Gardner working quietly to get blacks hired but wants Mayor Emanuel to visit sites

By Chinta Strausberg

 

For those who have been asking what will retired business giant Ed Gardner do after holding a successful silent construction protest over the weekend, he is going to invite Mayor Rahm Emanuel to accompany him to these sites so he can see first hand that blacks are a rarity in the workforce.

Gardner said he would invite Mayor Rahm Emanuel to visit several sites so he can see for himself there are no African Americans working on these construction sites.

In an interview with this reporter and with WVON’s Cliff Kelley and later with Mark Wallace, Gardner, who was also on with attorney Sam Adams, Jr. and his partner, Victor P. Henderson, said, “I want the mayor of Chicago and the mayor of Evergreen Park to take two or three days to digest what they saw yesterday and let them realize that Ed Gardner is a kind of unique item at this time, and I want the black community to use it…” to gain attention to the absence of black workers on construction sites.

“Let me continue to do as much as I possibly can in the next 8 to 10 days…” Gardner said he believes whites “may not be able to find enough of us to fill all of the slots that I think are going to wake up as far as construction industry is concerned.”

Friday, September 21, 2012 at around 10:30 a.m. was a wake-up call for the 87-year-old business icon who was driving past a bunch of black men selling drugs along 95^th Street and just blocks further West he drove by a construction site where all the workers were white or Hispanic.

That stark contrast has created a lightening rod that has awaken the sleeping black giant the same giant that in 1983 and 1987 elected the first black mayor…the same giant that wields a $1 trillion buying power in America.

Appearing on WVON’s Cliff Kelley show and later on Mark Wallace’s show, Gardner was asked by a caller why aren’t blacks the recipients of the federal government’s $20 billion to rehab homes in Illinois.

Saying he was not aware of those available dollars, Gardner said, “As we build the strength in our community to control the dollars, then were not going to be recognized as a people who are going to demand those opportunities.” With funding, Gardner said things can change but it is up to elected officials “to make the decisions” so when doors are opened opportunities will be available.

Former U.S. Senator Roland W. Burris said, “Dollars are presented in projects based on the political process. We are not that actively involved in the political process and some of it has to be allocated. The most active minority group in the political process is the Jewish community. They are very active. They put candidates. They put money against candidates. There are certain decisions that are made whether or not it’s a foreign country where you see $40 million you see going some where else or whether it’s a local spending project.”

Burris said when he was in the U.S. Senate, the House of Representatives sent over a bill in 2009 that was for $3 billion for inner city jobs. “The Senate Committee, the Republicans would not even let the bill be heard in committee.”

Trying to overcome that barrier, Burris said he suggested $2 billion, then $1 billion.  However, Burris said the Republicans turned thumbs down on his recommendations.

He said they didn’t want “any dollars spent and the bill didn’t even get a hearing. That’s the political process that took place. In 2009 and 2012, “you didn’t see any of the direct grant money that was trying to make a difference in our community with jobs…because the Republicans wouldn’t let the money come through. It’s just that simple,” said Burris.

Gardner was asked why are so many Hispanics on the construction sites in the black community. He said it is the same reason “you have in some industries the Polish people and the Russian people getting the jobs because they are the ones who take less dollars to do those jobs.”

Gardner said Latinos “are getting that money that they’d never had before to take care of their families. I think it’s up to people in politics to say what can we do to stop…. Do you want immigration to continue or do you not want it to continue? There is some reason why illegal immigration continues in our community.”

He said there are some who are not willing to pay their fair share. Gardner said this has to be resolved by elected officials on the federal level to resolve this problem.

Chinta Strausberg is a Journalist of more than 33-years, a former political reporter and a current PCC Network talk show host. You can e-mail Strausberg at: Chintabernie@aol.com.