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Letter to the Editor
The commentary pertaining to Councilman Larry Sykes made in
reference to his Toledo City Council colleague Tom Waniewski
reminds me of the following quote:
White people cannot, in
the generality, be taken as models of how to live. Rather,
the white man is himself in sore need
of new standards, which will
release him from his confusion and place him once again in
fruitful communion with
the depths of his own being.
James Baldwin author, “The Fire Next Time”
The relevant scenario to my
thinking is Toledo is the nation's 10th poorest city, Dayton
comes in as the fourth poorest city and Cleveland is number
two. Additionally, this reality of poverty will be of
profound concern to Ohio's NAACP Chapters which will be
convening for the NAACP State Convention in
Toledo on September 13-14,
2019.
I wrote and spoke with
Toledo BLADE business reporter Jon Chavez, that I regard
Toledo as the Citadel City of Economic Apartheid: due to its
banking practices along with corporate practitioners of
Economic Apartheid such as General Motors (Powertrain) and
the questionable hiring practices of the Toledo Fire
Department. The recent firing of an African-American female
firefighter is presently before the Ohio Civil Rights
Commission.
Finally, as I am the NAACP
Chair for the Armed Services, I regard the President's
Roadmap to Empower Veterans to End the National Tragedy of
Suicides (PREVENTS) a.k.a. Executive Order #1386 to be a
major issue to be discussed at the aforementioned NAACP
Convention. I would welcome the opportunity to also make a
presentation about the PREVENTS Act to the Toledo City
Council along with Mayor Kapszukiewicz. I am quite confident
that the 2020 presidential candidates will make Toledo,
Dayton and Cleveland focus points of their campaigns to be
the Democratic nominee.
In summation, I generally
find Rev. Perryman's journalistic efforts informative and
insightful. Particularly, when he writes of the
socioeconomic psychosis that exists in the African-American
community. In my opinion, such a mindset has left many
Toledo residents suffering from being "spiritually
incarcerated"
to use W.E.B. DuBois' term.
Please contact me if you think I have failed to spell out
the political ramifications.
Sincerely,
Clarence Gafeney, NAACP
Chair of the Armed Services
Email: Clarencian@hotmail.com
Land line:
419.206.1090
Cell: 419-205-2267
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