A Times Editorial

Silence kills race relations

When it comes to racial issues, Largo needs to grow up and act like the third largest city in Pinellas. These days it is coming across like a backwater.

Racial problems have kept the city in the news for months. City Commissioner Charlie Harper seems inclined to lead the city to a new and more enlightened day. But when Harper looks behind him for the rest of the parade, there is no one there. On this issue, residents are silent; other city officials seem to be in hiding.

A Dec. 29 story by Times staff writer Michael Sandler revealed the animosity some minorities feel toward Largo, where only 2 percent of the population is black, as well as the misguided actions and misinformed comments of some city officials.

The city of Largo wraps around a predominantly black neighborhood called Ridgecrest. Despite the symbiosis implied by its location within the "embrace" of Largo, Ridgecrest is not part of the city. It is an unincorporated county enclave, and that is just fine with some Ridgecrest residents who recall past incidents of racial prejudice in Largo -- some of them not so distant.

In the mid 1990s two men alleged discrimination in hiring and unbearable racial harassment in the Largo Fire Department. The city paid the two men to make them go away. More recently, an investigation of a firefighter's publicized comment to her co-workers, "I hate n------," revealed that racist attitudes may run deep in the department. Add to that the city's poor record of hiring and promoting blacks, and a finding by the county's Office of Human Rights that discrimination toward blacks seeking to rent apartments is significant in Largo, and it is clear that the city has a problem, as does any black person seeking to live or work there.

Against that backdrop, Harper, a Largo native elected for the first time last March, made some recommendations. He said the city should adopt a human rights ordinance. He also suggested that the city name a street after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

St. Petersburg and Clearwater have major streets named for the civil rights leader. Even Pinellas cities smaller than Largo, including Tarpon Springs and Safety Harbor, have renamed streets to memorialize King. But Harper's suggestion was met by silence from the six other Largo commissioners.

City Manager Steve Stanton demonstrated his own lack of enlightenment on the issue. "Is there a black neighborhood where you could designate a street? There isn't," he said. "I don't know where you would put it where it would have some significance." It isn't necessary, of course, to find a "black street" to utilize this common method of memorializing a man who was admired by both blacks and whites.

Stanton and other city staff members deflected Harper's efforts and proposed instead a city festival on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. They even decided they would invite Ridgecrest residents to join them. But Ridgecrest has its own longstanding breakfast and march that day and didn't think much of the city's idea to redirect the parade to end at a city recreation center for a "Family Fun Day" that would require attendees to pay a fee for food.

Ridgecrest declined the city's invitation, but invited Largo to their traditional neighborhood celebration. Largo declined the neighborhood's invitation and canceled "Family Fun Day." Stanton noted that no one in the city had requested a King celebration, and he "felt uncomfortable generating this . . ." We wonder why.

Again, the silence from Mayor Bob Jackson and commissioners Pat Burke, Pat Gerard, Jean Halvorsen, Marty Shelby and Harriet Crozier is deafening. Only Harper, a thoughtful and compassionate man who campaigned on a platform of bringing more opportunity to all residents of Largo, is still sticking his neck out, calling publicly for an annual celebration even if only a few people show up at first.

The burden of dragging Largo into the present on racial and ethnic issues should not be Harper's alone. It is shameful that his commission colleagues are not stepping up and speaking out. But if they will not, we hope Ridgecrest residents as well as enlightened residents of Largo will step into the vacuum and join with Harper to do what they can together. King's birthday and February's Black History Month provide some special opportunities to work together on programs and remembrances.

The cause is an important one in today's increasingly diverse world; the effort will not be wasted.

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