Memphis Congressional Race: Race Man Herenton Says "Vote For Me Because I Am Black And Urban"

Black Mayor Says His Race Is Good Reason To Elect Him To Congress

When will you learn, Black people of Memphis?

You bought into the racialist appeals of Willie Herenton and from this he was elected to mayor of your city for several terms.

He wants you to focus on his race and how there are no Black faces in Tennessee's congressional delegation.    He knows that he doesn't need to allow you to do an inspection of the conditions in the city of Memphis and have you to evaluate him based on his past efforts.  His SKIN COLOR is his primary qualifier.

The criticisms against Herenton from his own Wikipedia page.

• Failed to ensure sound fiscal management of the City of Memphis 
• Fraud allegations involving national money for the building of the FedEx Forum 
• Failed to communicate effectively with the City Council 
• Failed to address multiple allegations of improprieties regarding Memphis Light Gas and Water 
• Served as the prime target and catalyst for the City Charter rewrite 
• Angered citizens to the point of becoming a target of a (failed) citizen recall effort 
• Proposed raising property taxes by 17% while taxes on his personal home were delinquent.
• Called for a halt to early voting due to alleged "irregularities". The Shelby County Election Commission stated that early voting would continue.
• Benefited personally from the rezoning of the Greyhound bus terminal property;
• Done little in response to the significant rise in crime under his leadership; he stated that "No mayor in any American City can solve the crime problem."
• Appointed new leadership of the Memphis Public Library over the objections of the Tennessee Library Association.
• Failed to address criticism in the way that cases and staffing were being handled by the Memphis Sexual Assault Resource Center, and caused a racially-charged argument in the council meeting where he accused the city councilman of being a racist.

As the article notes the 9th District has been controlled by the Democrats for more than 30 years.  From first hand experience I can tell you that this is a problem plagued area.  Poverty and shoddy schools stand unchallenged.

It is one of the safest seats in the nation for the Democratic Party, and has not been seriously contested by a Republican in its current configuration. Most political observers consider the 9th the most Democratic district in the state. Generally, the 9th is one of three seats in Tennessee that are not seriously contested by Republicans (the others being the 5th and 8th districts).

Willie Herenton is a classic race baiter.  All of the blame can't be put on his back though.  He requires the cast of thousands of other bigots to buy into his antics.  They too would like to see a Black face in a high place when they need to be focusing on clearly articulating their PERMANENT INTERESTS and managing toward that end.