I can't remember in my lifetime a black mayor, nor can I recall an all black city council in Fayetteville, North Carolina. In response to what evolved into seeming racial politics, the Vote Yes Fayetteville organization was begun. This scenario is a metaphor for diversity everywhere. A table slanted to the left demands more pressure on the right and vice versa. Your viewpoint is constructed from your own personal experiences and knowledge, so it stands to reason the perception of life highly is influenced or even tainted by your own experiences. Your own personal experiences are not enough to determine leadership. It takes more. If only it were personal experience, then America would be tribal. Here education enters the picture. If you are stuck in a low income, economically depressed, racially segregated area, it would be difficult for anyone to see past their own meager eyes. To escape poverty, oppression, and discrimination more is needed than a home can provide. Once television provided this much needed national perspective. Radio before television connected America, and with traveling minstrel shows a mainstream began to emerge. Radio and television were the two largest educators then. They did not seek to spew propaganda; they sought to sell soap. Something had to pay the bills of production. With the onset of Covid 19 and its lock down, closure of schools, and limiting of human interaction a large toll has been taken on our population. We are challenged to find truth. Perhaps it was not bad this isolation giving us a new social and economic perspective. With Mayor Mitch Colvin Vote Yes Fayetteville is attempting to tilt the table of what they feel is an unbalanced governmental power structure. I would agree that an all black government is just as discriminatory as an all white one. Diversity is the goal and a balancing of this blood. From VYF's perspective they feel there is too much African-American influence in Fayetteville, and this perspective largely is based upon one incident, the looting of downtown at the inception of the Black Lives Matter movement. How you view Major Colvin's decision not to send police isn't enough to assess his job performance. It is one incident. It is important, but it is not the only thing. Personally I feel having a Black Lives Matter mural painted on the street around the Market House is racist. It suggests Fayetteville is pro black. The Market House itself is a volatile issue, because people are drawing conclusions only from their own personal experiences. No ones knows what was happening over a century ago, and certainly because we have been selective in our history texts, the real truth never has been told. It is time for that. Your perspective is what assesses your opinion about anyone or anything. The wider your scope, the more your knowledge, and the more experiences you have will change this perspective. Putting yourself in someone else's shoes always is an effective lesson in life. I think Mayor Colvin made the appropriate decision not to unleash a civil skirmish in downtown Fayetteville. Because the Police were being protested, sending them in to quell potential violence would have ended in bloodshed. Consequently no lives were lost, but the blow to Hay Street businesses was sharp and severe. It will take years to recover. I remember Hay Street forty years ago when all it was was strip clubs and beer gardens, but merchants were making money. Where do the G.I.'s go now for diversion- chain restaurants? The original Cape Fear Railroad had a trolley to transport soldiers to Hay Street and back when they were too drunk to walk. Good thinking I say. The Urban Sprawl has returned, and the infrastructure of Fayetteville has deteriorated. Never has it been walking or biking friendly, and it is because soldiers drive jeeps, trucks, and tanks. The protocol of the military may not be the same as the desired living conditions of civilians, and this is the major disparity of 'Nam. You can say Mitch Colvin has failed because of Black Lives Matter, or you can reflect on the other more tangible successes in Fayetteville. What are they?
1. Segra Baseball Stadium
2. Skateboard Park at Rowan Park
3. Splash Pads at Local Rec Centers
4. I-295 Loop Interstate
5. Grove Street Bridge Replacement
6. Sale and Renovation of the Prince Charles
Maybe these projects were underway before his election, but still were completed. Tribalism or special interest needs always will remain as the most prevalent issue- Who wants what and where? The major problem in Fayetteville currently is the leadership of the police. It has been a difficult several years with widespread police corruption nationally, but the resulting lack of policing has lead to record breaking crime and violence. Until the sixty vacancies are filled in the Fayetteville Police Department, lawlessness will continue. I think it is time for a new chief, because traditional police work is not getting done. Fayetteville is cited as one of the most dangerous cities in which to drive, and its citizens do not deserve to die because they drive. With all of this being said about leadership in 'Nam, the more important issue is economic and social mobility. Depression is caused when no solution is in sight, and it would seem Fayetteville is stuck in a ditch asleep at the wheel. Those driving the machine are the same as they always have been, and it is not necessarily fair. Who gets the tilt of the table is a matter of politics. We should be giddy that Kirk Deviere and Ben Clark have been successful earmarking millions of dollars for both Cumberland and Hoke counties. I would suggest you take some of that money and provide supplements for new active duty police officers as an inducement for their employ. We need police, and yet like public school teachers they are viewed as expendable. The strongest infrastructure of a community is solid schools and strong policing. This way students can rise above their abject poverty with the confidence they will not die under the age of twenty in a drive by shooting. With Covid 19 America has become a sink or swim school of hard knocks. Teaching is at an all time low, and the violence is a direct result. We need to restore both.
