The final Nashville mayoral debate, hosted by The Tennessean and News Channel 5 Thursday night, provided candidates with an opportunity to explain their vision for improving the educational outcomes of the city’s African American students.
Tennessean Opinion and Engagement Director David Plazas asked candidates how they’ll ensure Nashville’s African American families aren‘t left behind with struggling schools, rising crime rates, and health disparities.
Former public-school teacher and Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development Assistant Commissioner Alice Rolli said she’d work on fixing the gap in literacy black students face.
“All children in the city deserve to be taught to read and in particular, black and brown children whose rates of reading are closer to 18 and 19 percent it should make every parent and every taxpayer in this city angry that we are dooming our children to a future of failure,” said Rolli. “We are knowingly, for generations, dooming our children to failure and we know how to fix it. We have schools in the city that parents want to send their children to. We need to create the space and the time. We need to support the science of literacy instruction across all of our schools.”
Metro Council member Freddie O’Connell answered the question by discussing the work he’s already done to address problems with incarceration caused by punitive fines and fees. O’Connell also expressed the importance investing in education will have for the city’s African American population, as roughly 40 percent of the district’s students are Black/African American.
“Over the past five years we’ve put millions of dollars back into the pockets of people, part of whose interactions with the criminal legal system was because they were too poor to post bond,” said O’Connell. “Every dollar we invest in Metro Schools from our capital budget to our teachers to our support staff is an investment in the future of Black children and I intend to do that.”
Economic and Racial Gaps
Other candidates focused on how they’d address challenges with economic disparity and continued systemic racism in Nashville.
Former Metro Council member Vivian Wilhoite said it’s important for the next mayor to address racial gaps by ensuring public services are fairly provided to neighborhoods that need them.
“You know an African American woman in charge is not going to forget her own community. Nor am I going to forget your community. And it’s about doing the right thing, it’s about being intentional. Unapologetic. It’s about doing the right thing. It makes me sad to hear that we are always left behind,” said Wilhoite.
State Senator Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville) talked about how Nashville has always been trying to break down racial barriers in Nashville, however the city falls short. Yarbro says the city needs a mayor who is committed to making sure the voices of the African American community are heard.
“One of the clearest leadership tasks ahead of the next mayor is making sure the city continues to move forward without leaving people behind. That’s what we have to do. I think one of the ways this city has long distinguished itself from ‘pure cities’ in the country and especially the region is our aspirations to break down racial barriers,” said Senator Yarbro. “But we oftentimes fall short of those aspirations, and I think that we don’t live up to our promise.”
Both Senator Heidi Campbell (D-Nashville) and affordable housing and economic development leader Matt Wiltshire discussed how the system can be unfair. Both candidates promised to work to ensure everyone gets a fair shot.
“It’s 2023 and we’re still one of the most “Red Line” cities in the country. And you know, we have a movement to hide or erase the systemic racism that we are still experiencing and that’s indefensible,” said Senator Campbell. “In my area of town, you have a school like Glendale because parents put hundreds of thousands of dollars into that school and you have other areas with schools that are really struggling because you have parent, single moms that are working two jobs to try to make ends meet.”
“Nashville has been unfair for far too long for far too many people. It has been unfair. There is a lot of work that we need to do as a city,” said Wiltshire. “Why should we want only some of the people to have an equal chance? We should want everyone to have an equal shot. It’s better, it’s more fair, it’s the right thing to do.”
Business leader Jim Gingrich said the challenges Nashville’s African American communities are facing go back to a lack of effort to prioritize them, including a failure to deliver promised infrastructure support.
“It is absolutely true that our African American communities have been promised a lot of things over the years and yet we consistently show whether or not that is little things or big things that we are not prioritizing every community,” said Gingrich.
Metro Council Member Sharon Hurt was the last to answer the question and she focused on her accomplishments leading non-profit organizations and her work on the council to ensure the new Tennessee Titans stadium deal has more requirements for minority and women owned businesses to take part in the construction.
“Because I want to create wealth, build hope, restore prosperity to that community. As mayor I will make sure that all boats rise with this rising tide that we have in this community.,” said Hurt.
