by Manuel McDonnell-Smith
www.urbansuburbanmagazine.com
Doug Oliver: What I was trying to do is address an issue that is complicated. Most people don’t even try to take it on to have open & honest conversations about things like this, but [the question at the forum] was asked in a format where you only get a couple of seconds to answer….then you find out that you have even less time to answer because you’ve run out of time.
As the youngest contender in the city’s mayoral primary, Doug Oliver’s candidate checklist looks to deliver on everything a Philly Voter would want. He has
interesting ideas on growing jobs and building schools. He has political savvy, having worked for Ed Rendell at the State Level, Mayor Nutter at the City Level and served as a spokesperson for PGW. He’s even got street cred, having grown up in Germantown and still rides on the Broad Street Subway. With this superb resume, and the good looks to charm the ladies, he seems to have everything but your vote on Election Day. Why? It could be the fact that his campaign has less money than the others, or that he’s widely viewed by the public as too young and unknown. But it’s also true that many voters got their first introduction to Oliver from a negative headline. “The sad truth is that police have good reason to fear black men.” was the answer he delivered at Mayoral Forum sponsored by multicultural news site Al Dia. An awkward silence spread over the room after he uttered the sentence, “You could hear the air being sucked out of the room, and his campaign” one journalist said of the exchange. When he sat down for the Urban Suburban Interview, we wanted to clear the air by talking about this first. Oliver readily agreed on two conditions, that we understand him on all of the race’s issues and by understanding that he’s anything but sorry about the comment. “Let me say on the record right now that I’m not defending the comment…. because I can change the words but I can’t change what I think in my heart. So let me start there.”
Urban Suburban: O.K. Let’s start here. What did you mean to say, and does the comment reflect what you believe?
Urban Suburban: So, our clock is not running now. Doug Oliver: In artfully, what I was trying to say, is that police officers have a bad reputation in many neighborhoods across the city. The reason they have a bad reputation isn’t because every police office is bad, in fact I think most police officers are good. But there are some that simply terrorize our neighborhoods. They are prejudiced in their in their view of the neighborhoods that they’re policing that they have preconceived notions about and they come in and they treat us with disrespect. When I’m out in the neighborhoods, I can’t narrow down exactly that segment of police, but it is true and it is real and we can feel the impact in our neighborhoods. But, I try to see things from both sides and I look and I say, O.K., neighborhoods do we have a role? Do we have a responsibility on our side? I don’t know how many African-American men are honest, but I will guarantee you that the overwhelming majority of us are good and law abiding just like the overwhelming majority of police are good and law abiding. But there are some that reign terror in our neighborhoods. They commit crimes and violent crimes that are perpetrated against other African-Americans. That is scary to me. Just like police officers that come into our neighborhood and do these same things are scary. I’m looking at small groups
of some police officers and some African Americans who do these things and I’m saying that a very narrow slice of those two groups are creating havoc in our neighborhoods. And because of that there is distrust of the police. urbansuburbanmagazine.com Philadelphia 3
Urban Suburban: It’s a bleak view if the situation, but it’s true. What’s the solution? Doug Oliver: Some Black people are afraid of the cops because we don’t know who we’re going to get. Some cops are they’re afraid of Black men because they don’t know what they’re going to get. And I’m saying [to the police] if you don’t want to be afraid, then figure out how to rein in those rogue officers. And then, I’m saying [to the community] who don’t want cops to be afraid to go out and figure out how to reign in our bad actors. Urban Suburban: That solution requires motivation on behalf of cops and community members. What about the rest of us? What solution should we expect from our political leaders? Doug Oliver: My response is to educate and employ, because I have not yet seen a city that does a great job of educating and employing its citizens that also has high rates of crime. I don’t have the statistics, but chances are if you get shot in the city of Philadelphia you’re probably shot by someone who is uneducated or unemployed. In our city, we have failed to invest in these things that matter most. In listening to voters, and thinking things over in my head through my own experiences makes a solution clear for me. Make more people educated and employed then maybe we can start solving the other challenges in this city. Urban Suburban: You’ve mentioned fairness in your campaign. What do you mean by that? Doug Oliver: I’ve been listening to voters this whole campaign. And at the end of the day, people leave our city because job availability at construction sites isn’t what it’s supposed to be for us all. They leave because the tow truck rotation isn’t what it should be. They leave because they can’t educate their kids. They leave because they can’t find a job or start a business or grow it. They leave because they don’t feel safe. So if we we’re not doing all we can Politicians to solve these issues, then that keeps our city from growing because we’re focusing on the wrong things. I want to go to work [as Mayor] and have the voters hold me accountable for trying to improve these things. Urban Suburban: I want to get specific on a few things. One being the city’s plan to spend a huge amount of it’s limited cash to renovate the building at 4600 Market to be it’s new police headquarters. What’s your take? Doug Oliver: I don’t have a fully robust opinion because I don’t have all the information in front of me right now. I do know that we have to get the police department out of its current location it’s just falling and no one should have to work day to day in conditions like that. I remember a random example when my church, New Covenant bought its campus on Germantown Avenue. I kind of look back and remember hearing some adults say that this was a lot of money for a little church like ours to spend. But over time, it’s grown so that schools, small businesses and others could use it. And it’s become a way for the church to support itself by earning a little more from rent. Urban Suburban: So you’re in favor a growing list of large
capital expenditures? The House of Correction is also up for replacement by the City. What do you say to people who say we’re spending cash on jails rather than schools? Doug Oliver:I do think that infrastructure is a fundamental responsibility of the government. But it does not get to pick and choose. It’s not like we can pave only some of the roads, and expect to collect taxes from everyone. So I think the government has an obligation to take a look at its capital and invest in all those things we need. In terms of jails specifically, I know that investment in early childhood education keeps you from spending lots of money on the back end [for more prisons]. So there has to be a priority in our capital budget plans to spend on things like that even with a long list of other things that also need to be paid for. Urban Suburban: What’s one thing you’d like to see the city do as Mayor when it comes to Education? Doug Oliver: When we talk about schools, we often talk about curriculum funding and governance those goals override almost every conversation. What is well known, but little discussed is the home life of these kids. When I went to the Hershey School, there were house parents who not only made sure you were studying, but also made sure that you were eating a nutritious meal and that you got enough sleep. I’m not saying that families don’t have a role in assisting in these areas, but with more homes with both parents working we’re looking at a different environment from which that our parents educated us. Are there ways that we can teach differently in schools and help students improve their outcomes at homes that will help them get a better education? We can do that, especially by involving our social service and non-profit
www.blackcatcoffeebar.com Coming May 2015
“The sad truth is that police have good reason to fear black men” was the answer Doug Oliver delivered at Mayoral Forum sponsored by multicultural news site Al Dia.
Doug Oliver on
Crime and the Community “I was thinking about the times when I walk down the street and I’ve been afraid. If you live in our neighborhoods as I’ve live in our neighborhoods, sometimes it is scary. Maybe using the word fear is the wrong way, but all I sought to do was say we have to acknowledge that there is black-on-black crime in our neighborhood. And it’s a problem.
communities to see what they’re doing on their own and integrating it what we’d like to see happen in our schools. Urban Suburban: What’s the first thing you would do if elected as Mayor. Just one small thing that you could directly control and implement right away? Doug Oliver: I’d get street sweepers back out on the streets. I want people seeing trash trucks going up and down the street, collecting at 7pm the night before instead of in the morning after the squirrels have a chance to pick through it and then the wind blows trash up and down the street. It’s small things like this that have a big impact. Urban Suburban: And to the Urban Suburban Readers who believe in upward mobility. What do you say especially to them? Doug Oliver: Let’s not forget that the concept of upward mobility is a shared experience. It’s what compels me to run, get out there, and be part of changing that outcome for so many Philadelphians. Because if this road to success is going to be sustainable, then we have to ensure that improve the outcomes of other people who come with us. They we make it a shared experience and we become one Philadelphia.
If we truly seek to solve the all of the problems we have with crime, each other, and the police department, and if we’re going to fix that problem, then we have to look at it from both sides. All I wanted to explain is that when a black man kills somebody, in a larger sense it reflects on me as a black man. On the flip side, it’s the same reason I’m so proud of President Barack Obama, because what he does also reflects on me. As black men, our behaviors reflect on each other and have far reaching impact. And that’s what I’ve been trying to explain myself, person-to-person ever since the headline was published.
Editor’s Opinion: I must admit I am conflicted simply because I know this highly qualified candidate possess all the skills and talent necessary to lead this city in a new direction. I hope his words distorted or not, taken out of context or not do not inhibit his ability to seek public office or serve the community as a whole. It would be our lost. Unfortunately, I simply do not believe that we should be casted together as a race by the action of one person or a group of people no different than I would expect Caucasians or Asians or Irish to be badly reflected by criminal acts of individuals within their race. It is my resolute position that people, professionally trained and specifically law enforcement have a higher standard so they should be capable of assessing each situation and individual person in its own light or quite frankly they shouldn’t be on the job. While the candidate was truly trying to advance some healthy dialogue, it should be noted that his opinion isn’t widely reflected by the community. As a community we should not take ownership or apologize for something you have no control over because once you do as a leader of a community, it’s like saying you can control the action. It’s like saying all Italians should be cast in a bad light because of those associated with organized crime. It is not the case. We all have prejudices that we harbor and over time we change and or modify our positions as we interact with individuals. We simply cannot allow the actions of few bad seeds to paint the picture of a whole community. What’s Next? What’s next should be about taking ownership of your community. We should be doing this one step at a time by emphasizing education and no tolerance for senseless gun violence. What’s Next? Is simply about going into your son’s and daughter’s rooms, closet and searching them to ensure that they are not part of the problem by hiding or storing weapon that you don’t know about. It’s your home take ownership. What’s Next? How about considering becoming a entrepreneurship and increasing your community pride. What’s next is having our best and brightest come back to the neighborhoods and reinvest on the avenues by opening store, services and businesses locally. Stop whining about being gentrified and reinvest in your communities like others are doing by opening up your offices downtown later. urbansuburbanmagazine.com Philadelphia 5