How Cleveland's black leaders rip off black workers.

In what has to be one of the best stories on the long time culture of corruption pervading the City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County, Scene has went to depths the PD would never go.

A review of African-American leaders of this area, shows they have no problem, much like prostitutes, selling the color of their skin, while selling out the African-American residents.

This post is not meant as a "shot" at African-Americans or intended to be racist in anyway. As the leaders of this region, this corruption needs to be stopped regardless of race.

The betrayal of African-American leaders on their community reaches from City Hall to the prominent religious leaders of the area. While lengthy, it is a must read for ALL residents in Cuyahoga County.

The article points out that the last honorable African-American leader this area had was, Carl Stokes, the first black mayor of a major American city.

Scene reports :

After decades of being barred from the corridors of power, black companies would finally have a chance to compete. Their newfound wealth would spread from construction sites to the streets of Central and Hough.

It was a noble goal, but its execution relied on honest people overseeing it. No one envisioned that the civil-rights leaders of the era would someday be replaced by officials of a different stripe -- those who spoke eloquently of race to get elected, but behaved as callously as any redneck when it came time to back up their promise......

There were lucrative management contracts at Browns Stadium, the Willard Park garage, and the airport. There were smaller contracts at the downtown library, NASA Glenn, the Jennings Freeway, and the Rock Hall.

This was extremely frustrating for legitimate black contractors. White's cronies were so greedy, they even swallowed up the little jobs that are the bread and butter of real builders.

"They took everything," one contractor remembers. "They took the crumbs."

According to the FBI, the $1.5 billion airport expansion was the epicenter of an extortion scheme run by White ["The Sweetest Deal," April 5, 2006]. Contracts for everything from security to parking garages were won through bribes and kickbacks.

To get in, you had to go through Nate Gray or Ricardo Teamor, close friends of White.

But call around to black Cleveland's most notable figures, and all you get is resounding . . . silence.

NAACP President George Forbes, a target in the federal investigation of the state's workers' comp fiasco, ignored interview requests.

So did the city's most powerful preachers, including the Reverends Marvin McMickle and Otis Moss Jr. Reverend Larry Macon was kind enough to call back, but only so he could refer questions to the Reverend C. Jay Matthews, president of United Pastors in Mission.

Matthews' secretary said he's not familiar with the scam. She asked for a list of e-mailed questions. Matthews never responded.

Black politicians have been equally elusive. Mike White picked up the phone at his Newcomerstown home, but hung up as soon as he discovered the call was from Scene. The whole story....