Remembering My Black History

February 6, 2021 -- Oh it is writing time again.

This month seems to be dragging its feet. If I had not taken on this task of writing something about my Black history experiences, it would already be the middle of February. Instead, this is only Saturday, February 6, 2021, and I still have 22 more days to write. Thank God this is not a leap year, or I would have 23 more days to write. LOL

I ran for other positions because I strongly believed that Black people needed a seat at the table and should not be taken for granted. The political portion of my life span almost half a century, and I am still writing it. Part two of my adult politics will be written later but know that it is not over until the fat lady sings. LOL

What does hold a political office mean? It means a lot of different things to many, but to me, it means getting actively involved in every aspect of service needed by a community. From the moment I became PTA president, more jobs were piled on my plate. But I am a few positions ahead of myself.
Fact 1 Upon buying my first home in Mount Rainier, I became interested in the neighborhood. I wanted to meet my neighbors. So, I took my happy self to visit. Some were glad that we were there. Our next-door neighbor was one of them, she was a seamstress, and her husband worked for the government and drove a taxi in his spare time. They had one child who became my oldest daughter’s best friend. Others informed us of the Mount Rainier Civic Association. Joining in. My ex-husband and I attended our first meeting at Saint James Episcopal Church in their community room. You should have been there. We were the only Blacks in the entire sea of White faces, and yep, we were sitting in the middle. Mayor Roy Calloway was the president or master of ceremony, I have no idea, but when he started the meeting, he said, “I see we have two monkeys visiting us tonight!” Two monkeys! Two Fing monkeys, can you imagine. Well, that should have been my last meeting, but no, it was not. I became a regular, not my ex. He was too through. About five (5) years later, I ran for president, and before I could get elected, the Mount Rainier Civic Association disappeared and never resurfaced again. I wonder what I did? LOL

Fact 2 The Concerned Citizen of Mount Rainier (CCMR) is born. Some White guy from Montgomery County found a great old big house on 29th Street in Mount Rainier and thought it would be a great idea to convert it to three apartments. The house was near the Wendell’s and another family and very much NOT wanted. So, we had a block meeting once we noticed a hearing about making an exception to the single residential zoning to allow for three apartments. Oh no, not in my block. Well, I, along with the Wendell’s, that other family, and my Mother called a meeting of the block, and the CCMR was up and running. We attended the hearing in Upper Marlboro, and I was the spokesperson. We packed that room, and when we were called upon to testify, Councilmember Conzula asked who we were and why we were there. I told him. Then he asked about the CCMR. He said that he was familiar with almost every group in Prince George’s County but had not heard of us. My answer was simple until Mr. Man from Gaithersburg decided to come to our neighborhood and start turning our houses into apartments, we had not heard of us either. The room busted into laughter. Lord, the Country in me just rose up and let loose. There was no other reason for that response. Needless to say, Mr. Gaithersburg was ordered to restore the house to a single-family home with orders to remove all of his three apartments of furniture!

Victory was sweet, so why not go after some of the other issues in the City. Our next major issue was the WMATA bus that shook my house every single time it went by, and it went by a lot. The CCMR contacted WMATA and asked the to re-route the bus, but that was a definite no go. If not WMATA, then whom, of course, the City of Mount Rainier. What did we want? Stop signs at every intersection so that the bus would have to slow down and stop. It worked, and those stop signs are still there. The CCMR did not live forever but was instrumental in creating the next organization, The Neighborhood United Project (Mount Rainier, Chillum, Brentwood, North Brentwood, Cottage City, and Colmar Manor), also widely known as NUP. These neighborhoods formerly combined to get the Prince George’s County Council's attention because no money was coming in to fix up the inner beltway communities, but lots of money was going outside of the beltway to build new communities.
Fact 3 NUP was instrumental in getting revitalization started inside the beltway. Out of it grew Betterment for United Seniors (BUS) that led to the creation of the Cora B. Woods Center in Brentwood. As one of the community activists in the area, I was elected to the NUP Board and later served as NUP vice president. My mother served on the BUS Board. Out of these organizations, Mount Rainier got the Nature Center (the first one was in a house on 29th Street) that was an abandoned house. As a compromise for not building a real recreation center in Mount Rainier, MNCPPC built the new nature Center in the mid to late 80s after making the decision to build Rollingcrest and the North Brentwood Center. All of these came about after the Prince George’s County School Board decided to close several schools throughout the County because “enrollment” was down. The closing of Mount Rainier Junior High was a major blow. My daughter was attending that school. What the heck?

Okay, catch up. I was active in the community. Active is a very mild way to put it. I was president of one or more PTAs, working full-time (I got divorced in 1978), single mom, and now I am running for office on the school board. I served as PTA president at Hyattsville Middle School with the President from another school that was dumped into Hyattsville Middle with Mount Rainier Junior High. Enter Prince George’s County into the “middle school” concept – only for 7th and 8th graders. Now, that concept includes 6th graders. This is crazy – getting rid of schools, bussing our children to where? On the bus by 7:00 a.m. NOT GOING TO HAVE IT. Time for Chester Whiting to go. So, I ran for the school board and won the primary. Lost the general election to Cathy Burch because of being accused of foul play – nothing I did but done on my behalf – accused of using non-profit money to support my campaign. Investigated and found innocent, but the public had a reason not to vote for me in general, and that was enough. I lost. That was also the election when a very old White man came up to me and stated emphatically that he thought I was the best candidate, but that he had never voted for a Black person in his life, and he did not intend to start now. A sentiment that seemed to permeate most of the White neighborhoods.

Fact 4 NUP died, but I was just getting started. The 24th Legislative Team (Senator Tommie Broadwater, Nat Exum, Frank Santangelo, and Decatur “Bucky” Trotter) made me Precinct Captain for Thomas Stone Elementary School years earlier, and I attended most of their meetings. My Mother was one of the precinct judges, so we were covered inside and outside to observe voting and who voted. Fertile ground to take on my next political step. Hot dog, I am on the ballot to serve as the representative for the democratic central committee. I WON! I became the “Honorable Malinda Miles” – my mail said so. My Mother would watch for the mail just to see letters addressed to the “Honorable Malinda Miles.”

Being on the Democratic Central Committee was no easy ride. Meeting were held in all the darkest places you could find in Prince George’s County. Going to meetings in Upper Marlboro and some of the other small rural areas were the worse. Getting lost looking for the meeting place was bad if you were driving by yourself while Black.

I managed to get elected to ensure full representation amongst the delegate to the Democratic National Convention. This coincided fully with my job, my training, and my passion. I went across Prince George’s County recruiting and explaining how important it was for our representatives to represent the Prince George’s County population. Some of those central committee members included Carolyn J.B. Howard, Gloria Lawlah, Gary Alexander, Jim Rosapepe. Mary Davis, Russell Butler, David Valderama, and others whose names escape me at the moment – 1982-1986 was a very long time ago. However, this group of people made history back then and have gone on to continue to make history in Prince George’s County.

Fact 5 When you become “The Honorable,” people seek you out for stuff. They appoint you to more committees. They invite you to places you never even dreamed of, and now you have to really know who you are because you can easily get caught up. While on the Democratic Central Committee, I figured out my politics. A vacancy occurred, and the Central Committee had to advertise the opening and then appoint a successor. This happened at least twice while I served. The first one was not so hard. We agreed to appoint the wife of the deceased. The second one was a political fiasco. It was a circus. I got wined and dined by Bucky to support him for the position. I got threatening calls to get my support for Bucky. Even members of the Central Committee tried to get my vote for Bucky, but I knew in my heart of hearts that Bonnie Johns was the best candidate then, I still believe that now. I was the lone opposing vote to Bucky Trotter's appointment, and I have never regretted it. Others of that Central Committee bartered their votes into other positions (I know this, I was there, and I watched) and went on to higher positions. Some ended up doing good things, and many of us remain friends to this day, but they also know that Bucky was not the best candidate, but he got the job. My lesson, and I still live by it, is to vote my conscience and that of the people I represent who have no voice and depend on me to do the right thing. It is a hard, lonely road, but I sleep well at night. I also learned that lesson repeatedly at the National Education Association, where I served in several leadership roles in the union and negotiating teams. My Mother taught me well – “A good name is rather to be chosen than all of the riches of the world.” A very true statement for me. My Mother’s other statement that I live by is “What profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?” I still sleep well at night and can drop off to sleep almost anywhere.

Fact 6 Okay, I leave the Central Committee promising to never run for that corrupt body ever again. LOL Who knew that was just the beginning of the craziness of holding office. No, I did not quit being active in my neighborhood. I just could not get elected in Mount Rainier. The Mount Rainier City Council remained all White until 1985 when Otis Hayward ran and got elected as the first Black person to ever hold that position in the history of the City. WOW! He just moved here, and he got elected? Damn. I have run and run, and I have been here since 1968. The quiet soul, my Mother, said, “Well, what are you going to do about it? I hope you are not planning to quit. I suggest that you get started running now for the next City election. They might be ready for you.” LOL Yeah, right. Not doing it. With her help, I did run for a seat on the Mount Rainier City Council, AGAIN, in 1987 and was sworn into office as representative for Ward 4. Then my political education took off running – well, it was already running as the honorable because I got invited to parties, the Governor’s Mansion, the County Executive’s parties, and how about those election parties. Did I mention that I drug my kids and my Mother to almost all of those things, and yes, those children had to work the polls with me? They had to run all over the County, putting up and taking down signs. It was a family affair. All and all, I served on the Mount Rainier City Council for several years with a break here and there. The City Charter got revised. CDBG money became a staple, revitalization became the outcry, and let’s get rid of those abandoned buildings. Recycling was my baby, and do not forget the call-a-bus for seniors. The City needs to go green, and we need to be more environmentally friendly. How about finding ways to reuse paper? Over the years, Mount Rainier became a role model for how to go green, and then Edmonton gets newspaper coverage in the greenest City! Really! Not on my watch. So, I invited the Environment Protection Agency head to Mount Rainier and gave him the grand green tour! I bet I put a stop to that greenest city mess, and I created a green Mount Rainier brochure (I have no idea where that pamphlet is today).

Mount Rainier became my passion and my love. I raised my family here. We went through the abuse, name-calling, and even being threatened by the White Power of Mount Rainier when I, along with Otis Hayward, pushed to hire the first Black City Administrator, Condie Clayton. Talking about being crazy, folks were crazy. They left messages on our answering services. They called and threatened my Mother. They promised that Otis and I would never make it to or leave the Council meeting if we appointed that “coon.” Well, we did! We were asked to cancel the meeting or cancel the vote. We did not. Otis and I have lived to tell this story. Police records exist to prove its authenticity, but my children bear the scars. My son pulled together all of his friends. They found guns, knives, and whatever else they could get their hands on to “keep” me safe. Those boys, now young men, surrounded my house day and night to watch over me. The FBI, Fire Arms, and Tobacco Protection units, as well as Prince George’s County Police, guarded Otis and me for months. It was a terrifying time, but I decided that I should resign if I did not go to that meeting because “the White power” of Mount Rainier would have beaten me. So, I went.

I believe that some people, particularly White people were ashamed and embarrassed by the actions of a few because after those very tense days, running for office in Mount Rainier got easier – so long as I did not run for mayor. I had run, but I’d lost. In 2001, I even lost to a guy named Michael Lawson, who had only been in the City a short time, about two years. As it turned out, he did not really live in the City (they said that he lived in Colmar Manor, but the former Mayor had gotten him to run against me). Two years later (2002), he resigned. Okay, again, I am ahead of myself.

My next addition will move us into getting me elected as mayor and all those other offices that just kind of presented themselves in such a way I just could not say no.