Thursday, April 26, 2012

Detroit: “The Masturbating School Board President” is Not the Title of a Postmodernist, Scholarly Study

 

Former Detroit School Board President, Otis Mathis: He’s not limited to lewdness; he’s functionally illiterate, too!
 

Otis Mathis’ biggest booster on the Detroit School Board, the Reverend David Murray
 

Sex acts by Otis Mathis a terrible example to kids
By Rochelle Riley
June 23, 2010
Detroit Free Press

We are asked the question so much that it becomes overwhelming: What the heck is wrong with Detroit?

But if we want people to stop asking the question, then we need to stop being the Detroit that begs it.

Take, for instance, the latest scandal connected to the Detroit Public Schools.

The debate has been over whether former DPS board president Otis Mathis should have resigned after exhibiting horrendous behavior and poor judgment. Mathis quit after admitting to "inappropriate actions" with his hand between his legs behind his desk while the district's female superintendent sat opposite him trying to have a conversation.

He expressed deep regret and then, inexplicably, asked for his resignation back, buoyed by the comments of fellow board member Reverend David Murray, who dismissed the behavior of the 55-year-old Mathis this way: "He's a young man; maybe he didn't know it was offensive to her ... That's just the way it is."

What THE hell?! "He's a young man?!"

If that is just the way it is, then that is just the reason that Detroit is the way it is. If that is just the way it is, then that is the reason Detroit cannot be more than it has been.

The conversation has been about whether Mathis should resign. But the conversation should be about how this impacts children.

Imagine being a teenage boy in the city schools who hears a 55-year-old school board member say that fondling himself in a meeting does not warrant resignation. Then imagine hearing a second school board member say: "He's a young man.
That's just the way it is."

Then imagine being a young girl in the city schools and hearing such foolishness.

Otis Mathis should have resigned when it was discovered that he was functionally illiterate. Murray should resign for actually saying out loud that fondling yourself in a business meeting could be anything but objectionable.

But more important, Detroiters have got to stop mistaking these types of sad men for leaders, stop giving our children the idea that these men represent what they should be.

If we want Detroit to be better, then its leadership must be better. That can't happen if the conversation is about what you can get away with and not what we allow children to see and hear.

The board is trying to downplay the incident, claiming that it shouldn't affect whether the board -- or the mayor -- will be in charge of schools.

Good luck with that.

Last I checked, what Mathis did was against the law. According to a knowledgeable source, the DPS police department is investigating an allegation of gross indecency against Mathis. So I'm waiting for him to be arrested and for Murray to resign or be removed.

These men cannot stand as a testament to leadership. These men cannot be held up as symbols of the best and brightest Detroit has to offer its children.

In the meantime, the real message to the community and every voter is this: Stop tolerating trifling. Our children are watching.

Contact Rochelle Riley: rriley99@freepress.com. To order a copy of Rochelle Riley's latest book, "Raising a Parent: Lessons My Daughter Taught Me While We Grew Up Together," go to rochelleriley.com or freep.com/bookstore.
 

[From WEJB/NSU’s Detroit files:

“Detroit’s Gangster Mayor Reportedly to Accept Plea Today: Kilpatrick Era Over … for Now”;

“White Detroit News Columnist (Almost) Tells the Truth about Former Motor City’s Decline!”

“Justice, Detroit-Style: Is Black Judge Vanessa Bradley a Racist? Do Cows Fart?”;

“Detroit: No-Name Clearances of No-Name Murders”;

“Detroit’s Convicted “Hip-Hop Mayor,” Kwame Kilpatrick, is Livin’ Large While Pleading Poverty”;

“(Kwame) Kilpatrick Enterprise” in Detroit: Most Corrupt Municipal Administration Anyone Had Ever Seen”;

“Carlita Kilpatrick, Wife of Convicted Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, Fights Paying One Dime of the $1 Million Restitution He Agreed to, as Part of His Plea-Bargain”;

“Feds Declare War on Detroit’s Gangster Mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, Charge Him with Everything but the Murder of Tamara Greene”;

“Detroit: New Crime Stats Fail Smell Test; How Could Crime Go Down 7% Overall Last Quarter, While Homicides Went Up 31%?”;

“Are White Gangs Making It Impossible to Drive City Buses in Detroit? Inquiring Minds Want to Know”;

“Detroit: Buses are So Dangerous and Unreliable That Disabled Mom of 6 Traded Her House for a Minivan”;

“Detroit: Three Men in Their 20s Allegedly Kidnapped and Gang-Raped Girl, 13, for at Least Three Days”;

“Mysterious, Anonymous Detroit News Story About Arrest of Triple Shooting Suspect, Nasir Banks”;

“Happy New Year, Detroit-Style: Club Manager was Killed, Trying to Break Up a Fight; FREEP Writer Knows Facts, but Refuses to Report Them”;

“Detroit: Serial Killer is Murdering Prostitutes Who Advertised Online in Pairs, and Stuffing Them in Car Trunks”;

“Blackberry: Detroit’s Murder Bar—Demesha Hunt, Renisha Landers, and Now, Claudia Benson Last Seen Alive There”;

“Detroit: Family of Murder Defendant Jacob Wells, Threatens to Murder Family of Murder Victim, Claudia Benson—on Camera!”;

“Detroit: Murder Up 12%, but ‘Serious’ Crime is Down; Broken Windows Policing is on the Way”;

The Onion: Detroit Has One of America’s Top 10 Downtowns”;

“In Detroit, to Find the Biggest Crooks, Look to the Highest Offices: Judge Carlos Powell Charged with Being City’s Drug Kingpin”;

“Detroit’s Ex-(and Future?) Felon Mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, is Living Large in Texas, with No Visible Income (but with a Secret Loan), Has Committed Tax Evasion, is Not Paying Back His Court-Ordered Restitution, and is being Represented on the (White) Taxpayer’s Dime (and Trying to Forget Tamara Greene!)”;

“Detroit: Washington’s Birthday AK-47 Gang Shooting Claims Life of 9-Month-Old Delric Miller IV; Neighbors are Experts at Identifying Weapons by Sound of Gunfire; Chief Godbee: ‘Street Code’=No Help in Solving Crime; Grandmother: ‘They raisin’ monsters out here!’”;

“Detroit: Female Fists of Fury at MotorCity Casino Hotel (Video!)”;

“Detroit: Was Delric Miller IV Murdered Over a Seat at a Baby Shower?; Are Genocidal Black Supremacist Malik Zulu Shabazz and the Nation of Islam Murder Cult Angling to Take Over City?”

“Detroit: Raceless Carjacker Breaks Leg of Black WWII Vet, 86, Who Crawls Back to Gas Station, as Detroiters Step Around Him; Finally, Arab Muslim Attendant Saves Him; Nameless Suspect in Custody”;

“Detroit: White Woman Who was Jailed Next to Her Alleged (Gang) Rapist by Racist Black Judge Vanessa Bradley, is Sent Packing, as Charges are Thrown Out”;

“Hate Crime/Noose Hoax in Detroit”;

“For the Second Straight Week, a NW Detroit Homeowner Shoots and Kills a Burglar”;

“From The Onion: Detroit Will Get Out of Debt Through $1 Trillion or So in Government Help, Including Building Bridges, Providing Incentives for Adults to Get Their GEDs, and Becoming an Urban Farming Mecca, but It Should NOT Cut Its Expenses!”;

“Min. Louis Farrakhan, Leader of the Murderous Nation of Islam and New Black Panther Party, Calls for Racist Murders on Behalf of Trayvon Martin”; and

“Sound Familiar? Whites Send $ Billions to Africa for Health Care, Including AIDS Medicine, and Local Blacks Steal the Money! But They Can Explain.”]

 

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