THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 29, 1995 TAG: 9512290749
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Ida Kay's Portsmouth
SOURCE: Ida Kay Jordan
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
When Mayor Gloria Webb left a Vision 2005 session last week to meet with Interdenominational Ministers Forum members, she said she had been asked to discuss the City Council's plan to elect School Board members at-large. That was enough to cause me to follow her to Twine Memorial Chapel to hear the discussion.
As I have said before in this space, voting on School Board members by districts in a city as small as Portsmouth could be the most disastrous thing that ever happened to the public schools. So I wanted to hear what was said at the meeting.
Webb made a case for at-large elections and her opinion that the U.S. Justice Department would approve the plan.
Portsmouth, she said, has a good record of electing black officials on an at-large basis. She cited the fact that there have been times when council had a black majority. The city elected a black mayor, James Holley, who received a lot of white support.
The city elected a black city treasurer, Charles Whitehurst, who defeated a prominent former white mayor and council member. The reason Whitehurst lost the job after six years in office was the fact that a group of black citizens decided to support another black, turning the election into a three-way race. Whitehurst lost to a white man by a few votes, and there's no doubt that some of the votes that went to the other black candidate would have gone to him to give him the job another six years.
Two of four persons who represent Portsmouth citizens in Richmond are black and both received an overwhelming majority of votes to win re-election in November. The returns leave no doubts that a lot of white people voted for black candidates.
Portsmouth citizens also overwhelmingly supported Douglas Wilder's successful run to become the first black governor of Virginia.
These elections prove, Webb said, that Portsmouth people will elect blacks on an at-large basis.
Portsmouth's population is 51.2 percent white and 47.3 percent black.
``The issue is how do we get people out to vote,'' Webb said. She added that if people will vote, they will have equal representation.
District voting would be divisive, she said.
``There are people out there waiting to run with an agenda,'' she said.
I believe that to be true in both the black and white communities.
Those who would run if they had only to face voters in a small section of the city would tailor their campaigns to those who would like special treatment for one school or another. The better scenario would be candidates elected to create the best possible schools for all children in the city.
Some ministers who heard Webb agreed.
``I don't want to give people with an agenda an opportunity to divide Portsmouth when they get angry with the school superintendent or the mayor,'' the Rev. Leon Boone said.
Boone, a black minister who has previously run unsuccessfully for a council seat, said he supports at-large elections because ``I feel very strongly that to be represented well, I don't have to be represented by an Afro-American.''
And, he added, ``if it gets to the point where a white person needs a white representative, that person is sick.''
``We need to put aside our problems for the good of our children,'' Boone continued. ``It's time for us to grow up and focus on what is best for Portsmouth.''
Boone later took issue with some speakers who said districts were necessary to have representation for poor people.
``If we take the opportunity to vote, then we can put someone in who will represent us, who will listen to voters,'' he said. ``If we don't vote, we can't hold anyone responsible but ourselves.''
Webb told the group that she had received phone calls from black voters who said they favor the at-large plan but who also told her they are afraid to go to City Council and make a statement that disagrees with the NAACP or the ministers' forum.
``It distresses me to hear this,'' she said.
It distresses me, too. Often the council's public hearings, including those on school board elections, are stacked with citizens from a single group. They make it appear that a large segment of the community thinks the same way as they do - and council members sometimes fall for that notion.
Public hearings should be considered merely one way of getting ideas from citizens.
Council members - as well as School Board members - should vote to act in a way they consider the best for the whole city. No other group should be able to dictate, intimidate or otherwise control what happens in the city. by CNB