Featured photo: Charles Winfrey was one of several Black candidates to talk to members of the community at the “New” McCree Theatre ahead of the Tuesday, Aug. 6 primary election at an event hosted by The Woodrow Stanley Black Leaders Forum.
Photos by Tanya Terry.
Written by Tanya Terry
A meeting for Black candidates to talk to members of the community was held at the “New” McCree Theatre ahead of the Tuesday, Aug. 6 primary election. The event was hosted by The Woodrow Stanley Black Leaders Forum.
This was a non-political activity, and The Woodrow Stanley Black Leaders does not endorse candidates.
It was pointed out to the candidates by a meeting attendee that gun violence is a problem throughout the community.
“What are your plans to help alleviate this issue?” a community member asked the candidates.
Linda Boose is running for the Flint School Board in the November 5 election.
“…At one time the schools were critical is assisting families and children, giving them something to do,” said Boose. “Kids have nothing to do. I live in the 3rd Ward. I live across Dort Highway. There is no school in the 3rd Ward at all. Our kids have to go to Potter School. If they do activities, they have to go all the way to Berston Fieldhouse. We don’t have anything in our community. But I must say that our crime is low over there also.”
She stated programs and services were needed to help the parents give their children something to do.
“If you live in these areas where the crimes are happening, there’s no schools. There’s no afterschool programs.”
Boose stated the McCree Theatre does have some programs, but she said “families don’t have the support they used to.”
Boose suggested more services in the community and more counseling,
For the 7th Ward City Council seat, Jan Marie Arbor is running against current Councilwoman Candice Mushatt, who has been serving in the role by council appointment since former Flint City Council President Allie Herkenroder resigned in 2023.
Arbor answered: “This is a very complex situation, and I think that it goes far beyond there not being enough activities in our community. I think that young people have been programmed for a number of decades towards violence. We see this with the games they play , the access to any kind of information they want. It’s reprogramming their mind. They have been propagandized in violence.
“So until they’re able to figure out how to control that – that’s going to be on a much bigger level than the city of Flint. It’s going to be a very difficult thing to get a handle on.
“In terms of what we might be able to do locally, I really don’t know. But I will say this: I think that we need a different type of police department. I think that we need different leadership. We need far more officers than we have, and we need for them to be, I’m sorry, more aggressive than they are.
“I think that we need more state police. I think that we need to consult with entities outside of what we have within our local jurisdiction to find out what opportunities might be available to us to help get a very serious issue under control.
“…In addition to more activities for kids in school, outside of school, all that kind of stuff…It’s going to take better parenting. It’s again, education.
Jolena Sanders-Sims is running for Mt. Morris Township supervisor.
Sanders-Sims said she had just spoke with my police chief before I came there and said she is grateful to have a good police department.
“Kids are sitting idle; so their thinking about things they can get into,” she added.
She also stressed residents” need to be watchful of each other.”
“When you see something, say something,” said Sanders-Sims. “You can call the police and let them know. I had a young lady who had a shooting on one of the streets. She saw the two young men running down the street with a gun in their hands – and was two doors down when she did. She comes to say: ‘I called the police. I was afraid, but I did it. I did the right thing.’ And guess where they are now? They’re locked up.”
Sanders-Sims also stated she feels “our children are products of what they see.”
She pointed out some older people are still gangbanging.
She also talked about the importance of parents being mindful of who their children are talking to.
She also tells young people to watch the friends they let come into their lives.
Carol McIntosh is a candidate for 1st Ward City Councilperson. She talked about how lack of opportunities creates disparities.
“People that have the opportunity to do better, do better,” she said.
McIntosh said the City of Flint also has to deal with its policing issue.
“I know that that is the not resolution to all our issues…But we have to have safety first.”
McIntosh pointed out parents were working two or three jobs, and said these parents are not able to control the kids oftentimes.
“…We have a large homeless population amongst our students.”
McIntosh also talked about how neighbors used to watch out for each other.
“We have a lot of children that are missing…”
In addition, McIntosh pointed out that when she was a kids there were more things to do, including swimming locally and activities at various churches.
McIntosh said Flint needs to look at its economic structure, which she said includes opportunities that are brought into the city.
She also stressed the importance of mental health help.
Charles Winfrey is running for the Genesee County Board of Commissioners seat for District 2.
Winfrey pointed out the leading cause of death for Black men 18 – 35 has been murder for a long number of years.
He stated that in 1989, 1990, he helped put a call out to Black males.
“We convened a meeting of Black males at Doyle Ryder,” explained Winfrey. “It was 200 Black males that showed up. And what we did, we called on them to give us some ideas on what we could do the curb the violence. And one of the things they came up with was to form action teams across five sectors of the community, staff them with volunteers and to reach out to the youth in those segments.”
Winfrey said the group mobilize the entire community.
“Basically, what happened was the youth saw the cause being discerned about them and their livelihood,” Winfrey added. “It wasn’t just programs they felt, but it was the effort that they saw – that people cared. People were really concerned about them and their well-being.”
Some of the males were enlisted to go into the schools and serve as role models.
“Experts say if you don’t catch them before the age of 10 or 12, you’re going to lose them anyway.”
The role models worked to help instill values to students at an early age.
Winfrey said because this had been done before, it is something that could possibly be done again. He stated it was not hard before because of the large number of volunteers.
Flint resident AC Dumas said he remembered the meetings at Doyle Ryder, and he remembered specifically meeting with gang members there.
Dumas is on the ballot for the City of Flint council member Ward 3 recall election taking place November 5.
Dumas also stated he was on the August ballot for what he said was “one of the most important persons in the Democratic Party or the Republican Party.”
“I am a precinct delegate of the 7th Precinct,” Dumas said. “…There are very few Black precinct delegates, and I run every year.”
County political parties may hold a vote at county conventions to elevate precinct delegates to fill vacant seats.
A representative for Hill Harper’s campaign for U.S. Senate was also present. She pointed out Harper was a Harvard graduate who graduated cume laude in his class.
Throughout his campaign, Harper has said his is a people-powered campaign, to actually represent people, not lobbyists, nor donors.
The representative told those present to help ensure everyone knew about the August 6 primary.
