “moot” because there was no way to re-capture this lost opportunity. “I can think of a dozens ways to link this event to every single subject; there was not excuse for not making this required viewing for all students.” She was glad she kept her son home from school and attended the ASPU screening of the Inauguration, where she was joined by one of her daughters (Rochelle, an APSU freshman), and her mom.”My son can’t wait to register to vote, he worked on the campaign and for the Democratic Party, and he wanted to see it. I felt it was a chance to watch history. I’m glad I kept him out of school; he might not have been able to watch otherwise.”

Rev. Frank Washington was only “somewhat” satisfied with the outcome, saying “we disagree” and stating a belief that had the CMCSS truly wanted to maximize this opportunity, it would have happened. As to statements that this kind of error won’t happen again, he said simply, “we’ll wait and see.”

Attending the meeting were Urban Resource Center Director Terry McMoore, Wanda McMoore (a veteran), Ward 5 School Board member Jimmie Garland (also president of the local NAACP), Anderson Grant of the Clarksville Human Relations Commission, Pastor Tommy Vallejos of HOPE, Pastor Jerry Jerkins and Naomi Jerkins, Frank Washington of the NAACP and the PAC (Private Citizens Advocates), Kelly LaPlante (parent of a high school student), and Northeast High School student Robert LaPlante II. This group met with Mr. Harris, Dr. B.J. Worthington (Chief Academic Officer), Dr. Roz Evans (Directors of High Schools), Dr. Sean Impeartrice (Director of Middle Schools), and Dr. Ann Griffin (Director of Elementary Education).

Photos by Bill Larson

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CPRC member Don Sharpe speaks out against redevelopment at "fact-finding" community meeting

“Sued for a half million dollars for speaking out…”

“This ordinance is detrimental to the community…”

“The City Council ‘rubber stamped’ the mayor…”

“I don’t think they have a plan…”

“Our Leadership doesn’t want to listen to us….”

“CHA is a shadow, not a voice…”

“Preying on minority communities…”

“I’ve never been to a public forum where the public couldn’t speak…”

This is what representatives from the United States Department of Justice, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Institute for Justice  heard when they came to Clarksville Thursday to listen to community concerns about the about the city’s controversial redevelopment plans. Seventy people participated in a fact-finding meeting at the New Providence Community Center on Oak Street sponsored by the NAACP and the Urban Resource Center.

Walter Atkinson, Senior Conciliation Specialist with the U.S. Department of Justice Community Relations Service (Southeast Region IV), in stating that the meeting was “to hear community concerns,” said his role was in part to try and avert “litigation.”

“I am here to listen and observe,” Atkinson said, noting that it was letters from NAACP Chapter President Jimmie Garland and Terry McMoore of the Urban Resource Center that focused federal attention on this local issue. Atkinson had been “in communication” with Mayor Johnny Piper and with the Downtown District Partnership Board. Piper, DDP members and most sitting City Councilors did not attend this meeting. Jim Doyle, who was not re-elected to his Ward 8 seat, along with newly elected councilors Candy Johnson, David Allen and Jeff Burkhart did attend the meeting and spoke with the Ward 6 constituency.

The origin of the issue and the center of the controversy, which exploded in November, 2007, is a city ordinance that was quietly developed and passed by the City Council; at its core was section that designated two square miles, 1825 homes and small businesses in the downtown area, including City Hall and the Courthouse, as “blighted,” with the exception of property owned by Austin Peay State University. The ordinance also included an assemblage clause that would allow eminent domain to be used in “assembling” a group of properties to be transferred to private developers who would “maximize” the potential of the land involved.The land in question lies in Ward 6, the city’s only major minority ward, which, according to Garland, may be protected under the Civil Rights Acts of 1964.

In response to the passage of the ordinance, a grassroots activist group was formed: the Clarksville Property Rights Coalition, who staged an initial Standing Room Only meeting at the Hope Center on Legion Street in November, 2007, which attracted 50 people. Several weeks later, a second meeting at the Train Station on 10th Street was not only packed with concerned citizens but had the overflow crowd of 300 spilling out the doors. A postcard campaign was organized and specialists including representatives and lawyers involved in historic preservation and litigation became involved. Subsequent meetings, including one at APSU where the CPRC and others were not allowed to speak or make a presentation to city officials, and another meeting at the Burt School on Eighth Street where a last minute change in building capacity left nearly a hundred people standing in the parking lot, signs in hand, but unable to speak out to officials or hear what being said inside. Piper later admitted that of the written comments from the concerned residents were destroyed.

Joyce Vanderbilt of Kelly's on Riverside Drive displays the controversial ad on redevelopment

With city officials squaring off against Ward 6 residents and business owners, the redevelopment plans became the supercharged issue of 2008; an ad placed in a local newspaper by the CPRC made a case against the ordinance and proposed development, and The case, borne of a highly controversial ordinance passed by the Clarksville City Council in November, 2007, that “blighted” some two square miles of downtown Clarksville, culminated in a libel suit over a newspaper ad taking some city officials to task for their actions in supporting the ordinance that potentially opened the door for taking of properties by eminent domain and for private development.

In that case, Richard Swift, a developer who is a member of the Clarksville City Council, and Wayne Wilkinson, a member of Clarksville’s Downtown District Partnership, sued the CPRC because its members criticized them for supporting Clarksville’s controversial redevelopment plan, which authorizes the use of eminent domain for private development. In a newspaper ad, the CPRC noted that both Swift and Wilkinson are developers and said, “This Redevelopment Plan is of the developers, by the developers, and for the developers.” Virginia’s Institute for Justice represents the CPRC in the case.

Christine Walsh of the Institute for Justice

Becky (McMahan) was sued for a half million dollars for speaking out,” said Christina Walsh, Director of Community Organization for the Institute for Justice. “The Clarksville Center Redevelopment and Urban Renewal Plan violates the rights of home and business owners in the redevelopment area. The saga of how it was passed illustrates perfectly why the abuse of eminent domain is wrong. This plan would not pass muster in many states.”

“We do have the right to speak. We are not a Third World Country. Wake up, Sleeping Clarksville, and realize that this is our community. Question the ordinance and the need for the ordinance, and the potential use for the ordinance… even some of the city councilors did not understand this ordinance, and if they didn’t understand it thow can they vote on it.” — CPRC member

NAACP Chapter President Jimmie Garland Sr.

Jimmie Garland charged the City Council with “rubber stamping” the mayor on this issue and asked where “the plan” for development. “Knoxville showed us a plan and invited the community in; that’s not how it was done here There is no plan here.” Garland said that Clarksville’s present leadership does not want to represent us and “does not want to  listen to us.” (Ed: garland excepted Ward 6 Councilor Marc Harris, who opposed the plan). “Our legislators don’t listen to us.”

“Clearly, the confluence of bad law and politically connected developers here does not bode well for the citizens of Clarksville, who have been virtually abandoned by the very political officials they elected to represent their best interests…Local governments very often disguise their intentions of transferring perfectly fine properties to private developers, declaring so-called “blight removal,” “urban renewal,” or “slum clearance” as the justification for eminent domain. … they hide behind this “public use” concept in their quest to acquire property for the private use of developers.” ~~ Christine Walsh

Walsh noted that Piper himself said the plan “was not written in strict accordance with state law,” at which point the city amended rather than rescind the plan, and took a trip to Knoxville to view that city’s redevelopment  process.

Turner McCullough Jr. speaking about a state law that requires that community bodies must reflect the diversity of the community they represent.

Turner McCullough Jr. said “the mayor himself said there is no plan.” After the APSU public forum in which the “public” could not actively participate, and “when (the public) asked for information, we were told to shut up. We  were not considered.”

Wanda McMoore noted that the ordinance assesses what terms “underutilage” of land, which the Institute for Justice and the CPRC read as property that could rake in more profit and more taxes if uses for something other than what it is (i.e., three homes vs a strip mall, five homes versus and apartment complex, a family-owned restaurant vs waterfront condos).

Edward Vanderbilt of Kelly’s on Riverside Drive questioned why, under eminent domain his land and business could conceivably be taken for a minimum of money that wouldn’t even buy a plot of land somewhere else  while “the mayor sells his land and gets millions” (Mayor Piper owns land along Riverside Drive that is in the redevelopment and marina area).

Kevin Johnson of Veterans Services of America discusses the make-up of redevelopment committees

Kevin Johnson of the Veterans Services of America suggested that beyond stating what they do not want, the residents of the area and members of the CPRC, along with local community leaders, should assess what they do want, what kind of growth and positive change they would like to see in their community, and what they would use in lieu of the present ordinance.

It was noted that legislation passed in 2006 can withhold federal funds to communities that use public money to fund private development.

A theme that ran through many of the statements offered by concerned citizens included the following:

• The assemblage clause is of serious concern
• Eminent domain should not be used for private development. (”Take eminent domain out of this plan.”)
• Elected officials simply do not listen to or want to hear from dissenting constituents
• Developers and real estate people with properties in the affected area should recuse themselves from voting on issues which may benefit them (conflict of interest, ethics)
• The actual authors of the ordinance should be disclosed. (”Who wrote this damned thing?”
• According to law, redevelopment plans in Tennessee must be overseen by a housing authority. A determination of Kevin Johnson of the Veterans Services of America participation in the development and execution of the ordinance and redevelopment efforts should be disclosed (Wanda Mills of the CHA has said publicly the CHA did NOT do a study for this plan)
• Demographics (ethnicity, gender etc) of development and advisory boards should be disclosed and appointees to these public posts should be present at meetings when their appointments are confirmed, rather than simply being “a name on a piece of paper.”
• What are the qualifications of the people who created the ordinance?
• Why aren’t more members, if not all members, of the board from the areas impacted by this law?
• What have HUD and other federal monies really been spent on? Has HUD funding been redirected to other projects outside of the designated districts or parameters?

Walter Atkinson, Senior Conciliation Specialist, U.S.D.O.J.

In summing the comments accumulated during the fact finding meeting, Atkinson asked the audience to consider the following?

• If the plan is dropped, what do you want (in your community)?
• What qualifications do you feel people need to participate on redevelopment and related boards?
• What kind of oversight (and by whom) do you need for your community?

As the meeting closed, Terry McMoore noted that he had sent “many, many emails and invitations to people about this meeting, including city officials and Mayor Piper. Given the Mayor’’s lack of response and absence from this session, McMoore requested that Atkinson himself ask the Mayor to attend the next meeting on this issue.

Also attending were Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Representative David H. King, Director, Knoxville Field Office; , Louisville, HUD Fair Housing Equal Opportunity;  County Commissioner Lettie Kendall; CPRC spokesperson Rebecca McMahan; and Tim Harvey, former City Attorney.

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Pre-presidential debate event is well attended with diverse community population. Hispanic/Latino community activists speak out on election, progress, and issues facing all voters.

The Montgomery County Democratic Party Headquarters, 534 Madison Street, served as the host site for the Latinos For Obama House Party. As a prelude to the 2nd presidential debate, the gathering was a well attended affair that drew participants from beyond just the Latino/Hispanic community.

Fabian Bedne, making a point...

Fabian Bedne, an architectural engineer, was the guest speaker for the event. Bedne is a founding member and President of the Middle Tennessee Hispanic Democrats, founding member of the Middle Tennessee Chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals, the Tennessee Hispanic Voters Coalition PAC, and member of the Executive Committee of the Davidson County Democratic Party.

Bedne has been featured various times in news print, television and recently spoke to Latino Democrats from around the country as an Obama delegate to the Democratic National Convention.

Fabian Bedne addresses voters at MCDP headquarters

Bedne is also a board member of Habitat for Humanity, a founding member of Metro schools’ Comité de Padres Latinos (COPLA) Committee of Latino Parents, member of the Community Relations Committee of the Nashville Jewish Federation, and member of the Tennessee Delegate Selection Plan Committee of the Tennessee Democratic Party. He has also mentored students in the YMCA Hispanic Achievers program.

Parents listen intently as Bedne speaks.

Bedne stated that he is a supporter of educational achievement and economic development. In the past, the Black community and the Latino/Hispanic communities have both received the same political consideration in American politics, namely that of being ignored or taken for granted, marginalized.

“Like the Black community, we know what it is to only see or hear from politicians during an election cycle and after the election, they disappear for four years and forget your name until the next election rolls around.”~~ Fabian Bedne

During his address he noted that issues of concern to the Latino/Hispanic community are the same as with the Black community. He stated that many assume that immigration is the top concern of Latinos and Hispanics but that is incorrect. “We care about the economy, education, the war and then immigration, in that order.”

He also told the gathering that “Hispanics being seen as the largest minority in the United States has resulted in efforts targeting Latinos and Hispanics for specialized intimidation and voter suppression.” Flyers and rumors pour into the communities with misinformation and untruths designed to scare Latinos and Hispanics from seeking to register or go to the polls to vote. Bedne stated that many Latinos and Hispanics come from a background where law enforcement is not an true agent of public service for the common citizen but rather an extension of the power structure to suppress the people.

“It takes an intensive education effort to undo that kind of conditioning. Sadly there are political operatives here in this country who prey upon the immigrants ingrained fears of police to discourage our community from fully participating in the American system of government.” ~~ Fabian Bedne

Bedne stated that education is important, on many levels. “You can’t educate the child if the parents aren’t involved. Yet many Latinos/Hispanics have many issues which prevent them from being involved in their children’s education. Lack of English language proficiency and the quest for profitable employment are chief among these issues.”

“This is a great country. For us, prior to coming here, we only know what we see in the movies. But when we get here, we stay here because we see just how great life is in the United States. The Latino/Hispanic community is not trying to tear down this country, quite the opposite.”~~ Fabian Bedne

They recognize the promise that is America and seek to participate in that ideal.

During the question and answer session that followed his address, an audience member asked, ” “How do you answer someone who tells you vote your biblical heritage?” Another individual responded saying, “I would tell them, my biblical heritage tells me to vote for someone who will help the poor, who will feed the hungry, who will shelter the homeless and clothe the naked and drive the moneychangers out of the temples. Someone who will do unto his fellowman as he or she would wish done for himself.” This response was soundly applauded.

Other Latino community activists in attendance were also introduced to the gathering.

Yoland Echezarria (at left), a Fort Campbell Middle school teacher, is also a voter registration volunteer in the Hispanic community, indicating the value she places on the rights and responsibility of individuals to not only register to vote but to show up at the polls and vote.

Angel Natal, (at right with Frankie DeJesus), is a member of the Clarksville Fire Department and is also active in voter registration activity, promoting educational achievement and community organizing.

Frankie DeJesus is a student at Austin Peay State University, a member of the APSU College Democrats, and Director of Minority Affairs for the State Federation of College Democrats Outreach to the Minority Community.

Candidates for public office were then acknowledged.

Candy Johnson (at right), candidate for City Council Ward 5, David Cutting, candidate for City council Ward 8, Tim Barnes (above right), Democratic candidate for State Senate District 22 and State Rep. Joe Pitts, State House District 67 were presented to the gathering. Socializing followed with refreshments being served as everyone waited for the second presidential debate, live from Belmont University to begin.

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]]> http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/2008/10/09/latinos-for-obama-house-party-is-a-full-house/feed/ 0 http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/2008/09/26/womenforobama-celebrate-women-suffrage-anniversary/ http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/2008/09/26/womenforobama-celebrate-women-suffrage-anniversary/#comments Fri, 26 Sep 2008 22:00:13 +0000 Turner McCullough Jr. http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/?p=9994

Clarksville Women For Obama

Celebration marks 88th anniversary of passage of 19th Amendment. Tennessee’s ratification, as the 33rd state to do so, made the law effective. Many women made great sacrifices to make this legislation the law of the land. It is one of many fronts in the struggle for civil rights.

WomenForObama held a celebratory commemoration of the 88th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. It was the 19th Amendment which gave women in the United States the right to vote. The Montgomery County Democratic Party Headquarters was the celebration site with a roster of prominent local women speakers who addressed the significance of women suffrage and civil rights in the furtherance of the American Ideal.

Motivational speaker Cindy Pitts with moderator Wanda McMoore

Wanda McMoore was the event moderator. As a mother, nurse, military service veteran and community organizer, she was a prime example of the women in times past who have fought for equality and justice while still balancing the demands of a family and career. She introduced each speaker and kept the event moving along on schedule.

Elizabeth Valdez-Adamski is from the Dominican Republic. She spoke of her childhood memories of being regarded as an outsider, a foreigner, because her skin was different and because she spoke with an accent. Her parents legally immigrated to the United States and worked hard to provide for their children. Yet she saw them suffer discrimination, prejudice and even denial. She has worked against those evils all her adult life as a community organizer. In her native country, it was women, the mothers, who waged the civil rights battles against their oppressive government. She told the gathering that more than anything else, government officials fear an active, involved citizenry. They fear it more than any terrorist threat. Citizens apathy and indifference actually work to a controlling government’s favor. To prevent this, every citizen has a responsibility to be engaged and watchful of its government.

Ms Laverne Walker addresses Women's Suffrage 88th Anniversary Commemoration

LaVerne Walker has made a career as an Equal Opportunity specialist and consultant. Her presentation was an acknowledgment of the women who had come before her in the struggle for civil rights. She told the gathering of women who fought, not just for women’s right to vote, but for universal civil rights when it was not a popular argument.

Walker pointed out that the struggle for women’s suffrage itself was born out of the struggle for voting rights for former slaves. Women of Color have played prominent roles in the fight for civil rights and for women suffrage. These women were often leading voices in those battles. This was particularly so in the Black community.

Isabella Baumfree is an unassuming name. She is better known as Sojurner Truth – and was a civil rights activist born in Ulster County, New York. Her given surname meant “tall as a tree,” which was appropriate – she grew to be 6 feet tall. Baumfree claimed that she talked to God quite often, which inspired her to go out and spread His word throughout the countryside.

In the 1840s abolitionists convinced Baumfree to work with them to end slavery. She used her oratorical skills and God’s “inner inspiration” to deliver the message that slavery should be ended. This inspired her to take the name “Sojourner Truth” because she said God told her to be a sojourner on the earth and to tell the truth. Both before and after the Emancipation Proclamation, Sojourner Truth remained a fervent black rights activist. She urged freedmen to educate themselves and pressed for rehabilitation of former slaves on Western U.S. soil. In her famous, “Ain’t I A Woman?” speech, she took direct aim at white women suffragists opposed to Black women also getting the right to vote.This exposed the racial prejudice within the womens’ suffrage movement. Ultimately, it served to advance Black suffrage and made Black women vested partners in the womens’ movement as well.

Ida B. Wells-Barnett sketch drawing

Ida B. Wells, who was a daughter of slaves, became a teacher. It was while teaching near Memphis, that she bought a half-interest in the Memphis Free Speech. She used the paper to denounce lynchings, and to urge blacks to boycott streetcars and to migrate west. The paper’s office was destroyed by a mob in 1882. After refusing a seat in a Jim Crow car, Wells carried an unsuccessful suit to the Tennessee Supreme Court in 1887. Under the pen name of “Iola” she criticized the inadequacy of schools for blacks. The Memphis school board dismissed her from her job in 1891. In 1895, she married Ferdinand Lee Barnett, editor of the Chicago Conservator. A daughter, Alfreda, published her mother’s autobiography with the title, Crusade for Justice. Wells-Barnett was secretary of the National Afro-American Council in 1898. On February 12, 1909, she signed “The Call to Discuss Means for Securing Political and Civil Equality for the Negro.” As a result of that call, the Committee of Forty was formed (including Wells-Barnett). It led directly to the founding of the NAACP on May 12, 1910.

Sarah Breedlove, who is better known as Madame C J Walker, was one of America’s first Black woman millionaire. She built her financial empire on Black hair care products. In 1910 she settled in Indianapolis and established her Madam C J Walker Laboratories to produce her line of products and train her sales beauticians. Later she moved to New York city where she quickly became involved in the social and political life of the Harlem Renaissance. She became an ardent anti-lynching advocate, becoming an active supporter of the NAACP’s anti-lynching campaign.

Septima Poinsette Clark, of Charleston, S.C., was another pioneering woman civil rights advocate. She waged her battle long before the Voting Rights Act of 1964. In 1956 she was fired by the Charleston Board of Education when she refused to give up her membership in the NAACP. She came to Tennessee, joining the Highlander Folk School and along with Bernice Robinson, developed Citizenship Schools which taught Blacks how to read, write, fill out driver’s license exams, voter registration forms, Sears mail order forms and how to sign checks. These schools were a response to legislation in Southern states which required literacy and interpreting various portions of the US Constitution in order to be allowed to register to vote. These laws were used to disenfranchise black citizens. Citizenship Schools also taught students to act collectively and protest against racism. One her students was Rosa Parks. A teacher herself, she was a lifelong advocate for education, for Black people registering to vote and exercising their rights as American citizens, as guaranteed under the Constitution. She believed in Black women taking leadership roles in the struggle for civil rights.

Linda Barnes, a English instructor at APSU, said she tries to be sensitive to her female students, encouraging them to strive to excel in their studies and be strong individuals in themselves and their communities. Womanhood in America is no easy thing and these young women need to be aware of what struggles and sacrifices have gone before them to allow them to stand as they do now. Such encouragement was shown to her and she strives to ‘pay it forward,’ as it were, in acknowledging that debt.

Cindy Pitts is a motivational speaker. She is also the wife of State Rep. Joe Pitts. She uses her own life as a wife, mother, and professional women in addressing the various audiences she is called upon to address. The world view that women possess is often more complex than many men would admit or suspect. Denying citizens their civil rights because of gender, ethnicity, education level, marital status, socio-economic status or political party affiliation are all wrong.

Rejection of efforts to limit citizens’ supervision of their government was the foundation upon which this nation was built. How could we possibly propose to resort to such shameful human rights violations? Women are well aware of what hardships life can bestow. The power of committed women has shown the world the way out of many a despot’s suffocating grip.

The women who fought for women suffrage were such courageous women. Arguments they espoused in their struggle still resonate in today’s world. Women around the world envy the rights women enjoy in the United States. However, American women are not home free on the equality front. We all must remain committed to advancing human rights around our global community. The ballot is the key to that struggle. And, it belongs to every adult man and woman.

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(Non-bylined photos by Turner McCullough Jr.)

I started the evening at Ken Takasaki’s party at the First Federal bank on Ft. Campbell Blvd. There were a few familiar faces, and I had the pleasure of speaking with Shirley Berardo for a few minutes. She commented how glad was that she was able to support Takasaki in his bid for the 67th seat of the Tennessee House of Representatives. Alas, we spent most of our conversation near the food table, which is a dangerous place me and my fidgety fingers.

It was a clear reminder of my father’s first election, and of the first time we huddled around our television set with friends, people from church, and several of Dad’s colleagues and co-workers. His race back then was against Bill Cloud, whom Dad has long considered to be very qualified as a judge. We did indeed win that race back in 1980, at a 2-to-1 margin.

My brother and I teased Dad with an impromptu chorus of “here come de judge.” Never mind the fact that he had already been on the bench for a year. Oh well. We were young.

I still hold a great appreciation for anyone who’s willing to step into the torrential waters of a political campaign for the first time. Sometimes they’ll win. Usually, they don’t. One of the night’s disappointments was for Wanda McMoore who ran for the 10th district seat of the County Commission. Her loss to Martha Brockman was by less than 70 votes out of a little more than 340 that were cast for that race.

“I figured I’d just give it a good go,” she said. “However, I was surprised at the low turnout.” She also noted that there were more than 2000 people registered to vote in her district.

Her decision to run for the seat was especially remarkable in light of her previous run-ins with the authorities and a conviction of assault. I asked her if it bothered her. She said, “I’m a firm believer that just because you have something in your past that you’re not proud of doesn’t mean you can’t run.”

We all have skeletons in our closet, and I’m more than impressed that she decided to run for public office, knowing that the bones would rattle. Even still, she’s not deterred. “I gave it a good run,” she said. “And I’ll give it a try again.” I hope she does.

Later, I decided to spend a little time with some familiar faces and pay a visit to Jack Hestle’s and Norman Lewis’ parties. Fortunately, they were on separate floors of the Riverview Inn. Sheriff Norman Lewis and County Mayor hopeful Carolyn Bowers shared the same ballroom as their supporters stood by them while the votes came in all too slowly.  Apparently, there was some difficulty with some of the machines used for early voting.

I took the opportunity of the lull in activity to greet several of the people in the party. Both Bowers and Lewis enjoyed commanding leads in their races, and I congratulated them.

What I found interesting was that there weren’t any more people in that grand ballroom than there were in Takasaki’s small party. There were a few dozen in each party, even a upstairs in Judge Hestle’s “God, I hope we win” party.  Hestle was one of the few people in the night that were sweating bullets the whole night. He was running for re-election in his judiciary position and was challenged by three other candidates. One of them, Ken Goble, came really close to unseating him.

It’s the one night of the year that our leaders and officials really sweat. They put on a good face, and they will smile for the cameras. But in the end, they’re more vulnerable on Election Day than at any moment.

Yet sadly, so many of us are willing to let this critical day pass by as any other; without even so much as pressing a simple button. We’ll complain, gripe, and whine when things don’t go our way, but as Wanda McMoore discovered, almost 90% of the people registered just don’t bother to vote.

Tonight brought lots of winners and losers. Unfortunately, the real losers are those who have allowed a great cloud of apathy to leave them relegated to armchair politics. I’m always amazed at how few people really vote, even with the convenience of early voting. We had two weeks to vote for our candidates. Yet, most did not.

So to all of those who ran and to all who voted, you’re all winners. Even those who didn’t win their race, they took part in the greatest challenge of all: Politics. So whether their party was a victory party or a condolence party, I offer congratulations to all. It’s great to know that we can be a part of our community in such a profound manner.

Just think. We get to do it all again in November. Get those skeletons ready!