Kudos to Dade City Mayor Scott Black for attempting to jump-start a public dialogue on race relations in east Pasco.
Black, during a Dade City Commission meeting Tuesday, proposed resurrecting the Community Alliance, a multiracial citizens panel that helped soothe strained relations between blacks and whites in the late 1980s.
The timing is appropriate. Tension within the community has been high since the May 10 car crash that killed Michael Anthony Reed, who was fleeing from deputies, and the arrest of Reed's pal Alfredie Steele Jr. in the June 1 shooting death of Lt. Charles "Bo" Harrison. Steele's mother said in an interview that her son said he didn't intend for Harrison to be shot. It left unresolved the simmering suspicions that a white officer was the intended target of the sniper's bullet that killed Harrison.
Early talk of a community forum dissipated after Sheriff Bob White began meeting with individual residents on the streets of Lacoochee.
Black's idea of reassembling the alliance has merit as a way to encourage a continuing exchange of information among blacks, whites and Hispanics. A shortcoming of the previous incarnation was that it initially lacked permanent members from the Hispanic community, though it later expanded to include them.
The former Community Alliance operated successfully as a near-autonomous committee of the Greater Dade City Chamber of Commerce. The impetus was the December 1986 violence at Pyracantha Park between black residents and the city's police officers.
Modeled after a successful board in St. Petersburg, the Community Alliance met monthly, held fundraisers, appeared at community functions, and most notably, was a visible conduit for information. The accomplishments were noteworthy:
- A school administrator came to the group to meet with residents after the transfer of a black school principal, intended as career enhancement, had been viewed with community skepticism.
- The alliance attempted to mediate a dispute and promised an economic boycott involving the NAACP and the chamber over the decision not to include a black Santa Claus in the Dade City Christmas parade.
- Group members lobbied successfully for spending nearly $50,000 in federal Community Development money to improve the civic center, playground and other facilities at Pyracantha Park.
Mostly, the alliance attempted to resolve potential disputes before they erupted.
"It was a real calming effect," said Dade City Commissioner Lowell Harris, who was an alliance member. "It's just a matter of getting people from different races who are respected and who can talk and who people will listen to."
Eventually the Community Alliance put itself out of business. The group's successes meant it had fewer problems to tackle and it disbanded.
Though Harrison did not sit on the alliance, he was a visible bridge between the mostly white Sheriff's Office and the black community in east Pasco.
"Bo was one of the best peacemakers we ever had. We'll never be able to replace him," said Harris.
Indeed. His absence makes the alliance's mission that much more imperative.
