The potentially racially explosive vote that threatened to derail the new Leppert Administration’s honeymoon of harmony took place at City Hall Wednesday as the City Council voted to remove community activist, Joyce Foreman, from the DART Board.  With a vote of 8 to 7, the council replaced Ms. Foreman with the Chairman of the African-American Pastor’s Coalition, Dr. Jerry Christian.  What made this vote so important is what Ms. Foreman and City Councilwoman Vonceil Hill did to try to get Ms. Foreman re-appointed. Ms. Foreman’s tactics not only threatened the entire Black political agenda but they also showed us that if we are going to be politically successful, sanity must prevail.

As I have written in past columns, Joyce Foreman, in an effort to regain her seat on the DART Board, embarked on an unprecedented campaign that included threatening two Black City Council members with being removed from office in the next election.  She threatened to have the Black community picket and march on City Hall if she were not re-appointed. She had numerous people in the community call City Council members suggesting that all would not be well with the Black community if Ms. Foreman was not returned to the DART Board. I dare say that most of the Black community had no idea their politics were being used in this way by Ms. Foreman. I was told by one political insider at City Hall that Ms. Foreman even called one white City Council member a racist because he refused to support her.  Never mind that this same white City Council member supported all 3 of the other African-Americans on the DART Board, including the Black man who replaced Ms. Foreman.

Joyce Foreman had every right to lobby council members to get enough votes to remain on the DART Board.  She had every right to call on members of the Black political community to support her efforts.  What she did not have the right to do is to threaten the City Council with pickets and protest if she were not re-appointed.  Ms. Foreman did not have the right to put the Black community’s political capital in play for her own personal benefit.

Joyce Foreman has spent years as a community volunteer. She deserves our respect and appreciation for her years of service.  But somehow, Joyce Foreman deluded herself into believing that she was entitled to this DART Board appointment. Even more bizarre, Mr. Foreman considered herself worthy of mass support from the Black political community. Yet, she has never been considered a powerful Black political personality.  As a matter of fact, Joyce Foreman’s record on the DART Board is no more progressive or Black community friendly then the other Black DART Board members. The notion, promoted by Ms. Foreman, that the Black community will suffer if she is not on the DART Board is as factually untrue as it is delusional.  During her campaign, Ms. Foreman and her supporters, failed to mention that Black, Hispanic, and Anglo political players opposed her being reappointed to the DART Board because, in their opinion, she was not only unnecessarily combative but some even questioned her effectiveness.  For example, the DART voting records will show that Ms. Foreman’s ability to deliver, especially in the area of minority business development, was inconsistent and not near as important to the Black community as she would have one believe.

The African-American political community must face some hard facts.  First off, we are not the most powerful voting bloc in the city.  That title belongs to the Anglo community.  Secondly, we are not the largest minority group in the city. That title belongs to the Hispanic community.  Because of our unique political position, we must now more then ever play smart politics.  The dysfunctional politics of the past that Joyce Foreman and City Councilwoman Vonceil Hill practiced during this DART nominating process will no longer get us where we need to go.  How could Black City Council members possibly be taken seriously on issues like crime, code enforcement, and southern sector economic development when there are parties in the Black community willing to use all of our political capital for one person’s DART Board appointment?

The Dallas political community owes a debt of thanks to Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway and City Councilman Tennell Atkins for standing up for a real Black political agenda that benefits the entire Black community.  They courageously refused to be intimidated by the personal attacks leveled at them by Ms. Foreman. And they refused to sell out the Black community’s political agenda for one woman’s personal agenda. Thanks to these gentlemen and 6 other council members, sanity was able to prevail at City Hall.  At least that is how I see it from South of the Trinity.

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