This past Monday morning I opened my email to deal with the usual mix of news and requests that only the first day of the week can bring. As I scrolled down my completely full inbox, one subject line caught my attention “Special Breaking News: Riverside African American Community and Law Enforcement Outraged with Riverside NAACP President over District Attorney Paul Zellerbach to receive Drum Major Award May 14th” (Note: I cleaned up the typographical errors for this post).
I instantly knew from the source that the email was a ploy, a ruse, a scheme, and a diversionary tactic. This “Breaking News” was not written by a legitimate news source, it was instead the political propaganda newsletter that labels itself a “publication” of the one-man organization, “California Friends of the African-American Caucus.” First, I was offended. Then I was really pissed off. I had just returned to Riverside after spending four days in San Jose at a conference with other newspaper publishers, individuals who take very seriously our mission to provide credible, trustworthy, and accurate information, with a mission to serve the public interest, NOT OURSELVES.
I instantly knew there was no outrage from the Riverside African-American community with the decision of the Riverside Branch of the NAACP to present District Attorney Paul Zellerbach with an award at the upcoming Freedom Fund Dinner. There was no outrage from the Riverside African-American community with the organization’s leader, one of our most respected citizens, Woodie Rucker-Hughes. (Another note: Her name was misspelled in the newsletter as Woody Rucker-Hayes). There was no group ready to boycott the dinner or demand her resignation, except for those paid by or supporting Mr. Zellerbach’s opponent in the race for District Attorney.
Basil Kimbrew, the individual responsible for the newsletter is a person who is paid by political candidates to be included in this same newsletter. And District Attorney Zellerbach’s opponent Mike Hestrin is one of the candidate’s listed. Mr. Kimbrew has been called an “aggressive political consultant” in news articles. A former elected official in Los Angeles County, he is no stranger to scandal and illegal politics. Several years ago he was convicted and served prison time for various political offenses.
As someone who is actually in the news business, I spent Monday afternoon talking to the real leaders of Riverside’s African-American community. Those people whose only agenda is to work tirelessly for the betterment of our community. I called the leaders of the major African-American organizations in the city: the Riverside Black History Committee, The Group, Martin Luther King Visionaries, Riverside African-American Historical Society, Eleanor Grier Leadership Academy, and of course the NAACP, just to see what they heard. Were they outraged by the announcement of the Zellerbach award? Did they want Ms. Rucker-Hughes to rescind it? Were they ready to tear-up their NAACP membership cards in protest?
The answering was an emphatic NO.
Both Katie Greene and Dell Roberts saw through the obvious propaganda and said there was no outrage that they were aware of brewing anywhere except in Mr. Kimbrew’s mind. Other individuals commented on the issues, not the political antics. Many said that District Attorney Zellerbach consistently addresses and supports initiatives of concern to the African-American community with a focus on education to prevent incarceration and rehabilitation for juveniles, and supports and provides resources for fair housing education and rigorous prosecution of housing discrimination and mortgage fraud cases. I also talked to NAACP Lifetime member and respected Riverside attorney Virginia Blumenthal who said she is focusing on the “important stuff” when it comes to the race for DA. She outlined Zellerbach’s successes, his achievement of handling the office’s budget cuts and clearing the backlog he inherited when he took office in 2011. “Hestrin,” she said, “has always turned down supervisorial assignments, never managed a budget, and is opposed to youth diversion programs.”
Mr. Kimbrew thinks he can capitalize on the recent Donald Sterling/Los Angeles NAACP incident to bully our local NAACP into rescinding an award to someone they consider to be a deserving public servant.
When you look beyond the political games and accusations of sign tampering that have become momentary diversions from the real issues in the race for District Attorney, the “outraged” African-American community seems to be aligned with Zellerbach. However, the Riverside NAACP’s decision to honor the current DA had nothing to do with politics but instead with his POLICIES, his responsiveness to the community, and his over 30 year track record of “justice for all,” Ms. Rucker-Hughes told me early Monday morning. As past President of the San Bernardino NAACP and Publisher Emeritus of the Black Voice News, Hardy Brown even weighed in on the issue, “the Riverside NAACP should remain true to their decision to give an award to Paul Zellerbach because of the reasons and criteria they used to make their decision. He is a deserving individual and I support the branch 200 percent. We cannot allow a person with Mr. Kimbrew’s public reputation to hijack the good reputation and proven leadership of the Riverside NAACP.”
Mr. Kimbrew and his newsletter remind me of the elementary school playground bully. We all had one. I’m sure you remember yours. I clearly remember ours. She was a student in Ms. Blackman’s sixth grade class at Muscott Elementary School. Her name was Chauntae. She wasn’t the biggest. In fact, she was quite small in stature. She wasn’t the strongest. She definitely wasn’t the smartest. But she was able to convince a small band of gullible girls to do her bidding and try to intimidate the rest of us. She controlled the playground through force and coercion. This isn’t the sixth grade. And we’re not on an elementary school playground. In Riverside we don’t tolerate political bullying or unethical tactics. We don’t tolerate the slandering of our stalwart community servants. And we will not allow our legitimate historic civil rights organizations to be reduced to pawns in deceptive political schemes.