Last night, Kansas City Mayor Sly James participated in an important panel discussion on the topic of race and the American Dream.
There were some pointed questions from the crowd and a variety of curious insights from fellow panelists but as usual, Mayor James was the star of the event.
To wit . . .
CHECK THESE RECENT QUOTES ON RACISM AND THE AMERICAN DREAM FROM KANSAS CITY MAYOR SLY JAMES!!!
Highlighted and given just a bit of context within the recent conversation:
Mayor Sly James on his racial identity: "There's a lot of people who don't think I'm black enough and there a lot of people who think I'm too Black. I'm beyond the point of needing their validation and really don't care."
Confronting stereotypes: "I will correct people when they say 'black eye' or 'black mark' because I don't want them saying something that is negative about my skin color and thinking that's okay, that it's just a euphemism."
Regarding African-American students suspended more frequently in Missouri: "We all start with the basic understanding that there is systemic racism in schools just like there is sexism in schools. Girls are not treated equally to boys, Black kids are not treated equally to others."
Solving the racial debate: "None of these problems are going to ever going get solved until we actually learn the difference between: 'Hey I work with a Black guy or I work with a Latina' as opposed to 'I have really good friends who are Latino and as a matter of fact they're at my house tonight watching TV with me' . . . When we get to that stage, some of this stuff goes away. But until then we're going to continue to have these troubles."
Mayor Sly James speaks from a historical perspective: "The idea about racism starts with slavery. There were people who saw Black people in chains and, frankly, wanted to keep them there. When we have a society that is set up by a race that had for a long time enslaved other people and those same people set up the justice system then those vestiges of racism linger."
Kansas City's Mayor on the topic of immigration: "The basic policy as I understand it is that it's not an issue that the police department is going out looking for . . . If it becomes a major issue during the course of some other interaction then they have to deal with it. But, they're not engaged in sweeps and doing the job of the Federal Law enforcement. That's not what we do and that's not the way to build trust in the community."
Mayor Sly James on expectations from the Black community: "This is one of the burdens of being Black. Because I'm Black, I'm now the savior and will change history. I'm sorry, that's not going to happen. What we are doing is we are trying to make sure that the systems we have in place do not react to the color of somebody's skin but react to whatever actions they're taking with police or whatever actions they're taking elsewhere."
On the subject of local Black leaders: "What the Chief of Police is doing is trying to go out and work with everybody to show that the fact that he's a Black man does not mean that he won't protect a white person in this society or in this city. And that he will make sure Black people are treated fairly. I do the same thing every day. But it is fallacious to believe that because there are three Black people in three specific key situations that we are somehow going to be able to turn the tide of history and change everything in a matter of four years."
Confronting expectations in the Mayor's office: "There are a lot of people who want to see change and one thing I've learned in my office is that a lot of people don't like the way things are but they absolutely hate change. I have a responsibility to every citizen in this city and I take it extremely seriously. But, my responsibility does not extend to the point where I am solely responsible for changing everything people don't like. You don't like it? Get involved, change it. But don't look around for somebody else to do the heavy lifting for you."
Mayor Sly James: "I'm proud to be an American. I put on the uniform of the United States Marine Corps because I was proud of being an American. I had the ability to choose . . . I happen to love this country because it does have promise."
The conversation continued but clearly the comments from the Mayor defined the evening.
Dead Tree Media token Mary Sanchez was there in sexy high heeled boots . . . Expect her column on the topic sometime next week.
The moviemakers behind the "My Fellow Americans" also took a barrage of questions mostly regarding why the presenters were all white.
The series will continue on KCPT and focuses on racial issues not only in KCMO but throughout the nation. Like it or not, this blog is the only place where a FREE SPEECH DISCUSSION of race will be allowed and encouraged.
Last night the moviemakers directed us toward a number of clips featuring Kansas City's Mayor continuing his talk about racism and leadership in Kansas City
Take a look:
Mayor Sly visits Montgall . . . Must be election time, again.
Mayor Sly talks La Migra . . .
Racial progress in Kansas City???
"What's difficult for people to tolerate is that they see change happening in other places, but not much happening in their own communities." - Mayor Sly James
Actually, this is the best segment:
Mayor Sly has a dream too . . .
Mayor Sly talks #Ferguson and Trayvon . . .
Eco-Devo and racism with a splash of toy train streetcar influence.
Again, the point of these clips and the presentation was to inspire discussion but overly polite public TV chatter might not be the best way to look at what really drive the racial discourse. As usual, our TKC blog community leads all other local media outlets on that topic.
Developing . . .
The complaints about the public TV crew had their place but I wonder if we could get the same kind of civil discussion from other media outlets. Kudos to the filmmakers, it seems like they were willing to do what most weren't. They got the Mayor talking about a topic that most people want to avoid at all costs.
ReplyDeleteSo the whole country is supposed to rename "black eye" for sensitive Sly? Grow up!
ReplyDeleteAnd, yes, blacks are treated different in education. They get a pass for behavior that would get a white kid expelled.
Slavery ended 150 years ago and the last slaves died by 1940 at least. Civil rights legislation was passed 50 years ago and black preferences have been in place for years and years. Why are blacks going backwards?
"I will correct people when they say 'black eye' or 'black mark' because I don't want them saying something that is negative about my skin color and thinking that's okay, that it's just a euphemism."
ReplyDeletePlease tell me that this was satire and that this really isn't the intellectual firepower of the man we've somehow elected to lead our city.
You can not make this stuff up. Absolute clown show.
Only the devils true devotees, could profit from all this.
ReplyDeleteI guess the forgot to ask him what the plans are for 2015 when it starts to get warm down on the plaza.
ReplyDeleteTrying to shore up his rapidly shriveling black voter base. Whats left of it.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to ask him why his white buddies, pals, and contributors over at Google are not giving the poor and disadvantaged neighborhoods fiber. Especially in struggling black communities which they avoid like the plague.
ReplyDeleteDid the 50 white people who are going to force Sly to move ahead with the toy train show up?
ReplyDeleteThis guys mind definitely lives in some kind of weird, warped, alternative universe.
ReplyDeleteFSJ-Fuck Sly James
ReplyDeleteThey should be thankful they were allowed to remain in the Land of Opportunity instead of being shipped back where they came from.
ReplyDeleteSlavery is as dead as Abraham Lincoln. Shut the fuck up about it.
Just like MLK he loves the white bitches.
ReplyDeleteBlack this..., black that..., blah, blah, blah...
ReplyDeleteJesus, the usual Identity Politics at it's very worst. The number one thing we all have to worry about in Black Run America is making sure we feel guilty, talk about slavery, white privilege and pay trillions more to outdated, pernicious, Civil Rights bullshit programs, legislation, set asides, quotas, Affirmative Action suck-the-life-out-of-the-economy freebies for indolent, entitled, ever more violent blacks who perceive no sell by date on this never, fucking never ending farce.
Then we hear the same old shit, when the murders, rapes, assaults, ruined blocks, neighborhoods, cities, and entire regions of America are decimated by the violence and destruction that accompanies this same culture which we are all supposed to bow down to and worship.
It's not enough! We need more money, more set asides, we shouldn't be arrested for breaking the law, we need black citizens committees to over see the KCPD, Michael Brown had his hands up, was a good boy, Trayvon didn't hit anyone, we are all TURNING OUR LIVES AROUND and even after we get more money and it fails again, like it always does, it will be YOUR fault Whitey.
Selma was a poorly acted, factually incorrect movie, but Selma the city can teach us a lot. It is a 3rd world shit hole where America, can, if it refuses to look away, see the real results of the misguided efforts to appease a violent segment of our society that has no intention of EVER pulling it's share of the load and will forever expect tribute in lieu of violence.
I shall from this day forward only say "teen eye" and "teen mark".
ReplyDelete11:44 OK, that is some seriously funny shit.
ReplyDelete:)
All the wonderful, fanciful soundbites the Mayor has produced in his bid for higher office. Boy, give this man an Oscar. He says one thing and does another and the country bumpkins are none the wiser. Bravo, chap. Standing ovation.
ReplyDelete11:10 AM
ReplyDeleteHow about the 12 people who lobbied for East Patrol. Those assclowns slobbed all on the Mayors crotch. Ewwww.
White people have long known that once winter ends, the hibernating black criminality awakens, and with this thawing of low impulse control and poor future-time orientation comes the true black death.
ReplyDeleteThe demographic decline of the white population in KC is testament to this reality, with white families fleeing the carnage of black dysfunction and slowly abandoning formerly prosperous communities to Africans in America.
Once the winter weather warms, the reality of what black criminality represents becomes clear: the slow, inexorable death of the civilizations Europeans have created in America.
This is a worksheet handed out in Ca. Classrooms for 5th graders.
ReplyDelete----------------------------------
For many, it sounds contradictory: Isn’t it racist if just white people get together? Isn’t that segregation? The following are our reasons for meeting as a white anti-racist affinity group:
1. People of color shouldn’t always have to be the ones to educate white people about racism and oppression. We are taking responsibility for learning about our own white privilege and how to challenge it as white people.
2. In order to challenge racism and dismantle white supremacy, white people need to unlearn racism and discover the ways we enact white privilege. …
3. A commitment to anti-racist identity and practice as a white person can sometimes mean increased alienation and conflict in our lives, especially with other white friends and family who disagree with us. …
4. It’s a space for white people to figure out what it means to be anti-racist white person and challenge racism in all areas of our lives. …
5. It’s a place where white people can begin to build a new culture of white anti-racism, and learn the skills needed to transform the larger white community.
6. White affinity groups are a supplement to, not a replacement for, multi-racial dialogues and activism between white people and people of color. …
7. A white space serves as a resource to people of color who want to work with white people but don’t want to spend all their energy dealing with the racism of white people.
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They are coming for you, make no mistake about it, they poison our children's minds and gradually kill of our value system by destroying our will to confront the PC GODS that already run this country.
Damn where's that video of him pounding his fist on the podium telling people to shut up and yelling Kansas City sucks. His "true colors" really stuck out in that.
ReplyDeleteSo all school teachers are racist from the start? WTF
ReplyDeletePhysicists will have to come up with another phrase for "black hole." Even though the [as yet unnamed] hole sucks up light and emits none, just like certain communities do with money, we wouldn't want anyone to suffer the vapors by referring to it as such.
ReplyDeleteHey Theresa Garza Ruiz here is an idea, how about you blame yourself for your own greed and quit throwing your ex husband under the bus. You look like a puta malpagada doing it. Thank me later.
ReplyDeleteGive a fool enough rope and he'll hang him self eventually the ol saying goes.
ReplyDeleteDid he get a chance to talk about running the city the way it actually should be run? Otherwise if wants to be in show business he should move to L.A. or Vegas.
ReplyDeleteWhat a bunch of douchebaggery.
ReplyDeleteI watched about 15 minutes of it….never in my life have i seen such a tortured speak….verbal contortionist…and outright power grabbing despot.
ReplyDeleteFuck this NIGGER. NIGGERS are definitely inferior to every other race (or species) on the planet, so the different treatment is spot on.
ReplyDeleteStill pandering to the trolls and bigots Tony?
ReplyDeleteYou might start spinning up you old number of hits if you posted for a KKK chat room.
Where do we get our hoods and crosses to burn 127?
To think I actually had ancestors who fought against people that had that attitude towards the Jews makes me sick.
ReplyDelete:40 There we have it. Any deviation from the "Narrative" of white Racism immediately places you in the KKK.
ReplyDeleteShut the fuck up idiot.
Sanchez looks like Cruella de Vil. What a cunt.
ReplyDelete3:02, do you mean Star scribbler Sanchez was on a panel that was described as composed of "Kansas City intellectuals?" If Tony wrote that, could he be auditioning as Obama's next spokesliar?
ReplyDeleteMore bullshit stuffed into the same old bag. Now if the mayor would get his black ass to work and actually do something positive.......
ReplyDeleteYou NIGGER loving assholes and protectors and pussy-acting, low-rent pricks, can kiss my ass. Hitler WAS right....just the wrong bunch. If he'd been after NIGGERS instead, the world would definitely be a better place...
ReplyDeleteFree speech zone?
ReplyDeleteMaybe free hate zone.
Trending downhill Tony.
Net Neutrality is on the way, you and your Facist Liberal scum brethren will control it all soon.
ReplyDeleteBut did Mary Sanchez shoot a Giraffe to get that skirt?
ReplyDeleteMary looks lovely you bitches.
ReplyDeleteMary looks like every other sad old lady who tries to dress up in whatever fad she read about in Glamour Weekly. Women are fucking pitiful.
ReplyDelete