THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 23, 1995 TAG: 9504210189
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
SOURCE: John Pruitt
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
NAACP honcho Paul C. Gillis should be ashamed of himself.
So should City Councilman Richard Harris.
While the reasons are different, they're linked to outbursts at Wednesday night's Suffolk City Council meeting. The day's record temperature, it seems, might have burned some brain cells.
Mr. Gillis, who often makes a fool of himself with his hothead antics, gave a performance as offensive as any I've witnessed in my years of attending council meetings. Indeed, the mayor apologized on his behalf.
Far better that Mr. Gillis look deeply at the racist attitude that often drives him to utter threats and accusations that make reasonable people feel their flesh crawl and that give them chills.
Far better that Mr. Gillis ask himself just what good he thinks he's doing on behalf of the minority population he supposedly represents as NAACP leader.
Better still would be for that population to ask what possible good can come from someone who loves his own rhetoric so much that he puts his mouth in gear before engaging his brain.
When things don't go his way, he sees racism. Hey, some proposals - and decisions - probably are racially motivated, but I'm astounded at how many things this man can see as anti-black.
Late Wednesday night, after Ruby Walden spoke to the council about the Suffolk Electoral Board's wish to move a polling place, Gillis said she had acted ``as an Aunt Jemima.''
Wait a minute. That, by any standard, is a low blow. It's difficult to imagine a dig that would slice any more painfully than a fellow black's slapping you with an Uncle Tom or Aunt Jemima label.
Free speech entitles Mr. Gillis to say his piece, but on Wednesday night it enabled him to show a side below anyone purporting to act for the good of his people.
It's OK to disagree with the plan by the Electoral Board - formulated before Ms. Walden began her latest appointment - but it's never OK to hurl racial epithets.
Ms. Walden, respected throughout Suffolk for her many civic contributions, deserved better. She is a past winner of the Chamber of Commerce's Athena Award, named in honor of the goddess of wisdom, and has held a long list of offices.
Little wonder Mayor S. Chris Jones felt compelled to apologize on Mr. Gillis' behalf.
Mr. Gillis needs to acknowledge this uncalled-for meaness - just as publicly as he belittled a woman whose contributions to Suffolk have earned her a place in many people's hearts.
And the NAACP needs to make an overdue assessment: Why keep in leadership someone whose belligerence can only take it back?
Now, to move on to Mr. Harris:
Disturbed that he was not notified before the meeting that several rezoning matters in his borough had been withdrawn, Mr. Harris threw a temper tantrum.
Raising his voice, he said, ``I don't appreciate the lack of communication - not one bit.''
When Planning Director Robert Baldwin said the action had been requested Tuesday by fax, Harris retorted, ``Well, I haven't been on Mars. . . I want an answer, Mr. Baldwin; I want one tonight!''
Mr. Baldwin showed what professionalism means, not once pausing from his presentation.
The right responses to Mr. Harris belonged to the mayor and city manager, respectively: You're out of order; and Mr. Baldwin works for the manager, not City Council.
Neither was said. The latter needed saying - for the benefit of any council member with the misguided notion that city staffers kowtow to them. Except for city officials hired by the council, Mr. Baldwin and other municipal workers no more answer to Mr. Harris than to other taxpayers.
Mr. Harris, Mr. Gillis and the city would have been better off if they'd just chilled out at home. MEMO: Comment? Call 446-2494.
by CNB