I feel obligated to apologize up front to Darryl Moss for imposing my own commentary onto his on-line article that we reproduced herein with Darryl’s permission. But I must confess, when his article was brought to my attention, I immediately arranged a phone meeting with him through a third party who understood that Darryl and I might have a few things in common, not the least of which is that he actually wrote the article included on the front page of this current issue that I had intended to write.
But there are a few things that Darryl wisely left out of his article that I feel compelled to comment on at the risk of detracting from his excellent message.
First of all, what does it say about the character of Mayor Sarno who hired a shyster and near-crook like Buoniconti as the city’s top lawyer? And why hasn’t the media ever questioned the credibility and motive of Mayor Sarno for hiring him? And why has the media not raised questions about why Buoniconti has been allowed to assume the absolutely unprecedented role of judge, jury and prosecutor of Tracye Whitfield? And why has the media been so quick to so completely destroy Whitfield’s reputation before any legitimate investigation has even begun when all they have to rely on is the word of a near-crook who is clearly attacking Whitfield so relentlessly for so obviously purely political reasons?
I suspect I know the answer. And although my suspicions are speculative, they are not wildly so. They are based on well-known facts of local economics and the people in the middle of it all who prefer not to have a former insider-turned-outsider in such a powerful position as President of the Springfield City Council, who is also in the critical position of monitoring the financial interests involved and making certain that the process between the city and those economic interests is uniquely open and uniquely fair.
As is so often said, “Follow the money!” The vested interests run deep. And (ironically) the Republican is one of the more prominent of those with vested interests (which raises obvious objectivity questions). For the others with vested interests, just follow all of the monied people in town who are competing with one another to build the new court house and to develop the Worthington Street area of Chestnut Street and to revive downtown.
And Tracye Whitfield knows where all of the skeletons are buried because she worked for the city in a finance job for years before becoming a city councilor who has openly challenged the status quo and made it clear that as city council president, she intends to audit the city in the spirit of financial openness which few involved want to happen.
Tracye Whitfield may have fallen short in some procedural areas, but she is a financial “genius” who understands how the system works, which accounts for why she has been attacked so viciously and so prematurely. It’s not about ethics. It’s about money, greed and politics. And the people reporting on it are at the center of it. And if Tracye made any consequential mistake, it was in not understanding that in assuming the presidency of the council, she became an instant threat to the wealthiest and most powerful people in the region. And to protect herself, she had to be almost as “pure as the Pope,” an almost impossible standard that even the Pope could be expected to struggle to meet.
I contrast Darryl Moss with the so-called Black leaders and wannabe Black leaders who remain in the shadows while Tracye Whitfield is under attack. By your silence, you’ve revealed yourselves again as the far less-than-courageous advocates for the people you zealously claim to represent. You might recall what Judas Iscariot did with the thirty pieces of silver he was given to betray Jesus. In the end, he threw them away in shame and killed himself in spite of the fact that Judas was part of a “Divine” plan.
What is your excuse Reverend Swan, Lavar Click-Bruce, Bud Williams and the others who could, but won’t, speak out in defense of Tracye Whitfield (a “mere” first Black, woman city council president) when truly needed when nothing even remotely as drastic as your life is at stake? (And how we miss Minister Yusef Mohammed who would never have allowed this blatant attack on a Black woman go unanswered.) Are the pennies that control you all worth it?
I first met Darryl Moss when he came to my office to confront me about including the name of a woman in an article I wrote. I didn’t know the woman’s name, the article I wrote it in, or the context in which it was written. And I still don’t know. What I do know is that he cared about the person whose name I included in the article and he had the courage to confront me without malice. And I apologized to him and the woman for the pain they felt but not for what I wrote. And we parted agreeing to disagree, which left me with a deep respect for the man who I already knew had “testicular” strength that so many Springfield Black leaders lack. (For those few who do not know what I mean by “testicular,” it is the adjective variant of the noun “testicle.” Look it up in your dictionary.)
What I like even more about Darryl Moss is that he is an honest, principled man who cannot be purchased for the pennies that so many of our leadership are guilty of coveting and are so easily tempted by. Lavar Click-Bruce, you could learn something from Darryl Moss who lost his job for simply standing up for what was right. And though he’s not exactly set for life after having sued the city and winning close to $800,000, it’s a damn good start.
Word has it that you (Click-Bruce) betrayed Tracye in her pursuit for the council presidency because the Sheriff (who himself received special treatment from the media and the court after a drunken driving incident) threatened your job (in cahoots with Mayor Sarno). It was highly unlikely that the Sheriff would fire you because he knows that you could successfully sue him and gain twice as much now that Darryl Moss has set the standard. But like so many of our past leaders, you’ve been trained to be submissive the old worn-out model that George Bruce endorses) even when it comes to defending a Black woman ally. And you are paying the reputational price, as you well should.
Darryl Moss is still “in Springfield” even though, for now, he doesn’t live here. Rumor has it that he is contemplating a return. Let’s hope he returns because a lot of folks fought for the dignity that much of our current leadership is squandering, some for the sleaze factor and others for ignorance and lack of “testicular courage” both of which are the opposite of the standards I have always held my own kids to and which I know is the opposite of the standards they are holding their kids to. We need more Darryl Mosses.
My concern is not with the sleaze factor. It will always exist and is why we lack a functional NAACP. But we as a people cannot afford for guys, like the relatively young Lavar Click-Bruce, who have an immediate impact on our youth, to keep sending wrong messages out of both ignorance and the absence of “testicular” courage. Because of their weaknesses, Black Springfield is a generation away from becoming completely irrelevant but for the few who will not “quit the fight,” such as Darryl Moss, Tracye Whitfield and Justin Hurst who operate at the point of the spear and so many others who do not operate at the point of the spear but who are just as committed to making Black Springfield the force that it can become.
I’ve been associated with politics longer than most. I understand “the game” even as I detest its worst characters like the triad that called for Tracye Whitfield’s resignation as council president, which includes Victor Davila, Mike Fenton and the one who doesn’t know he’s Black, Melvin Edwards.
I must admit a bit of sympathy for Victor Davila whose opponent in the past election was endorsed by Tracye Whitfield, his fellow city councilor, which is uncommon for a fellow councilor and politically unwise. Davila is rightfully bitter after coming within a whisper of defeat but he should understand that he will likely lose the next election as a voter reaction for beating up on Tracye while she is down.
As for the other two, they’re both sleazes who don’t deserve much space. If Fenton was any kind of a gentleman, he would have discreetly whispered the rules in Tracye’s ear before she faltered rather than waiting for her to make a mistake and going on the attack. It was a cheap shot by a frustrated politician whose chances of becoming mayor and eventually successor to Richie Neal are becoming increasingly more remote because Justin Hurst and (I predict) District Attorney Anthony Gulluni, respectively, have different future plans than his for both seats.
And Melvin Edwards simply doesn’t count. He is the quintessential manifestation of the worst Uncle Tom “concept” and unworthy of further comment. (I can’t resist pointing out that the real Uncle Tom, as portrayed by author Harriet Beecher Stowe in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin ,” was a hero much different from the conceptual negative image history has applied to his name. And his courage should shame Melvin Edwards.)
For reasons obvious to some, I didn’t feel like I was the best person to write the article that Darryl Moss wrote but I would have written it had he not. And I applaud his candor and his courage and I thank him for inspiring me to write my own complementary article, which is much longer than I had planned.
All I can say is, “Darryl Moss, come back home. We need you.”
(My next month’s article will explain why I think Bud Williams will win against all of his rumored competitors and retain his state representative seat.) ■