First in a series.
“I would love to see more diversity on our City Council,” says Councilperson Meghan Sahli-Wells.
She is surrounded on the dais by four white men whose eligibility to be present in a beer hall has not been questioned since Justin Bieber was born.
Isn’t it ironic that in a community where non-whites hardly ever run for office, the cultural flagship that is Culver City High School presents one of the most diverse campuses in the 50 states?
Do they leave town on Graduation Night, seldom to return?
Back to Ms. Sahli-Wells:
“I said at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration that unless we get an African American or Asian American person on the City Council in 2016, we will have passed 100 years without a single one.”
Saundra Davis and Patricia Siever, formerly on the School Board, remain the only black elected officials in Culver City’s first 98 years.
Next month when the gate flies open on the spring City Council race, attorney Marcus Tiggs will make a second bid to become the first black to win a seat on the dais.
Schools activist Gary Abrams is the only other black candidate for Council in modern times, probably ever.
Ms. Sahli-Wells was asked why there are not more non-white office seekers.
“We are not doing a very good job at…
“We have this wonderful small town, and we have the capacity to have some really good community candidates.”
Ms. Sahli-Wells asserted that a commonly invisible barrier may be blocking the path of non-white office seekers.
“An old guard has held sway in Culver City,” she said, “for as long as I can remember.”
(To be continued)
