Saturday, December 19, 2015

[UPDATE] Reporter from Palm Beach Post falls for pitch about child's skin color on mural in City of Lake Worth

[UPDATE: Lauren Hills at CBS12/WPEC did a news segment on the pitch by Tuesday Gilliam and "the mural" yesterday (12/18). The story by Hills officially opens the campaign season in Lake Worth and I'll have more on that later. Note that I first reported on this mural on September 16th, 94 days ago from today (12/19). The child's skin color was not an issue then. Kevin Thompson's 'news' article on the little boy's skin color in the mural is only 87 days prior to election day in the City. He could have done this 'news' story 3 months ago. The timing of this 'news' is curious to say the least—the media being employed to manipulate elections in Lake Worth is nothing new by any means. It will be very interesting to watch this strategy unfold to re-take the majority on the City Commission. Stay tuned as they say. The original post from 12/18 follows:]

Below is the mural the Post's Kevin Thompson writes about in this article (to appear in Sunday's print edition?). The reporter fell for the pitch by Tuesday Gilliam who is quoted saying this about the Cuban-American child depicted in the mural:
“It would’ve really been symbolic and wonderful if it had been a child of color because that’s who predominantly lives there,” said [Tuesday] Gilliam, who is white. [emphasis added]“I hang out with the kids there all the time and I know that a mural with a kid of color would mean more to them than what it means to them now.”
A Cuban-American child is depicted in this mural.
Note this is at least the second time the Post reporter has featured Gilliam in one of his articles. She was featured in an article in June that you can read here. What the reporter doesn't mention is Gilliam is a member of Everglades EarthFirst! (EEF) and one of her duties is sending out press releases notifying the public of their latest actions, like this FlockNote, for example:
The leaders of EEF are a former city commissioner (Cara Jennings) and Peter "Panagioti" Tsolkas.
The mural in question is at the CRA's new La Joya Villages not far from where EEF has some members in residence. 

It's impossible to take the politics out of this. Is this is a signal of what to expect in this election season in Lake Worth? Quite possibly. The pitch by Tuesday Gilliam is the CRA is "out of touch" or something like that and she's using wedge politics to achieve that goal—pitting one racial group against another to create disruption and disharmony in the community. This is what Anarchists do. While others, like the CRA, are building consensus and creating a better environment to live others like EEF are trying to thwart that work. 

What I'm hearing is many people are very disappointed in the Post reporter trolling for 'news' such as this. Here is the first line from his article about the 'big mural story':
A colorful mural symbolizing hope and promise has one Lake Worth woman seeing red.
The woman he's referring to is none other than Tuesday Gilliam. Here is another excerpt from the article:
     “The theme is bringing the community together,” said [Eduardo] Mendieta, whose works have appeared in Lake Worth, Delray Beach and Fort Lauderdale. “A child is looking to the horizon and his face morphing into a tree is showing growth. The puzzle piece represent the La Joya community — an emerald, a ruby, a sapphire.”
     As for the white face, Mendieta, who is from Ecuador, said the boy in the mural is actually Cuban-American.
Anarchists are not about "bringing the community together". Their job is to tear communities apart. And by the looks of it they're off to an early start this election season thanks to our paper of record, The Palm Beach Post.