By Kenneth Miller, Publisher of the South Bay Black Journal
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 Republicans and Democrats 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 (33 years in the United States House of Representatives), “Auntie” Maxine Waters, as she is so affectionately hailed by her legions of constituents, has proven 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 citizens, we are always hopeful and prayerful that our public servants will influence legislation on our behalf 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.
However, in today’s divided political universe, many of us are torn or swayed by propaganda to believe that our system of governance is failing us. As a result, we accuse our elected officials of being out of touch and not adhering to our concerns.
These persuasive but frightening perceptions play right into the hands of those that denied Blacks voting rights. This rhetoric, fueled by broadcast networks, social media, podcasts and streaming platforms, can lead us to be so discouraged that we just say “to hell with all of it” and not exercise the most powerful difference making tool at our disposal: THE RIGHT TO VOTE, 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 individuals elected to serve.
Trusted and reliable leaders advocate for what is right, even when contradicted by 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 for the Martin Luther King Community Hospital (MLKCH), which was on the brink of closing yet again.
Fuming, 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)’s 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 were a long list of community stakeholders including:
- 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 one of 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 have threatened her mere existence as assassination attempts have placed 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.
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Stacy M. Brown is an NNPA Newswire Correspondent