Guest MINDSETTER™ James Monteiro: Vote No in Recall Effort of Councilman Jackson

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Monday, May 01, 2017

Guest MINDSETTER™ James Monteiro

I write to go on the record and say that I've been a Ward 3 resident probably longer than at least 90% of the new implants that signed the petition to recall Councilman Kevin Jackson, and I know who is originally from the neighborhood and who isn't. I will say that a majority of the residents who are from the ward, who are not implants, part of the gentrification that has happened to our neighborhood over the years, do not feel the same vitriol as the rest of you. So I ask - please do not speak for us as constituents, especially if you do not live in or come from the neighborhood.

As far as politics are concerned, we know who has the money and who controls the politics that happens in this state, so for those of us in Mt. Hope, who Councilman Jackson has effectively fought for over the years, or the most part, are exhausted, left wondering, why should we bother? At the end of the day, our voice doesn't really matter anyway, the world belongs to the monied and the powerful and we’re just living in it.

But don’t get mad at us when we don’t support your angry mob position, especially when we see that in no way shape or form have any of you taken it upon yourself to assist and help anyone other than yourselves. I sure haven’t seen any of you in the community, certainly not in the low-income part of the community, unless it was to speculate on real estate or to figure out how to extend the drumbeat of cleaning the East Side out of people who don’t look or think like you, or to grab up a few folks to attend to your cause, just to drop them on the other side, surprised, when your crusade is done.

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I’ll go on to say, that it remains to be proven if Kevin stole money, from "us" or not; the United States Constitution allows him the right to innocence until guilt is proven, and let me remind you all, he has yet to be judged by a jury of his peers, which is his right.

However, clearly, here we are, and people are choosing to judge him regardless, hoping to strip him of his seat and his chance to continue his good and proven work for this community’s most underserved. What I do know is that year in and year out, Councilman Jackson put money into us; our kids, our programs and our ward, year after year, when others have turned a blind eye.

So, we will continue to suspend judgment about someone who is accused of stealing money but hasn’t been convicted of having done so; who is also known to continue to do so much for the community, than to take the sides with people that have never been accused of anything but in the same breath, have never lifted a finger or spent a dime to try to help us or the community in any way.

That’s the real truth, and for that, I’m voting no on Tuesday, and I encourage anyone who cares about Mt. Hope, is progressive or cares about social justice to do the same. Make a decision based on facts, not on accusations or hypotheticals.

If Councilman Jackson is proven to have committed a crime, then treat him accordingly. In the meantime, are you really actually progressive? If so, let the man get back to his job of advocating for Ward 3’s residents across the board, especially for those whose voices are continually drowned out by displacement and gentrification. Vote no in Tuesday’s recall effort of Councilman Kevin Jackson.