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Mothers endorse Aldine ISD candidates

Before I start analyzing this particular issue, maybe I should offer a disclaimer for my column head, because I dare you to call me a lie. Truth is, I was just indulging in a bit of creative journalism to make sure African American News & Issues’ format maintains our tradition of honoring all milestones and calendar events that’s important to African Americans. And, quite frankly, I think it was pretty slick how I made sure that Publisher’s News Analysis would have mothers in our Mother’s Day 2004 edition.

On the other hand, if the four candidates (Sydney Brewer, Maurice Parker, Michael Harris and Joseph Nailor), seeking a position on Aldine ISD’s Board of Trustees aren’t endorsed by their own mothers, they have a much bigger problem than winning the favor of Texas’ widest circulated and read newspaper with a Black perspective . However they made a wise move to seek our support, even if they almost waited too late, insofar as I know from experience that they’re going up against a well oiled and very effective political machine that has controlled our children’s destiny for far too long. Nevertheless, I’ve fought too long and too hard for Acres Home not to over look their faults and do everything I can to address their needs.
And believe me, when you go up against an entrenched political machine that has been in place for years, you have your work cut out for you and need all of the help you can get from your community. And that’s exactly what I told Parker, Brewer, Harris and Emmit Hill, who sit-in as an observer when the candidates met with our editorial board on April 26, 2004. Perhaps I should first get the political rhetoric out of the way so that I can tell you why it’s vitally important to rally behind “The People’s Candidates” who are challenging Aldine ISD’s hand picked candidates. But let’s allow the candidates to speak for themselves since they are spending their energy, time and money be cause the Aldine board improperly appointed a new member.

According to the campaign literature: “On January 15, 2004, the Aldine ISO Board announced the appointment of Steve Mead after a closed meeting of selected board members to replace Carlos Diaz who abruptly resigned his seat "to spend more time with his family." Mead's appointment did not come as a surprise since the Board interviewed Mead prior to the 2003 election and unsuccessfully tried to seat him by appointment during the 2003 election. Mead's selection was not discussed in open meeting - in fact, his selection was made in secret and the full board was not polled before his selection. Mead's appointment and selection is not in and of itself the issue. It is the board's behavior and heavy-handed approach to appropriate governance that district citizens should find repulsive.
“This Board fights tooth and nail to preserve their majority through any means necessary. Keep in mind that the Board purposely avoided hearing a citizen complaint about Diaz's residency status at a Special Meeting when the Board staged an unprecedented action of not at a special meeting; thereby thwarting a quorum and refusing to hear the complaint. Thereafter, the board took a silent approach and refused to answer questions about their absence and further refused to put the matter on the agenda after Diaz was reelected. The resignation of Trustees Diaz and Leonard Marcella came about suddenly after concerned citizens addressed the issue with the Texas Secretary of State.

“The Texas Secretary of State issued an opinion stating that based on the information provided; it would appear that Diaz was not a resident of the district. The Secretary of State letter was dated December 15, 2003. Curiously, the resignation of Diaz was announced on January 13, 2004, less than 30 days after the Secretary of State's opinion letter and Marcella announced his decision to step down on February 24, 2004. It is no coincidence that Marcella's long residence had also been questioned. As of today, the Aldine ISD Board of Trustees has yet to address the question of whether Mr. Diaz was untruthful in his application for a place on the 2003 ballot and whether the board knew he was a non-resident at the time he ran for re-election in 2003.
“The Aldine Board of Trustees, led by Viola Garcia conducted their version of a search, which curiously did not include any of the other candidates who participated in the May 2003 election. This is, perhaps, the Board's announcement to all that they will vigorously reject anyone whom they do not personally select to serve on the Aldine School Board.” As you know, our large (over 300, 000 plus) press run makes it necessary to adjust our deadline accordingly, therefore we don’t have a whole lot of space to properly introduce you to the candidates, but I will tell you why it’s important you support them. If you read last week’s edition of AAN&I, I’m sure those of you who are wise, were wise enough to recognize the warning.
If not, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised, because for some unfathomable reason “WE” tend to give those who retard our progress as a people chance, after chance to prove that they “just ain’t gonna be fair with us.” Now you know and I know that’s the way it always has been and probably always shall be (as long as we’re stupid enough to go for political okey doke), when it comes to empowered White people’s relationship with disenfranchised Black people, so you have a golden opportunity to put some people on the Aldine ISD Board of Trustees that are going to watch our kid’s backs. And now that the desegregation plan—that forced Aldine ISD to give our kids a fair share—has been over turned…we certainly are going to need them.

We have one more edition before the May 15, 2004 election but in the meantime if you care anything about your community, your children, or even yourself you’d better get involved and help Brewer, Parker and Nailor (Harris wasn’t on the “People’s Candidate’s” team, we are investigating him further) get elected. We’re sure you’ll be able to meet them in person at the May 6, 2004 Acres Home Citizens Chamber Network/Luncheon that will be held at North Harris College-Carver Center, 2330 S, Victory. City Councilman Ronald Green will be the guest speaker and you can call Sharon Johnson for information at (713) 692-7003.

Meanwhile show “The People’s Candidates” some love because they’ll be out there campaigning hard. If you want to contact them checkout their website: @ www.citizensforaldine.com. And make sure you get the next edition of African American News & Issues that will have full details about the candidate and election, including the polling sites.