The Virginian-Pilot
©
VIRGINIA BEACH
In the year and a half since it’s been meeting, a mayor’s advisory group of black leaders has recommended appointments to city commissions, helped start a basketball league in the Bayside area and is now discussing a plan to start a cultural center.
Called the Mayor's African American Roundtable, the group of about 15 meets quarterly with Mayor Will Sessoms and other city officials. Sessoms said he decided to form the group during his campaign for mayor.
They've held five meetings since Sessoms was elected in fall 2008.
"We have a direct line to city government, City Council, city hall. Direct access to the mayor," said Sandra Smith-Jones, a member of the School Board and the head of the roundtable. "Sometimes they get a little testy, but they're candid conversations."
Sessoms said he thinks the group he formed is creating important relationships and has allowed a forum for sensitive discussion.
"It's just the right cotton-pickin' thing to do," he said.
Several members said they are happy with the progress they've made so far, but want to address issues such as having a community conversation about race, and the fairness of at-large voting.
Among results, they said, are:
-- Appointments to the city's Human Rights Commission and the Virginia Beach Community Development Corporation were reflected in roundtable recommendations.
-- Discussions about creating opportunities for teenagers in the Bayside area led to an open gym and basketball tournament every Friday and Saturday, which started in late February at Bayside Middle School.
-- Talks have started about plans to create a not-for- profit African American cultural center.
-- At its next meeting, roundtable members will talk about how to involve the City Council and the community in a dialogue on race.
Although Sessoms meets with a number of groups, the roundtable is the only group he formed that is made up of minorities. The group advises the mayor, but the panel is informal and is not a public body. Meetings are not required to be open to the public.
That seems to have allowed some candor.
One delicate subject the group tackled was the desire of black leaders that the City Council appoint a minority to fill the vacancy left by Ron Villanueva's election to the General Assembly.
The city, Virginia's most populous, has had just two black City Council members since it was incorporated in 1963.
About 20 percent of the estimated 435,550 residents are black.
The council chose School Board member Rita Sweet Bellitto.
On that issue, the mayor heard frustration, he said.
"There are some folks who still feel that someone should have got an appointment" from the minorities who applied, Smith-Jones said.
Another heated issue discussed was the School Board. Some roundtable members are disappointed that the board, in three recent opportunities, has not appointed a minority when a qualified minority applied each time, Smith-Jones said.
On other issues, there is agreement.
The basketball tournaments at Bayside Middle on Newtown Road came about after discussion about teens in the area "creating mischief," and a lack of places for recreation, said the Rev. Michael Daniels of Enoch Baptist Church, a roundtable member.
Daniels' church worked with the schools and the city's parks department to start the 3-on-3 tournaments, which are open to western Bayside residents.
Members of the roundtable were able to appeal directly to the mayor and vice mayor for support from the city.
"The roundtable is certainly a good mechanism for getting a lot of the community's concerns to the mayor and the City Council," he said.
A cultural center is further down the road.
"It was born out of the fact that there were other ethnic groups in the city of Virginia Beach that had cultural centers, but I noticed that the African American community did not," said the Rev. J. Maurice Turnes of Providence A.M.E. Zion, a roundtable member. "This will be a long-term project."
He said he hopes to find a site for a not-for-profit center by next year.
Patrick Wilson, (757) 222-5150, patrick.wilson@pilotonline.com
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Does Sessoms serve beer at these events?
Does Sessoms serve beer at these events?
skreet ball
As somebody who played 20 yrs. of street b-ball I've seen the need for indoor facilities that support both teens and adults. An after work game(Norfolk) often meant a drive across town depending which R-C had open play.
Basketball is fun, skill orientated, an extreme workout,and like any sport a character builder. To often the game is vilified (wrong element) for reasons based on ignorance. Its often dismissed by people who probably found out how hard it was to play and found horse shoes more to their liking.
If there is need in any community for this and similar venues it should be apparent what the rewards would be. It may not be scholastic, but nobody will disagree with the benefit sports have in a scholastic enviorment.
Political Realignment?
In the wake of Glenn Davis' win and the formation of the Mayor's Roundtable, I saw the opportunity for a major political realignment in Virginia Beach local politics. You had the possibility of putting together a coalition of the business community, minority communities, and the Republican establishment. It would be a juggernaut.
First we had the Villanueva vacancy appointment saga, which left my friends in the African-American community leadership as angry as I've ever seen them. Now we get Sessoms' astounding use of "cotton pickin'". How much damage has been done? We may get a measure within the next week.
FYI, Vivian Paige called Sessoms on his use of "cotton pickin'" on her blog first thing this morning.
400 Years of Triple Oppression
Let’s not make any bold statements and then hide behind faulty names it reminds me of a bad pattern.
The African American Community has never asked for more than a level playing field which has been muddied by 400 Years of Triple Oppression. Certainly no one thinks that a Black President of the United States has made all things equal. Simply examine the opposition to his desire to bring a fundamental item like healthcare into fruition. You may have noted the hate mongers showing their ugly faces again. Also note in Virginia Beach a person who has the full support the community voters can be negated by voters in another community. The majority refuses to address the root of problems unless it concerns them, but if you stop all the hate for one minute you would note that black issues are human issues that transcend our community and makes us all better in the process.
James Bailey, Regional Director
Hampton Roads Missing Voter Project
Nothing well ever
Nothing will ever be equal with the likes of Jesse Jackson, and Rev al Sharpton running around shooting their mouths off every time something happens between a white police officer and a black suspect!!
Too many times We all see African americans with the help me you owe me attitude! We all see it, everyday! But until Caucasian can call a spade a spade and not be afraid of being called a racist it will never be equal!
DO you know who Started the whole slavery issue in the first place?
THEIR OWN FAMILY MEMBERS SOLD THEM FIRST! THEY STARTED SLAVERY!!
AND IT WAS LIKE 500YEARS AGO. Lose the whole "well my great great great great great great great great grandpappy was a slave soo you owe me mind set"
Mr Bailey
It would go a long way if you would lose the victim mentality and join us in the 21st century as an American and an equal. There will always be racists of every color, shape, and size. The rest of us who aren't are in the majority. 'Human' issues concern us all, of course. We all need to stop defining society in terms of race.
Ptown
Nobody has a victim mentality. But why is it, when African Americans raise these racial issues, whites act as if they just ignore racism, it wont be there. That's not realistic. Problems never get solved by pretending there isn't a problem to begin with. Remember during the civil rights struggles, many whites couldn't even understand why blacks were agitating for change. They thought everything was just fine. Many still do.
bc
When african americans raise the racial issue, whites do not want to be labled as the racist!! and that is what ALWAYS happens!! Whites cannot win when it comes to a racial issue. Case in point the Harvard professor and the white police officer! all the professor had to do was show his ID. Case closed!! NOOOO he had to cop an attitude and throw out the race card!!
African American cultural center
“Talks have started about plans to create a not-for- profit African American cultural center.”
Would the round table please define African American culture? The City has no more business participating in the establishment of an African American cultural center than it does a Northern European cultural center.
Double Standard
I'm still trying to figure out this "equality" thing in America. It seems Blacks, and other Minorities in our country are still demanding equality today, eventhough the President of The United States is Black. Yet, they are still asking for special treatment or attention from Government and Corporate Leaders in our country. Affirmative Action and hiring quotas are still being practiced today, yet we're all supposed to be "equal". Our country will never truly treat everyone "equally", until people are judged on character and abilities alone, and not race. Until then, we will all be living in this "Double Standard" way of life.