President Gerald Ford said, after becoming President on August 9, 1974,
"I have not sought this enormous responsibility, but I will not shirk it . . . I believe that truth is the glue that holds government together, not only our Government, but civilization itself. That bond, though strained, is unbroken at home and abroad. In all my public and private acts as your President, I expect to follow my instincts of openness and candor with full confidence that honesty is always the best policy in the end. My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over. Our Constitution works; our great Republic is a Government of laws and not of men. Here the people rule.”
My fellow Jacksonians, our long municipal nightmare is over. Democracy works; commitment to free and fair elections is essential. Here the people rule.
Voters have had enough of recent mayoral administrations: racial division, class warfare, and enrichment of coteries.
Citizens sang George and Ira Gershwin’s “It Ain’t Necessarily So” from “Porgy and Bess”: Unnecessary is tolerating underperforming elected officials passively, remaining silent when elected officials do not serve the public interest, and refraining from replacing the intolerable when doing so is contrary to one’s self-interest.
Time was that Southern elected officials served as long as desired. The old saying was that “He may be a bastard, but he’s our bastard.” Such sentiment is superseded by insistence upon opportunity for everyone.
President John Kennedy observed, dedicating the Greers Ferry Dam in Heber Springs, Arkansas, on October 3, 1963, that, “A rising tide lifts all the boats and as Arkansas becomes more prosperous so does the United States and as this section declines so does the United States. So I regard this as an investment by the people of the United States in the United States.” — understanding that populations sink or swim together, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
Public servants making binary choices — favoring blacks or whites, rich or poor — compromise the collective well-being. Those building coalitions benefiting everybody enrich everyone.
The spectacle of politicians thinking that they are in office to increase their net worth — and that of family, friends, and supporters — is tragic. Most Americans, without regard to race, creed, or color, long ago became disgusted with African American politicians suggesting that the answer to venal white elected officials is corrupt black elected officials.
Civil Rights Movement icons emphasized the Beloved Community, supplanting the segregated South with a sustainable future.
“Although [Martin Luther] King popularized the beloved community, the phrase has roots in the thought of 19th-century American religious philosopher Josiah Royce.
“In 1913, toward the end of his long career, Royce published ‘The Problem of Christianity.’ The book compiles lectures on the Christian religion, including the idea of the church and its mission, and coined the term beloved community. Based on his readings of the biblical gospels, as well as the writings of the apostle Paul, Royce argued that the beloved community was one where individuals are transformed by God’s love…“While Royce often identified the beloved community with the church, he extends the concept beyond the walls of Christianity. In any type of community, Royce argued, from clans to nations, there are individuals who express love and devotion not only to their own community, but who foster a sense of the community that includes all humankind.
“According to Royce, the ideal or beloved community is a ‘universal community’ — one to which all human beings belong or will eventually belong at the end of time.”
“MLK’s ‘beloved community’ has inspired social justice work for decades — what did he mean?” Jason Oliver Evans, the University of Virginia, January 16, 2025, [ https://search.app/dkvWktVaY4YGQmXT8 ].
John Horhn ought to mirror early African American mayors such as Carl Stokes in Cleveland, Coleman Young in Detroit, and Tom Bradley in Los Angeles who benefitted all citizens rather than one class or race over another.
No politician delivers 100 percent satisfaction. Should John Horhn send Jackson in a superior direction, that shall be adequate accomplishment.
Jay Wiener is a Northsider
