I saw it on last night’s news. The NAACP had a meeting to voice their discontent with what they perceive as county inequities of service to Mayor Alvarez and other administrators. Mayor Alvarez seemed rattled when speaking to reporters. The four black county commissioners were there. I would like to have known what they did besides gloat so I looked for it this morning in the Miami Herald. Was it in your Herald? I didn’t see it in mine. I am wondering why this meeting was not in the "paper" Miami Herald. Maybe I got the Broward Metro Edition by mistake because there was news from Cooper City, Hollywood, Pompano and Broward Schools. How did that get in my Metro Section over the Curry/NAACP Meeting WITH 500 PEOPLE IN ATTENDANCE?The Herald said online in a column titled “500 query Dade mayor at NAACP”:
“More than 500 people listened, sometimes impatiently, as Alvarez and his staff answered questions posed by Bishop Victor T. Curry, Miami-NAACP branch president, on a hodgepodge of issues. The four black commissioners also attended.” The Herald online also said:
“The hottest topics included the proposed Metrorail expansion, plans for a new Marlins baseball stadium, affordable housing and police brutality."
"Curry said the forum, held during the branch's regular monthly meeting Monday night, was designed to bring first-hand information directly to the people. He pointed to fears from members and others that county officials would divert funds for the North corridor phase of the long-awaited Metrorail expansion in favor of an east-west artery that also is scheduled. 'We don't want to wake up to hear you say, `Sorry, but we have to do east-west,' '' Curry said, drawing applause from the crowd.”
Did you know: "The meeting marked the first time Alvarez has met with the NAACP. The civil rights organization attempted to meet with the mayor for more than a year."
I wish I knew about this meeting, I would have gone.
23 comments:
even if the herald went to press before it was finished, there should have been some mention of this meeting taking place. I didn't see any either.
I watch the news on Channel 4 as well as Channel 23, both Miami Herald partners. I usually hear about stuff not even mentioned in The Herald. There was a report about the meeting on C4, but after the fact. There should have been a press release or something else for people that wanted to participate in that meeting. Maybe "Moderate" can tell us more about it.
Yes notamoderate knows all.
If the word of this meeting had reached more people, it might just have been a source of inspiration. As it is, thanks to the miracle of e-mail, and Genius of Despair, the word is getting out anyway, in spite of the media, and this has to be a good thing, as signs of our times go.
I'm curious to see if those same four black county commissioners will vote to put more development West at the UDB hearing in April while continuously whining that that want transit in the North Corridor.
Guess it's put up or shut up time.
The "police brutality" issue is undoubtedly one that is only too real, and actually does have, unfortunately, a disproportionate "racial" aspect to it. It has also been very much like Mark Twain's famous quip about the weather: "Everyone talks about it but nobody does anything about it."
Might this meeting have represented anything of a breakthrough? I seriously doubt it, but here too it would certainly be helpful to know if more light than heat might have been brought to the issue, perhaps with compared statistics, etc. This one is especially important because it goes so much deeper than the stereotype of trigger- and nightstick-happy racist cops running amok in Black neighborhoods where they know that their misdeeds will go unquestioned and unpunished beyond a bit of noisemaking.
That behavior, which obviously does not describe all, or even most police officers, is still prevalent enough and virulent enough in law enforcement for it to be a matter of real concern to ALL citizens. (This is not just beatings and shootings; there are everyday encounters, like the ones that more than one educated, well-dressed woman I know, driving nice cars to boot, have had as a result of asking police officers for assistance and being verbally abused and disrespected in return.)
Whatever we think of the Obama presidential candidacy -- whether it represents more image than substances or not -- what cannot be doubted is that many of the lofty words and concepts that are being proffered are words that resonate with American society today, whether to inspire new thinking or to galvanize opposition.
The point is that, as a sign of our times, that his candidacy exists at all, as a "mainstream" potential nominee, says that there is a readiness, on some level, to examine where we are, where we are going, and how much we want to carry into the future of the problematical baggage of the past.
The campaign is about electing a new "leader," but the moment really calls for us to reclaim democracy by being the makers and shapers of the nation that we desire to be. (As Ghandi said, "Be the Change.")
Whoever the 500 or so people were who were in attendance at this meeting with Mayor Alvarez, I suspect, are folks who are in that very mind set.
Heard from the Herald -- they said the meeting went too late to get it in on time...
Two things:
They could have reported that the meeting was taking place before it happened.
And they should have reported what was transpiring within their time restraints (who was there, what they had said thus far, what would be discussed) don't they have till 9 pm? At least they could have gotten the attendance in a short...
Did anyone stop and think that a majority of the citizens that were at that meeting probably lived in either the City of Miami of Miami Gardens, both of which have their own police departments (MG as of late)?
I'm guessing a majority of the cases of "Brutality" were not at the hands of MDPD.
But that is an issue that is used by a cammunity to automatically put elected officials on their heals. It's like asking someone "if they still beat their wife", whether they ever have or not.
My guess is that 75% of that meeting was an airing of personal grievances by some people in that community that were fired from county jobs for one reason or another.
I guess you cannot fire anyone anymore.
The stuff you read about in the paper was less than 25% of what went on at the meeting.
m
I cannot believe you wrote this:
"My guess is that 75% of that meeting was an airing of personal grievances by some people in that community that were fired from county jobs for one reason or another."
Really a low point for Eye on Miami comments.
If the herald announced the meeting I would have been there. Who are you Burgess?
Why does that comment upset you so?
assuming....
"My guess is"
actually not assuming. I was trying to put a frame of reference, timewise, to that subject matter, which pretty much consumed the entire meeting.
I don't know why the Herald chose to highlight what they did in their story, but the meeting was dominated by discussion from people who felt they had been wrongfully terminated.
m
The biggest problem in the Black community is jobs for everyday people. Curry, the Black elected officials, and many in the NAACP are out of touch. They are looking for money for themselves,and not helping their people.
The other big problem for Black communities and other poor communities is that money designated to assist them, from federal and other sources never gets to them. They are simply used to get money here, once it comes, it goes elsewhere. The end result is that tons of money comes in to heip, but nothing is applied to problem-solving in these communities.
The new Mayor will have to figure out a way to find jobs for everyday Black people, and make sure the money given for their problems provides the servies they were intended to provide. This robbing the poor has got to stop.
i dont think its the "new mayor's" job to find jobs for everyday black people.
they should be out there finding jobs for themselves, just like the rest of us!
AMEN!!!
If you don't speak spanish you aren't going to get a job in Miami. That leaves out a lot of people that would work if they could...you last two are heartless.
It is not in any one's best interest to have large young populations sitting around with nothing to do. You have networks and relationships to help you find jobs. These relationships are non-existent in the Black communities. Even their leadship is not interested in assisting them in finding employment.
The comment about the NAACP meeting being a likely forum for disgruntled ex-county employees was right on target. The last time we saw a meeting like this was the laughable "name clearing" hearing for fired MDT Director Roosevelt Bradley. Isn't it about the one year anniversary of that bizarre meeting?
its not about being heartless just realistic.. get a j-o-b!! in my office of 15 there are 2 "anglos" who do not speak a word of spanish!
anyone can get a job if they really want one, thats the bottom line.
only 2 spots out of 15 for employees who don't speak spanish? i think you only confirmed how difficult it is to find a job in miami if you dont speak spanish.
Actually, I forgot about one part time person in my office.. so that makes 3!
In a city like Miami, where the population is predominantly Hispanic, it is crucial to speak Spanish.
In my office the client base is 90%Hispanic, so hiring people who dont speak spanish would be a huge hindrance.
I guess if you like affirmative action, hiring the right "color" is better than hiring the most qualified for the job. Thank God we dont practice that here..
That is the problem. No one thinks it is their problem.
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