Building on the City Council elections
by Attica Scott
"Voices within our community call us to turn inward, away from potential allies with whom we can work to achieve positive change. What is required is the definition of a new moral assignment, a new vision of human emancipation."
— Manning Marable, 1997
And the winner is...! So, now the elections are over. What's next for our community, particularly those of us who are least empowered? Surprise! I've got some thoughts.
Those of us who are committed to social change must begin now to hold our new elected officials accountable. We held numerous forums as the candidates were campaigning, and now we must not wait until we feel like we aren't being adequately represented before we use our voice and our power to make change. We must remind the winners of the promises that they made when they were trying to earn our vote. And yes, I did vote!
We must also be diligent in reminding these folks that they represent us, our issues and our concerns on City Council. We must not allow them to flip the script and start representing some narrow-minded views on Council to us.
At the candidate forum hosted by Solutions to Issues of Concern to Knoxvillians in October—the first forum held for all candidates and attended by all candidates immediately following the primary elections—several issues were raised.
There is still tension between some in our community and the Knoxville Police Department. Much of that tension exists between people of color and police. But that should not be surprising since racial profiling is a reality that exists across the country and in our fair city.
Confrontations between police and youth are also a growing concern. Fortunately, the Police Advisory and Review Commission has helped to alleviate some of the tensions, but there is still room for improvement.
The question posed to candidates: would they support a community-led evaluation of community-police relationships. Yes, they responded. (With a reminder that we don't need their approval to conduct our own assessment—thank you!)
The point is that, if there is a need for policy change after reviewing the assessment results, then we will bring those recommendations before Council and we would expect a reasoned response. City Council take note: the assessment tool will be rolled out shortly after your new colleagues take office.
Of personal interest to me, because it speaks to the progressive bodies who will be serving on Council in January, was the affirmative reply by all candidates that they are willing to attend community-led diversity training within their first three to four months in office. The training will focus on anti-racism, anti-sexism, and anti-homophobia awareness. This is important to me because some of the actions and remarks by a few of our current City Council members during this past year have been clearly racist and sexist.
City Council take note: the diversity training program is ready, we're just allowing your new colleagues the opportunity to take office before we schedule the first training session.
Other issues raised at this particular forum included downtown development, a living wage in our city, and revisiting the recall provision of the city charter.
Besides holding our new City Council accountable, those of us in the social justice network must also expect more from our community as a whole. It may not concern some of you, but it concerns me that there is only one person of color on Council. Too many folks continue to operate under an antiquated system of representation that says "one is enough" and people of color should be happy with that.
Well, I'm not happy with that, and I expect white anti-racist allies to also take issue with the One Is Enough rule. So, what do we do with that rule, you ask?
We break it!
We will soon be voting on at-large seats for Council. While I know it's a stretch, imagine people of color representing us in those seats. This isn't my utopia nor is it too far-fetched an idea. There area several dynamic African Americans who have already said that they plan to run for those seats. Watch out!
This election found us with a couple of white folks running in the 6th District and several people of color running in other districts. This should serve as a wake-up call that many of us are working to cross our self-imposed boundaries.
Folks, let's continue to use our voice and use our power to make real change in this city. See you at the next City Council meeting.
November 15, 2001 * Vol. 11, No. 46
© 2001 Metro Pulse
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