Pennies From Heaven

I’m sorry, but if I am any kind of pol at all and thinking of running for mayor when the opposition offers up the embarrassment of riches which is T. Dianne Bellamy-Small, I’m gonna jump on it and make all the political hay I can. It’s a no-brainer.

As to the charges of racism, Councilwoman Bellamy-Small happens to be black, but is excoriated for being devious, pompous and self-promoting. Were she none of these things, then the Pulpit Forum might have a point. As things are, they just look stupid.

Update: Check out Jim Rosenberg’s comment at Hogg’s blog:

Public leadership is about framing issues so that progress can be made with the resources available at the time. Nelson The reaction of Diann Bellamy-Small, Nelson Johnson and the Pulpit Forum to a public spanking from Florella DeVille were entirely predictable. If this was the kickoff of Ms. Gatten’s mayoral campaign, it is telling: a pointlessly divisive public chest-thumping that picks at a still-healing scab and stands no chance of yielding a positive result. Being right is easy. Doing right is not. I can and do agree with nearly every negative statement made about Ms. Bellamy-Small, and I completely rejecting the notion that Ms. Gatten is a racist — but I still lay blame for this whole mess right at the feet of Ms. Gatten. Imagine the set of all possible strategies for dealing with the issue of Ms. Bellamy-Small, and consider the choice made by Ms. Gatten: public humiliation. What a sad excuse for leadership.

Perhaps Gatten has been watching Rome. More likely, she is tapping into a huge current of white conservative disgust with Bellamy-Small, the late Rev. Michael King, GPD officers Hinson and James and the stupid white liberals who enable them.

I agree with Rosenberg that Gatten’s tactics are shrill and heavy-handed. This case in particular offers lots of elbow room for nuance and finesse.

Update: I’m not going to link to it ’cause I don’t want to fill Hogg’s comments up with my trackbacks, but Rosenberg points out that Gatten did Bellamy-Small a favor:

The day before Ms. Gatten’s heroic act of moral purity, Ms. Bellamy-Small was a politician disconnected from her constituency and in rapid decline. She faced a re-election battle which she barely won in the previous cycle and would likely be fought once again as the only sitting African-American officeholder not to receive the endorsement of the most influential PAC representing African-American interests. The day after Gatten’s announcement, Bellamy-Small was embraced by her community, all the selfishness and oddity washed away in martyrdom. Whose interests does that advance aside from Gatten’s own?

Update: Rosenberg puts it all together:

She’s not street enough to demand acknowledgment, but Florence Gatten is Diann Bellamy-Small’s political daddy. What makes Greensboro’s racial politics unique isn’t the effectiveness of radicals, it’s the failure of moderates. If Greensboro had a moderate coalition of reasonable officeholders willing to occasionally step off the ideological gas and make back-and-forth compromises, cries of racism would have a false ring. Instead, we get Gatten’s call for resignation, the Council’s stronger than necessary slap at the TRC, lock-outs, firings, lie detector tests, punitive document drops, and a million other missed opportunities for building trust. This makes it possible for self-serving politicians to whisper to to their constituents, “they are out to get us,” and be believed. Florence Gatten is right about Diann Bellamy-Small. Congratulations. Big deal. It came at a price. I’d bet anything it cost Gatten a chunk of trust from Goldie Wells, Yvonne Johnson, and the broader minority community — which makes her a less effective politician. It costs all of us to have yet another negative racial firestorm ignite and be followed by the inevitable period of bad governance. Instead of a shrill and and clunky public rant, I wish Gatten had quietly sought to gain the trust of Johnson and Wells, and in the process give a moderate center a chance to be born.