When Senator Ed Markey came to Everett last Sunday early on the day of the Super Bowl, hundreds of Haitian residents crowded into the church on the parkway to hear what he had to say.
Missing from the great crowd on hand to kick -off Black History Month was our mayor, Carlo DeMaria.
He should have been there out of respect for Senator Markey at the very least and out of respect to the city’s large Haitian population whose representation at the event was something to behold.
The mayor might have attended to show respect to the city’s first black woman city councilor at large Gerly Adrien. Adrien brought Markey to the gathering, which she publicly announced earlier in the week.
Perhaps the mayor stayed away because he quite frankly doesn’t care about one of the city’s largest minority groups as much as attending whatever Super Bowl Sunday affair he graced with his presence.
Maybe he stayed at home.
Maybe he was out of town.
Couldn’t he have sent his chief of staff to represent as he tends to do so often?
The mayor’s hiring record for people of color is abysmal.
We recently reported that there might be three or four city employees of color at city hall.
That’s clearly an outrage.
Citywide employment is worse for minorities.
I voted NO two times during the last City Council Meeting. Let me explain why.
I have a great concern about how our City Councilors see their role as an Everett City Councilor. I do not think they understand they are supposed to PROTECT Everett residents instead of putting them in harms way and making sure that how City Hall operates is fair to all residents.
I seriously question if my colleagues understand what it means to be a City Councilor and to act independently when it came to the Exxon
Another outrage.
During his ten years as mayor, the mayor has resisted the imperatives of the changing working class, immigrant city.
He has failed to hire the percentage of minorities required at this point– and it shows.
In today’s politically correct environment, his resistance to hiring more people of color and ethnicity to city positions is almost a criminal act, and is not looked upon as proper or right by groups aiming for social justice, opportunity and equality for the city’s minority people.
It is an ongoing embarrassment.
The mayor was not missed. He simply wasn’t there.
Maybe he didn’t want to show respect to Councilor at Large Adrien who comported herself with great dignity and respect, introducing Senator Markey.
Markey made a great speech.
The mayor should have been there.
He wasn’t. He was absent from the church Sunday as he is absent from his office at city hall nearly every day.
We urge him to show respect to the city’s minorities by hiring them to city jobs and by attending events for Black History Month.
To do otherwise reflects very poorly on the mayor, and on the city he leads as well.