When mayor Oliver Ellis was elected as mayor of Monroe last year, one of the things he promised was to end the city’s practice of politicizing the Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration. Instead of ending the practice, the Ellis administration continued it in what, in many ways, was Mayo 2.0.
For nearly twenty years, this publication criticized how the city turned the annual Martin Luther King program from a salute to Dr. King to a promotion of the mayor’s political agenda.
The most egregious of the Mayo offenses was the creation of awards that bore the name of deceased African-American heroes in our community without their families’ involvement. It became worse when Mayo presented awards bearing our heroes’ names to persons who often did not champion the causes associated with the award’s name.
Instead of creating a City of Monroe Justice Award, Mayo invoked the name of civil rights attorney James Sharp, Jr. and attached it to the award.
The same was done in other areas, including B.D. Robinson, Lillie “Granny” Goins, Morris Henry Carroll, W.L. Jack Howard, and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Often Mayo gave the awards to promote his peculiar brand of politics. Sometimes the awards were given to individuals whose life contributions did not reflect the life work of the person whose name was invoked on the award.
Mayor Mayo dominated the programs with the Mayo presence. He presented every award and appeared on every photograph; he was also the final word on award recipients.
Mayor Ellis promised to change that. He said he would return the program to the community-based Martin Luther King Foundation’s control and support the community program rather than stage a competing program on a day other than the King Holiday, as Mayo did for nearly twenty years.
However, last week Mayor Ellis continued the Mayo practice.
Without consulting a single member of the families of honorees, the city passed out awards in these community legends’ names, at least one of whom caused considerable uneasiness to the family.
The James Sharp, Jr. Justice Award was given to a local attorney who has no track record of working for civil rights or serving as an advocate of the poor and disenfranchised, as did the late Attorney James Sharp, Jr.
The man the city chose was suspended from the practice of law, pending review of complaints to the bar association that he stole sizeable amounts of funds from a blind client.
Two of attorney Sharp’s sons are judges, one active and one retired; neither son recommended a salute to Atty. Steve Jefferson with an award bearing their father’s name.
Awards were given in Granny Goins’s name, whose family still continues her work with a food kitchen in South Monroe. However, rather than giving the family a chance to salute citizens who volunteer at her kitchen, the city gave the award to another kitchen doing similar work without input from the Goins family.
The city went further by creating a new award in Jamie Mayo’s name, saluting a young leader, without consulting with Mayo. Ellis selected the recipient and presented the award in Mayo’s name without asking Mayo’s permission to use his name or his consent about the recipient.
To add insult to injury, Mayor Ellis did it with Mayo sitting on the stage. City staffers called Mayo out of the audience to sit on stage; he didn’t even know an award was to be presented bearing his name.
It was political gamesmanship, Mayo style.
The city has the right to present awards, but it should not use the names of leaders, living or deceased, without showing respect to those individuals’ families.
We renew the same objection we have made for the last 20 years; “The King Holiday program should not be the political tool of the incumbent mayor.”
Moreover, there should be no award given in a living person’s name without input from that person. The city should consult the family of a named award concerning potential recipients if any award is given posthumously.
We complained for nearly twenty years as Mayo used the King program for political purposes. Now, Ellis Administration, in this respect, is shaping up to be Mayo 2.0.
Mayo said we are, “One city, one future.”
Ellis says we are, “One people, one community, oneroe.”
It’s so unoriginal; it can easily be called Mayo 2.0.
