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The MailAug. 18, 2006
The Rouser’s Edge
Ryan Grim’s “Brotherly Love” (8/11) was yesterday’s news about five months ago. Did Grim not read “Honey I Shrunk the District” (5/5) to understand that gentrification of lower-income areas like Georgia Avenue could cause racial tension and resentment and relate it to the tone of Skinner’s community activism? Should District voters pay more attention to Adrian Fenty’s choice of staff rather than his stances on housing, education, community policing, economic development, and HIV/AIDS? Grim’s article casts serious doubt on whether the Washington City Paper can deliver balanced, credible, and timely reporting on mayoral race issues. It is unfortunate you have chosen to focus now on the personality of a minor figure rather than the core issues important to all.
Brian B. Brown
Brookland
Sinclair Skinner’s cartoonish performance as pitchman for crime-scene nightspots such as Club U, Between Friends, and Kili’s Kafé is what compelled Ward 1 voters to drive him out of office as an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner. His clumsy, racially charged, and homophobic rhetoric and persistence in trying to keep these public-safety nuisances open despite the overwhelming sentiment of constituents of every race, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and income could not have been more dogged had Skinner been on the club owners’ payroll.
That Adrian Fenty has kept this guy in his employ in a responsible campaign position is mystifying, and the candidate’s quibbling responses suggest something of a tin ear, an enormous blind spot, or a troubling lack of courage—not the sort of qualities the District needs in a mayor these days. The thought of a mayor beholden to the likes of Sinclair Skinner for advice, the administration of government, or the dispensation of patronage should cause Fenty supporters to reconsider their choice and vote for someone with better judgement.
Lou Nayman
Shaw
The Washington City Paper has a long history of attacking African-American politicians and activists, mostly at the expense of hearsay information the City Paper obtains from racially insensitive European-American newcomers to African-American communities who resent African-American leadership to the point that they ostracize themselves from the African-American community and organize their own neighborhood associations, etc.
Sinclair Skinner, who I know personally, is a strong, opinionated, smart and energetic African-American male cut from the cloth of Nat Turner, Malcolm X, Rev. Al Sharpton, and Adam Clayton Powell—African-American leaders who are not Uncle Toms and whom European-Americans fear because they have balls. European-Americans hate African-Americans they can’t control and who simply never forget where they came from. Sinclair Skinner scares the hell out of those European-Americans and house Negroes who want to hold on to the status quo of separate but equal in America.
On the other hand, Adrian Fenty is, by American standards, a mulatto, which eases the fear in European-Americans. Fenty’s light skin and advanced degrees are acceptable socially to European-Americans; however, Fenty’s loyalty to his African-American fraternity and his frat brother Sinclair Skinner is incomprehensible to European-Americans who think Fenty should act like those European-American-accepted house Negroes Clarence Thomas, Condoleezza Rice, and Sen. Barack Obama.
Fenty is his own man and gives a rat’s ass about the divide and conquer tactics by the City Paper regarding Sinclair Skinner.
Al Hajj Mahdi Leroy J. Thorpe, Jr., LGSW., LPC
Shaw
Picking and Greening
I would like to respond to James Jones’ posting (“Pandering Pays Off,’’ Aug. 9, 2006) to the City Desk staff blog regarding the Sierra Club’s endorsement decision in the council chairman’s race.
We in the Sierra Club hold Kathy Patterson in high regard. We have worked with her in recent years to pass legislation banning the shipment of hazardous cargoes on the rails and roads that run through the heart of our city, and she has supported other Sierra Club priorities as well.
We faced a difficult decision when considering Patterson and Vincent Gray for the council chairmanship, and we understand her disappointment in not receiving our endorsement. However, we would like to set the record straight. While we were saddened to learn that Patterson no longer supports the Sierra Club’s position of keeping automobile traffic out of Klingle Valley, that was not the only factor in our decision, as has been suggested, but one of many. We had other points of disagreement as well, including that she does not support the Sierra Club’s campaign to increase recreational use of Rock Creek Park by limiting automobile traffic on Beach Drive on weekdays.
The Sierra Club is working on a range of environmental initiatives, including passing green-building legislation, improving recycling, expanding public transit systems, and working east of the Anacostia River to help clean up the local environment and improve the quality of life. Our questionnaire and subsequent conversations with Patterson, Gray, and all the interviewed candidates were opportunities for wide-ranging discussions touching on all of these campaigns. Vincent Gray supports our environmental agenda across the board, and this tipped the balance in his favor and won him the Sierra Club’s endorsement.
Jason Broehm
Chair, Washington, D.C. Chapter
The Sierra Club
Residential Politics
Dios Mio! Gloria Borland is a great person—living in D.C. for 25 years has made her the voice of the unsung (“Rebirth of the School,” Mail, 7/28). WTF? D.C. has a history. Blacks and Hispanics kept the city alive with children. Now that whites, after a thorough city cleansing, are ready to reproduce, they deign to change the system that they ignored until it did not meet their expectations.
The children Borland saw learning colors and numbers were children learning a second language. These “unprepared” immigrant (who are most likely U.S.-born citizens) children are prepared. They are being prepared to work and take care of their parents, siblings, and extended families. Borland, criticize these children’s unpreparedness now. One day you will see your folly and horrid shortsightedness.
I sincerely hope Borland’s academy works out. Yet I respect those parents who know that their children will triumph as people regardless of where they studied. The cream will always rise unless someone is stirring the pot.
David Gonzalez
Silver Spring, Md.
Georgetown Props
“The Black Guide To Georgetown” (8/4) is the most innovative and witty article I’ve read in the City Paper all year. Please give kudos to the author and continue the alternative style you guys excel at—D.C. needs it now more than ever!
Lauren Morris
Trinidad
Correction
In “Brotherly Love” (8/11), Ryan Grim erroneously reported that Taylor Chesnik launched his Web site, DumpSkinner.com, in 2005. It was launched in 2006. Also, Sinclair Skinner was handing out Issue No. 1 of the Georgia Avenue Defender at a 2005 press conference, which included a cartoon of a wolf in sheep’s clothing, not the Gramzilla cartoon. That drawing appeared in Issue No. 3.
The Mail. Washington City Paper, 2390 Champlain St. NW. Washington, DC 20009. Fax: (202) 462-8323. E-mail: mail@washingtoncitypaper.com. Please include your name, address, and daytime phone number. Letters may be edited for clarity.
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