Picture of Black man in state of the city address vanishes for ‘Sunday Morning Coffee’ social media broadcast
By JOSH RESNEK
At the top end of the mayor’s state of the city address last week, he spoke about diversity.
He was positioned behind his desk in a smart sweater, shirt, and tie, with an array of photographs on the table behind the desk for all to see.
One of the photographs behind him on the table was no- table – the portrait of a Black man that some must have assumed was a young Martin Luther King or the founder of Black History Month.
His public relations handlers must have thought the photograph of a Black man on the table behind the mayor for all to see watching the state of the city address was the right thing to do for the mayor’s ratings.
That photograph was noticeably missing from the table behind the mayor’s desk when he did a three-minute video several days later which his public relations handlers called “Sunday Morning Coffee.”
Where did the photograph of that Black man go? is what many have asked since the airing of that program?
The photograph of the Black man, according to sources, was placed behind the mayor on the table behind his desk for all to see by his handlers.
“It’s good to have a photograph of a Black man behind you for everyone to see while you’re talking about diversity,” is apparently what was suggested to the mayor before the address.
Given the mayor’s devoutly racist tendencies towards Blacks and browns living in the city, and atop of his lack of interest in hiring people of color and ethnicity to the city workforce, the photograph of a Black man behind him in such a public place must have been considered a piece of public relations genius.
“You know that photograph wasn’t the mayor’s,” said a source. “It was placed there by someone else but only with his approval.”
The bald-faced hypocrisy and disingenuousness of the placement of that photo of a Black man behind him is eclipsed by his stunningly empty rap about him seeking diversity in his address to the city.
Everett’s rate of Black and brown employment in the city’s 1,000-person employee force under the mayor’s leadership is estimated at 5% or less.
Many wonder, where has that photograph of a Black man gone?
Some say it has gone back to a storage locker where it will come to be used as a background prop in the mayor’s next address about diversity.
“I don’t believe it is a part of his personal collection,” said a local businessman who knows the mayor well about the photo of the Black man that was used.