Lee Holloway: Civil Rights Martyr
I've received several emails and calls regarding this. They came before and after I first commented about it this morning during my emergency pinch hitting stint as co-host of NewsTalk1130's Early Spin (Nicole has a bug).
Apparently at the Milwaukee County Black History Month celebration yesterday, Supervisor Peggy West compared embattled Milwaukee County Board Chair Lee Holloway to legendary civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks.
Remember, Holloway is under fire for failing to yield his chairmanship while he fights off a 90-count ethics complaint. The case against Holloway alleges, in part, that he failed to claim more than $160, 000 in rental and sale income from an anti-poverty agency that did business with the county. The money, by the way, was allegedly for a real estate transaction that was never completed.
West, alluded to Parks by reportedly saying something to the effect of:
"She didn't give up her seat and neither should you."
Good grief.
Apparently any attempts to remove a person of color from a position of power is automatically a civil rights issue.
Think West realizes her statement is an insult to Parks and those like her who selflessly struggled for the advancement of civil rights?
And for the record, the Supervisors are moving to remove Holloway as Board Chair, not from the Board altogether.
Unfortunately, it appears too many members of the County Board have been bullied by Holloway and his supporters who are so quick to play the race card.
15 Comments:
You simply mistate the issue to prove your point. As a matter of basic historical fact, no one -- no one -- has ever been subject to the standards or process that Holloway is facing.
That's problem one. Problem two is that people like you think that when a black politician's name appears in some relationship to OIC -- there must be a crime, regardless of the other facts. This is unique to OIC, a largely black organization. Certainly, when Walker's buddy and fundraiser Nick Hurtgin was indicted, no one howled for Walker's head.
Finally, the simple fact is that almost every white bboard member squared off with the black supervisors to change the rules to get rid of the first black chair ever. Compare this with the last time a chair faced charges -- he was white and they were actually criminal charges. No rules were changed; he stayed in until convicted and then had to leave.
Fraley -- when you angrily belittle those people who see real differences in treatment here, you make the problem worse by reminding a big chunk of the community that their perspective and sensibilities don't matter or that you think they are all stupid for not seeing things as you claim to.
No one. No one. Has been the chair of the Milwaukee County Board while facing a 90-count ethics complaint which include allegations of ripping off a non profit agency that received county taxpayer support to the tune of more than $160,000.
That's point one. Point two is that I have commented very little about OIC and the other problems that occurred there.
Finally, the simple fact is that Holloway IS the chair because of his support from WHITE supervisors. Support of the non white members would not have been enough to name him chair.
Anonymous -- I am not angrilly belittling people who see real difference in treatment here. I belittled Peggy West, who had the audacity to compare Lee Holloway to Rosa Parks.
The white Chair was facing criminal charges. Also, part of the different treatment is that Joe Rice's complaint claimed a small hanfdul of things going back a couple of years, it was the ethics board that went back a years and years amd exploded it into 90 charges.
That has never happened before with this ethics board or with any other across the state ever.
And what exactly is your problem with waiting to find out whether Holloway actually did anything wrong?
Holloway is entitled to his day in court. Too bad he keeps trying to prevent that day from happening. Moreover, this isn't about his ability to serve as the board member for his constituents and his district.
He's my county board chair. He's the county board chair for every Milwaukee County taxpayer. Every taxpayer has the ability to voice their opinion over whom should lead the entire board.
Well the right to voice an opinion doesn't make every opinion a good one and it doesn't change the fact that this gdounswell of voices is little more than a group of white supervisors with some help from the paper's editorial board.
And the whole point is that if the "opinion" to which you refer is that we should treat holloway differently, that opinion is entirely suspect and it should be obvious that those who see holloway as having achieved some firsts for folks historically excluded from government might be offended by the opinion that holloway should be singled out.
And by the way, the notion that holloway is somehow stalling is just weird. how fast do you think a 90 chgarge case moves??
a 90 Charge case doesn't move very quickly when the THUG Holloway continues to file lawsuits to stop the investigators from seeing his records.
Does it matter that one judge agreed with holloway to some degree, i.e., that the law prevented the disclosure?
this is about the law, right? Actually, your suggestion that holloway is a "thug" because he went to court shows that you are concerned only with destroying the guy, not the law or ethics.
By the way, nice caps on "thug." it adds a lot. a couple exclamation points wouldn't hurt.
The comment by West has got to be one of the stupidest things I have heard in my lifetime. She is a sheep that cannot think on her own and a major disappointment(and I voted for her!)
Thank you for your deep commentary. Thank god someone is here to tell black Milwaukee how to think. How disrespectful can you get?
I didn't know there was a black Milwaukee. Is that near West Milwaukee?
Thank you Fraley for the most honest post you've probably ever offered. In your world, no, there is no black community in milwaukee.
I won't waste my time with a history lesson but your post speaks volumes.
Nice try.
My point was obvious. It's Milwaukee. This is Wisconsin. I appreciate and echo Morgan Freeman's take on Black History Month....
Imagine if I wrote the following:
Why can't you listen to German Milwaukee. Do you fear what you don't understand?
Ridiculous.
Finally, I don't tell anyone, be they from West Milwaukee or Black Milwaukee what to think. I write what I think, period.
Well most of your apparent realization that you wrote something stupi is incoherent. But, yeah, its Milwaukee as long as the black community keeps their mouths shut. If they speak up, you dismiss them altogether.
You angrily and disrespectfully and uniformly declare that anyone with a different experience or perspective thatn you is (1) stupid (2) corrupt (3) or evil.
The fact that you pretend not to understand why Holloway's achievaments have earned respect in, er, a portion of Milwaukee is a smokescreen.
He broke barrieris; nothing against him has been proven; and people like you start screaming that the world will end if he is not destroyed now.
And, Fraley, let's face it, your choice of targets creates a real pattern.
Pattern of Targets on Daily Takes
Let's just take a peek at the last 30 days...
Gov. Jim Doyle
Alder Michael McGee, Junior
Supervisor Lee Holloway
Mayor Teresa Estness
John Wiley
Mikhail Gorbachev
Sen. Tom Reynolds
Donovan Riley
David Gregory
Pres. Jimmy Carter
Craig Maher
Scott Walker
Sen. Russ Feingold
Sen. Barak Obama
Orv Seymer
Rep. Tom Petri
As you'd say, nice try. Its substance that counts and its about not only who you smear but also who you protect and its about equal treatment, fair and balanced you might say.
truly disappointing.
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