“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or both.”

Frederick Douglass, (1817-1895)




The Tri-State Defender’s endorsement in the 9th Congressional District race between Dr. Willie W. Herenton and incumbent Steve Cohen requires more than a standard analysis of the candidates and their individual accolades and accomplishments. Such a decision demands a real in-depth look at the reality of everyday life in our community, which largely still reflects racial segregation in our neighborhoods, schools, churches and social settings. The much-discussed and hotly debated contest represents a real opportunity to understand the complexity of the Greater Memphis community and – deeper yet – the challenges that face the African-American community, which makes up nearly 60 percent of the district.
 
Our analysis begins with a reflection on the 2006 election, where two significant things happened that demonstrated the vulnerability of the African-American community in Memphis.  First, U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. ran and lost his bid for U.S. Senator. Fourteen African Americans challenged for his vacated seat against a lone white candidate, with predictable results. Ford, arguably a much more qualified Senate candidate than the victor, Bob Corker, lost in large part because of the racial make-up of the state and the inability of whites to vote beyond race.  

Meanwhile, there was no real outcry in the African-American community. We just accepted as a fact of life that a black man could not win in a majority white state, even if he was more qualified. It was viewed as par for the course that Republicans used raced-based campaign commercials to seal in the fears and votes of their base electorate (white voters).
 
A monumental lack of planning, leadership and courage on the part of the African-American community allowed the 14 African-American candidates to remain in the 2006 Congressional race, presenting a statistical impossibility for any one of those candidates to win versus one white candidate who was well known and qualified. Ultimately, the inability of the African-American community to organize and discipline itself to identify and select one consensus candidate led us to the raging debate in this year’s 9th District Congressional battle.
 
The reality is that until this community and this country really deals openly and honestly with the issue of race it will always remain as a boil ready to burst right under the skin.  Dr. W. E. B. Dubois said in 1903 that the problem of the 20th century was that of the color line, and over 100 years later that still is the case. Some slyly and others naively say Dr. Herenton is the source of racial division. The truth is that racial division manifests itself daily in the form of vast disparities rooted in historical and institutional discrimination that continues to exist in this community and throughout the country.  

There seems to be a notion that the only way WE can get past the issue of race is when African Americans quietly accept whatever position is allocated for us and acquiesce to the whims of what is dictated to us even to our own detriment. We fail to challenge or even examine the manner in which Corker was elected and then are expected to reject the notion of “Just One” proposed by Dr. Herenton.

The ultimate issue is the failure of the African-American community in Memphis in general – and specifically those would-be leaders – to set an agenda, aggregate its talents and resources and demand a significant place at the table of justice, at the table of economic and social well-being and viability, and at the table of the highest policy and political decision making.  

Frederick Douglass’ words ring loud and clear but apparently fall on deaf ears in the city of Memphis. In fact, it seems our actions more closely resemble the words of Dr. Carter G. Woodson when he stated,”if you can control a man’s thinking and make him believe that he is justly an outcast, you don’t have to order him to the back door, he will go to the back door on his own and if there is no back door, the very nature of the man will demand that you build one.”  It seems that we’ve been busy building back doors and it’s time to stop and push our way through the front.  

The commentary and reporting of various journalists and pundits reflects that they’ve focused their energy on denigrating the record and character of Dr. Herenton in an effort to sway his loyal and staunch supporters and manipulate them to the “back door”. They’ve planted on his shoulders the ills, fallacies and challenges of the African-American community and made him the scapegoat for racism and prejudice that have been a part of the fabric of this city since its inception in 1819. He’s been blamed for everything from the educational deluge in Memphis, to the economic and crime crises that exist and particularly plague the African-American community. Certainly he deserves some blame and some credit in both the good and bad that has occurred, and for what has and has not happened in the past 20 years within the city of Memphis. However, the true failure has been on the broad leadership of the African-American community to organize and demand equitable opportunity, holding those in power, including Dr. Herenton, accountable for new results for the change that is desired.   

Dr. Herenton has certainly taken numerous bumps and blows and suffered many chinks in his armor, including some self-inflicted wounds.  It seems that his gifts are also his curses: his ability to stand firm in the face of opposition, his choice of directness over diplomacy, challenge over consensus.  Personal and professional choices that he has made over the years have certainly put a strain on his relationship, sense of reliability and trust with many in the African-American community, as well as the community at large. Many have been left shaking their heads by a number of Dr. Herenton’s decisions.  Decisions that erected barriers between Dr. Herenton and others where there should have at least existed a working relationship. His persona as an independent thinker, a maverick if you will, has alienated some and left others with the thought that he has an inability to serve as a consensus builder in getting any effective legislation passed in Congress, or in being an effective leader for ushering in change through policy making.

Even considering all those things, Dr. Herenton is probably the only African American at this time who could surface as a candidate and withstand high-level scrutiny and attack while raising the consciousness of this community and challenging us to look at ourselves and our reality through a different lens. The lens that reveals an uncomfortable ugliness that makes us uneasy and sometimes shaken. Maybe that is truly the most significant outcome of his candidacy – that he wakes up a new consciousness in this community, allowing us to redefine the terms and move swiftly in a direction that leads to greater equity.

People vote for those that most identify with them, their experiences, their values, their plight, their struggles and their needs. Dr. Herenton for four terms as mayor represented that for a large base of voters. His background, upbringing and his race were all significant in identifying with that base of voters and arguably that is the case in not all but a majority of instances. Dr. Herenton’s candidacy is rooted in a deep connectivity to the plight of the masses and the challenges faced by them daily, deeply rooted in advocacy through common experience and cultural identification.  

Some pontificators, for the sake of simplification and others because they simply lack the ability to understand the concept, write off such claims by Dr. Herenton as racist or dividing. But clearly there is a great need for galvanizing leadership in the African-American community that allows the community to reach a higher level of self-sufficiency and sustainability.  

So here is the question: Does Dr. Herenton represent the galvanizing leadership that will spur the organization and aggregation of talent and resources needed in the African-American community in Memphis to demand its place at the aforementioned tables through the role of 9th Congressional District Congressman and in doing so improve the quality of life for all Memphians?  Given the damage that has been done to his image and the relationship with other leaders and voters in the community it would prove difficult for him to be that guiding and galvanizing force. Additionally, consider the fact that he would be a freshman Congressman at 70 years of age with no seniority and little political capital in Washington. The answer to the question is NO.  Dr. Herenton remains a significant and relevant leader in our community and we believe he has a tremendous role to play in fostering positive change for Memphis and Shelby County. However, his most effective place to affect change is not necessarily as an elected official but as a steward and agent of change within the community.

Dr. Herenton’s candidacy is important and should serve as a wake-up call to current and up-and-coming African-American leaders that we must get it together and move together in the “house” towards strengthening the “family”.  

Where does that leave us?  

Congressman Cohen clearly has been an effective legislator over the course of his two terms and certainly during his tenure in the Tennessee General Assembly. He has been a champion for causes and policy intended to positively impact the African-American community. He has built relationships and worked across racial and political aisles as a masterful diplomatic statesman. Ultimately he has done everything he could do to best represent the broad interests of the constituents he represents.  

Congressman Cohen’s positions, relationships and proposed legislation are all on point towards bringing to bear a climate that will allow for positive changes in the 30 percent poverty rate, double-digit unemployment, negligible business revenues, high rate of illness and health challenges and 40 percent dropout rate. Ultimately to truly improve the plight of Memphis, we must have leadership derived from within the African-American community that identifies with and intrinsically understands the “family”.  No matter how empathetic, Congressman Cohen will never be the direct catalyst to initiate and foster the change necessary for the African-American community in the 9th District and beyond to make significant strides in meeting the challenges that we face. In fact it can and will only come from within. 


Ultimately, the African-American community must nurture and facilitate leadership that allows our community to gain confidence, respect and a sense of pride that begins to remedy our ills. In the meantime, it is expedient that we send Congressman Cohen back to Washington to complete the work he has begun while we – in the spirit of Douglass’ eloquence and conviction – continue to work on the “house” and prepare to change our plight and thus the quality of life in Memphis and Shelby County.  

On the basis of this analysis and ongoing discussion on the issues of race, class, politics and power the Tri-State Defender will be calling a town hall meeting in the coming weeks to facilitate community engagement and strategy as a first action-step in the movement to improve our community and elevate Memphis as a leader in race and human relations.