“So … what have we learned from the latest Baton Rouge controversy to spin out of control?” asks Business Report Executive Editor JR Ball in his latest column.
Despite all the lament and vows to do better after the 2016 summer from hell—as well as the repeated pledges of unity promotion from our mayor—the racial divide in East Baton Rouge Parish continues to expand, Ball writes.
“Our latest racial tug of war began less than a week after the burial of Buddy Amoroso—the white Republican Metro Councilman from District 8 who was tragically killed July 1 in a biking accident—when four black Democrats on the council put out a terse, two-sentence press release stating they would abstain from voting on anyone recommended by the council to temporarily fill the vacancy,” Ball writes.
Though there’s no law or ordinance mandating it, council tradition is such that the family gets to nominate the temporary replacement in the case of the death or departure of the incumbent.
Twice previously—in 1991 and 2001—a council member has died while in office, and each time the council appointed the respective widow as the replacement.
Ball says the goal of these four nontraditionalists was simple: Prevent the council from reaching the necessary seven votes to name a nine-month replacement for Amoroso within the required 20-day window, thus shifting the decision to Gov. John Bel Edwards, whom they hoped would appoint an African-American progressive to represent those residing in the largely white, especially conservative district.
“Imagine, so went the theory, how much racial leveling of the Baton Rouge playing field could occur in nine months if a gridlocked council of seven white Republicans and five black Democrats became a 6-6 split?” Ball asks.
Not only was this an ill-conceived, politically naïve and emotionally insensitive plan—playing out while many were still grieving Amoroso’s death—but it drove a needless wedge into the racial, economic and geographic divides so many in this community are fighting to bridge.
One can reasonably fight to change tradition and the oft-mentioned status quo, but in a parish that clings to its love of single-member districts, it’s simply wrong to demand the temporary appointment of someone to elected office who shares exactly zero of the views and beliefs of the constituents this person would represent.
“If these four council members think the interests of African-Americans are underrepresented on the council, how about people in District 8 having essentially no representation if these four had their way?” Ball writes.
As wrongheaded as this stunt was, he says, it is equally wrong to ignore the very real frustration—and, yes, anger—in most corners of the African-American community. But nothing of substance will happen until the private sector drives change, Ball writes, noting that until then, actions like those on the council only make the problem harder to solve.
Read the full column. Send comments to editor@businessreport.com
