Roy Exum
In just the first half of this week alone, Chattanooga has had four murders, has been chosen for another year among the “Top Ten Most Dangerous Cities in the United States,” and had a “coalition” of do-nothing activists propose a broad-reaching “Community Control Board” – answerable to no one. The plan, as submitted to the Election Commission to be included on the March 2021 ballot – would pay nine self-appointed members approximately $250,000 a year total, the money to be taken from the police department budget. It is the most ludicrous insult to our city that I can imagine. Worse, it is a classic example of why there is an aching void of trust between a lot of good and wonderful blacks and whites, both being skillfully manipulated by a very few hate mongers.
No murder is acceptable, but this latest salvo from greed-driven people who eagerly want to use worn-out ‘race cards’ like trading stamps is not only intolerable, but dramatically shows those who have done absolutely zero to deter black-on-black shootings will do anything to keep the bullets flying. They blame the police, despite the stacks and stacks of evidence that proves those same police are all they’ve got to secure their safety. I’m telling you, behold a roguish scheme.
This summer, some of America’s biggest yo-yos in Democratic-run cities went on a tear to “defund the police.” Now, 3-4 months later, shootings are up by more than 25 percent in 36 of America’s biggest 50 cities. In Chattanooga we’ve had 30 or 31 murders this year – up by three at the same time last year. We are up to 108 non-fatal shootings, this 36 more than YTD in 2019. Yet the activists want to create a board where six flimsy organizations would each have a “representative” who would be paid $26,000 a year, the same as a duly elected member of the City Council. The six organizations who would get an automatic seat at the “feed trough” are Concerned Citizens for Justice, the Chattanooga Racial Equity Collective, the Community Control Now Coalition, Tennessee United, the Unity Group, and a group called “10,000 Fearless of Chattanooga.” Have you ever heard of any of them?
Not only has the great majority of Chattanooga citizens never heard of these money-grabbing opportunists, nobody in Chattanooga who I know has ever known of any one group -- not one -- to take a stand against black-on-black shootings or 31 murders-and-counting this year or in the years prior. Knowledgeable law enforcement types say the shootings will continue until the total black community rises up and demands “Enough is enough.” In Alton Park, Avondale, East Lake and up Highway 58, good and sound and loving people in every neighborhood know exactly who the thugs are. Many cite the fear of reprisal, but the bigger reason is far easier: they don’t want the hassle of getting involved.
The Community Control Board (CCB) has stated the initial $1 million operating budget would come from police funding and this is nuts. The Chattanooga Police Department operates on a thread. The officers are poorly underpaid (thus it is impossible to recruit,) and every predominate minority neighborhood has begged for more police presence. They want to establish warm and friendly relationships (inside knowledge: the police officers want it more) and yearn to see the officers really care rather than roar up only when black blood is on the streets.
You don’t have even need a high school degree to see the “carefully planned” divisiveness – there, I’ve said it – that the Community Control Board (CCB) has ignited. Not long ago the City Council – under heavy and underhanded pressure – relented to “the loudest voices” and instituted a Police Advisory Review Committee that is about as worthless as a bag of pig feathers. Frustrated that their meaningless words mean – what? - all of nothing, now the camel wants more than just its head in the tent. It’s a “Give ‘em an inch and they’ll want a mile” lust to be noticed.
For instance, the ill-fated CCB wants the authority to issues subpoenas – that is probably against the law – and neither the Mayor nor the City Council “can make any changes to its set-up or its recommendation (which is most certainly counter to junior high civics.)” The CCB is demanding the right to “prioritize the leadership of Black folks,” which is absolutely against Federal law. It’s as though the elected black members of the City Council -- Demetrus Coonrod, Russell Gilbert, Anthony Byrd and Erskine Oglesby – are worth no more than processed lunch meat, and who gives a rip each earned their seats the right way.
What agency of idiots is going to enforce those subpoenas, and to what end? Just another half-twist of the screw and the appointed CCB brothers get a communism card for free. The United States elects its leaders, period. The primary reason is for all of the people to choose our leaders, to keep the unsavory, the misguided, the racists and the self-serving out of the kitchen.
When Chattanooga dares allow a minority of openly-racist folks to appoint each other in a quarter-million dollar a year scheme – and tries to make the grab from an underfunded police department – your sins will find you out. In reality, this is little more than a brazen heist at the cost of the Chattanooga taxpayers; a sad day and a very costly one at a time when we desperately seek genuine respect and trust for all.
As a matter of fact, I don’t think it is much of a stretch to smell a well-planned conspiracy (there, I have said it) by a very small group of no-name activists, eager for easy money, at the direct cost of every citizen in Chattanooga, but that’s not my department. What is most unfortunate is that CCB’s hand has been dealt face-up, this in a week when we’ve had four murders to season the stew in one of “The Ten Most Dangerous Cities in the United States.”
Now we know what’s really and truly dangerous … and they walk among us.
royexum@aol.com