Morris Brown College Debt - The Discombobulation Of Black Moral Outrage

AJC: College owes Atlanta $380,00 for water service; judge to hear case Friday

Morris Brown: School will close if water isn’t restored

Morris Brown College has asked a Fulton County judge to force Atlanta to restore its water service or the 127-year-old historically black institution will have to close.

Judge Henry Newkirk is scheduled to hear the colleges’s request for a temporary restraining order Friday morning.

The fight with Morris Brown is the latest facing the city’s Department of Watershed Management as the agency tries to collect about $37 million it says it is owed by about 25 large customers.

Morris Brown is one of those customers, owing Atlanta about $380,000. Some of the debt is five years old.

Watershed Management spokeswoman Janet Ward declined to comment Wednesday on the Morris Brown suit because the matter is pending in court.

College spokeswoman Bunnie Jackson Ransom also declined to comment Wednesday evening.

Atlanta City Council member Ceasar Mitchell, who serves on the Morris Brown Board of Directors, said he was surprised by the filing of the lawsuit Wednesday.

“This is news to me,” Mitchell said, adding he has tried to “facilitate a conversation between city of Atlanta officials and Morris Brown officials.”

“I hope that can still happen,” Mitchell said.

On Dec. 12, the last day of the fall semester, the city told the school to pay the $380,000 debt in full immediately or its water service would be terminated. The water was turned off three days later.

Now, the college is taking an approach to restoring its water that’s similar to that of another big customer, the Task Force for the Homeless.

The city turned off water to the huge downtown shelter Dec. 2 because the facility owed $160,000. But several hours later, Fulton County Judge T. Jackson Bedford ordered water service restored as long as the shelter made scheduled payments.

The shelter paid $8,035 by a court-imposed deadline of Dec. 22 and is to make another payment, for $7,675.58, on Monday.

Morris Brown, in court papers filed Wednesday, said the loss of water service has crippled its efforts to recover financially.

“The interruption of water service has caused MBC to be unable to go forward with its fund-raising efforts to repair the school’s financial situation,” the school said in the document.

I know of no other people who make such heavy use of "moral outrage" than do my people.

• "People over profits"
• "Money should be no object to SOCIAL JUSTICE
  

The list goes on and on.

For the activist making this call - the deep pockets or statutory obligations borne by the subject of his attack provides him with this moral leverage to make his stand.

As long as the victim of his attack is a corporation or enemy government or faceless wealthy person - all is well. Taking them for all that they are worth (or all that their lawyers say is rationale for them to ask for - with his 33% take in mind) is morally justified.

"The threat of the loss of great sums of money promotes corrective behavior" after all.

The worst possible scenario for the activist to be confronted with is a situation where there are two "allies" involved on each end and an attack upon either of them present a conflict to their normal tactics. The Morris Brown issue is one such issue.

On the one hand there is Morris Brown University. This 127 year old institution is the only college in the state of Georgia that was founded by Black people. The AME church specifically.

On the other hand there is the City of Atlanta government. The government is already in debt by a considerable amount. In response to this massive debt - the mayor - a progressive Democrat, has asked all of her revenue fund controlling commissioners to double down upon their accounts receivable balances, putting pressure upon the "dead beats" who owe the city money.

What is the activist to do?

In asking the city for forbearance in order to save this HBCU that is teetering on the edge they only bring the city itself closer to insolvency.

In standing resolute behind the city which is struggling to maintain the provision of services to its constituency - yet another HBCU which is so critical to their activist base would close its doors for good.

Normally such a conundrum would force the activists to "expand the crime scene tape". They would turn to the corporate community in Atlanta and Georgia questioning their commitment to the education of African-American students who walk in the shadows of their corporate towers. With so many of these firms experiencing their own financial challenges - there are limited funds to pay the basic bills of another institution, regardless of how important it is to the community.

Where does this leave us?

Morris Brown is a historically Black college. Like it or not the heightened value of this institution is confined within the Black community. The people who are inclined to send their children there. The people who are inclined to visit their home coming parade. The people who are inclined to have pride in their hearts that "Black people founded this place" during a time when IF THEY DIDN'T DO IT.......NO ONE ELSE WOULD DO IT".

The two tracks of the resolution is as follows:

• Lean on the broad Black community, many of whom have tight budgets, to donate a little bit of money. A lot of people giving a little bit of money.
• Lean on selected Black people who have "more money than any one person needs to live upon".
  

(No surprise) I will choose to focus on the second category.

It is so clear to me that "When the time is right for BLACK PEOPLE TO ACTUALLY ENFORCE SOCIALISM upon its own people"..........the advocates who push such an economic distribution theory seemly always miss their mark. Why is it that the official government, which is backed by the force of law enforcement bearing guns and jails, is the only agent of socialist imposition upon our people?

There is an active scorn of "rich people" when it comes to tax policy. "Pay your fair share" is one of the most popular terms within the Black community. The notion that "people are suffering while the wealthy chill on their yachts" is a compelling image which motivates our people to go to the polls and vote "in their own best interests".

The challenge has been to tap the wealthy Black entertainers and athletes who's massive fortunes have been extracted from the community - by the people's own free will, I must add. Is there any other group of people who's money is less leveraged within a corporate entity and this ILLIQUID in form? No I am not saying that they have their millions sitting in some bank account ready to be withdrawn. I am saying, however, that a self-made business man likely has his wealth based on the value of his company rather than per a check handed to him from a professional team or music conglomerate.

Since these entertainers are "the good guys", their money is extracted in moderation via black tie fund raisers where graciousness abounds. There is no mass effort to regulate or cap their compensation so that more money is left on the table (rather than being taken home into their pockets) for use in other areas. One of which being a reduction in the prices of tickets to the entertainment event, thus leaving more money in the hands of the consuming public. Why are certain constructs that are so clear for the benefit of the WORKER's increased pay don't ring home as clearly in regards to the money that these same WORKERS must use to purchase tickets after receiving their take home pay?

Where are the sustained attacks upon Black Professional Athletes, Movie Stars, Singers and Entertainers will million dollar syndication contracts to use their money which was generated from the "good will" of the public to give back MORE than what they are inclined to give? Where as taxation is an attempt by THE PEOPLE to define the amount at which the rich are forced to give to the public trough there is no similar set of cajoling framework applied to those with an inordinate amount of money obtained from the arts and athletics. (I do acknowledge that as wealthy people they indeed pay the taxes that the corporate wealthy pay)