So, my after the fact impressions of the @CityOfIowaCity council work session from 7/7 is brought to by a random Greentea Peng playlist on Youtube.
#iowacity

I want to focus on the exchange between the Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem re: IFR's "seat at the table."

First a recap. The exchange opens with Councilor Salih's insistence that IFR representatives be brought into the council discussions re: the 17 point resolution, since it was, after all, their demands that formed the basis of and impetus for that resolution. (yeah, sure)

The mayor counters that he's not comfortable with having them directly involved, and adds, "I love and respect them for getting the ball moving... IFR is only one portion [of the black community]... we have Black Voices Project, we have many other individuals and groups that...

...we may not even know about." Then later, after a few asides, "I don't believe Iowa Freedom Riders has been that elected person..." (! - an interesting slip) "...to represent all black people... we welcome conversation with IFR, we welcome conversation with Black Voices...

...Project, and whoever else is out there... IFR can contribute through any conversations 1 on 1, and I am also dedicated to ensuring they're on any of these committees... but when we're talking about council decisions, I don't think that is appropriate at this time."

Before we get to Salih's response, there's quite a bit to unpack there that I don't feel contemporary reporting did justice to. First, "I love and respect them for getting the ball moving..." this right here is how they try to defang any radical movement. I know, because...

...I've had this attempted on myself and my comrades in the past. I recall from the housing justice working group days how a certain representative of a certain "affordable housing coalition" started showing up to our meetings only when we had finally gotten meetings with...

...the mayor and councilors. They immediately tried to dominate the conversation and insisted that "our role" was to do all the work of increasing public pressure for housing needs, so that their group could be in a position to craft policy--i.e. make all the actual decisions.

The others were too polite to call this person out, but since I happen to loath them, and because it was my meeting and agenda, I called out their bullshit and noted how they want us to do all the actually organizing work while they reap the benefits. This is precisely what...

...the mayor (and Taylor and Mims, who used him as cover) are trying to do to IFR: let them be involved, but only insofar as their input has no direct impact on the final decisions being made.

Next we have the rather telling "no one elected them king of all back people."

True, I guess, but that also wouldn't be true of the mayor either. He may think he's more representative of the black community, and yet he certainly doesn't seem all that representative of the protesters, whose demands to be more intimately involved in the decision making...

...process repeatedly get shot down. And shunting IFR and their representatives into "these committees" is simply a ploy to dilute their influence to such an extent that it can be safely ignored. Like the person in my meeting, established institutions don't want to cede power...

...to any newcomer, regardless of how relevant their needs and demands are. You might not believe it, but this is ultimately done out of fear. This attempt to preserve an existing institutional framework, to hold onto "the way things are done," is the result of having been...

...genuinely shook from without. And this is where I have to be critical of how IFR has proceeded in the past few weeks, since the resolution was adopted. By unilaterally removing themselves from the streets, where their base of power lies, they've given those existing...

...institutions, that, let's be real, weren't about any of this till the protests forced their hand, time and space to retrench and rein in those outside forces they can't otherwise control. IFR are letting themselves be jerked around, and it breaks my heart, because they are...

...are what this city needs, not more of the same muddle of interest groups and local political actors who have done NOTHING over the years.

Back to recap. Salih, as seems to be her remit these days, points out the obvious in response, that whenever large scale projects...

...have been brought to council in the past (e.g. the Bike Master Plan), they've worked directly with the interest group that brought it to them in the first place. So, she wonders why they can't do the same thing with IFR, since it was their demands that brought them here.

The mayor then goes on to demonstrate his own ignorance and assumes that the Bike Master Plan was developed in some broad way he envisions but never articulates. It'd be nice if people actually listened to Salih more closely; often their questions have already been answered.

Her WHOLE POINT was that it wasn't developed broadly but in coordination with one particular interest group. I can practically feel her frustration sometimes.

The mayor adds, "I'm black..." (uh, so is the person criticizing you) "...these things are important to me." (Not...

...important enough, apparently, to be anywhere on his agenda prior to the protests)

And what's incredibly annoying is how the Mayor using his blackness to deflect from the criticisms of a black woman (and the black youth she's advocating for) is how it then gives cover to...

...Mims' and Taylor's reactionary bullshit. I would think a black man would be taken aback by being supported against a black woman's concerns by Susan fucking Mims, the same person who had no qualms about screwing over the mostly black and brown residents of Rose Oaks in 2016.

Finally, I'm starting to get a clearer picture of Mayor Teague, and I can't say I like what I see. His instincts seem to lead him toward unnecessary, conciliatory gestures that, in effect if not intent, muddy the waters so much that hardly anything meaningful is accomplished.

It's especially disconcerting that, as Mayor, he seems to have no understanding of the history underlying any of these issues. Councilor Salih regularly schools him on things he clearly doesn't know. And that's bad, because, as mayor, he has power over the process that others...

...do not. If he wants to exclude IFR from direct involvement in council decisions, that's perfectly within his authority. That he doesn't seem to understand how he wields this power willy nilly is incredibly disturbing.