Powerful but poor
Editor, The Commercial:
Re: An article in the Pine Bluff Commercial, “NAACP holds town hall for citizens input” June 18. As a life-subscribing member of the NAACP, I want to voice my opinion. Also, I have shared my thoughts with NAACP President Ivan Whitfield.
Money is what gas is to a new car; without it, you can’t go anywhere, and so is Money when developing a plan.
Pine Bluff began seeing a population shift in the late ’70s and early ’80s. Many in the white community, businesses, and residents had to decide, do we stay or go? The city was becoming increasingly more African American, which meant African Americans could become the leaders of the city and county governments. Blacks could control the mayor’s office, the city council, and the Pine Bluff school board; that would be a good thing in the eyes of many African Americans, but without Money, it becomes a trick bag and formula for Black communities to begin deteriorating.
Before Blacks took control of the government, the city had many clothiers, grocery stores, dry cleaners, and car dealerships. The neighborhoods had lovely homes with fabulous lawns and good infrastructure.
There were businesses of all kinds, doctors, lawyers, plumbers, electricians. Whatever you needed, Pine Bluff had. It was common to see houses built across the city, and hardware and furniture stores, were plentiful. Downtown was the place to go and shop or take the family out to eat. Very few residents traveled to Little Rock to get what was already available in Pine Bluff.
There was Oklahoma Tire, Goodyear, Young’s Laundry, etc. Then came The Pines mall, and businesses wanted to relocate to The Pines. There needed to be insight by someone considering keeping Pine Bluff Downtown vibrant, e.g., developing an Old Town Pine Bluff and maintaining the look of the early days. Some businesses thought things would be better if they set up shop in The Pines mall, i.e., JCPenney, Sears, jewelry stores, and department stores.
Businesses left downtown, Jefferson Square, and other locations looking to make Money at The Pines mall. At this point, downtown and Jefferson Square began their decline. In the late ’70s and early ’80s, crime began to creep upward, and some reports said people were getting robbed in the parking lot at The Pines mall, which created a fear factor. Stores implemented policies at the mall due to youngsters walking in bunches and not buying anything in stores, creating confusion. Therefore, businesses began to leave slowly, and the mayors needed to address the loitering problem forcibly, but they did not.
In 2007, the population landscape changed, and the city became set for Pine Bluff to elect its first Black mayor. After the election of a Black mayor, Blacks had control of the city council, and they abolished the Civil Service Commission. Removing the Civil Service Commission meant the mayor had total public safety control. Blacks had control of the city government, and not only that, following a successful Pine Bluff School District lawsuit, Blacks now had control of the political and educational powers.
Because Blacks enjoyed power, the city government hired its first Black police and fire chiefs. Blacks now had the numbers to control every facet of city government. However, Blacks owned no car dealerships or banks. Blacks were not in charge of big box grocery stores, manufacturing companies, or lead executives at the paper mill or railroad and didn’t have control over real moneymaking businesses. However, Blacks had the numbers to control this government.
With this voting power, Blacks began to flex their muscles taking control of the county government and the Pine Bluff School Board. However, Blacks still needed economic strength to manage the required changes effectively. With this power, no one would kowtow to the demands of the white businesses. These people would now answer to us, but the power was not in control of the levers of government but in control of the Money, of which Blacks did not have the majority.
Blacks couldn’t be in full government custody without a partnership with the business community. Building a working collaboration without selling out your Blackness was a skill that needed developing in the early years. You could see the decline in the city’s quality of life and place as people in mass moved out of the town, leaving behind houses, churches, vacant buildings, etc. Slum lords took over, and neighborhoods started deteriorating fast.
The lack of city funding created neglected streets, ditches, overgrown lots, trees hanging over city streets in communities, sidewalks unusable, and trash out of hand. The city was experiencing real problems, and things would only worsen without a solid tax base. Having a minuscule amount of money/tax dollars, Pine Bluff becomes a deteriorating city.
Go Forward Pine Bluff made many mistakes, but I believe these errors didn’t deserve the death penalty.
The Pine Bluff Branch NAACP, some of our elected officials, and the Pine Bluff Commercial thought the GFPB failures deserved killing and not repairing. It was decided to cut off our noses to spite our faces, leaving a lot to pull together in 2024, which is a local and presidential election year.
The work that lies before this community is urgent. Nonetheless, the death of GFPB “could be” the final nail in Pine Bluff’s coffin. Urgent! Who will lead this effort as the community begins a long road back to where we were before the GFPB mistakes? A decision on the new plan and structure for reestablishing relationships with philanthropic organizations and building unity back in the community should have started.
Money is needed to do this task professionally. How will the new plan be implemented? How will tax dollars be allocated, and by whom? Will the city council hire a project manager and staff, set salaries, benefits, etc., to deploy the new plan? Will new tax dollars be used to complete previous projects?
While holding town hall meetings, what if taxpayers decide they want to go in a different direction with unfinished GFPB tasks, then what? We find ourselves as a city on financial life support to restart progress, and the urgent questions are yet to be answered.
Rev. Jesse C. Turner, executive director,
Pine Bluff Interested Citizens for Voter Registration Inc.
