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MESSAGE
FROM THE CHAIR:
I cannot, however, sit idly by and fail to speak out forcefully when one candidate employs blatant racism in his or her campaign. And one of the Republican candidates in this race - Terry McConn - has done just that and revealed himself to be undeniably racist. This week, the Terry McConn campaign distributed (targeted at Republican voters in the Sharpstown area) a brochure which is the most unabashedly racist piece of political advertising I have seen in my 32 years of involvement in Houston politics. The cover of the brochure depicts a group of menacing looking black birds with the caption, "Birds of a Feather Flock Together," with blood dripping from the letters. Inside, upon a background of black birds swarming in a dark sky, are pictures of the heads of Mr. McConn's opponent in this race, M. J. Khan, and icons of the African American community Sylvester Turner, Ernest McGowen, Sheila Jackson Lee, Craig Washington, and Gordon Quan (an American of Asian descent). The next page depicts a large black bird and the text, "MJ Khan thought you'd like to meet his friends. He knew you'd be impressed with these endorsements. . . What promises did he make to earn these political endorsements?" No Anglo supporters of Mr. Khan are depicted in this brochure. State Representative Scott Hochberg, for example, has endorsed M.J. Khan, but his face is not shown among the political supporters who constitute this "flock" of like-feathered black birds. The message of this piece is unmistakably clear: "Watch out," Terry McConn warns Sharpstown Republicans, "M.J. Khan may deal with African-American political leaders, and we sure don't want black leaders to have influence at City Hall!" Houstonians deserve - no, demand - better than this. Candidates who appeal so shamelessly to the basest, vilest, worst instincts and emotions are unfit to serve in positions of leadership in our great city. It is especially sad that this situation arises in the Sharpstown area: for years during the 1970's and 80's residents of that area had to endure the blight of a name which had become synonymous with political corruption - "Sharpstown Scandal." Will they now be required to suffer the ignomy of being represented at City Hall by an individual who invoked pleas to racism as the way to get elected in that district? I would hope the Republican Party and its leaders would join me in condemning this blatant racism. I would hope that both mayoral candidates do likewise - decrying the damage to all of us this kind of bigotry inflicts both on the city and on all of its inhabitants, and making clear, in the plainest of terms, that appeals to racial prejudice are totally unacceptable here. A very few years ago, voters in Houston were so repulsed by a longtime incumbent city council member's reference to the Mickey Leland terminal at Intercontinental Airport as "N_ _ _ _ _ International" that they booted him out of office and elected an unknown political novice instead. I hope the voters in District F will have a similar sense of revulsion and reject a candidate who would condemn his opponent for having African American friends and supporters. Houston is better than that, and the voters of District F need to say, loud and clear, that there is no place in our city government for someone like Terry McConn who would spread racist messages and overtly appeal to racist emotions in his quest for public office. Gerry Birnberg |
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Neither
the Harris County Democratic Party nor I have endorsed a candidate
in the Houston City Council, District F runoff election. The reason
is that both candidates in that race (M. J. Khan and Terry McConn)
identify themselves as Republicans, and neither the Democratic Party
nor I are in the business of supporting Republicans.
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