How Institutional Racism and Classism promoted the closing of Lakewood Hospital.

[Pam Wetula]

I would invite all to help me develop this topic of how Institutional Racism and Classism contributed to the demise of Lakewood Hospital by the City of Lakewood and Cleveland Clinic Foundation. We know that access to a host of life's amenities including healthcare are affected by Institutional Racism and Classism

Could someone source the "those people" attitude and commentary recorded as made by our City officials. Both with regards to Metro Hospital coming to Lakewood as well as Lakewood & western Cleveland's need for the hospital to remain open here in Lakewood.

My belief is that a group of elites in Lakewood have been trying to effect an economic change in Lakewood that ignores or aims to displace a portion of residents that do not fit their own demographic. It started before the West End debates and continues to permeate the local culture as we allowed our City Government to give away a major service- a full healthcare hospital and replace it with a medical office building and a faux ER.

Lakewood doesn't need a hospital was a ludicrous argument. What they meant..what is behind that argument is that Lakewood doesn't DESERVE a hospital. That we are NOT AS WORTHY as Avon.

Have any ideas?

Pam Wetula

[Michael Deneen]

A lot to cover here.
Institutional racism dates back decades, long before anyone in Team Summers was even born. That's where housing and poverty patterns were established. Those issues are deep and will likely linger long after we're all dead.

Regarding Lakewood specifically, I have no doubt that racism played a role in the closing of Lakewood Hospital. Racism has been simmering here for the past couple decades as the black population has grown. Team Summers (Fitzy, Summers, Bullock) came to power in 2007, riding a wave of fear about crime. Fitzy loved to use the term "Section 8"....and Bullock's knack for dog whistle racism is well known.
The pit bull ban happened after their ascension. Basketball hoops were already taken down that summer, as Tom George foolishly tried to appease the bigots.
Anyone that denies the role of racism in those issues is either foolish or straight up lying.

Summers' comments about "those people" fits perfectly into Team Summers pattern of conduct. The corporatist elites in town would prefer losing jobs and medical care to bringing Metro to town.
It's all very sad.
The interesting thing is that Lakewood bills itself as a progressive paragon of virtue. That's true for some groups, but certainly not all.

[Pam Wetula]

Most people know what racism is but some might use a refresher on Class/Classism and related definitions. This applies to some of us in Lakewood and most of us exhibit attitudes that affect how we feel, vote etc.. that can be detrimental to those around us. (I am not excluding myself)

Class Definitions
Class – relative social rank in terms of income, wealth, education, status and/or power.

Classism – differential treatment based on social class or perceived social class. Classism is the systematic assignment of worth based on social class; policies and practices set up to benefit more class-privileged people at the expense of the less class-privileged people, resulting in drastic income and wealth inequality and causing basic human needs to go unmet; the rationale and the culture which perpetuates these systems and this unequal valuing.

Class Privilege – Tangible or intangible unearned advantages of higher-class status, such as personal contacts with employers, good childhood health care, inherited money, speaking with the same dialect/accent as people with institutional power.

Class Ally – A person from the more privileged classes whose attitudes and behaviors are anti-classist, who is committed to increasing his or her own understanding of this issue related to classism, and is actively working towards eliminating classism on many levels.

Individual Classism – This term refers to classism on a personal or individual level, either in behavior or attitudes, either conscious and intentional, or unconscious and unintentional.

Institutional Classism – This term refers to the ways in which intentional and unintentional classism is manifest in the various institutions of our society.


SOURCE: Class Action inspires action to end classism and extreme inequality by providing change-makers with tools, training and inspiration to raise awareness, shift cultural beliefs about social class, build cross-class solidarity, and transform institutions and systems.
info@classism.org
30 Germania Street, Building L
Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
(617) 477-8635

[Pam Wetula]

Here is an opinion by a Lakewood Resident in a 2007 Lakewood Observer. This is an individual post but again, as we vote our elected officials in, we are a partner to the Institutional Racism and Institutional Classism found in Lakewood. When they vote in ways that exhibit racism or classism, we bear part of the blame. When we do not understand how we unintentionally vote while under the influence of our own racism or classism (because we think we are open minded and better than that), there are unintentional and sometimes serious consequences. My contention is that we have lost our hospital amongst other things due in part to the institutional racism and classism found in Lakewood, Ohio in part created by our election of a mayor and a City Council who also exhibit these isms.

Here is the post from 2007. Thank you Sharon. Your points still apply and maybe even more than in 2007:

Racism and Classism in My Town

by Sharon Kinsella
I have always liked the suburb in which I live. We're right outside of Cleveland, Ohio. We have access to the beach, a huge park, and many small parks all over town. I live right by a marina on the Rocky River. I grew up here, moved back, and I want to stay.
I returned here when my two youngest children were pre-teens. They are very bright and engaged and I needed to get them into a school system that would stimulate them. My hometown fit the bill. Good schools, a diverse economic environment, and the beginnings of diversity that I thought would be handled well and of which we could be a part.

While seeming to be able to deal with gay and lesbian culture, for the most part, this community is incredibly disappointing in the attitudes of many of its citizens on racial and economic differences.

I continually hear people making unkind references to Section 8 and "thugs". These people are blaming troubles in our town on people in Section 8 housing. In their minds, Section 8 recipients are non-white. Because of this, it is assumed that their ambitions, dreams, and goals are different from their own. These people are quite misinformed. Most of the Section 8 housing in our city underwrites housing for seniors and poor white families. But people equate the program with minorities, and have decided that these minorities are trouble makers and "thugs".

Thugs. They haven't got a clue. They think that any kid who wears jeans so low that they have to walk with one hand on their waistband to hold them up is a thug. I have offered to take them into Cleveland, to some of the really bad sections, to show them what real thugs look like, but none of them want to go.
These kids are just kids. Period. They have the same issues most kids have: boredom, hormones, egos, and insecurities they don't yet have the skills to deal with. These "good citizens" who don't like "thugs" have taken down all the basketball hoops in town. They have imposed a ridiculous curfew so that these kids are locked in their houses at night.

My friends and I have been discussing positive and proactive things, such as replacing the basketball hoops, building a rec center, creating an effective summer jobs program, mentoring some of the troubled ones, and really getting to know these kids. Inside they are no different than we were, they are simply reacting to a more hostile environment.

"Underclass" - I have actually heard people referred to this way in my town. If you ain't middle class I guess you just ain't no good.

This is breaking my heart.


Volume 3, Issue 16, Posted 2:16 PM, 07.17.2007

[Lori Allen _]

Fitzy loved to use the term "Section 8"....and Bullock's knack for dog whistle racism is well known. .

I agree. Apparently, he's so foolish that he doesn't realize most people on Section 8 are White. This is a well-documented fact. I even recall my college professors in my diversity classes speaking of this.

Institutional racism has played a role in Lakewood for decades. If I recall correctly, I was at one of the mayor's "come sit at a bar and talk" sessions a while back. This was probably almost five years ago now. It was during the whole "dollar store" debacle. I recall that Tom Bullock was in attendance at this meeting and I seem to recall a comment from him about dollar stores "attracting the wrong kind of people" or something to the same effect. I commented that I shop at dollar stores, and asked if that makes me one of "those people". Crickets resulted. On another note, we have many neighbors of all races in Ward 4 that live in terrible conditions. Their landlords often don't fix anything, they often go without heat, their apartment buildings haven't been inspected in years, and City Hall seems to do nothing. Yeah, inspecting apartment buildings every 15-20 years is a great track record. Here comes City Hall and friends to tell me I'm wrong, even though plenty of inspection certificates have been posted here before. Trust me, I have personally spoken to our neighbors in Ward 4. I met maybe three that liked the mayor and our City Council, and one of them was an ex city-hall employee.

Did racism contribute to the closure of Lakewood Hospital? It is likely, but it is not likely the main factor. There are so many smaller factors that have played into this that it is nearly impossible to list them all. We have:

- Mayor's alleged demolition contractor friends (B&B, C&J, etc.)
- Mayor's alleged developer friends (Zaremba, Liberty, Rockport Square, Forest City, Darren, etc.)
- Favors for other friends
- The "those people" mentality

Was racism and discrimination a factor? It is likely, but is likely not the only factor.

In the meantime, we are still waiting on how many pages of documents and still have a lawsuit.