PINKY MODESTE: Reader digs deeper into Sunday newspaper

Much to some of my friends’ disgust, I am an avid reader of The Albany Herald and the Southwest Georgian. I scan from front to back and then go back and read the important stuff, starting with the Squawkbox, to which I am a frequent contributor. There have been many times I wanted to bark as my late husband (Leon) did for years, but I have held my peace, venting only to my politically active sister in Florida, until I read the Sunday, March 4, 2018 newspaper.

Page One – headline: “DCSS Acts Without Board Approval.” Come on people! Personally, I never heard of Dr. Dickey, but the awarding of his contract is nothing new. Unless state procurement rules have changed, Dr. Dickey’s contract was awarded under the rules of “sole source.” Something this local government has been doing for at least the 18 years I’ve lived here. If you do not believe it, ask your purchasing director (city, county or school board) to give you a breakdown of the professional services contracts that have been awarded because that vendor was the “only” one qualified to provide the requested services. Careful, you may give Mr. King ammunition for even more lawsuits. I double-dog dare you! Moving on to point two because this one is a moot point.

Page two – Squawkbox: Contributor, a 79-year-old person from Baker County who “never heard of anybody saying black people were not allowed to stand tall and look a white person in the face.” To you I say God bless you because you have been bamboozled for 79 years. Or maybe just privileged! I’m 66 years old from Leon County, Florida, and all my life I’ve known that “ understood rule.” Black folks taught it to their children for survival. Now, black people teach their black sons how to respond to the police for survival. We were also taught not to “eyeball” or stand over a white man. My God, I pray no black child is being taught that nonsense anymore. If anything, teach him to stand taller than tall and speak clearly and distinctly. Except, of course, for that lingering ugly understood rule that history has determined applies to some more than others: If you are stopped by someone who has the power to take your life and then go, “Oops … I thought he had a …”

Page three — “McCoy Appointment Not Yet Made:” Come on people, please let this go! Mike McCoy is already doing the job and has been doing it, including the time during which Richard Crowdis was out with the storm. Richard endorsed Mike as his successor. Anybody who knows Richard knows he was not a rubber-stamp administrator. We all know this is about Mike and John; it’s personal. Both hold professional positions representing taxpayers. They don’t have to love each other, just show professional courtesy. They have two choices: Go to the altar, repent and ask for forgiveness or both of them can save the rest of us reading time, resign and move to Baker County. White people do not sit there and talk about how black people always fight among themselves. It happens with you, too.

Page seven — Cindi did a good job encouraging minority women by sharing the stories of remarkable women, and then my smile fades a bit with Page 10 and the Debutantes. Beautiful young women. Just all white. In a couple of months, another group of beautiful young women, all black, will appear in the other paper I mentioned. Lord help us! Are we ever going to mend the fence?

Mid-term elections are coming up. If you really want to change things, vote effective people in and ineffective people out!

Pinky Modeste in the spirit of my Moe, Leon Modeste.

Pinky Modeste retired from Dougherty County, where she was the first director of the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization for the city of Albany, Dougherty County, the Water, Gas & Light Commission, Dougherty County Schools and Albany Tomorrow. She now serves as the CEO for the Modeste Foundation for a Better Tomorrow, a 501(3)(C) nonprofit organization established to address all aspects of cultural diversity through workshops, seminars and training. Modeste is a doctoral student in the B.C. Graham Theological Seminary. Email: [email protected].