mcgeemugshot.jpgViAnna Jordan is seeking to unseat criminal and Milwaukee Common Council member Michael McGee (Jackson). ViAnna’s supporters circulated petitions for a recall of McGee/Jackson.

McGee/Jackson signed one of those petitions, and is now claiming that he was told it was a petition to keep Malcolm X Academy open, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Does he mean to tell us that he didn’t read the petition before he signed it? What an embarrassment to our community.

One Comment

  1. Leon Todd 12/13/2006 at 11:50 pm - Reply

    From: [email protected]
    Subject: fwd: re: McGee family threats against Leon Todd’s family go back 10 years [4 items]
    Date: December 13, 2006 9:26:43 PM CST

    fwd: re: McGee family threats against Leon Todd’s family go back 10 years

    Isthmus Newspaper
    Madison, Wisconsin

    January 10, 1997

    A Shameful Silence
    Charles J. Sykes

    A school board member’s home is bombed in Milwaukee, and no one is
    outraged.

    We don’t know for sure whether the firebombing of Milwaukee School Board
    member Leon Todd’s house in late December had anything to do with his
    opposition to Afrocentrism. Even without the political implications,
    the firebombing marked a dramatic act of violence against one of the
    city’s most prominent black elected officials.

    So far, police haven’t made any arrests, and Todd, who has been pushing
    a resolution to ban the teaching of Afrocentrism in the city’s schools,
    cautions against rushing to any conclusions.

    None of that has stopped former Ald. Michael McGee, who went on his
    radio talk show two days after the bombing to applaud the attack and
    warn Todd that if he “were smart, he’d get his butt out of the black
    community.”

    “My wholehearted congratulations,” McGee broadcast, “to the
    guerrilla who issued a little warning shot to Todd. I know where it
    came from.” Describing the thugs(s) who tossed the Molotov cocktail,
    which caused about $1,000 in damage, McGee said, “They are the kind of
    people I would like to pin a medal of honor on.”

    McGee also made it clear that the firebombing may just have been the
    beginning. “Its a warning,” he said on his program, broadcast on
    WNOV-AM. “Next time, there aint going to be no warning shot.”

    I should make it clear that I am not a fan of Leon Todd. But it is
    difficult to name another elected official who has been subjected to
    more abuse than him. His crime is his opposition to a curricular fad
    that Todd claims “mythologizes and falsifies the past and provides
    inaccurate information.”

    Seldom one to mince words, Todd calls Afrocentrism “racist
    pseudo-science” which aims to raise children’s self-esteem, but which
    contributes to widening gaps between inner-city black children and white
    middle-class youngsters.

    “I am concerned about the fact that we are running a dual school
    system once again,” he says. “One system for poor blacks, and another
    for middle-class children.”

    At one Milwaukee school that embraces Afrocentrism, curriculum materials
    flatly declare that Aristotle stole most of his ideas from Africans.
    Children are also taught that Africans discovered America 3,000 years
    before Columbus. Some Afrocentric courses teach children that black
    Egyptians had learned to fly, using gliders for both business and
    pleasure.

    For Todd, all of this is cant, pure and simple. But, as he has
    discovered, these matters are not about history or facts, but about
    politics and inflamed emotions. He found himself at the center of what
    is becoming, quite literally, a firestorm of vilification. For weeks
    before the firebombing, Todd was labeled an “Uncle Tom” at public
    hearings, called a traitor, and warned that opponents would “get him.”

    As the debate mounted in intensity, several things became clear:
    There was remarkably little tolerance within the black community for
    dissent, intimidation and slander could be used against anyone who broke
    ranks, racial slurs and race baiting could be used with impunity, and
    liberals (who profess to be troubled by the state of civility in our
    society) would not lift a finger for the victim.

    Few expected, however, it would go as far as it did. But the real
    shock was not the bombing of Todd’s house. The real shock was what came
    afterward. And what did not.

    Imagine for a moment that a prominent black official pushing for civil
    rights was the victim of a firebombing, and that white racists went on
    the air to applaud the burning. Imagine further that prominent members
    of the radical right threaten the uppity official to shut up or get out
    of town.

    One would hope that both the hate crime and the hate speech would be
    met by a howl of outrage from the black community certainly, but also
    from the community as a whole, the churches, the civil rights community,
    and the media.

    But in Milwaukee, a prominent black official was attacked, the
    bombing applauded, his life threatened, and the response has been . . .
    . silence. No protests from the community or the churches. No
    candlelight vigils, no community forums. Media coverage has been tepid
    to nonexistent.

    The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which originally reported McGees
    threats in a story on page 35, did not even editorialize about the
    apparent incitement to violence for more than a week, and then in only
    the most perfunctory way.

    If Todd, as a black elected official, has any right at all to
    independence of thought, no one is willing to stand up and say so.
    So much for the celebration of diversity. The intolerance of
    dissent has been paralleled by an almost limitless tolerance for
    intimidation as long as it is black on black.

    That silence has already sent an unmistakable message. When the
    dispute over Ebonics made headlines, few black leaders were willing to
    be associated with Todd’s criticism of the notion that black English was
    a legitimate dialect. Similarly, few leaders of the African American
    community dare criticize the incompetence or corruption of Milwaukee’s
    Social Development Commission. White critics may say what they like,
    but there are simply some things that you cannot say in Milwaukee
    safely, if you are black.

    In Milwaukee, everyone pretends that none of this is happening.
    That way, we can keep looking the other way, hope that nothing worse
    happens to Leon Todd, and try not to be ashamed.

    ============================================================

    Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

    McGee applauds firebombing
    He claims knowledge of attack on Todd’s home

    by MEG KISSINGER, Jessica McBride of the Journal Sentinel staff
    Journal Sentinel staff

    December 21, 1996
    Edition: Final
    Section: B News
    Length: 484 words
    Record Number: MWS96122101929

    Former alderman Michael McGee said Friday that he knew where the
    fire-bombing of Milwaukee School Board member Leon Todd’s home “came
    from,” and he congratulated those responsible for their work

    “They are the kind of people I would like to pin a medal of honor on,”
    McGee said on “The Word Warriors,” his radio show on WNOV-AM (860)

    McGee and his radio show partner, Teju Ologboni, began their show by
    talking about Wednesday night’s firebombing

    The Molotov cocktail, thrown around 11 pm at the front door of
    Todd’s home in the 3400 block of N 47th St, caused $1,000 damage No one
    was injured and police have no suspects in custody

    Todd has been at the center of a controversy over his proposal to ban
    the teaching of Afrocentrism in Milwaukee Public Schools But he said
    Thursday night the incident didn’t necessarily have anything to do with
    that

    On Friday, McGee said: “My whole-hearted congratulations to the
    guerrilla who issued a little warning shot to Todd I know where it came
    from”

    Later in the program, McGee said he was glad that the person who threw
    the firebomb took his advice and wore rubber gloves so that the police
    could not trace it

    “You listened to me when I told you, `Always wear rubber gloves and
    wipe down your device so there can’t be no trace’ Just a little tip,” he
    said

    McGee told his listeners that the firebombing “needed to be done”

    “It’s a warning,” said McGee “Next time, there ain’t going to be no
    warning shot”

    He added that if Todd “were smart, he’d get his butt out of the black
    community”

    Police Sgt Anna Ruzinski, public information officer, said she had
    informed detectives about McGee’s remarks Friday afternoon but did not
    know whether detectives plan to interview McGee

    Ruzinski said Friday afternoon that there were no suspects and “no new
    leads” in the firebombing of Todd’s home

    Todd was unavailable for comment on McGee’s remarks

    Ruzinski said she was aware of no connection between the device used in
    the Todd firebombing and Molotov cocktails tossed against the Korean-owned
    Beauty Island, 5241 W Fond du Lac Ave, last spring

    McGee had made remarks on his radio show concerning protests at the
    beauty supply shop, including instructions on how to build a Molotov
    cocktail There were at least three small arson fires at Beauty Island last
    spring, the target of a yearlong protest by some members of the
    African-American community

    One of those fires broke out just days after McGee warned of further
    reprisals against the beauty supply store

    Caption:
    Photo 1
    Todd
    Photo 2
    McGee

    ——————————————–

    Resolved: That in 1997, they’ll get it right

    From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

    January 1, 1997

    The start of a new year prompts many people to make resolutions: to lose
    weight, to quit smoking, to spend more quality time with the kids,
    whatever. Private citizens generally know what’s best for themselves, but
    people in the public eye, in their ceaseless quest to do better by those
    who look up to them, may need some friendly, practical advice. Herewith,
    then, are suggested New Year’s resolutions for some more-or-less famous
    men and women:

    …………..

    Michael McGee: to procure a very large megaphone — not to more loudly
    broadcast your goofy ideas, but to harmlessly dissipate all the hot air
    and blather you generate, like the praise you offered to whoever
    firebombed the home of School Board member Leon Todd.

    …………..

    ——————————————–

    Letters to the editor

    From Journal Sentinel readers

    December 20, 1996

    Reason with Todd; don’t attack him

    I am a grandparent, an educator, and I served as a school board member for two different public school systems for a total of 11 years; I believe that I am in a position to comment on the current controversy involving the Milwaukee School Board and Leon Todd.

    First of all, I choose not to comment on the merits or lack thereof concerning the curriculum of the Malcolm X Academy or the Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School.

    My knowledge of Leon Todd goes back to the years that we served together on the MPS Board. I can state without reservation that Leon Todd is truly interested in the education of all children.

    Right or wrong, he has taken a stand, which is all too rare for public officials. Believe me, it is much easier to say and do as little as possible and then only if what you say or do is calculated to be safe and/or politically correct. If he were immoral, unethical or incompetent, I would agree that he, as any public official, should be removed from office through a recall. But don’t remove him because you disagree with him. If you think that he is wrong on this issue, show how his resolution is educationally inaccurate and why the curriculum in question is educationally right and sound.

    As an educator, I subscribe to the philosophy that education should be multicultural and all inclusive.

    Today in the United States we should be striving to come together rather than to promote anything which would further contribute to divisiveness. If you disagree with Leon Todd, don’t harass, threaten or harangue him. Don’t raise fists, but rather, extend hands in friendship to better understand. Be assured that he, like most of those attending the MPS Board meetings, is there for the children.

    This is the season of light — the light of the menorah and the light of the eastern star. Bring light to this discussion and may that which is best for all children prevail.

    Anthony S. Busalacchi
    Whitefish Bay

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