Different view, different priorities

Different view, different priorities

Concerning the opinionated April 15 column by Bill Mullane, board chair of the Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative and Kirk Noden, executive director, the concern should not and is not about opinions and/or skewed facts. The administration of MVOC allegedly will “welcome the exchange of ideas, the push and the pull of interests that make our democracy vibrant,” as long as your ideas, interests and/or concerns fit lock-step with their agenda, programs and/or rudimentary mission statement.

As a block watch president of 15 years, my Sheridan Block Watch residents are once again witnessing the messiah mentality of white Americans heading an organization pulling and pushing the same rope-a-dope on yet another urban black neighborhood, just as Weed and Seed did for years. As a block watch president on the South Side of the city, I will candidly admit to some envy of the resident involvement and turn out of our neighbors on the periphery on the West Side of Glenwood Avenue. Their issues are benign, at best, compared to the community at large. They must remember they are not bullet-proof and/or immune to the violence equation that saturates the South Side. The apathy of most inner-city block watches is painful, inexcusable and embarrassing.

My problem with MVOC is one of prioritizing of grass-roots issues and agenda. My block watch is now and has always been concerned about life and death, quality of survival issues and we address the priority of the violence equation. We do not understand any organization with the residential clout of MVOC being overly occupied with demolition, flower and vegetable gardens and murals. Our young adults and children are being murdered at a pandemic rate. MVOC should be putting pressure on the mayor and his police chief to spend more time on this epidemic violence, not ingratiating themselves to political/elected officials.

Democracy is also defined by justice and equality for all. MVOC is now and has been demographically selective about which block watches they chose to absorb and emasculate by attempting to assimilate young neophyte community coordinators into our neighborhoods for MVOC indoctrination. This is my experienced view as an observer from this end of the block.

Clarence Boles, Youngstown