He's Baack!

SRB mouthpiece Roland Muhammad ("I say what the mayor can't say") turned up at the first agenda-fixing session of 2014, making more of the sinister innuendos that were his hallmark in the past.

He started out congenially.

"Mr. Reid, stay strong," he began. "We got some rough days ahead."

Turning sentimental, he adressed Councilwoman Gloria Taylor with reminiscences of being her student at Hubbard School.

"I like to talk about our youth," he said. "When I was coming up, we had places to go."

Now, he said, there is only one center that's free, which is Hannah Atkins. But he recalled the Neighborhood House, Second Street Youth Center, a facility on Plainfield Avenue and Grant Avenue Community Center.

Next, he turned to Mayor Adrian O. Mapp.

"I say, Mr. Mayor, invest in our youth. We will be your conscience. We got work to do."

Warming up, he said, "It really feels good to be up here."

But he warned, "Do you want what happened in the sixties? Youth today don't fear death."

Speaking louder, he said, "They want a job!"

He said the name "Muhammad" means war and added, "We are going to war with those who are not with us."

My Commentary

First of all, the name Muhammad and its variations means "praiseworthy," according to various sources.

Secondly, while sticking up for Dave Wynn and recreation during the past administration, Muhammad frequently used "we" to indicate a base but did not define who "we" are, except to berate council members for not going to the Fourth Ward as often as he felt they should.

Muhammad often harks back to the old Plainfield, but it is no longer a black and white community. Census figures show a 67 percent increase in Hispanics since 2000. The Latino voice is one that is largely missing from public comment at council and Town Hall meetings, but if there is to be one Plainfield someday, the "we" must include all the city's ethnic and racial groups.

Muhammad has every  right to his time at the microphone during public meetings and no doubt he intends to make himself heard. But what's with the constant "we" stuff? He lives in the First Ward but claims to represent the Fourth Ward. I for one would like to hear more from everybody about the city's future, and I don't think preaching war is going to get it.

--Bernice

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