By Kenneth Miller, Publisher
In about a month when the Democratic National Convention convenes in Chicago, the eyes of America and the world will be anxiously watching how the party nominee for president unfolds.
Conventions of both the Republican and Democrat are lavish, exuberant celebrations of four day events to showcase their leaders, define their ideology and confirm their candidates for president and vice president.
Somewhere amid all of the blowing horns, balloons and wacky outfits will be Congresswoman Maxine Waters, arguably the most powerful Black elected official in America. In some way shape or form she will be impacting the most significant decisions the Democrats make.
For more than 40 years and 33 years in the United States House of Representatives, “Auntie” Maxine Waters, as she is so affectionately hailed by her legions of constituents, has proved that without her so much would be lost.
Whether she was advocating for $10 billion in funding for Section 8 when that program faced dire circumstances; or securing $50 million in funding for Youth Fair Chance; the $400 million for Minority Aids Funding or the $6 billion for Neighborhood Stabilization.
She has always been at the forefront of what is best for the communities she serves.
As a citizen we are always hopeful and prayerful public servants will influence legislation for us that will provide healthcare, affordable food and housing, good paying jobs, funding for small business, safe communities and safe places for our children to be educated.
In our divided political universe today many of us are torn or swayed by propaganda that our system of governance is failing us, accusing our elected officials as out of touch and not adhering to our concerns.
This frightening persuasion plays right into the hands of those that denied Blacks voting rights to begin with and now this rhetoric fueled through networks, social media, podcast and streaming platforms want us to be so discouraged that we just say to hell with all of it and not exercise the most powerful tool (THE RIGHT TO VOTE) at our disposal and suffer our ultimate demise.
That is why leadership is paramount. Some perceive leadership as some fancy title that is only available to the chosen elite, but real leadership is demonstrated by the actions and deeds of the individual elected to serve.
Trusted and reliable leaders advocate for what is right, even when contrary to members of their own political party.
Such was the case when Waters learned California Governor Gavin Newsom had released his budget for the state without any funding Martin Luther King Community Hospital which was on the brink of closing yet again.
Fumed, Waters encountered Newsom at an event and cornered him about the MLKCH dilemma.
In a letter sent to Newsom, Waters appealed; “I call on you as the Governor of the Great State of California to reverse your decision of 2022 and immediately support legislation that will adjust MLKCH’s supplemental funding methodology to include outpatient services, including the approximately 125,000 ED services provided by the hospital every year. This will cost an estimated $25 million per year. More importantly, it will save countless lives.”
Newsom had previously vetoed Assemblymember Mike Gipson (Carson) AB 2426 to expand MLKCH’s supplemental funding in order to cover hospital-based outpatient services provided in the emergency department. The bill provided MLKCH approximately $25-$30 million in additional funds annually.
Not long after Waters sent a letter to Newsom on June 14, Newsom reversed course and signed off the legislation to fund MLKCH.
It was a gangsta move as we say in the hood, and copied on the letter was all of the community stakeholders which included:
Dr. Elaine Batchlor, CEO, MLK Community Healthcare Assemblyman Mike Gipson
County Supervisor Hilda Solis, 1st District
County Supervisor Holly Mitchell, 2nd District
County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, 3rd District
County Supervisor Janice Hahn, 4th District
County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, 5th District
Los Angeles City Councilmember Tim McOskar, District 15 LAUSD Board Member Tanya Ortiz Franklin, District 7 Compton Mayor Emma Sharif
Mr. John Baackes, CEO, LA Care Health Plan
Ms. Wajeha A. Bilal, Founder, Build Plus Community Marketplace
Dr. David Carlisle, President and CEO, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and
Science
Rev. Timothy Coston, Jr., Senior Pastor, Grant AME Church
Ms. Robin Daniels, CEO, Sisters of Watts
Rev. Dr. Sonja R. Dawson, Senior Pastor. New Mount Calvary Missionary Baptist
Church
Mr. Ryan Ferguson, Manager, Government and Community Relations-LA South, Kaiser
Permanente Watts Medical Offices and Watts Counseling and Learning Center Mr. John Jones, III, President and Co-Founder, East Side Riders Bike Club
Mr. Donny Joubert, President, Watts Gang Taskforce
Ms. Yumi Kawasaki, Principal, Edwin Markham Middle School
Ms. Olusheyi Lawoyin, COO, Watts Healthcare Corporation
Ms. Elsa Madrid, Principal, Maxine Waters Employment Preparation Center Dr. Cynthia Mendenhall, Founder and President, Chosen Angels Inc.
Rev. Kenneth Miller, Senior Pastor, Hays Tabernacle CME Church
Rev. Dr. Ivan Pitts, Macedonia Baptist Church
Mr. Brandon “Stix” Salaam-Bailey, Founder and CEO, Think Watts
Ms. Dolores Sheen, Founder, Sheenway School and Culture Center
Mr. Aqeela Sherrills, Co-Founder, Community Based Public Safety Collective Rev. Robert Taylor, President, Watts Area Ministers
Mr. Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith, CEO, Top Dawg Entertainment
Mr. Tim Watkins, CEO, WLCAC
Ms. Autumn Ybarra, Watts/Century Latino Organization
“This unique hospital serves some of the poorest and sickest people in the State of California and perhaps the entire country. Our community depends on MLKCH, and we cannot allow it to close,” Waters wrote.
Waters was just warming up after the victory for MLKCH, she then turned her attention to the City of Inglewood in her Congressional District.
According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, and confirmed by Waters in an interview with South Bay Black Journal, Waters is now objecting to Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts most prominent projects, The People Mover (ITC), a $2-billion transportation line that would link SoFi Stadium to one of Los Angeles’ newest rail lines (K-Line).
“It will not provide convenient connectivity to employment or public services for local residents,” she said. “The ITC is designed primarily to allow public transit users to connect the extra 1.6 miles from Metro’s K Line to sports and entertainment venues. Shuttle buses could most likely accomplish the same goal at a fraction of the cost, but have not been seriously considered as an alternative,” Waters told the Times.
In affirming her commitment to prevent the project from going forward, Waters stated:
“To the degree that I can do anything to stop it, I will do it,” she said Wednesday. “It’s a project that has turned out to be totally unnecessary and totally much too costly.”
“The ITC threatens to exacerbate this crisis by displacing long-time Inglewood residents and small and minority-owned businesses and diverting resources away from some of the most urgent needs of the local communities in my district,” she wrote.
The four-term mayor has courted billionaires and inked deals to build SoFi Stadium and Intuit Dome that have transformed his community.
As one might expect, Butts was not happy about Waters’ position.
“You can’t come in at the 11th hour with a little fairy tale story about how something is so terrible,” he said. The letter was “ill-conceived” and many of the points “fully invalid,” Butts told The Times that Waters did not reach out to him to discuss the matter.
However, this is what leadership is all about, challenging the most powerful within your own party with conviction.
These individuals wake up with a strategy to improve the lives of their constituents and everyday Americans and they go to sleep contemplating what more can be done.
Explore the entire political universe from the local, to the state upward to the federal level and few have been as reliable as Maxine Waters.
The sacrifices that she makes has threatened her mere existence as assassination attempts have put her life and the safety of her family in constant jeopardy.
Whether it’s being at the forefront during civil unrest in Los Angeles or the brutal police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota, we can always count on Maxine Waters being in the middle of the fight. In a sense she’s like Mike Tyson in his heyday, always menacing and going towards the opponent with intentions of securing victory by any means necessary.
