Race Discussions on the Road to Failure

The City Manager’s Race Relation Discussions On The Road to Failure

The first of several race relations discussion initiated by City Manager Edward Augustus showed signs failure. The discussions are poorly designed and did not reach the people who needed to be at the table. Young men of color were conspicuously absent.  Young men of color and those who interact with them could be counted on one hand.

Mr. Muhammad Ali-Salaam of the Community Relations Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) explained as best he could what the discussions were about. He had with him a team of facilitators who sat at each table. Mr. Ali-Salaam said that the DOJ came at the request of the City Manager. The discussions on race relations were intended to vet the Manager’s plan for diversity and to get input from the community. He said that he is hopeful that these discussions would be more fruitful than the other discussions on race held previously in Worcester.

In response to a question about the DOJ investigating the Worcester Police for misconduct and the City government for malicious prosecution, Mr. Ali-Salaam said that the petition for such investigations should go to Ms. Carmen Ortiz, the U.S. Attorney for this district. She has a field office in Worcester.

Mr. Culin Owyang, Deputy Attorney General for Massachusetts, said he and the Attorney General hoped to have a positive impact on the discussions on race and to give it some structure.

On the subject of the District Attorney (DA) Joseph Early recusing his office from the prosecution of a Worcester police officer accused of beating a shackled prisoner and transferring the prosecution to Attorney General Maura Healy’s office, Mr. Owyang had no comment. He said that DA Early should be asked those questions. He had no comment on why DA Mr. Early did not erect a legal wall around the prosecution or appoint a special prosecutor.

Several people said the racial tension in Worcester has been centered around Black Lives Matter demonstrations and Worcester Police misconduct, and alleged public safety issues at North High School. There were few if any protesters from Black Lives Matter and no high school students from North. I suppose the outreach could be better for the discussions on public safety and education.

Two young men of color who were at the discussion expressed disappointment with the low turnout of young men of color. Born Taylor, a young Black man, said that he felt that some good could come from the discussions, but he also felt that the division of attendees by table could have been better. He thought that discussions would not attain some of their goals if more young men of color did not attend. Caleb Encarnacion-Rivera, a young Hispanic man, said he came in order to help the improvement of the City. He was especially motivated because now he had a child in the Worcester Public Schools. Like Mr. Taylor, Mr. Encarnacion-Rivera hoped that more young men of color would attend the future discussions.

Two City Councillors, Gary Rosen and Sarai Rivera, said that they were there to learn more. The City Manager said we should not be held captive by the pass where similar discussions started out enthusiastically, but nothing significant came about.

One White woman said that there is no racial problem in Worcester. She said that there was only agitators causing the problems. While she was speaking my thoughts went to the old civil rights movement where Bull Connors said something similar about happy Negroes and outside agitators. Another White woman said that some in the room were unaware that the term “color blindness” in terms of race had shifted from a relative progressive phrase to a code word for institutional racism. Although honest and a plea for discourse, such comments will make the discussions difficult for some people of color.

A Black woman who said that the DOJ should investigate the Worcester Police was booed by some White people, even though the facilitators told the participants that they should be respectful of everyone’s ideas and opinions. Instead of reducing racial tensions the discussion might be the source of increased racial tensions.

One person noticeably absent was Brenda Jenkins. She is an important Black leader in the City of Worcester. Several people came to me and asked where is Brenda.  They speculated that she might not have come because the populations she works with did not go. There are also rumors that the City of Worcester is pressuring her program by reviewing the resources the City makes available to her.

I suppose the politics of Worcester might suddenly change and the City will take more substantial and positive actions towards race relations. Unfortunately it looks a lot like business as usual or worse.