Interesting views on a racial divide in Toledo

I missed this, but there's still time to point it out. What I found so interesting is the huge differences in the answers given. Here are two that refer directly to the racial divide and the recent Mayoral election:

Michael Ashford
Toledo City Council District 4
Dr. King was one of the greatest people of the 20th Century, and he shaped everybody’s perceptions of race relationships. His legacy is part of why we as public servants do what we do. But 2005 was one of the most challenging I’ve seen in this city as far as race relations. In February we had one minority group marching on another minority group in debates in City Council. Then the new mayor [Carty Finkbeiner] used hints of racism in his campaign, referring to Mayor Ford as "mayor for the African Americans." He played the race card, and I’ve never seen it so overt, like, it’s out in public and we don’t care. And the vote broke down along racial lines. I think leaders set the tone, and it’s important that we embrace diversity in everything we do.

Tom Whatmore
Truck driver
There is a racial divide, but it partly already been taken care of by the voters, electing Carty Finkbeiner. When Jack Ford was elected, it divided us more. He specifically dwelled on blacks. Before it was blacks and whites knew where they stood. All of a sudden we have a black mayor and people see black and white. Before it was just people. I’ve never seen Toledo have problems like that [neo-Nazi incident] until we had a black mayor. He made the problems worse, all of a sudden everything needs done for the blacks. He was trying to help only one group, and that puts others on the outside. Jack Ford brought out the racial problem, saying, "Hey, you should be getting this and you should be getting that. You need this and you need to have that." When it’s not just a black thing. There’s just as many poor white people who need houses.

Programs need to be poverty-based or education-based, not black or white. When you say you’re going to take office, "I’m going to be the mayor of Toledo," I didn’t know it was, "I’m going to be the ‘black people’s’ mayor of Toledo." You know, help everybody. For Toledo there definitely needs to be a no tolerance policy for racial violence, which Toledo now has a problem with. You need education… and religious beliefs. All that plays a key factor in racial problems. It goes back to how you were raised. I wasn’t raised in racism, but I have friends who were raised to hate black people. I have black friends that hate white people. It needs to be understood that racism is a sickness, it needs to be treated like an illness.

Definitely a gap has been bridged from before Dr. King and after him. Civil rights are so improved. At least now it’s written that everyone has the same rights as everyone else. Racism is one of those things that will probably take forever to fix. People that get caught up in it, they always look to make something race-based. That’s an illness. But I know people on both sides of the fence who will just never see the light.