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He grew up in the shadow
of the iconic World Theater and black businesses such as The
Spot Restaurant, Jimmie’s Shoe Clinic, The M&L Bar, and Dorr
Dance Hall. On his way to and from school he would often
walk past the offices of black lawyers, the Great Atlantic
and Pacific Tea Co. (A&P) and an abundance of other
enterprises along Dorr Street while the lyrics of James
Brown’s black empowerment anthem blared from Art’s Gold
Coast Record Shop: “Uh, with your bad self; Look
a'here, some people say we got a lot of malice, Some say
it's a lotta nerve. I say we won't quit moving Til we get
what we deserve. We've been [re]buked and we've been
scorned. We've been treated bad, talked about just as sure
as you're born. But just as sure as it take, Two eyes to
make a pair, we can't quit until we get our share. Say it
Loud. I’m Black and I’m proud.”
Many decades later, the great Dorr Street now “Sings it low.
We’re Black and Poor,” the result of “urban removal.” Yet,
the mission of incumbent District 1 City Councilman Tyrone
Riley, the boy who grew up there and knows the area like the
back of his hand, is
to “protect, build and save the community” and as much as
possible, return the community to its former glory.
A candidate for a third
and final term, Riley feels that he has some unfinished
business left before he leaves office and agreed to speak to
me about his life experiences and candidacy.
Perryman:
Thank you for agreeing to speak with us. Let’s begin by
talking about your formative experiences, including growing
up.
Riley: I remember growing up in
the Smith Park area as a child and we lived there until I
graduated college. In fact, we lived there for 20 years and
still own the house on the corner of Oakwood and Waite.
Yeah, so talking about stability and feeling secure and
knowing the surroundings, knew it like the back of my hand.
I graduated from Jessup W.
Scott High School in the class of 1974 and went to Kent
State University, graduating in the spring of 1978. But
during that period of time when I was 17 and 18, I worked
summers for the City of Toledo in the sanitation department
behind the garbage trucks and that’s what helped pay my way
through school.
Perryman: So, you rode on
the back of the garbage trucks?
Riley: Not only rode on the
back of the garbage trucks, but I also threw cans. You’re
talking about somebody being in the best shape of their
life. I had to be up at 6:00 in the morning throwing those
cans and kicking them to the curb.
That was my introduction
to the City of Toledo, and after Kent State I went on to law
school, graduating from Southern University in Baton Rouge,
Louisiana.
Perryman: I was attending
the University of Toledo on May 4, 1970 when four unarmed
student protesters were shot and killed and others injured
at Kent State by the Ohio National Guard. You followed right
on the heels of that. Did you experience any of Kent’s
activist spirit?
Riley: Absolutely. When I got
to Kent, the activism culture was still present and alive.
We were called the Berkeley of the Midwest and the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and Student
Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and all of those
organization had groups on campus.
Perryman: Did you
participate in any of it?
Riley: When I was there, the
administration wanted to build a gym on the site where the 4
kids were killed and at that point in time the students took
over the administration building because they were
protesting and wanted to maintain the memorial. So yes, and
plus my major was political science too! That was a special
time of my life.
I then went on to Baton
Rouge, Louisiana for law school and also worked with the
Louisiana legislature as an intern.
When I got back here in
’83, I started working for Casey Jones in the Ohio General
Assembly for about four or five years, then started
practicing law. I practiced law exclusively until being
elected to City Council in 2011.
Perryman: How have all of
these experiences shaped your role as a council person?
Riley: My time at Kent State
and in the Ohio General Assembly, that type of activism has
stayed with me throughout and has helped me to, I believe,
be a better council person. One of the things that we made
sure of, for instance, is the new Mott Branch Library where
32 percent of the work was done by minorities. In building
Promedica’s new downtown headquarters location we had
between 12 percent and 15 percent minority workers. So, we
want to make sure that those things continue to happen while
at the same time ensure that the advancement and promotion
of minority businesses still exist.
Perryman: What are your
thoughts on recent complaints of bias concerning black
recruits in the Toledo Fire Department?
Riley: Ever since the federal
court order and consent decree several years ago it has
always been a challenge to get minority representation in
the police and fire department. I think Chief Brian Byrd is
moving us in the right direction. However, I think the way
that the young lady Adebisi’s situation was handled was, not
only unfair to her, but also unfair to the community because
of the history with the fire department. The situation was
not properly handled. I don’t think that you allow someone
to achieve that level of participation and training and then
remove them just before graduation.
I think that Chief Byrd
bears some responsibility for the way it was handled, even
though he may have been listening to other staff members.
The buck ultimately stops at his desk.
Perryman: Please address
the relationship between the community and the police
department amid complaints about policing tactics and
accusations of excessive force.
Riley: One of the things that
we have to do on a continual basis is have police training,
especially when you have officers who probably are not
experienced and are required to come into contact with
people of different races. The police department has a
responsibility to conduct themselves in a professional
manner and not overreact to certain situations that they
find themselves in. We’ve seen it far too often where the
officers have used excessive force to handle a situation so
I think the best way to approach it is with training and
another solution to that problem is one of the messages
that’s being promoted in our community, called ‘Get Home
Safely’.
Perryman: Make sure you get
home safely.
Riley: Get home safely,
because situations, as we know, can quickly escalate. At the
end of the day you want to get home safely, so if that means
that you have to comply, then you have to comply because if
another misinterprets your actions or demeanor, things can
go badly.
And you do have rights,
but I think the best way to assert your rights is in the
court of law, because you don’t want to be a statistic
saying that my rights were violated. You don’t want to be a
statistic and your family is arguing that your rights were
violated. So, my recommendation is to just focus on getting
home safely.
Perryman: Let’s shift to
the upcoming election. During the primary, you were the
only leading candidate that didn’t reach 50 percent of the
votes in your district.
Tyrone: I’m also the only one
that was involved in a five-candidate race and so I look at
it as a contest, but I also look at it as the majority of
voters expressed their confidence in me.
Perryman: You only received
43 percent of the votes cast in your district, far short of
a majority.
Riley: Well maybe not a
majority. But I appreciate those voters who expressed
confidence in me.
Perryman: Do you expect the
general election to be close?
Riley: I’m approaching the
election as a challenge and I look forward to whoever’s the
opponent.
Perryman: What do you hope
to accomplish should you be elected?
Tyrone: One of the big things
that I hope to do is continue to make sure that the new Mott
Branch Library and the park in which it exists is a place of
destination. I think by that happening, then we can start
talking about the revitalization of that entire area. There
were a lot of people who did not want the library to be
built in that location, but I advocated support for it and
we built it there. It’s now probably an $11 million
structure with a recording studio, business incubator,
computer system, telecom, a lot of things as a result of the
community’s participation and the leadership that was
provided. What we have is a flagship and I don’t know of any
other community in the State of Ohio that has anything like
that sitting right in the heart of the African-American
community.
Perryman: You have served
on council since 2011. Are there any regrets?
Riley: No, I don’t have any
regrets. It’s been a rewarding experience regardless of how
the race turns out. And I’ve had an opportunity that very
few people have had in that I’ve had to grow up and
represent our community. You grow up at Smith Park and
attend Martin Luther King school, you don’t dream of being a
City Council person or being a representative of anyone.
You grow up like I did, trying to be a lawyer or doctor, but
mainly you’re out there on the basketball court, on the
football field, on the baseball diamond and it was all about
getting a place in athletics. And so, I’ve enjoyed the
getting to know and being a part of that growth that’s taken
place around Smith Park. One of the things that I look
proudly at, my father helped build Toledo Hospital. I can
say that I was involved and played a role and helped build
Mott Branch Library.
Since I began representing
our community, I started the Crispus Attucks Black History
Month essay contest directed towards sixth-eighth graders
and ninth-12th grade students. We’ve given out over $3200
in prize money to kids who have participated. I created
Smith Fest, another rewarding activity where we’ve given
away 600 brand new bikes to kids in the community. I’ve
done the construction career fair where we try to bring our
partners from the skilled trades together with our youth in
order to give youth exposure to the skilled trades. I can go
on and on.
And, I’ve also introduced
a variety of legislation to help protect the community. We
introduced that legislation that requires anyone that wishes
to establish an internet café first must obtain permission
from the community; legislation to prevent storing used cars
in residential areas; and, legislation is currently pending
to make Family Dollar and Dollar General stores subject to
the same spacing requirements as convenience stores. I’m
just out there trying to protect the community, build the
community and trying to save the community and that’s the
mission.
So, I will say this, there
have been challenges along the way and I’ve personally
experienced some growth and development but I’ve enjoyed the
experience. But, no, there are no regrets.
Perryman: I appreciate you
taking the time.
Contact Rev. Donald Perryman, D.Min, at
drdlperryman@centerofhopebaptist.org
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