Charlotte-Mecklenburg Black Political Caucus says the quiet part out loud | Hour 2

What's going on? Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to three on WBT radio in Charlotte. And if you want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron, go to the Pete calendar show.com. Make sure you hit the subscribe button, get every episode for free, right to your smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so much for your support. Alrighty. So, uh, we got a couple big days ahead. Ahead of us here in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, or Charlotte, if you will, we have tonight the Charlotte City Council, and tomorrow we have the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School Board. Yeah, regular meetings getting underway, and tonight the City Council is going to look at flip-flopping on the I-77 toll project, and tomorrow night we may see an effort to oust the school board chair, Stephanie Sneed. After, as I went over on Friday, the 200-some-odd-page memo that was put together and then leaked to the various media outlets around Charlotte, the memo from the superintendent, Crystal Hill, where she outlined what is essentially corruption at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system. That's what she outlined, corruption. That the chair, Stephanie Sneed, was funneling contracts to preferred recipients and then going around the board, going around the superintendent in order to effectuate those contracts. And I did not know this, but I have learned this today thanks to a statement that was put out by the former leader of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Black Political Caucus that Stephanie Sneed is apparently an attorney herself. So that might explain how she knew how to work around the system, right? To go and talk to a law firm out of city, to try to funnel a contract through that law firm to her preferred. Recipient, Racky McGregor, who had lost his contract. His wife had contracts with CMS and his wife's contract had been slashed. And so they were pulling in somewhere in the neighborhood, I think, of about a million dollars between their two consultancies. And then when all that money dried up, I'm sure they got pretty desperate. They used whatever connections they could use. And then, of course, Racky McGregor got involved in the CMS board race, the elections, and was– you know, had come out– at events of the challengers against some of these incumbent school board members who lost, and it was only the members that he apparently targeted who had voted to scrap his contract. So that's corruption, and that's why the state auditor is looking into these contracts, and it's why the district attorney, Spencer Merriweather, has referred the matter to the State Bureau of Investigation. to try to figure out, you know, it does. Well, is there fire amidst all this smoke? So as I mentioned, I was not aware that the chair of the CMS school board was an attorney or is an attorney, which this could actually jeopardize her law license. If she is still a practicing attorney or still has a license, I don't know. And she is guilty of doing this kind of corruption and, that it seems like she's been engaged in. So I read from the memo last Friday. In fact, I believe I still have it here. Yes, I do, in the stack of stuff. And I'm going to read to you a, yeah, here we go. There was one school board member, according to the superintendent, Crystal Hill, There was a new school board member. This is one of the members that ousted one of the incumbents. That incumbent had voted, I believe, against the contract renewal for Racky McGregor. And they lose their reelection bid. And now the new member comes in. This is board member Haynes. I think it's, is it Charlita Haynes, I believe? Yeah. No, sorry. That's Dr. Charlita Hatch. Sorry, this is another member, Haynes. And Haynes meets with the superintendent after the election to discuss Haynes' goals and hopes for her term as a new school board member. Ms. Haynes told me her main purpose as a school board member was to make sure, quote, black businesses get contracts. She said, I was surprised by this response because she specifically mentioned Racky McGregor's wife's company called Sid Kimmel. S-Y-D-K-I-M-Y-L. I don't know if it's an acronym for something, but it's Sid Kimmel. And she says, so the school board member says that her main purpose is to make sure black businesses like Sid Kimmel get contracts. And she specifically mentioned that outfit. Now, I don't know about you, but I would think that if you're running for school board, that your main purpose as a school board member is to make sure that kids can read and write. I'm just kidding. No, I'm just kidding. That's not what it's all about. I mean, that's what we say it's about for public consumption. If I'm out on the campaign trail, if I'm talking to the public during a school board meeting, or if I'm out at one of the breakfast forums or lunch forums that are held, then I'm definitely going to be talking about making sure that all children are at grade level. Then I'll talk about that stuff. But when I'm talking to the superintendent about what your main goal is or my main goal is, well, then I'm going to let her know my main goal is to make sure that black children Consultants get contracts. Black companies get contracts. I did not say this. And I'm just imagining, what do you think the response might be if one of the, I think there were two white people on the school board? I'm just wondering what the reaction would be if a white school board member told the superintendent that her main goal is to ensure that white businesses get contracts. Do you think that would be a problem? I feel like that would be a problem. I feel like there would be a word for that. I feel like media would be running all sorts of responses and reactions from local elected officials and ethicists and such, maybe some lawyers about how this is running afoul of certain laws that give preferential treatment to people based on skin color. I feel like there might be a word for that. I'll look it up during the break. I feel like there's a word for that. But just in case, just in case there's any doubt as to what's going on, this letter from Colette Forrest, former CMS parent, SLT member, PTA leadership, And she was a former leader of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Black Political Caucus. By the way, Stephanie Sneed, who is the chair of the CMS Board of Ed, she was also a leader of the Black Political Caucus, as is the vice chair. He was one of the leaders of the Black Political Caucus as well. And for folks who aren't aware, the BPC is a bit of a kingmaker. in Charlotte Mecklenburg politics nowadays. Now I'm old enough to remember in the days before Collette Forrest became a leader of the BPC when it was Dwayne Collins and the BPC was not strong. I then, uh, I went on my time out. I worked up in Asheville for about eight years. And apparently during that time, and then when I came back, but in that time, while I was in Nashville, apparently, um, the BPC has become very, very powerful, which makes sense. because if you can mobilize a constituency, a block of voters in a Democrat primary, much like the DSA is mobilizing voters in the Democrat party nowadays, right? You, you become very powerful inside a one party controlled government, which is what we have here, right? So the primaries become of primary importance because Republicans can't ever win in the general. So you have a smaller voter pool that you're, That you're running in for the primaries. And if you have an organization that is able to knock out incumbents and is able to elevate challengers or protect incumbents and that sort of thing. they become the kingmaker. And it appears the BPC is a bit of a kingmaker nowadays. So you can see how this might pose a problem inside the Board of Education because you have people who are BPC former leaders that are on the Board of Ed And now anybody that crosses them is going to get the backlash of the BPC in their primaries. And we saw it happen in the last primary cycle. They knocked out two of the board members. Yeah, this is problematic for Democrats. All right, for over a year now, you've heard me talking about Create-A-Video, great local company in Mint Hill that has helped more than 2 million families preserve their memories by turning old photos, VHS tapes, film reels, and slides into lasting keepsakes. Now, Create-A-Video is helping families and groups create brand new memories while they're traveling. 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Check out GroupTravelVideos.com. That's GroupTravelVideos.com. Or call 704-846-7870, extension 206. And when you do that, ask for Katie. But Pete, can I just email? Well, yes, you can. You can email Katie. Katie at GroupTravelVideos.com. Group travel videos from old memories to new adventures, preserving life's moments for a lifetime. All right, so let me... Actually, you know what? Let me go over to the text line first so I don't get too far behind on the text line. 704 number says, Keith. Okay, this is for somebody else then. I'll read it anyway. I feel like I'm reading somebody else's texts though. Uh, someone with a lot more technical savvy than me should go search the interwebs to see how the school board member Haynes campaigned for the position. I would assume on her website under her plan for her tenure, there are all sorts of details about how she plans to ensure that black owned businesses get more contracts. This clearly resonated with the voters. Yes, that's possible. Yeah. I mean, maybe she ran on that platform. I don't think so. I don't remember hearing. Um, Sean says, is there any way to just clean house with CMS and the school board? Yeah, I mean, we could get criminal prosecutions. That might happen. If the FBI uncovers illegal activity, that's one way to clean house. Resignations because of criminal probes, because of an indictment or something like that, that's one way that could go. Otherwise, no, you got to vote them out. All this... All this nonsense in the news. Every day and historically low test scores to show for it, get rid of them all across the board. Also, it's not blood for oil, it's oil for blood. No, it's a trade. You're looking at it from the donor perspective. I'm looking at it from Jiffy Lube's perspective. They're giving you oil for blood. You're giving blood for oil. Okay. 704 number. Regarding the four-year-old that was murdered over the weekend after some miscreants, some thugs fired on open fire on four homes in Northwest Charlotte, killing a four-year-old child asleep in his bed. Pete, it must be deja vu regarding the murder of a four-year-old. Didn't this happen recently during a car theft? Indeed, it did. Somebody was out stealing a car, Shots were fired. One of them went into a home and killed a young child sleeping in their bed. This has happened recently. Yes. Thieves that needed bread for their families, no doubt. Oh, I'm sure. Besides, in Mecklenburg County, jurors acquit killers who are accused of sending out random stray bullets. Just ask the nurse killed by a stray bullet. Must be her fault for being there. I'm not sure I know that case. Amy from Gaston County. says thank you for making the point regarding how a white person would be crucified if they made a statement that their sole purpose when elected to any office was to be sure that white businesses get contracts. Why are the citizens, taxpayers of Mecklenburg, putting up with this blatant racism spewing from their elected officials? Well, for one, it's because they have adopted the oppressor-oppressed lens. They have adopted this friend-enemy lens. Distinction. And so they view the whole world and all operations through it. Marxism views all relationships as power dynamics, right? Oppressor oppressed. And so if you believe you are in the oppressed category, then you are allowed to do whatever you need to do to shake off the oppression because it's oppression. It's violating your human rights. So you have a permission structure now to engage in all sorts of activities that you otherwise would not. Because if you were the oppressor, then you're not allowed to do these things. But if you're the oppressed, you are allowed to do these things. That's the problem with the Marxist lens. Well, one of them. Numerous flights canceled to and from Charlotte. due to air traffic control, airspace outage, technical outage, Newark and Philadelphia. Okay. The grumpy major says, it sounds like leading the black political caucus has become the direct conduit in order to enrich that person and their friends, actually co-conspirators through the improper use of government contracts. Could this lead to a RICO investigation? It could depend on what the evidence shows. And I don't, We don't have that evidence at this point, which is why you do the investigation. Speaking of investigations, whatever happened to the one and two, Gary McFadden, Sheriff McFadden, the SBI was looking into that whole thing. If you would like to help us in our walk to end Alzheimer's, you can do so. We are asking for donations. We're trying to raise $ 5, 000 before the October walk in Charlotte. That's going to be on October 24th. I am walking with my team called Pete's Pack. If you would like to join my team, you can do so. Go to alz.org slash walk and then type in the search bar at the top. Just type in Pete's Pack and you'll find me. You can join the pack or you can make a donation. Either way, we greatly support any volunteering that you can do because all of the money that we raise goes to the Alzheimer's Association of Western Carolina. And this is used to fund research. It's used to fund support services for caregivers. When I was in middle school, well, junior high, ninth grade or so, my grandfather, we moved him in across the street from us because he was slowly deteriorating. And so I watched, you know, grandpa wither away and die from this just wretched disease and And we've gotten some breakthroughs with some various drugs. Lakembi actually just got approved back in July, and that's showing some very positive results for people with the plaque buildup in the brain and such. And I'm also walking this year for Holly Anderson. She died in July at age 50, just after her 50th birthday. And her husband, Mac, was her caregiver. He was also the caregiver for his father. who also had Alzheimer's and passed away. So I'm walking for all of them. So if you have people that you would like to walk for, please join us at ALZ.org. I'm also emceeing the Gaston County walk, and that's going to be on October. I have it written down here. 10th? Yeah, October 10th. And again, ALZ.org. The name of my team is Pete's Pack, and thank you. All right, so here is the... I don't know where. So this came from breaking Brett Jensen from here on WBT. He says he obtained a note to the black political caucus from its former chair, Colette Forrest, on why the BPC should fully back the embattled. CMS board chair Stephanie Sneed in the scathing message Forrest leaves no doubt why she thinks the BPC should back Stephanie Sneed and it's because wait for it she's black And then she goes after other black board members for not supporting Snead. And then he has a screenshot here of the, of the note of the, the letter or the, the post or the essay, whatever you want to call it to the black political caucus. So as she says, let's begin. I routinely call folks out black capitalized. She capitalizes black in every one of these, um, every mention of the word black as a race. So she capitalizes black. She does not capitalize white. I don't know if Latino is in here, but, uh, black capitalized white, not because that's the way you take back power is with capitalization. Um, I routinely call folks out black, white elected, non-elected either to call attention to a voting record or lack thereof or tone deaf harmful actions towards blacks and the black community. Community is also capitalized now. I'm not sure if that's AP style or what, but I am a mere community public servant trying my best to level the playing field of life for my people through thought, actions, words, and work. What I am not is an individual that has taken an oath of office with my peers and sat in on countless board meetings, committee meetings, and retreats with my peers, only to try to throw my colleague under the bus when things get tough and uncomfortable. So you know where this is going, right? She is going to attack now members of the school board who are black themselves, but who might have a teensy-weensy problem with the allegations of corruption. First up, Dr. Monty Witherspoon and former principal Lenora Shipp. It is no secret that you both at several times have wanted to be chair of the CMS school board. Lenora, going back to Mary McRae days, Mary McRae was the teacher's union leader that became the head of the CMS board of ed. Mary McRae. And Monty, as soon as you were sworn in, As a black elected, oh, elected is now capitalized there. I'm not sure. Is that just like because it's attached to the word black that's capitalized? So elected gets capitalized now too? Is that the deal? As a black elected, you do not publicly swipe at a fellow black elected. You know what this sounds like, right? So I've been consistent on this, folks. This sounds like no punching to the right. Remember that? I talked about it last week, talked about it many times. In fact, this idea that there are no enemies to my right, no enemies. In my group, right? I'm not going to criticize anybody that's over here in my camp, even if they're like really way off the reservation. Can I say that? Probably can't say that. Sorry. Like, okay, fine. Nick Fuentes is a anti-Semitic racist, okay? But, I mean, he was for Trump, so I can't say anything negative about him. Like, that's how you get into these stupid boxes. So, if let's say somebody, let's say an elected official who shares the same race as you, murders a bunch of people. Are you allowed to then criticize that person? Can you call for them to be removed from office? Can you call for them to be arrested for the murdering? Right? Apparently not. You're not allowed to take swipes at somebody that has the same skin color as you do, which is an interesting standard if we were to apply this writ large. See, this is the problem with racial identity politics. I have been saying this for years. when you begin convincing people that the primary thing that they share in common with somebody is an immutable characteristic and then that's the thing, that's the only thing that matters, you are going to end up convincing everybody to think in those terms. And when you start convincing all the people, all the white people, when you start convincing all of them to start viewing all politics through the racial prism as well, Well, that may not work out for you if you are not the majority race. See the problem with this. And what if you then alienate all other races? Right? Because like we heard from the school board member, she didn't say Hispanic contracts. She said contracts for black businesses. So if presented with two contracts, one from a black owned business and one from a Hispanic owned business, she's going to pick the black owned business. She says so. Okay. What then do you think the Hispanic contractors and vendors are going to think? They're going to think you're a racist. Logically so. That you are giving preferential treatment. You are discriminating against them based on their skin color. And so what is the response? Well, if we listen to Ibram X. Kendi, he of the critical race theory movement, right? What did he say was the remedy for past discrimination? Current discrimination. Future discrimination. Okay, so if that's the standard, everybody gets to discriminate based on race. Gosh, whatever could be the problem for a society that is multicultural, multiracial as we are? Hmm, gosh, that's a brain buster. Bad things, folks. Bad things. From the text line, 704 number says. Pete, the whole not punching to the right is called snitches get stitches in the streets, and then crimes like babies being shot in their sleep go unsolved. Correct. Very good, 704 number. Identifying the common thread here. This is the idea. that I'm not going to criticize somebody on my quote-unquote team, right? And that team is based on race, and you know nothing else about the person, so they can engage in all sorts of bad behavior, but I'm not going to criticize them because race, it is the lowest form of racism, is the lowest form of collectivism. The lowest form. That's what Ayn Rand said. She was exactly right. Still is. It's the lowest form of collectivism. You're lumping everybody in together based on a collective trait that they had no control over. It makes no sense whatsoever. So I did get or I see this tweet from Breaking Brett Jensen, who spoke with Colette Forrest, former leader of the Black Political Caucus. She wants it to be known that the email was sent to some 100,000 people from her personal database. Wait, I'm not on her. Why am I not on her personal database? I should be on there. And it was not specifically to the black political caucus, although current and former members may have received it. Oh yeah, I'm sure they did. Um, she says she isn't asking the BPC to back the chair of the school board, Stephanie Sneed, only stating her opinion. Well, what is her opinion? Let's see. She's not calling on anybody to back Sneed. She's merely saying you need to back Sneed. Ah, okay. Well, that's very clear. Um, she says as a black elected, she's talking to Monty Witherspoon and Lenora ship as a black elected, you know how hard it is to elect blacks to public office. Shame on you both. Wait, there are more blacks in public office in Charlotte Mecklenburg than whites. What are you even talking about? This is, that's just a lie. All right, Cynthia Stone's position doesn't surprise me. White women who may deem themselves our savior always wish to be in charge, but Stone just got there and has much to learn. CMS Board Chair Attorney Stephanie Sneed has been a supporter of Crystal Hill from day one. When her fellow white CMS board members at that time did not wish to hire Hill as superintendent, it was attorney Sneed that fought for her hiring. When longstanding CMS black women employees brought to chair Sneed their concerns with how the superintendent was allegedly mistreating CMS black women employees, it was chair Sneed who stood by superintendent Crystal Hill. Hashtag facts. So as we witnessed, that's what she wrote. It's for the children. There you go. There's no leadership crisis. There is a quest for the leadership position from blacks in crisis. Sneed. student it's for the children there you go. There's no leadership crisis there is a quest for the leadership position from blacks in crisis Snead has received a resounding praise and support from new CMS board members Liz Duvall, Dr. Charlita Hatch, although Anna London has been relatively quiet. Anna London must be made aware that silence can be deafening and send a message out as well. Either you are an ally or an enemy. There you go, friend-enemy distinction. Please take a position because neutrality is not new to black women when they work with white women friends, quote-unquote. Anna London, you sit at the table in the head seat over an organization whose work is built around economic mobility over poverty and adverse life circumstances, and now you want to put your head in the sand as others come for the head of your CMS black woman leader. Are you a poverty puppeteer or a true ally of a strong, sharp black woman like Chair Sneed that wishes to empower blacks through the strongest tool? We have a solid education. So, okay, you get the idea here. She is, in fact, calling for black people and the white women to stand with the black embattled leader because she is a black embattled leader. That's it. This is yeah, this is where we are. All right. That'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast. So if you'd like, please support them, too, and tell them you heard it here. You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to thepetecalinershow.com. Again, thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything while I'm gone.