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The Mayor has not moved on any issue that the Cincinnati NAACP Executive Committee put before him at the 3/6/09 meeting regarding the city's reprehensible SBE numbers. As a result the Cincinnati NAACP will turn the heat up on the Mayor.
March 16, 2009 Dear Members and Community, Below you will see a series of email correspondence between myself and Mayor Mallory regarding the reprehensible SBE numbers. Please read each of the emails in order. The Cincinnati NAACP is focused on the data and not the personalities. The data shows that African American businesses received $269,000 in city contracts out of $656 million in 2007. The Cincinnati NAACP has requested the raw 2008 data for SBE numbers. We are told that the raw data is not available until April. This is unacceptable. I think the Mayor is playing a political game. I must share with you that this is a very dangerous political game. I see the Mayor attempting to deal with the reprehensible numbers by engaging in political manoeuvring instead of actions that will result in immediate financial relief for African American businesses. The Cincinnati NAACP Executive Committee was very clear in our meeting that we have no interest in another task force to study the obvious racism in this city that has resulted in economic apartheid. As a matter of fact one of our Executive Committee Members shared with the Mayor directly that " It has always been the American laws that African Americans have had to fight to gain freedom and justice." This was in response to the Mayor and his lawyers quoting the American laws as the reason why African Americans who make up 47% of the city received only $269,000 in contracts. The Mayor has not moved on any issue that we put before him in that meeting. As a result the Cincinnati NAACP will turn the heat up on the Mayor. It is my hope that our membership will support this organization as we attempt to get economic justice in this town. The fight for economic inclusion will get ugly because the status quo does not want African Americans at the table. They always send the symbolism of African American leadership to block the progress of African American Civil Rights. Racism does not work without the direct involvement of African American leadership. Remember the Tuskegee Syphilis study and all of the African American doctors and nurses who participated in the genocide of poor African American men. The Tuskegee Syphilis study would not have been successful without the African American leadership's direct participation. Our civil rights fight today is economics. *********************************************************************************************************************** Dear Mayor Mallory,
Thank you for the meeting on Friday, March 6, 2009 between the Cincinnati NAACP and your staff regarding the SBE numbers. The Cincinnati NAACP would like to be clear that we have placed several action steps of "good faith" before your administration for immediate action. All of the items before you are olive branches that would send a message to our branch that your administration is serious about turning around the exclusion of African Americans from business in Cincinnati. Our Executive Committee and Membership view the SBE numbers as economic apartheid.
The time line for action by your administration is one week from our meeting last week. The Cincinnati NAACP does not view the first step in resolving this issue as the establishment a task force to study the problem. Thank you in advance and we look forward to working with the city in a meaningful way if the city is willing to work the 47% of its constituents.
Sincerely,
Christopher Smitherman
President of the Cincinnati NAACP ************************************************************************************************************************* President Smitherman –
Thank you meeting with me last week to discuss the City’s Small Business Enterprise Program (SBE). I felt that the meeting was productive and helped give a better understanding of the program and the reporting process. At this week’s Council meeting, we established a Task Force to improve the opportunity for minority business enterprise owners to receive business from the city. As we discussed at our meeting last week, I would like to appoint a representative of the NAACP to the Task Force. Please forward me the name and the resume of the person you would like to serve on the task force. I need the resumes for all members of the task force by the end of business on Tuesday in order to appoint them at the Council meeting on Wednesday. I look forward to continuing to work with the NAACP to improve minority participation in the City’s SBE program.
Sincerely,
Mark Mallory
Mayor ************************************************************************************************************************* Mayor Mallory,
We did not agree to be on the TASK FORCE. We did outline specific items we wanted addressed last week. One item was the development agreement signed with Dorian for Mt. Auburn. Where are you on this matter? Also, we spoke about the Lincoln project moving forward asap. Where are you on this project? We requested the 2008 SBE data and have not gotten the information. We have retained an attorney to force the city to provide us the data. We hope that we do not have to go back to court to get basic information about a problem you say you would like to resolve. We are data driven!
I look forward to your response.
President Smitherman |
