Back when Ridley-Thomas burst on the political scene, he promoted himself as a black first politician. As an LA city councilman, leaders of the Southern California Organizing Committee [SCOC] sent its members, mostly Latinos, to a meeting where Mark Ridley-Thomas was hosting a meeting for 8th District residents. The meeting erupted into a shouting match, with some charging Ridley-Thomas with alienating his constituents in the ethnically and religiously diverse district. This took place back in 1993. Ridley-Thomas hasn’t changed much since then.
Mark Ridley-Thomas
The SCOC drew its membership from churches, block clubs and community organizations in South-Central LA. SCOC leaders say they were incensed by what they felt were disparaging remarks made by Ridley-Thomas while voting against their anti-gang program. The councilman denied SCOC’s charges that he favored blacks over Latinos.
Revealing shades of Rev. Jeremiah Wright , Ridley-Thomas accused the coalition of being made up of "largely of white pastors and Catholic church organizations…without any regard for traditional leadership in the African-American community." LA Times April 29, 1993.
Former LAPD Chief Bernard Parks is running against Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas for one the most important Supervisorial seats in the US, this June 3rd. The business community, victims groups and a wide variety of community leaders support Parks. Ridley-Thomas has government unions with well over 2.5 million funding his campaign. Clearly the government unions have only one goal – – stupendous publicly funded salary increases.
The 2nd District is central Los Angeles County with over 2.5 million residents.
Chief Barnard Parks