Friends & Neighbors: This Man Wants to Be the Third District's Next City Council Member

UPDATE: 
I am happy to report that Dorian Daniels and I spoke yesterday evening.  We actually exchanged three phone calls (calls kept dropping).  He explained his position as far as being a member of the NRA and the need to support the Second Amendment.  I assured him that no one wants to take his gun, but that considering emotions are running high about the many senseless deaths not only in Richmond, but nationally and globally, that it was probably not a good idea to pose and then post a photograph showing him (lock & load) holding what appears to be an assault weapon. 

Now, I have no doubt that Dorian Daniels is a smart man, a man who clearly sees that our city needs new leadership.   I stressed that we live in a world in which women and children deserve far more respect from elected officials.  

Although he and I have very different political views, one of the things I love most dearly about this nation of ours is that we are all free to disagree. I explained that my issue with his posting was that it essentially advocated shooting some "hoes." I also noted that I was not alone in seeing the posting as disrespectful to women and that it advocated violence. 

He defended by saying someone he knows posted it on his page and that it was a joke that people were blowing way out of proportion.   

I countered with he "reposted" it and in so doing it becomes a part of his political beliefs.  I also attempted to disabuse him of the idea that he can't control what other people put on his Face Book page.  "All you have to do is hit the delete key.  You can also block people from posting on your page."

He asked me why I didn't understand that it was a joke given that he put the emoticon of the laughing face with tears coming out of his eyes on the posting (as opposed to another one that shows tears streaming down a sad face).   

I quietly answered:  "Some things just aren't funny."  There is too much killing going on not just in Richmond, but throughout the world.

I reminded him about 12-year-old Amiyah Moses, a 12-year-old Henderson Middle School student who was caught in gang crossfire and killed this past December. [ Click here to see WTVR reporter Chelsea Rarrick's powerful piece that interviews the Amiyah's mother.]  

Now, it was his turn to be quiet.  "I knew that little girl," he said. He then asked what I thought he should do.  I told him that I couldn't tell him what to do, but that if I were in his situation, I would apologize. I stressed that when it comes to guns, sexism and senseless killing, some things just aren't funny.  Never have been, never will.

To his credit, he said he had already been thinking apologizing. Later that evening, I saw this piece by Matt McClellan on WRIC's website.  [Click here to see it for yourself.] 

After we finished talking about the matters at hand, he shared his views concerning term limits on city leadership and his frustrations with how City Council has not fulfilled its statutory duty to be wise stewards of our money. We agreed that the members of Richmond City Council have essentially rubber stamped every project that Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones asked them to do.  

We found "common ground" in terms of wanting the city to manage its money more efficiently in order to provide the necessary money to fix the dilapidated and shameful  public school buildings and other blighted properties in the city.  

We also agreed that City Council members should have held the Mayor and his administration accountable. As much as anyone wants to blame Mayor Jones, City Council members had the power to put him in check and stop Mayor Jones great "money giveaways."  We ticked off a list of boondoggles wrought by the Jones administration and rubber-stamped by most, but not all City Council members.   A few examples:

• The Redskins 
• The new Justice Center (that was built too small from the gitgo.)
• The bike race
• The baseball stadium in Shockoe Bottom
• Stone Brewery
• Hiring of members of his church.
• Not fixing the potholes
• Not having timely leaf and snow removal
• Not cutting city grass
• The way Mayor Jones tries to blame our schools and our children for the City's fiscal mismanagement of our taxpayer dollars. (More on that later).

We thanked each other for taking the time to discuss the many challenges that Richmond faces in the coming years.  I wished him luck.

~ Carol A.O. Wolf

Editor's Note: I have reached out to Dorian Daniels and he has not responded thus far. I spoke with Spencer Turner this morning. Turner confirmed that he spoke directly with Daniels. Below are Turner's comments. When and if Daniels replies, I will post his comments as well. To be sure, I appreciate that people can have guns. Witness the never-ending stories about so many senseless deaths. I must confess that I find the comments about shooting "hoes" to be most profoundly disturbing.  At a time when our nation is struggling with senseless deaths and the devastating consequences of America's addiction to guns, I found this profoundly disturbing. I do not understand how any sentient being could find comments about shooting "hoes," to be funny in the slightest. Were anyone to suggest that instead of shooting "hoes," they go shoot some innocent kids of all skin colors, women, gay people, homeless, people with disabilities, people from other countries, other faiths, old people, people from the LGBT community, I most certainly would most call them out. I say this as a Quaker, a mother, a grandmother and someone who cares about all people -- even the "hoes." ~ CW

"Dorian Daniels:  Can you please explain why you think voters in a district already struggling under violence and poverty need a representative at city council who glorifies guns and laughs at a joke about "shooting hoes"? There may be a valid reason so I'm inviting you to explain. I showed this to my neighbor Ms B who has lived here for many years through drug violence and gang violence and seen the young men who lost their lives from violence and she was appalled. Clearly you feel this is more than admirable since it is your chosen profile picture. Guns aren't illegal but they aren't a joke and we definitely don't need to glorify them, especially not now."  ~ Spencer Turner

Locked & Loaded

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