By Sandra Crenshaw
For the last three decades, the former town of Pleasant Grove that was annexed into the City of Dallas in the 1970’s, has been divided into five different Dallas city council districts. Under the leadership of then Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway, Pleasant Grove was reunited into a newly drawn District 5 in the 2010 census redistricting process. The latest census shows that this once predominately white bedroom community is now comprised of 66% Hispanic voting age population.
While neighborhoods are now joined , the voters are still clearly divided on who best to represent this Southeast Dallas community. Four citizens came forth in the May 11th election. Bruce Shaw and Yolanda Williams, both African Americans split 31% of the votes while two realtors: Latino activist Jesse Diaz and Rick Callahan, a Southeast Chamber Executive who touts his Irish American heritage garden 28% and 38% of the votes respectively.
At times during a highly charged effort to woe the African American voters, Latino campaigners tried to forge the ethnic population to form a black/brown coalition. Too many blacks rejected the notion by inflaming the racial tensions between the two in favor of the white candidate. The Pleasant Grove Leaderhsip came forth recently to say that “race has no place in this race.
Sheila Bates, still undecided in the runoff, says that she knew nothing about Bruce Shaw or Yolanda Williams, so it would be irresponsible to vote for someone I know nothing about just because they are black. Bates, who worked with Jesse Diaz as a PTA volunteer at John Adams, described Diaz as a protest candidate in several past races, therefore she has to be convinced that he knows the issues and is serious about serving on the other side of the horseshoe. Callahan on the other hand presented himself to our family as someone focused on the issues says Bates.
Shaw, an elder at Gospel Tabernacle under the leadership of the Bishop David Martin, the largest African American church in Pleasant Grove. I have always wanted to offer my service to the community and when I knew of no other African American vying for the newly drawn seat, I stepped forth. ” It was an humbling experience. My church member, Ted Burns was one of my mentors and he is wholeheartedly supporting Callahan and my campaign manager immediately joined the Jesse Diaz campaign staff in the runoff, therefore I felt it best that I not make a public endorsement out of respect for my supporters.
Gospel Tabernacle elder and crime watch chair, Ted Burns reported “I am supporting Rick Callahan because he is not new to me, he has worked in the area for Pleasant Grove.” One thing I will stand for is to reduce this race to race baiting. We have worked too hard to change the image of Pleasant Grove. Shaw added ” People are going to have their racial bias, he said, so there will always be a need for watchdog committees. Burns chimed in with his church member and said. And I’ll be the first to work to remove anyone who does not respect the African American vote or who does not share a vision for a united Pleasant Grove. We must live together in decent order. ”
