Peoria Pundit

Journal Star columnist Pam Adams is a bit of a race baiter. She can look at just about any issue, and describe it as an example of racism. This is especially true when the subject of Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis.

In today’s column, Adams looks over minutes from the September meeting of the Peoria Race Relations Commission. She excerpts sentences and paragraphs and “translates” them. Well, she calls them “translations,” but if any United Nations translator were to take the agenda-based liberties Adams does, they would be shipped back to their home countries:

For example:

“Mayor Ardis had hoped more commissioners would have attended today so he could have addressed the entire group but trusted his comments would be conveyed to all commissioners.”

(I didn’t come to listen to your dialogue, I came to make my own.)

Adams doesn’t like Ardis, so a simple statement that he wishes more people were there gets “translated” into Ardis being an autocratic ogre. I’ve sat in on council meetings ranging back to when Dick Carver was mayor. Ardis might be the least autocratic, although he does like meetings to move along.

From what I can tell, there’s a bit a coup attempt in program on this commission. Some folks don’t like that it’s being chaired by Amir Al-Khafaji. At the time he was appointed, the grumbling I heard was that some black people thought a black person should be in charge. Adams doesn’t mention the reason behind the discontent, which is too bad because it would be good if the Peoria Journal Star’s lone black columnist, and the only columnist who almost exclusively covers race issues, would in fact cover an issue involving prejudice against a person of color.

Last week, Adams brought Willie Horton into the Peoria County State’s Attorney’s race. She implied Republican candidate Darin LaHood was a racist. Why? Because he wanted to speak to the father of a white rape victim, when the other victims of the black man accused of the crime were black. Therefore, Adams somehow concludes, LaHood was planning Willie Horton-style ads against Kevin Lyons.

There are several problems with this conclusion, the most obvious of which is that Adams doesn’t possess the powers of precognition any more than she she posses the powers of telepathy in regards to what Mayor Ardis was thinking.

The other is that LaHood didn’t exactly pull the name of Monterius Hinkle from a hat. The vast majority of Americans had Peorians who pay attention to crime already knew about the guy and what he is accused of doing. I think that most Peorians assumed that because of the location of the crimes, ALL the victims were black. That’s what I assumed until I read Adams article. Not that it mattered to me as much as it does to Adams.

And here’s a point that Adams doesn’t mention. The basic facts of the Willie Horton ads were true. He was a convicted murderer given a furlough. He did flee to another state and commit rape and murder. Dukakis, then governor of Massachusetts, didn’t create the furlough program, but he did support it vigorously.

But then the facts don’t matter. Horton was black, therefore the ads were racist. It’s always that was with Adams.

And what are the facts of the Monterius Hinkle case, as they relate to State’s Attorney Kevin Lyons? He declined to prosecute the first time Hinkle was under arrest, saying he didn’t have enough evidence and willing testimony from victims. This last crime happened after Hinkle was released. Would LaHood have mentioned these facts if Lyons had not staged his disastrous press conference accusing LaHood of interfering with the case? Clairvoyant Pam says yes.

And since Adams is concerned about how Peoria’s power structure ignores the concerns of black people, including police brutality, I am wondering when she will mention that association of black ministers have endorsed a candidate for Peoria County State’s Attorney, saying they are convinced this candidate would listen to their concerns, and would actually diversify the office.

They endorsed Darin LaHood, the man Adams says implies is racist because cops like him.

Also, Jim Ardis has endorsed LaHood, which no doubt is further evidence of racism, as far as Adams is concerned.

Adams has always implied that candidates who run on anti-crime platforms are really just trying to scare white voters, never mind that most crime victims are black and that most of the people who are forced by economics to live among crack houses and gang violence are black.

Four years ago, then mayoral candidate Ardis and Eric Turner held a press conference in front of two crack house on Peoria’s South Side. She complained that Ardis was using black people.

There are two types of people who insist that in all discussion of crime, black people are somehow involved: White supremacists, who litter my Website and the Journal Star comments; and folks like Pam Adams, who cannot conceive that anyone who makes crime an issue is not, somehow, complaining about how black people commit crimes.

Perhaps one day, we will have a columnist at the Journal Star who is willing to engage in honest discussion of race from all perspectives, and not just be the organ for those who with one view on the matter.

This entry was posted on October 16, 2008 at 10:42 am and is filed under On the Media with tags crime, Darin LaHood, Jim Ardis, Kevin Lyons, Pam Adams, racism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed Both comments and pings are currently closed.