The Cauldron

Media Credit: Cleveland SGS (i to r) Carl B. and Louis Stokes

The impact that Carl Stokes had upon Cleveland is undeniable, as the first black mayor of Cleveland during the tumultuous political climate of the 1960s. Any Clevelander will remember his fearless leadership confronting the racial tensions during the sit-ins, protests, and shootouts that embodied the civil rights movement. While he sided with the inner city black citizens, the vast oppressed majority, he turned the protests and violence into tangible political evolution.

Our very own local gem, the Western Reserve Historical Society, began an exhibit in 2006, free to CSU students, honoring the achievements of the Stokes brothers. While Carl was Cleveland's mayor, his brother Louis was elected to represent Cleveland's East Side in the U.S. House of Representatives. The housing projects that the two grew up in were among the first in the nation.

Beside a picture of Carl Stokes, holding the hands of three black boys gathered around him, was a recording of Leon Bibb, a local TV anchor, saying of the Stokes brothers: "They were role models in the 60s; they were like my Kennedys." On one wall was a myriad of hand-drawn pictures by second graders from Captain Arthur Roth Elementary, sent to Mayor Stokes after the Glenville shootout in '68. A letter from the class, on tracing paper in large, practiced letters, read, "We know that you will make Cleveland a better place to live. Good luck to you!"

Memorabilia was scattered throughout the exhibit: silk election scarves, letters of correspondence between the brothers, newspaper clippings from The Plain Dealer or the Call and Post. Old campaign posters read "Don't Vote For A Negro," in huge letters, going on to say, in smaller print, "Vote for a man," "Vote for intelligence," and "Vote for dedication."

One corner highlighted his attempts to limit the pollution going into Lake Erie, the first made by any mayor. After the Cuyahoga River caught on fire in '69, Carl Stokes worked hard for environmental issues, passing a $100 million bond issue to eliminate water pollution which reopened Edgewater and White City beaches.

Dr. Leonard Moore, Associate Professor at the University of Texas, chronicles the eventful career of Stokes in his book Carl B. Stokes and the Rise of Black Political Power. The author came to Cleveland State last Thursday to speak on his book, explaining his experiences growing up in Cleveland Heights nearly a decade after Stokes' two terms as mayor. Although the city he grew up in has a much more diverse setting, he encountered racial tensions yet, describing the west side as "foreign," where you didn't venture unless you had to go to the airport. He recalled instances between rivals Shaw at high school athletic games, when the escalation of violence led authorities to disallow spectators.

"People were poor, housing was run down, people didn't have jobs," Moore said, describing the same urban problems Cleveland faced in the 1980s as they did in the 1940s. He left his hometown in '89, he said, to pursue two things: to understand what generated the current situation in Cleveland, and to get a PhD while he was doing it.

While Moore spoke of Stokes, his speech focused more on relating to the college students in the audience and engaging them in the conversation. Some of these attempts created awkward, uncomfortable situations, asking the classroom to name off stereotypes of a black worker, or what our instincts lead us to do when we drove through the ghetto.

The best example by far, though, was trying to relate to the students the racially biased questions that existed in police examinations prior to Stokes' reform, asking what we thought was meant by the phrase "My grandma's got sugar." It solicited a handful of responses, including one girl who confusedly answered "Cocaine?"

He made sure that we all knew that these racial problems weren't just in the past. "My driving apparel is a pair of slacks, shirt, sports coat and a laptop on the passenger seat - if I get pulled over, I have to give the assurance to that cop that I am a good Negro," Moore said in a booming voice. "What message is society sending you," he asked about black children growing up in the city, "when the Gund Arena looks like this, the Browns Stadium looks like this, and your classroom at school is all raggedy?"

Although Stokes made significant advances in Cleveland in terms of exclusionary zoning practices, police brutality, and discrimination, there is still a long, hard road ahead for urban equality and standards. But, as Rev. Jesse Jackson said in the eulogy of his dear friend, "Cleveland must remember Carl Stokes!"

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