Diverse-City Chief concern BY SHAY STEWART-BOULEY

In the largest city in the whitest state in the country, there is one black police officer (a certain daily rag inaccurately reported last week that there is none, but Principal Administrative Officer of the PPD Clarkson Woodward says there is, indeed, one black police officer). Not surprising, considering there really aren’t many folks of color here in the first place, but with the recent departure of Chief Chitwood, the Portland Police Department needs a capable leader and it turns out one of the two finalists for the position is a fellow by the name of Anthony Holloway, who is currently the captain and patrol commander with the Clearwater, Florida, police department.

Oh, and this fellow happens to be black.

When I first scanned the chief-finalists story on the cover of that certain daily, I figured the photo must have just been too dark. How does a department with one black officer get to the point of having a black guy vying for the top cop job? Well, as the story in the daily paper indicated, the city sees our growing diversity as a sign that Holloway may be big asset.

Um, not to suggest that the folks in charge are about to pull an okie-doke, but I find it hard to believe Portland will soon have a black chief. Could happen, but given that the other candidate is the interim chief and a Portland PD veteran . . .

In the same rag, columnist Victoria Mares-Hershey recently wrote about Maine’s lack of effort addressing minority issues. Hershey says the state/city talks a good game about minority issues, but its all just lip service. Paraphrasing her, people love to tote out Portland’s changing demographics as proof that Portland (and Maine in general) is not some backwoods filled with white folks, but instead a blossoming metropolis filled with a growing mix of ethnicities living together in harmony.

Yet in the 40 years since Gerald Talbot was a state legislator, the number of visible black folks in positions of change and power hasn’t really grown. Why? My money is on the fact that the black folks of yesterday banded together a bit more for the common good, whereas today there really isn’t much of a black community here. Yeah, there’s a church and now a soul food restaurant and a black hair shop, but those things are all superficial if there is no soul holding the community together.

So, while the white folks may in fact only pay lip service, the truth is we black folks could be banding together to do a lot more ourselves. Before we get on "whitey’s" ass, we need to look at ourselves in the mirror.

So, perhaps Holloway will be hired. And if he is, it’s definitely a step in the direction of providing more than lip service to diversity. But we all have to be active if we want diversity to be real and more than just something we dust off to look good.

ALTERNATIVE MAMA UPDATE: I have recently (after a 13-year baby hiatus) been forced to learn about new and diverse ways of taking care of babies and want to mention the babywearing fair being held at St. Ansgar Lutheran Church (515 Woodford Street) in Portland, on November 7, from 10 am to noon. The fair is being sponsored by the Mindful Maine Mamas and Papas group and babywearing, while still not the norm in the US, is the norm in most parts of the world. Go learn about a new diverse way of handling your wee ones and freeing your hands at the same time so you can keep reading this column and all those other rags, um, papers, out there.