"You Owe Us"

With those words, Alderman Charles Quincy Troupe, 1st Ward, asked the organizers of the Annie Malone parade to respect the Board of Alderman and "back up" and reconsider moving the parade to downtown.

Aldermen Troupe and Freeman Bosley,Sr., 1st Ward, spoke in support of 21st Ward Alderwoman Bennice Jones King's resolution expressing the board's disappointment with the parade organizer's decision to mover the parade.

The aldermen all talked of the support the board and city have given the parade over their years and their surprise at receiving notification of the move from the media and not the organizers. Bosley noted that for years the organizers had contacted him for permission to use the part of Fairground Park that lies in his ward and to waive the usage fees, moves he was happy to do. Now, after all their contact, there was no notice.

Troupe, who used to sit on the board of Annie Malone Children & Family Services Center, said the board was happy to "take the heat" from constituents who were not happy with the noise, garbage and occasional public urination that accompanies a parade that draws a 100,000 people.

The alderman saw the move as a betrayal of the relationship between the community that nurtured and supported the parade and the current leadership.

King said the move, "shows little regard for the history of the community." King said the parade is moving out of the African American community and into the corporate community.

"You don't need to be stripping the community of that which they had been celebrating for 80 years," said King.

The resolution came at the end of a board session that recognizing Black History Month. The Aldermanic Black Caucus recognizaed John D. Albert, Jamilah Nasheed (a candidate for state rep in the 60th), Percy Green II and the Organization for Black Struggle for their contributions to the community. Kalimu Endesha, a founding member of the OBS, thanked the board for recognizing them for their actions, not because they were a "black organization."

Also in attendance at the meeting was the newest member or the city Board of Election, deputy Democratic director, Matt Potter. He was accompanied by the ever-busy Election Board Chairman, Ed Martin. Martin is also a regular contributing columnist for the Arch City Chronicle.