“These people aren’t playing the right way in my sandbox. They’ll pay the price” – The mayor, as quoted to Josh Resnek by the Blue Suit
By JOSH RESNEK
‘What did the mayor think about the protest for Gerly Adrien held out in front of city hall Monday night?” I asked the Blue Suit.
“You can’t be serious? It drove him crazy. He was out of
his mind they didn’t want him to speak. He knew he had to be there but he really didn’t want to be seen or to mix it up. In any other city in the entire Northeast, the mayor would have thought a protest for equality and against racism would have brought the mayor to the protest to spread himself around,
to meet and greet and to act like the leader of the city and to prove mainly that he is not a racist. Not Carlo. You know what he did?”
“Yeah. I saw him wearing you, hiding out in the shadows like a doorman to the side of city hall’s front entrance. Senator Sal stood by his side. He didn’t make an effort to engage, either – but I know they are two different people – very different,” I answered. “Sal has no problem with racism because he’s not a racist. Sal was trying to lend support, a bit like the president’s friends assuring Trump that he didn’t lose the election – even though he knows the election has been lost.”
“Boy. You’re right about that, Josh,” the Blue Suit said to me.
“This racism stuff against Gerly really gets me down,” the Blue Suit added thoughtfully. “Can you imagine? The mayor had not a word to say about Gerly being attacked by the City Councilors. I always believed he was bigger than that…but I know he isn’t.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
The Blue Suit explained.
“The mayor doesn’t get it. He stood there all that time and wished he were someplace else – anyplace but there with a bunch of Black people complaining they are being toyed with by the “old boy” all-white government that the mayor leads and which we know he controls. He just doesn’t care for Black people and for aggressive Black women. Did you see his reaction when some of the speakers called for him to resign or to be thrown out?”
“Yeah,” I said.
“He clapped his hands as though cheering to show his solidarity with the crowd. I don’t think that worked. I don’t believe anyone cared he was there. No one wanted him to speak. Those people who gathered in front of city hall to defend Gerly don’t care about Carlo. They didn’t come up to him and thank him for being there. They didn’t care about him being there. They don’t care about him period. They don’t think his administration is fair or just to Black people and browns and ethnicities living in the city. You know what? They’re right one thousand percent.”
“I know. I know,” the Blue Suit repeated. “It’s so depressing.
“I heard him talking on his cell while the protest was going on. What things he had to say about it.”
“OK. Let’s not hold back. Tell me what he said,” I urged the Blue Suit.
“Here’s a couple of choice bits and pieces I heard,” said the Blue Suit.
“He told someone on the cell with him that ‘it’s just a bunch of Blacks acting up. I’m the mayor. They have no power. The protest ends and I remain standing and they are nothing. Gerly will be gone soon enough. I’ll get rid of her. You can bet on it,’” I heard him say, the Blue Suit told me.
The Blue Suit said the mayor told someone he was speaking with on the cell phone “that he was going to have the city hall plaza area in front of the hall steam cleaned after everyone left. He laughed about that. He can be so crude at a times,” the Blue Suit told me.
“I believe your owner is underestimating the power of minorities to defeat sitting mayors and congressmen these days,” I said to the Blue Suit.
“You think so, Josh?” he answered sarcastically.
“When the crowd was chanting Black Like Me and shouting, ‘throw them out. Remove them all from office,’ the mayor was disgusted. He can’t stand the Black Like Me chant. He thinks it’s ridiculous.”
“How do you know this?” I asked the Blue Suit.
“Because I know him better than anyone. I am closer to him than anyone. How he thinks affects me. What he eats can send me to the cleaners. When he gets violent, I run the risk of being torn and shredded. You think it’s easy being the mayor’s Blue Suit?”
“He’s a hater and he’s pretty open about it with his friends. After this protest, the hate he has for Gerly has gone through the roof. It’s as if his blood pressure went to 200 over 200. He senses Gerly is a threat. He senses that large protests like Monday’s by Blacks all straining to have the city to change to reflect their presence and their growing power is not good for him. But he doesn’t understand that these people if made angry enough, can bring him down and the city government with it,” said the Blue Suit.
“He’s power-hungry and power-drunk and he’s a hater. I have to tell you; he sees by color and rules by color. The women and men who spoke against racism Monday night in front of city hall said they are done with him and done with Everett’s racism. These are not the type of residents who sit idly by while the mayor holds the color of their skin against them. He needs to understand this is the new wave. He met the future last night in front of city hall but didn’t recognize it. In the city he so often claims to own he was the outsider Monday night at a protest where he should have been the keynote speaker,” said the Blue Suit.
The Blue Suit seemed deflated.
“Are you OK?” I asked.
“How can I be OK? I have an owner who has no use for Black people in a city that is mainly minority. Carlo is los- ing touch. The anti-racism rally in front of city hall Monday proves that.”
“Do you think he’ll change?” I asked of Carlo. “Impossible,” said the Blue Suit.