4/12/9  There are still some real men left in Dallas.

In The word 'shakedown' left trade hub developer, southern Dallas leaders in a dust-up(DallasNews.com, Kevin Krause and Gromer Jeffers, 4/12/9), the Dallas Managed News follows-up on another Jim Schutze story, Congresswoman Calls Out John Wiley Price for Shaking Down Development Deal (DallasObserver.com, Jim Schutze, 12/10/8).   Actually, Schutze's 12/10/8 report is one of a series on the shakedown saga related to the inland port being developed by Richard Allen, including Dallas News - What's Commish John Wiley Price's Real Beef With the Inland Port? (DallasObserver.com, Jim Schutze, 12/10/8). 

Most liberals like Jim Schutze have trouble believing that anyone of color is capable of being duplicitous or crooked.  Most liberals don't respect minorities and think non-whites aren't smart enough to think of malfeasance without the manipulation of a superior White guy steering them in the wrong direction.  There was a time when Jim fit right in with most liberals in thinking along those lines.  He's come a long way, Baby!

When a writer takes on Commissioner John Wiley Price, he's either too new to town to know better, too dumb to back away or just fed up with ignoring the problem.  Schutze is hardly new to town and he's not dumb, so he must be in the fed up category.  Makes him a real man.

Richard Allen and his Inland Port's conflicts with John Wiley Price and State Senator Royce West and other African-American "leaders" must have pushed Schutze into the "fed up" category.  Schutze's inland port stories are not like his wonderful stories/commentaries on the Trinity Project.  The Trinity Project stories fit right in with his liberal mindset.  Actually, his stories fit right in with my conservative mindset -- let the river be a river and spend our tax dollars on making our neighborhoods and streets safe.

Taking on a Black elected official does NOT fit with his liberal mindset.  Wanting jobs and better economic opportunities for residents of South Dallas and the southern part of Dallas County does fit in with his liberal mindset.  Fits right in with my conservative mindset, too.

A handful of people in this city use all the rest of us to enrich themselves and maintain the status quo, which equates to squalor in West Dallas and the Southern Sector and overdevelopment in North Dallas.  That would be Our Downtown Betters and their deputies.

No supporter of the Trinity Project myself, my position is based on the expense, danger and impracticality of the scheme.  Some in West Dallas and the Southern Sector oppose it because they do not want the areas south of the Trinity to prosper or become gentrified.  They like being big fish in little ponds. 

Another real man in this town is Councilman Steve Salazar.  He wants new development and businesses in West Dallas.  A handful of local patrons and even elected officials are fearful that any progress in communities like Arcadia Park will dilute their power bases.  They not only don't want Whites moving in and building new homes and businesses, they don't want Blacks for neighbors either.  Salazar wants his community to prosper, whether it helps him politically or not.

Salazar's opponents' patron thinking is the same that makes some elected officials like Commissioner Price and State Senator Royce West fearful of new development and businesses in their districts in the southern part of Dallas County.  Working people are not as impressed with big shots as those who live on the dole provided by politicians.  Price and West are out-dated.

Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson is showing herself to be hip and living in the present and ready for the future.  She is not threatened by new constituents or economic success for her current supporters. 

Richard Allen is the center of the storm between politicians who want growth and improved economic opportunities for their constituents and those who want to keep everyone on the plantation.  Richard Allen certainly qualifies as a real man.  He got hit with the shakedown squad early in his development of the inland port, and he stood firm against them and called them out.  If Allen did anything wrong, it was to apologize for using the "shakedown" word.  He spoke the truth.

Politically correct English is an ever moving target.  Words become un-useable except for some particular groups.  To call someone who is in this country illegally an "illegal immigrant" is accurate, but politically incorrect?  Who cares? 

For the Dallas Managed News to devote a front page story to something so important as a couple of politicians and a handful of their cronies trying to block new 60,000 jobs is significant.  But, to diminish the entire matter to a "dust up" over the politically incorrect use of the word "shakedown" is ludicrous. 

You don't have to be a guy to be a "real man".  Congresswoman Johnson stepped up to the plate and hasn't backed down from West or Price.  Congresswoman Johnson is Black and called the actions of West and Price against Allen a shakedown.  It is no more correct or incorrect for her to use the "shakedown" word in an interview with Jim Schutze, than for Richard Allen to use the same word.

Krause and Jeffers do highlight Senator West's inappropriate involvement in this sordid mess, but it was Jim Schutze who forced the Dallas Managed News to report on this matter at all.

Now, Senator West and Commissioner Price have turned on County Judge Jim Foster with the intent to kick him out in next year's primary.  You need to go to DallasObserver.com and do a search for "Richard Allen".  You will get all of the entries by Schutze.  Read them all.  You will be chilled and angered. 

Later this week, I'm going to write about the late James Murphy, my attorney and my friend.  Murphy was liberal as all get out, but had no problem taking on crooked politicians regardless of their ethnicity or political persuasion.  Murphy was a real man, and Dallas is less with his death.

In the meantime, I hope you will think about politicians you think meet the "real man" test and those who don't.

sb