If theres anything you learn from running a campaign for political office, its that there are virtually no rules for what gets used against you. Politics, it seems, are amoral. You take a photograph holding your son in which you are wearing sunglasses, it gets cropped to make you look like a young drug dealer. You sing songs for fun about topics covered from Gilgamesh and Sampson to Sinatra, Johnny Cash and Dr. Dre, and the video gets passed around political circles as if it was tape of a policy speech advocating violence or misogyny. Im a young black man raised in San Bernardino. Perhaps Fred Shorett feels thats something for which I owe an apology to this community. So here it is. Im sorry that I did not sing Mack the Knife. Im sorry that the video wasnt me covering Garth Brooks Papa Loved Mama (Mamas in the graveyard, Papas in the pen). Im sorry that I wasnt acting out one of the nine murders committed in Hamlet, or any of the illegal acts portrayed by Robert Redford, Paul Newman and the rest of the cast of The Sting. My song was a rap. I wont apologize for the music. When I talked about the importance of public safety, supporting our peace officers, rebuilding a community that has been shattered by poverty, violence, joblessness and poor leadership, it was because those are the things I believe should matter in this debate about the future of San Bernardino. If Fred Shorett wants to campaign against rap music, I suppose there are no laws against it. If he wants to rail against young people sharing their friends and lives on social media - or use it as a weapon in a political campaign - I suppose hes free to do so. However, we should call this out for what it is - a sideshow from an important debate about the future of our city. We owe it to San Bernardino to have that debate. I wasnt part of this citys leadership as the Fred Shoretts of our community won elections and drove San Bernardino into bankruptcy. I was a kid growing up with the consequences of the city that he helped to create. And yet Im the one being asked to apologize. Regardless of how you want to prosecute the soundtrack of my life, its no less true that I have sought education, worked to build a business and now seek the honor of public service. The political reality and math both say that I am unlikely to get that chance in this election. I am nonetheless grateful to the nearly 1,000 people who listened to my message and cast a vote for me on November 5th. I am not dropping out of this campaign. When Fred Shorett decides that we can once again discuss issues that actually matter in the lives of our community, Ill be right here -- eager to engage in that debate.
Posted on: Wed, 13 Nov 2013 06:20:07 +0000
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