Earlier this year, I ran for public office for the first time as a 20-year-old. Below is something I wrote for my website after reading the
Covenant With Black America. But first, a little background:
I live in Mecklenburg, the biggest County in North Carolina. It's a county that's been divided by racial and education issues for over thirty years. It's a place where many suburbanites become Republicans simply because the Republican leaders are (seemingly) on their side when it comes to non-partisan issues like school construction. It's a place unfairly ignored by the state government in Raleigh, and one of the strongest examples of a place where change has to come on the local level, even if national policies (read: NCLB) are hurting us.
So, as much as I care about national issues (I'm currently managing a
Congressional campaign), I'm sharing this to remind the Kos community that when we propose change, we have to have a plan for all levels of Government. As important as a Democratic House is, you're not going to create an informed, productive society without local investment in things like education.
I like the Covenant a lot, so I'm sharing this review hoping to inspire a groundswell of positive plans for local Dems across the country. If your county/municipality is anything like mine, having successful, visible local Democrats only helps create national victories and future leaders.
On to the review ...
The Covenant with Black America
presents a far-reaching set of plans, or covenants, that leaders and elected officials must make with the African American community. But if you believe as I do, that what is best for Black America is what is best for America, then you will see that the ideas presented in the Covenant are universal; not radical requests for special rights or affirmative action, but ideas based in hope and equality that will make our community stronger. Below are my thoughts on the plans within the book, and how Mecklenburg County can best make a covenant with the African-American community.
Tavis Smiley writes in the introduction to the Covenant with Black America that now is the time to stop talking about pain and start talking about a plan. So he’s brought together the best of the best black intellectuals together to create the framework for ten covenants America must make with the African American community. These covenants are plans to reform education, healthcare, and the criminal justice system. They are plans to expand affordable housing and close the digital divide between blacks and whites. They are plans to create the future where the dream comes true, where people are not judged on the color of their skin but on the content of their character. And they’re plans that can be realized here in Mecklenburg County.
The book is not light on statistics and facts. While these facts are old news for some, many are worth mentioning, and are the inspiration for many of the plans outlined in the book. For example, many studies by the Urban Institute conclude that African Americans are more likely to be told that housing in white neighborhoods is “not available” and/or directed to predominately black neighborhoods, and that black renters are “20 times less likely to get less information and help than whites with similar economic backgrounds” when asking landlords about advertised housing. This, and many other examples, shows that inequality still has a hold on America. I’ll discuss a few of the covenants in the book, and how those covenants can create an equal playing field here in Mecklenburg.
The first covenant in the book is “Securing the Right to Healthcare and Well-Being.” While making clear that people of all colors need to take personal responsibility in eating better and exercising more, the Covenant also reveals environmental factors – including the lack of park space and full-service grocery stores – that can cause disparity between races and lead to adverse health affects for the African American community.
In Mecklenburg County, we can create healthier communities by ensuring parity in park and greenway construction. We can use county grants that supposedly “lure” business to Charlotte to build affordable, self-sustaining fresh foods markets in communities that need them. We can commit more to HIV/AIDS prevention – I’m proud to note that my campaign recently helped sponsor the Red and Black Ball, which raises money and awareness for programs that deal with HIV/AIDS. And though I’ll mention this in more detail later on, we can expand mass transit so that communities quit suffering the harsh effects of the southeast’s dependence on gasoline.
The second covenant is entitled “Establishing A System Of Public Education In Which All Children Achieve At High Levels And Reach Their Full Potential.” Again, this covenant starts out with a note of personal responsibility, remarking that “education starts at home.” Parental involvement is one of the most important factors that determine the academic success of a child of any color. But the environment is also at fault, and “this society has not been able to make education function to optimize and equalize academic development among blacks.” Leaving no child behind should be about giving children who are behind the tools to catch up, not about slowing down the rest of the children for the sake of making test scores look better.
In Mecklenburg County, there are many changes I think we can make to improve education for all children. To tie in to the first covenant, we can outsource school food services so that Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools focus more on education and so that we can pursue healthier food options for all children. We can partner with local non-profits to find tax-effective ways to give students help outside of the classroom. We can change the focus from fixing behavioral problems in high school to creating a nurturing and constructive environment in elementary and pre-schools, so that when children reach high school they are already on the right track. We can use impact fees, adequate public facilities ordinances, or land transfer taxes to build schools, ending the bonds debate and allowing CMS to focus on what happens in the classroom.
The third covenant, “Correcting The System Of Unequal Justice,” takes on the cradle-to-prison superhighway (CPS). African Americans are more likely to get the short end of the stick in many criminal proceedings, but it isn’t because blacks live in a “moral sewer,” as one misguided local politician proposed. It’s because of a system of unequal justice. To correct this, James Bell writes in the Covenant that “we must challenge every decision-maker to be responsible for fairness and dignity towards others with measurable actions.”
In Mecklenburg County, our overburdened criminal justice system will be helped by a more enlightened approach to justice, focusing more on violent crimes and crimes like drunk driving, instead of minor drug crimes. Nationwide, though African Americans constitute only 13 percent of all monthly drug users, they receive 74 percent of all prison sentences. This is one of many injustices in our criminal justice system that can be solved by more emphasis on treatment for crimes that don’t directly hurt other people. Also, by striving for equality in our schools, we can create schools that educate instead of separate, that build community ties instead of criminalize.
Though I’d love to talk about every covenant, I’ll end with the fifth one, “Ensuring Broad Access To Affordable Neighborhoods That Connect To Opportunity.” Angela Grover Blackwell could be talking about Charlotte-Mecklenburg when she notes that “sprawling suburbs and the inadequacy of public transit in many communities evolved not by accident, but through specific policy choices.” If all people are to thrive in District One, every person should have access to the jobs that are being created in the suburbs. This access requires fair and available integrated affordable housing and a comprehensive public transportation system that connects all of District One, from University City to North Mecklenburg to West Mecklenburg. For example, the Town of Davidson uses adequate public facilities ordinances in lieu of raising property taxes to pay for growth, and by keeping property taxes lower, the 12.5% of new homes that the town requires be affordable are even more so. By using impact fees or land transfer taxes and creating more affordable housing, we can have better schools in Mecklenburg without raising the property tax, one of the traditional barriers to home ownership.
What we can do in Mecklenburg County, and what the Covenant with Black America asks us to do, is eliminate as many barriers to opportunity as possible. This starts with ensuring good health, builds by creating fair, successful schools, and continues by creating access to good jobs and housing. This isn’t just good for Black Mecklenburg; it’s good for ALL of Mecklenburg. If you’re a city or county leader interested in making Charlotte-Mecklenburg a better place for all people, pick up a copy of the Covenant, because the people who will elect and support you already have theirs.