Mayors come and mayors go — and it appears Mayor Adrian Fenty could be about to go — but “the plan” will live on.
“The plan” is a persistent conspiracy theory among many blacks in the District. It assumes that whites have had a plan to take back the nation’s capital city since the advent of home rule in the 1970s, when the city started electing blacks to local office. The white power structure is bent on moving blacks out and whites in, and it will always control the levers of power.
We saw “the plan” in play last week when a black resident of Deanwood was asked what she thought of the community’s new recreation center. Both Fenty and challenger Vincent Gray have taken credit for refurbishing it. Who wins? White people, the woman said.
Huh? Deanwood has been a black working-class community for decades; lately whites have begun to move in, so the new rec center fits well into “the plan”.
We can thank Lillian Wiggins for first articulating this particular conspiracy theory. A columnist for the Washington Afro-American in 1979, she wrote: “Many residents believe that the Marion Barry era may be the last time Washington will have a black mayor. If negative programming and characterization of black leadership are allowed to continue in the city of Washington and especially the black community, there is a strong possibility of the ‘master plan’ which I have so often spoken about maturing in the 1980s.”
Drop the master and you have “the plan.”
Like all good conspiracy theories, the plan has some basis in reality. Instead of the Trilateral Commission, which some believe controls the world, believers in “the plan” point to the Federal City Council. This organized group of civic and corporate leaders, mostly white, meets in secret and uses its power to influence the city’s direction. Bingo — the plan in action!
Conspiracies aside, there is no plan. There are market forces, demographics and what we call gentrification, which is happening at head-snapping speed in DC.
The truth is that blacks have left D.C. of late, just as whites split for suburbs in the 1950s. Both left the decaying city with its crime and lousy schools for a better, safer life.
Black churches followed to Prince George’s County and Silver Spring. One could argue that middle-class blacks abandoned the city. Was that part of “the plan”?
Former Mayor Tony Williams established the goal of bringing 100,000 new residents to D.C. The city is looking better, and they are arriving: blacks as well as whites. Turns out Fenty could be paying the price for demographic forces way beyond his control. Blacks blame him for catering to the newcomers with bike lanes and a focus on education. Fenty and his planners have sought to create a world-class city — for all. They looked to Paris, London and New York for inspiration in encouraging people to use bikes and buses rather than cars.
Guess that doesn’t fit “the plan”.
Harry Jaffe’s column appears on Tuesday and Friday. He can be contacted at [email protected].
