Interesting John Hammer column (unposted) in this week’s Rhino on calls for Greensboro Mayor Bill Knight to apologize for the statement he made saying that Police Chief Tim Bellamy was hired “primarily because of race.”
For the most of the column, Hammer discusses the irony behind the fact that local black clergy are calling for an apology from Knight when it’s pretty much official government policy to hire based on race:
So there was a well-publicized effort by the city to recruit and promote more blacks as police officers but the (NAACP) is protesting the statement made by Knight that race was a primary factor in Bellamy becoming chief of police. When Knight said it, he wasn’t mayor, he was a private citizen running for mayor, and that was his opinion. At the press conference Brown said that if that was knight’s opinion he should keep it to himself. Is that the way to bring racila healing to Greensboro? To keep our opinions to ourselves?
Evidently so, because Knight has chosen to take the advice of city attorney Terry Wood and not comment on the issue.
I’d give anything to hear the mayor take on his critics explain in clear, concise terms exactly what he meant during the campaign. But I understand the legalities hovering over the issue like a nasty haze. As Hammer noted last week, it’s the legacy of the Mitch Johnson era in Greensboro city politics.
