For all the progress we’ve made as a city, it would be a hollow accomplishment if we don’t keep improving our societal game.
Tampa’s Police Review Board must be–and must be seen as–meaningful. Cops must, of course, be accountable. And there should be zero tolerance for “Black Lives Matter Selectively” hypocrisy. We’re either all in–or all misled.
It also means doing whatever it takes in this post-Paris, post-San Bernardino climate to defuse anti-Muslim sentiment–or worse–in this community. To that end, it was encouraging to see Mayor Bob Buckhorn and interfaith leaders gather recently at the Islamic Society of Tampa to express support for an “embrace all” theme. And a reminder that outreach goes both ways.
That’s more easily accomplished in a city such as Tampa, which is blessed with deep, multi-cultural roots. The Big Guava should be better positioned than most communities to meet this most existentially-threatening challenge of our times.
The quintessential context is this. It may be that 2016 is the year that Jeff Vinik’s infrastructure breaks ground, the Riverwalk gets finished and a Fortune 500 company commits to Tampa. But whatever happens to our downtown, nothing is more important than what happens to our community. We all have a role: all races, all religions.
Thank you for your readership. Happy New Year, everybody.