Like the fictional space-exploring Robinson family's robot on the 1960s television show, "Lost in Space," CHRISTIAN WHITEHURST figuratively flailed his arms.
CHRISTIAN WHITEHURST emoted.
CHRISTIAN WHITEHURST hemhawed.
CHRISTIAN WHITEHURST heehawed.
CHRISTIAN WHITEHURST (a/k/a CHRISTIAN WHITE HOOD), indulged bigotry with open, notorious hostility against poor people.
CHRISTIAN WHITEHURST never matriculated. Two of five Commissioners did not go to college.
CHRISTIAN WHITEHURST is exactly the sort of uneducated, classist, no-class tabula rasa that the Ruling Classes want in a politician -- other-directed, narrow-minded nuisance.
WHITEHURST said he did not want "those kind of people" in his County who receive HUD Section 8 Housing vouchers. Some 65% of the people receiving HUD Section 8 housing vouchers are Black or Hispanic. That makes St. Johns County likely to lose in the event HUD and USDOJ investigate.
WHITEHURST appealed to hatred.
There's no excusing his venality.
As Senator Robert Kennedy said in 1967, "it is not enough to allow dissent, We must demand it, for there is much to dissent from."
CHRISTIAN WHITEHURST has a sordid record of ignorance about constitutional rights, leading to my sending him a cease and desist letter on January 10, 2023, here.
In 1968, when Dr. King was murdered in Memphis, Senator Robert Kennedy said in the Indianapolis ghetto:
"What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness; but love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or they be black. So I shall ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King, that's true, but more importantly to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love--a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke.
We can do well in this country. We will have difficult times; we've had difficult times in the past; we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; it is not the end of disorder.
But the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice for all human beings who abide in our land."
Ugly, stark and raw, WHITEHURST's outrageous outburst was like a throwback to Alabama Governor George Corley Wallace, a rebarbative racist who ran as a third-party candidate in 1968, helping elect corrupt Republican President Richard Milhous Nixon. Like the Dixiecrats in 1948, Wallace drew substantial support in Florida, including winning 41.4% of the vote in St. Johns County in 1968 -- a plurality of the 11,310 voters at the time -- more than either Nixon (34.31) or Hubert Horatio Humphrey (24.3%).In Lincoln's words, "we must disenthrall ourselves." We must appeal to the "better angels of [WHITEHURST's] nature."
We must demand that Commissioners in the three-vote majority move to reconsider the Commission's racist vote. Otherwise, we must have a civil, criminal and administrative investigation of St. Johns County for violations of the Fair Housing Act and 1871 Civil Rights Act (Ku Klux Klan Act).
Never again should St. Johns County elect such an uneducated bumptious bigot to public office.
Developers and their cat's paws are a stench in the nostrils of our Nation.
Former County Commission Chairman Ben Rich, Sr. told Folio Weekly in 2008 that St. Johns County is "one of the last bastions of the Ku Klux Klan."
Dr. King said St. Johns County is one of "the most lawless" places in America.
The effrontery of CHRISTIAN WHITEHURST (a/k/a CHRISTIAN WHITE HOOD), makes me ashamed of our County's louche leadership,
Enough flummery, dupery and nincompoopery.
We in the reality-based community expect better.
Last year, I was the first to file to run for St. Johns County Commission in 2024.
St. Johns County commissioner votes down public housing authority proposal, says it could change character of county
Commissioners voted 3-2 against moving forward with the creating of a public housing authority
ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – A divided St. Johns County Commission voted against creating a county public housing authority during a meeting on Tuesday.
The vote comes as the county with a high cost of living is dealing with what some are calling a housing crisis.
Proponents of creating one said it would have helped the county get more money from the federal government. But other commissioners argued it would add another layer of bureaucracy and could change the character of the county.
“We have a crisis. We have a crisis in this county,” Commissioner Henry Dean said.
Dean made a passionate plea this week for the county to move forward with creating a public housing authority.
The county said having one would open up the chance for more grant money from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, also known as HUD.
Dean argued that more money for affordable housing would help middle-to-low-income workers and the local economy.
Advocates also showed up to push for a housing authority.
“If anything helps us bring additional funding to our community, we need to be set up for it,” said Bill Lazar, Director of the St. Johns Housing Partnership.
But, newly elected commissioner Krista Joseph said the county can do just fine with the resources already in place.
“I do not agree with adding another layer of government. I feel that government should be a very narrow place in our lives,” Joseph said.
Joseph along with commissioners Roy Alaimo and Christian Whitehurst voted down the proposal.
Whitehurst has been outspoken in the past about getting more housing in the county for essential workers like teachers and firefighters but said creating a housing authority goes “a step too far.”
“I respect the heart, the intent behind trying to establish this housing authority, but when you start to bring Section 8 vouchers into a county that is number one in so many different categories, I think you run a risk there of changing the character of that county,” Whitehurst said.
Dean and Commissioner Sarah Arnold voted in favor.
For now, St. Johns County is an outlier.
There are 98 housing authorities in the state, the vast majority of the state, and the county said Jacksonville’s Housing Authority has received over $6 million in funds in recent years.
With the proposal shut down, the county plans to move forward with the affordable housing plans that are already in the pipeline including a recently approved 192-unit project off U.S. 1.
Copyright 2023 by WJXT News4JAX - All rights reserved.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Travis Gibson
Digital reporter who has lived in Jacksonville for more than 25 years and focuses on important local issues like education and the environment.
5 comments:
Just what are the requirements to serve as a Saint Johns County District Commissioner if no college is needed to qualify?
Change the character of the county? What's he talking about? In some places in the county, you couldn't tell the difference between St. Johns and rural Russia or Namibia.
Speaking ability and empty suit ideology.
You gotta believe that dinosaurs and humans were created at the same time.
To some extent you must believe in Q-Anon so that you can relate to what some people might put in front of you.
Post a Comment