What The Hale?

The black man suffering at the hands of whites, the white woman sexually threatened by the black man. Both images have long been burned into the American conscience through popular entertainment, and today they exert a powerful and disturbing influence on Americans' understanding of race. After the post about "What The Hale is Really Going On?" I was surprised to find that many of the readers of this blog felt that it was no big deal that the husband of an alderman was arrested for the manufacturing of a controlled substance, but the same one that condoned this behavior made some disturbing assumptions about individuals that drive "fancy cars with rims." According to one reader, I shouldn't focus on the activities of an elected officials' husband, but I should blog about individuals that drive fancy cars with rims; a group of individuals that, to my knowledge, are not related to any elected official and a group of individuals that, to my knowledge, have not been arrested for the manufacturing of a controlled substance. But surely, those driving fancy cars with rims are selling drugs, according to one reader.

I also received a comment that I shouldn't say anything about Rebecca and Stephanie. Where was this concern when I posted things about Miriam Holder, Ben Winston, Timothy Johnson, and Bobby Gibson? It's okay to hold them accountable for their actions, but not Stephanie and Rebecca. Am I suppose to operate under two different sets of rules? Where was the concern for the truth when Betty Speights was accused of giving her family adjustments on their water bills? Is it okay for me to blog about the water bill issue? Well, I'm glad you said so. . So let me get this straight, I can't blog about Stephanie allegedly allowing her uncle to receive free water services to not one, but two of his businesses, but I'm allowed to publish allegations against Betty. Jerry Brown did attend a board meeting, with a stack of papers and refuted the allegations that he received free water services, but I am still stuck on a statement he made. He said "Stephanie knows the location of all my businesses and she is harder on me because I am her uncle." Now that's an interesting statement, but, according some readers, I'm not supposed to mention anything about Stephanie. So let's talk about the allegations that Betty Speights gave her sister a water adjustment. According to the minutes, the water adjustment was given to Tina's Hair Salon along with another 12 customers that were actually receiving water bills and the adjustment was approved by the board of aldermen, but I guess that's not what you wanted to hear. You don't want the facts of the matter, you rather I just insinuate that something untoward was going on and that Betty was stealing from the city. You would be perfectly fine with that statement, but when the same allegations are levied against Stephanie, it's unacceptable.

On the surface, the City of Lumberton would have you to believe that we are more racially and ideologically diverse than we actually are. For instance, take a look at our board of aldermen, we have two black aldermen (Johnson and Gibson) that are working in partnership with two white aldermen (Crider and Hale). Unfortunately, they are not working together for the benefit of the citizens of Lumberton. The currents of bias and division that fueled the conundrums of the past have truthfully only cloaked themselves in subtler, more nuanced garbs, and as such, require a far warier and sophisticated frame of mind to navigate them successfully.