WORCESTER’S ANNUAL MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY FIASCO
by Carlo Baldino January 19, 2016
Yesterday the city of Worcester held its annual dog and pony show while celebrating the holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday. There were speeches given, essays read, awards given out to deserving Black folks, and everybody came together in a kumbaya moment.
All the participants, both Black and white, exemplified the Stevie Wonder-Paul McCartney song—“ebony and ivory, living in perfect harmony.”
Older Black folks were trotted out, out-of-touch seniors who could be counted on to dance for the man, to say the right things that wouldn’t hurt the feelings of white folks, to forgive and forget, to ignore the racism that pervades the city.
Last year on this date Black Lives Matter protesters blocked traffic in Kelly Square for a horrendous four and one-half minutes, commemorating the four and one-half hours the body of Black teenager Michael Brown, who was murdered by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, lay unattended in the broiling summer sun.
That protest resulted in the arrest of four participants who were offered immunity if they promised to give up their First Amendment rights and not block traffic in subsequent protests. When they refused, charges were filed.
This caused Worcester’s white folks to act as if this less-than-five-minute action was comparable to 9/11 and the Marathon bombing. Led by the inimitable City Councilor Konnie Lukes, the council was asked to pass a motion supporting the Worcester police department. Officers showed up at the City Hall council meeting dressed in full body armor, but they said it wasn’t their intention to intimidate.
The Black Lives Matter movement was belittled and Black organizations in the city came under attack. It became part of a political movement with local politicians using the same tactics national politicians like Donald Trump used to achieve notoriety and acclaim. They used race as a weapon to appeal to voters, and they focused on incidents they could blow out of proportion to try to accomplish their goals.
North High school had a few fights and a couple of administrators were assaulted, and this was an excuse to bring police into the school system on a full-time basis. A controversy erupted over defending the antiquated term, “color-blind.”
A mayoral candidate, Michael Gaffney, led the charge against a Black public service agency and demanded an audit. He was strangely silent when the city paid $100,000 in a settlement caused by a white police officer kicking a prisoner on the floor of a cell in police headquarters while simultaneously calling him a “nigger.” This was caught on video, and four other officers watched the incident and laughed about it.
This was not brought up at the Martin Luther King Day breakfast at Quinsigamond Community College. There have been no calls from the city’s politicians for that video, which is still being held by District Attorney Joseph Early, to be released. Audits, yes. Videos, no.
There was no mention at the breakfast of the witch hunt against Worcester’s first female and first Black school superintendent, Melinda Boone. The leader of that hunting party was School Committee member Dianna Biancheria, who was as obsessed with Dr. Boone as Captain Ahab was with Moby Dick.
Perhaps it’s just a coincidence, but sources inform us that when Melinda Boone came to town Ms. Biancheria, who does not have a college degree, had a $70,000 a year job in the school department. The superintendent eliminated that position as superfluous, and after that Ms. Biancheria ran for and won a seat on the committee. She did get her revenge, however. Melinda Boone left Worcester and went back to sunny Virginia where she came from after being hired as superintendent in Norfolk with a salary $30,000 higher than what she was getting here.
Attention was given to the racial dialogues held in the city last summer over a seven-week period and sponsored by the Massachusetts Attorney-General and the United States Justice Department. The usual suspects in the city objected to this as a waste of time, and those who attended wanted to focus on Black on Black crime.
The dialogues, like the breakfast, were tepid at best and accomplished little. It has taken months to get a report finished, and Black folks who were the most active in the discussions were shut out of the reporting. The City Manager wanted people “he could work with.” Translation: only the “sell outs” were asked to participate.
One thing remained consistent, though. Last year four people, two white and two Black, were arrested. This year there was progress. Only one white man was arrested for passing out leaflets during the breakfast. He was tackled to the ground and injured, but because he was 71-years-old and had one arm in a sling the police officers on duty considered him armed and dangerous. He did have one arm, after all. He was charged with assaulting an officer. Who knows, maybe he reached for their guns. Maybe they felt their lives were threatened.
It was yet another wonderful lovefest in a city that is the epitome of racial harmony, and it was a harbinger of good things to come in 2016.
by 
