Montgomery County’s only minority council member says undertones of racismhave resulted in her not getting the same opportunities “to play ball” as other elected officials.
Councilwoman Valerie Ervin, the first black woman to be elected to the Montgomery County Council, voted with the seven other council members to approve a $4.3 billion compromise budget Friday. But Ervin, a former school board member and labor organizer, said she was left out of the negotiations.
“There are times, as the only person of color, there are many times when I feel like I have not been afforded the same opportunity to play ball,” Ervin said at the Friday meeting at which the vote was held.
Some council members remained in their offices until late Thursday night, while Council President Mike Knapp worked on compromise proposals because members were split 4-4 in preliminary budget votes. Ervin and two other council members left the building believing they would be called if Knapp saw a consensus forming.
“The pulling together as a team, I am still waiting to see what that means,” Ervin said Friday.
Knapp said Ervin was the first person he called around 8 p.m. when he thought they may be edging toward an agreement, that the two spoke then and again at 10 or 10:30 p.m.
“I can understand where some people may feel like, ‘Oh gee, something happened and I wasn’t there,’ ” Knapp said. “By the same token, you could have stayed.”
Ervin says she received one call from him around 10 that evening.
“There are a lot of underlying unspoken messages in this county that really belie where I think people are,” Ervin told The Examiner. “When people talk about code enforcement issues, gang issues, crime and slowing the growth of the county, who do you think that message is aimed at?”
