Dallas Mayor’s Race 2007

Ed Oakley

Coalition Builder, People Leader and Visionary- Right Man for Dallas Top Job

Dallas- For Dallas Councilman Ed Oakley, running for Dallas mayor represents more than just taking an ambitious political step forward.

Oakley presents himself a man with grassroots conviction who truly wants to bring city hall back to the people.

After his campaign kickoff in December, Councilman Oakley and his supporters began their effort to “knock on every door in Dallas.”

The councilman is heading straight to the voters stating, “This city belongs to all the people of Dallas, and my campaign will value all people equally – average citizens and business leaders, black white and brown, North or South.”
The focus is on the day to day work of taking his uniting message to the people on both sides of the Trinity River.

Dallas is a divided city with crime problems, school and education issues, homeless concerns, economic development challenges and also is a city struggling to re-invent for a future without the Dallas Cowboys and the annual Cotton Bowl game.

The next leader must build strong coalitions that will help the northern and southern sectors work and grow together eliminating the clashes of the rich and poor, the Democrat and Republican and the have and have-nots.

“This campaign will be about bringing jobs back to Dallas,” Oakley said. “Our city’s challenges in crime and education can be solved when we restore our city’s economic strength. That is what I have done in my district and we must do it city wide.”
Oakley believes his leadership can revitalize downtown and help the city break out and be competitive again as it moves forward towards the next decade.

On the campaign trail, Oakley speaks to the key issues affecting Dallas including that of crime, economic development, education and transportation, and the city’s need for leadership that can build coalitions and solve problems.

According to Oakley, he is the type of leader that will bring people together in order to focus on the greater good rather than dividing people into their all too familiar factions.
Oakley brings the type of character to the table that sends a strong message that he is not for sale or cannot be bought with big influential political action committee dollars.

His election game plan appears to be simple. Take his message to the people with honesty and reaching one voter at a time.

“We’re not going to buy votes,” he said. “We’re going to the voters by knocking on as many doors in Dallas. I want to earn their respect and vote based on my ability to lead our city.”

He is fully qualified to lead the nation’s ninth largest city.

As a member of the Dallas City Council for six years, Ed has been proud to work with residents throughout the city and his colleagues to build a better future

Ed Oakley was elected as a Dallas City Councilmember for District 6 in June of 2001 and as of June, 2005, he was re-elected twice as the Councilmember for District 3.

Prior to his election to the Dallas City Council, Oakley worked for more than a decade to improve the lives of the citizens of Dallas including fighting to protect neighborhood homes and working to improve local schools.

He also earned the respect and support of a broad coalition of the city’s neighborhoods, businesses and volunteer communities because of his ability to represent diverse interests, issues and groups.

He helped Oak Cliff and North Dallas constituents through the zoning process at city hall and helped neighborhoods understand zoning and in zoning cases ranging from the construction of daycare centers to senior living facilities to helping congregations through the planned development process for church campuses.
Oakley’s ability to help citizens rezone these neighborhoods into Planned Development Districts allowed them to control their own destiny and provided the same protections enjoyed in residential neighborhoods throughout the city.
One of his most fulfilling accomplishments was helping Arlington Park, the Bottoms Neighborhood, The Tenth Street Historic District, and other predominantly African-American neighborhoods protect their homes.

Oakley is also a proven leader on the city council having:

· Successfully coordinated the 2003 City of Dallas Bond Program with over 500 million dollars to improve basic infrastructure including roads, parks, libraries, and police and fire facilities to promote economic development.

· Led the efforts for the 2006-2007 budget year resulting in the first property tax base reduction in 8 years.

· Been a leader in the council’s strategic planning along five priority areas including public safety, economic development, quality of life, staff accountability and the Trinity River Project.

· Undertook the city’s economic development strategy which has set the city on the path of new businesses, jobs and sales tax base growth.

· Coordinated an effort with Southwest Dallas County Cities including Duncanville, DeSoto, Cedar Hill and Lancaster to preserve the Army Air Force Exchange Facility.

· Serves as the first Chair of the Trinity River Committee. Ed has guided the committee’s effort to chart the course in the largest public works project in Dallas.

• Worked with neighborhood leaders in District 3 to protect and promote the district’s best assets and chart a course for the future. Also, increased funding for parks, new libraries, additional conservation districts, and a significant increase in new retail and neighborhood services.

He serves on several city committees and also has been a team player working with colleagues on other multi-million dollar projects, programs and funding initiatives that have improved quality of life issues and helped Dallas people to live better here.

Those who know the councilman say he is the right man for the job because he has earned the respect and support of a broad coalition of the city’s neighborhoods, businesses and volunteer communities.

His ability to represent diverse interests, issues, and groups has helped him to reach consensus through leadership in the most effective manner.

Only Dallas voters can decide who will lead the city for the next four years.

Ed Oakley has a public service record without controversy and an unselfish heart and spirit to go with it. His motives are right place and he represents the best qualities in an office holder - Understanding, compassion, experience and integrity.

Blog Changes

We want to inform our readers that we are moving in another direction.
We are moving to become an independent journalist and will soon be revamping our news package information.
Please bear with me and I promise that you will like our new venue.
Thanks

Darren Camper, Independent Editor

Blacks Birth New Civil Rights Movement In Paris, Texas!!!

Darren Camper

Texas Editor

Paris, Texas - Shaquanda Cotton, Keyon Mitchell Jr., Teresa King…

Names not known before, but who now represent an opportunity to shine the light on the crimes, sins and injustices against Black people living in Paris, Texas and Lamar County.

Their plights are at the heart of a new modern Civil Rights Movement seeking to emancipate Blacks from the throws of an old Confederate town and its backwards Southern mindset.

Blacks in Paris live under a system that keeps them under the thumbs of White slave masters who still control the government, the education system, the police, the justice system and political and business strongholds.

Those systems have ruled Blacks and intimidated them seeking to keep Jim Crow alive and well in 2007.

Symbolic of the kind of racist mentality that exists is the large Confederate statue that sits on the grounds of the Lamar County Courthouse.

That has sounded alarms from around the state and country among conscious Blacks who want their brothers and sisters free of that control and oppression.

Bryan Muhammad, president of Millions More Movement Fort Worth / Tarrant County, said people of all races need to come together to fight injustice.
“We're asking for all of the citizens of Paris of good will — black, white brown, red, yellow. If you're a person of good will and you are sick and tired of the racist policies of this government, we're calling for the Millions More Movement March,” he said.
Those sentiments drew more than 150 protesters to the Lamar County Courthouse grounds and near the Paris school district administration property to protest and demand freedom for Cotton and show strong support for other blacks being unjustly imprisoned and abused in Paris-Lamar County.
The move by the New Black Panther Party, Millions More Movement members, several pastors and some Paris residents is the first step in a national movement to raise awareness about the injustices in Paris and that is going on in many small Texas counties and towns.

Cotton was convicted in March 2006 of assault on a public servant after she shoved a teacher's aide. Lamar County Judge Chuck Superville sentenced her to spend up to seven years in TYC.
Mitchell Jr., a promising criminal justice major just weeks before his college graduation, was ripped from his campus and given several life sentences on drug charges that were brought by eight felons who bargained with prosecutors to reduce prison time. No evidence, tapes, video surveillance or witnesses ever testified that Mitchell had ever sold drugs or been associated with illegal drug operations.

He was a political leader and activist on campus, worked a job and was supporting a young daughter. He also had tremendous character references to vouch for his character, but neither the lack of evidence nor the face that his references were solid mattered to prosecutors. (See African-American News and Issues archives at www.aframnews.com for more information on the case.)

King’s case involves her being barred from school property just because she expressed concerns as a parent over the treatment of Black children in the school system.

Brenda Cherry, leader of Concerned Citizens for Racial Equality and the Paris/Lamar County Millions More Movement, said it was time to for Black men and women to stand up and send a message that Black activism and the fight for civil rights and freedom is not dead.

“This is only the beginning,” she said. “It is time to send a message that we want the oppression and injustices to stop now and we will not stop until it ends!”

The Call to Free Shaquanda!!!

PARIS- In March of last year, fourteen-year-old Shaquanda Cotton was sentenced to 7 years in prison for shoving a white hall monitor at her Paris, Texas school. The adult monitor says he was not seriously injured.

“A 19-year-old white man, convicted last July of criminally negligent homicide for killing a 54-year-old black woman and her 3-year-old grandson with his truck, who was sentenced in Paris to probation and required to send an annual Christmas card to the victims' family.”

Shaquanda is a first time offender. She has no prior arrest record. She did cause no serious injury, but that didn’t matter.

She is a victim of a juvenile justice system out of control in Texas and a corrupt juvenile and education system in Paris Texas and Lamar County that deliberately tees off on Black parents and intimidates activists trying to change the conditions of Black people in Paris-Lamar County.

The tragedy of Shaquanda is that many Black children and parents have been abandoned by sell out Blacks and inactive Black pastors who are doing nothing to demand better for Black children.

Shaquanda has fought being separated from her mother, TYC drug induced treatment and spends her days and nights at Brownwood Prison trying to stay out of reach of the 2,500, murders, robbers, sex offenders and other violent, habitual offenders she is imprisoned with. She has tried to commit suicide to escape her nightmare.

Just three months earlier, the same judge who sentenced Shaquanda sentenced a 14-year-old white girl, convicted of arson for burning down her family's house, to probation.

"Sometimes I feel like I just can't do this no more--that I can't survive this," Shaquanda says.

Brownwood prison is currently at the center of a state scandal involving a guard who allegedly sexually abused teenage inmates.

Shaquanda does not belong in this environment and must be released and returned home to her mother ASAP!!!

Who will be outraged!!! Who will step forward and demand an end to this abuse?

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!

Darren Camper

Texas Editor

Fort Worth-What started with a 51-46 loss to Waxahachie last season became a motivation key that sparked the Dunbar High School Lady Wildcats basketball to come back with a vengeance and take a state title.

The Lady Wildcats beat Dickinson 62-51 victory at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin.

Coming back home with the champions was MVP point Guard LaShandra Hill whose star performance and leadership helped boost team morale and lead the team to victory.

It was the second time in three years, the Dunbar High School Lady Wildcats came home as Class 4A state champions

The Dunbar Lady Wildcats (32-4) also won the 4A title in 2005.

Hill, a senior and headed to play for SMU next season, scored 26 points, added eight rebounds and five steals, and was named the game's Most Valuable Player.

Junior Brooklyn Pope’s play also made the difference in the victory by limiting Dickinson's offense and adding a triple double performance with 13 points, 11 rebounds and 10 blocks.

Wildcats Coach Andrea Robinson said. "Our team played hard and we are very proud of their efforts."

Robinson added the team is still enjoying being back at the top, but will soon begin preparations to defend that title next season.

Congratulations on a job well done...

More Proof!!! Racism Still Exists

Darren Camper

Texas Editor

Every once and a while, an eye opening event pops up in the world of news that sheds light on the state of mind of a community, a state and a people.

A 26-year-old Black male is in the hospital in critical condition after reportedly being dragged by a car after an altercation with another man.

Christopher Wright, a Black male, waited to take home his girlfriend, a White female and a bartender at the hotel bar. According to Hopkins County District Attorney Martin Braddy, Judson Weaver, 24, a White male, allegedly was also at the bar and was told to leave after a verbal confrontation.
The girlfriend acknowledges that she believes that racism was at the center of what happened to her boyfriend.
During her conversation, she said it was common that Black and Whites did not date each other in Sulphur Springs and those relationships create friction with the races.

According to accounts, when she and Wright walked outside, they saw Weaver in his vehicle. That's when Weaver allegedly spit on Wright.
Wright swung back. He got his arm caught in the car and he was drug 40 feet. The guy then began accelerating and the only thing that really knocked Chris loose was when they hit the median."
Wright was dragged some 40 feet down State Highway 30. Wright's father Sigmond said the dragging ripped off his son's nose on the right side of his face and caused multiple facial fractures. He also suffered bruised lungs and a fractured spine.
This brings back painful memories of James Byrd incident in East Texas in 1998.

He was an East Texas black man who was dragged to his death from a pickup truck by three white men in 1998.
This again sends strong sharp, messages from young and old proves that racism is alive and well and the perceptions about Black people have not moved far from the days of slavery or Jim Crow era.

Last month, several African-American female Memorial High School students in Port Arthur performed provocatively dirty dancing on a substitute teacher at the school.

The event was recorded on what appeared to be a cellular phone and ended up on You Tube.com.

Ugly racist’s remarks were posted followed about that incident that referred to Blacks as monkeys, apes and go back to Africa and such. Racism just won’t go away. No in Texas… Not across the South… Not in America.

Texas authorities can use a hate crime enhancement on penalties. The James Byrd Hate Crime Act raises the punishment for crimes motivated by the victim's race, religion, color, sex, disability, sexual preference, age or national origin.

It is the responses to the incident to demonstrate the racist mindset that exists in the community, the Lone Star state and that even remains in many pockets across this country.

The responses to the videos are plain, simple and pull no punches about what many Whites still think about Black people in Port Arthur and Beaumont. It also is a microscopic look into the racist heart, mind and psyche that still exist in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Waxahachie, Athens, Irving, El Paso, Lubbock, Amarillo and Corpus Christi and all places in between.

It proves without a doubt that racism still exists and is being passed on in the hearts of some Americans and that is not going to be diminished in America, not even over the next several generations... and you know what I mean.

Is The End Near?

Is Paul Quinn College Doomed?

Darren Camper
Texas Editor

Dallas-Like Bishop College before it, Paul Quinn College may be on its way out.

Last week, former CEO and President Dr. John K. Waddell resigned and left the college. This after one month before in an exclusive interview with AAN&I promoting the college’s positive points and its optimistic future.

His quick and silent departure raises many unanswered questions about his comments on how the college would survive the arrival amidst the $18 million construction of University of North Texas facilities in southern Dallas.

It appears the squeeze is on that promises in the end to suck the life out of Paul Quinn and suffocate years of traditional Black education at the historically Black college.

Sadly, a community of Black leaders and Black citizens surrounding the college seem content to allow Paul Quinn to slide down a slippery slope that will lead to its eventual demise.

AANI posed the question to then President Waddell wondering how the arrival of a new university would impact funding, student enrollment, campus improvements and raised the possibility that the historically Black college could be choked out by the new state institution.

At that time, an upbeat Waddell said. “This is not about competition. We see this as a new education corridor where we will work together and build partnerships …that opens the possibilities for upgrades to our facilities and programs…”

Since his arrival in August 2006, Waddell, his faculty and staff cultivated beneficial relationships with corporate, political and community leaders.

Some of his work included forming strategic alliances with the Boston Consulting Group, Honeywell, the Ketchum Group and the Tom Joyner Foundation, while maintaining its relationships with the United Negro College Fund, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and the Paul Quinn College National Alumni Association.

However, with the latest ribbon cutting at UNT, one main emphasis is on recruiting students and building the program that will lead to it becoming the first public university in the city of Dallas. Some of those students could be Paul Quinn students.

No where was Paul Quinn mentioned in that UNT plan and neither Dallas State Sen. Royce West nor State Rep. Helen Giddings, State Rep. Terri Hodge, State Rep. Yvonne Davis, State Rep. Barbara Mallory Caraway or Dallas Commissioner John Wiley Price have talked about their plans to make sure Paul Quinn is not severely impacted or overshadowed by UNT.

As a matter of fact, it was West who led the push for a public university in southern Dallas County as an educational catalyst and economic booster for the region.

However, in an area where there is a high concentration of African-Americans, the failure to utilize Paul Quinn and allow it to lead the influence and attraction of African-American students appears to be lost in the translation.

Paul Quinn College was founded by a small group of African Methodist Episcopal circuit-riding preachers in Austin, Texas in 1872. The College was later relocated to Waco and established as a modest one-building trade school at Eighth and Mary Streets, where the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railway Station now stands. Here, newly freed slaves were taught blacksmithing, carpentry, tanning and other skills.

As A.M.E. districts were developed throughout the South, funds became available for a larger school. Consequently, in 1881 two acres of the Garrison Plantation in East Waco were purchased. Later, twenty more acres were added. To construct the first building, a “Ten Cents a Brick” campaign was launched throughout the A.M.E. congregations, thus, pennies of the desperately poor people built the first solid monument to their dreams

In May 1882, Paul Quinn College, named for Bishop William Paul Quinn, A.M.E. Bishop of the Western States for almost thirty years, was chartered by the State of Texas. Today the College is the oldest liberal arts college for African Americans in the State of Texas.

In 1990, under the leadership of Dr. Warren W. Morgan, Paul Quinn College relocated to Dallas, Texas.

The first semester in its new home began on September 20, 1990, with an enrollment of 1,020 students. Several innovative programs were soon implemented, including a cooperative agreement with the Dallas County Community College District - designed to facilitate easier transition from all seven of the DCCCD 2-year institutions to Paul Quinn College.

Not developing Paul Quinn College and using it as the springboard of Black education in southern Dallas seems not a priority among West and other Black leaders in Dallas.

Waddell had high hopes that Paul Quinn would be that catalyst for Black education, but truly having to compete with UNT and the potential of African-American students from Dallas Community Colleges bypassing the school in favor of UNT may have been too much to overcome for the school.

Maybe Waddell realized that despite all his plans, hopes and dreams of bringing Paul Quinn back, upgraded and mainstream were neutralized by the unwilling groups of Black Dallas elitists that are reaping huge monetary favors and benefits from the UNT push.

It could be that despite promises made to him by business and political interests, Waddell could hear the giant sucking sound of students, funding and support moving away from Paul Quinn to UNT- a fate similar to Bishop College.

In December 1986 the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools revoked Bishop College's accreditation and membership in the association. Because of this the college lost its right to participate in several government financial programs and access to funds from the United Negro College Fund. In April 1987, Bishop College filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in an unsuccessful attempt to restructure its debts and raise money to remain open; it was closed in 1988.

Another possibility for his departure could be that the results of the Boston Report for college were not the optimistic report he anticipated?

Did it show that growth potential suffered competing with UNT? Did it reveal that the growth direction of the college and potential for survival in the coming years was bleak?

For a man with the kind of experiences and successes at educational institutions as he had, AANI watchers are convinced Waddell could see the handwriting on the wall at Paul Quinn College and cast his “educational lots” in another direction.