Black City Leaders - A Rising Trend?
In the April 25, 2002 issue of The Other Paper, there was an article noting that Columbus, Ohio had a high number of black leaders for a predominately white town (711,000 people with a 24.5% Black population). A listing of the Black leadership:
Mayor: Michael B. Coleman
Safety Director (?) Can't remember the name, will post later
Police Chief: James Jackson
Fire Chief: Ned Perris, Jr. (?)
City Attorney: Janet Jackson (who just got re-elected and even if she lost, would have been replaced by another black, Kim Browne)
School Board President: Stephanie Hightower
Superintendant of Schools: Gene Harris
Note: the only significant white city official is City Council President Matt Habash. However, three of the seven City Council members are black, one of which I personally went to school with.
Also noteworthy, Ohio will soon have a black female lieutenant governor; Democrat Charleta Tavares or Republican Jeanette Bradley.
Granted, in cities like Atlanta, Detroit, or Cleveland this may be nothing new, but then they have a higher percentage of Black citizens. Do you think cities like Columbus can be considered "colorblind" when a high number of Black leaders are in office and is disproportionate to the percentage of Black citizens represented
Lemme hear from ya.
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