10/27/2024
Yes we do need more black businesses in Kankakee County and to do so we have to hold black gate keepers accountable and we can start with our civil rights organizations- They raise money but never tell us what they are doing with our money! Transparency can start with National Urban League, , PUSH, NAACP, ACLU . Black Lives Matter -Never any real accountability to the public or what the money is for and are there projects or programs or scholarships. Riding on the legacy of women and men who have fought the real battles for equal rights and opportunities and using donations as a 'Money Grab" is not going to continue to go unreported. There is no excuse for this disrespectful behavior and if calling those out for this is the best way to end it, so be it. Crying fake tears about the lack of jobs and the poor situations lived by our black children is a form of evil when these same so called leaders look the other way when city officials continue to not hire black contractors or do meaningful business with black owned firms.. Blaming our white neighbors for this is not the answer especially, like in School District # 111 when the majority of the board is African American and over $155,000.000 is spent yearly and not one penny is spent with black vendors. I know District #111 Board President Dennis Norden and he is no racist, the fault rests with his board! To be sure we as people are proud that both Walters and Gathings have facilities named for them, however, over $47,000,000 was paid contractors for those facilities and nothing went to black contractors, why? The same kinds of unequal opportunities now find themselves present with the Kankakee City Council where there is no spending with African American firms, why? We in Kankakee County have a public health agency that has not one African American employee, why? Silence on these important matters results in no corrections. It took former Kankakee Alderman Hunter and myself over one year to convince the City of Kankakee's engineering firm to hire just one intern, why? Why aren't our pastors of all races locally avoiding addressing this disparity in opportunities and we all know that jobs are the factors that impact the families and the quality of life for our children. As for Taylor Publications Inc. we long ago made "our bones" here and we are pleased to pass on the legacy of our works to our future generation but we won't move on without calling it like it is for the future generations of our friends and neighbors and their children. This county has been run by a white media that has robbed the African American community of it's soul and now here comes a replacement. We will watch with candid eyes the role that Shaw Media selects to take and challenge them where possible should they decide business and usual.
As the largest, locally owned newspaper in Kankakee County it is our obligation to be responsible to all the communities of this county and we will do just that! We have brought into this community some of our staff from our other publications and we will assign them to investigate those agencies and organizations that have in the past appear to have abused their positions of authority to the negative impact on our communities and those include the Kankakee County Housing Authority, the Metro Bus, Kankakee County Health Department, Kankakee County Sheriff's Department as well as all other law enforcements in Kankakee County.
