Markeshia Ricks Photo
Attorney Patricia Kane and Alder Richard Furlow have words Monday.
What might have been a routine resolution recognizing the death of a well-known former resident touched a nerve at Monday’s Board of Alders meeting.
Alders voted unanimously in favor of a resolution “expressing condolences on the passing of the 41st President of The United States and former New Haven resident the honorable George H.W. Bush and expressing gratitude for his positive contributions to our nation and the world.” (Click here to read the full resolution.)
They made that vote with the subtle sound of hisses from some audience members, many gathered to see what the board would do about an ordinance that would create a civilian review board. Several said they were shocked to realize that alders were voting for such a proposal.
Attorney Patrica Kane let Majority Leader Richard Furlow have it afterward.
She pointed out that Bush had a less than stellar reputation when it came to communities of color, noting the Bush won the presidency after infamously invoked the case of an African-American rapist released on furlough, “Willie” Horton, in campaign attack ads against Democrat Michael Dukakis.
“I’m surprised a board with this much diversity would vote for such a resolution,” she said. “Bush opposed civil rights. He was against funding for AIDS research. You can’t whitewash history.” (Click here for a look at aspects of Bush’s record not invoked in this week’s tributes.)
Furlow cited the routine nature of the resolution. Kane was having none of that.
“It looks like you don’t know history,” she said.
Furlow excused himself from the conversation shortly after that. He said a little later that he wasn’t going to argue about racism with someone who has never experienced it. Furlow is black; Kane is white.
“It infuriates me that anyone dares approach me about civil rights,” he said. “My parents marched with Martin Luther King.”
Furlow said he remembers the first time the n‑word was lobbed at him. He was a child and his mother had to explain what it meant and also tell him that it wasn’t who he was.
“The ones who have so much to say have no idea what it means to be a person of color,” he said. “They have no idea what it feels like.”
President Pro Tem and Dixwell Alder Jeanette Morrison said that she signed on to the resolution because it is a courtesy that political bodies often offer to the families of other politicians. She said she hopes one day someone would do the same for her two children should she pass away, regardless of how they felt about her politics.
“It’s called being human,” she said.
Bush died Friday at age 94. His formative years were spent in Connecticut. His father was a U.S. senator for the Nutmeg State. And like his father Bush, graduated from Yale University and went into politics, eventually being elected to Congress. He also ran the CIA. He became vice president in the 1980 election and then the 41st president in 1988.