Trails In The Sand by Peter Traceit, the Street Detective
If you listen tentatively enough to the street talk, you might think that you were listening to a scene from the epic movie ROOTS where the slaves were discussing their freedom and how to get it and the price they were willing to pay for it. Kunta Kinte (Toby), if you recall, had his foot hacked off trying to run away to freedom. Others were killed in attempts to gain freedom. Nat Turner had to realized that he was being ‘played’ before he flipped the script and engaged in one of the most aggressive slave revolts in the history of this country. What these two stories have in common was the betrayal of a race of people by their own kind.
I spent a brief moment on Tuesday morning watching the School Board meeting with my street draggers to see who would speak out against the superintendent of Broward Schools as she wield her given power with the ceremonial go ahead of I disagree with you; however, I give you permission to demote “these” people. We are also hearing that positions are being gained not by qualifications but by quantifying how many ‘colored’ people you can persuade to be “in 100% agreement with Cartwright”. BCS Board is smart and shrewd, all in White looking but operating with ‘colored’ influence. The Board chair hurried the meeting along by limiting the number of speakers to thirty and reducing the time for each speaker from three minutes to one minute.
I heard that a lot of effort was put into rousing the community to show up and to questioned Cartwright’s chart, questionable appointments, promotions and demotions. Stevie Wonder could see that the Board Chair was tipped off that the Black community would be in numbers and vocal. So, she orchestrated to reduced speakers and speaking time to minimize Black people’s voices. But, she has only poured kerosene on the fire to oust the Board and to vote No on the upcoming BCS referendum.
Noticeably missing from this meeting was the President of the Fort Lauderdale chapter of the NAACP.
Where’s Marsha? It would be hard to miss the Freedom Fighter image of Angela Davis replica and the Sojourner Truth stare down.
It seems Marsha is sitting this one out. It begs the question: How does she decide what issues she will throw the organization behind and which ones the chapter should leave alone. Does she decide alone or collectively with her executive board or membership? Does she even operate with an E-Board and does she engage her membership on these sorts of conversations.
Inquiring minds are begging to know.
When it comes to Broward Schools, Marsha has a strong affinity to the PROMISE program and since it was not on the agenda, Marsha may have found it ok to sit this one out.
Anyone who has been keeping up with the PROMISE program should know that the program structure of 2022 is not the same as it was at inception almost 8 years ago. It no longer keeps students who commit silly misdemeanors or infractions that are minuscule but blown up by adults from entering the system. These students’ behavior infractions are entered into a system where law enforcement has access, which muddies the initial intention of the program.
I wonder if Marsha knows this. So, where is Marsha, anyway? Anybody seen her?
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