I don’t know if Mayor Young drinks coffee, tea, or juice in the morning, but Wednesday before he left for the office, his morning pick-me-up was “doctored.” It had to be. That seems to be the only plausible explanation for the mild-mannered, pragmatic, intellectual mayor to choose to boisterously clap back at his social media critics.
In a September 16th Instagram post, Mayor Young wrote:
"I have seen a number of misinformed, silly a** posts trying to paint me as a sellout the past few days. PY from Oakhaven wants to respond (because I have plenty to clap back with), but the God in me says to stay focused and keep doing the work."
Silly a**? PY from Oakhaven?
Like Dr. Jekyll’s Mr. Hyde in Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic, some kind of potion released the beast in our mayor.
Mayor Young appeared to be responding, in part, to posts by Memphis attorney Henry Reaves. Reaves posted:
“They just gave Westwood Whitehaven and Boxtown to a racist junkie, who could care less if the residents live or die. Mayor Young is too bitch made to say anything about it. If you say I’m hating you a bitch too.”
Reaves's comments referenced the SpaceX data center operating in the Boxtown community, which has had the support of Young. The Memphis City Council is considering a moratorium but delayed a vote until October to the disappointment of community activists. Following Young’s post, Reaves responded,
“Wanna by PY from Oakhaven to people speaking up for poor blacks, but Toby from the plantation for these racist YT folks.”
Mayor Young released a follow-up video on Thursday from a previous event, and according to the Commercial Appeal, he said in part,
"I'm trying to figure out how do we get the resources that we need to finally turn. Memphis has been the city that's almost there for so long ... and if it takes y'all saying these things about me and we still get there, I'm cool with that because I know where my heart is and I know what I'm working to do.”
From the perspective of a communications professional and formerly elected official, I only have these two observations:
1. The Mayor’s post was a poor communications strategy
The mayor has been under fire for his positions on the data center, the Memphis Safe Task Force, and ICE. This kind of criticism, while arguably harsher, is not new. The most inflammatory criticisms from Reaves were confined to social media. The mayor’s out-of-character response magnified the issue to print and broadcast media and lengthened the life cycle of the story. The video release of the response to the response kept reporters on camera and critics at their keyboards.
For what it’s worth, my hunch is that Mayor Young went rogue on this one. His communications director Penelope Huston is a consummate professional, and I highly doubt this was her idea.
More important than the controversy itself is that Young’s messages about the data center and what he’s doing to help the community; about why cooperating with state and federal officials on the Memphis Safe Task Force benefited the community; and about his opposition to ICE were lost in the frenzy. For up-and-coming communications practitioners and political operatives, it is a good illustration of how important discipline is in a communications strategy.
2. It’s cathartic, and I am glad he did it.
State Senator London Lamar may have said it best when she posted,
“Some of y’all think because we are elected officials, it gives you permission to talk crazy, cuss or disrespect us personally and expect no response. Those days are over.”
I would like to think she is correct about “those days being over,” but I doubt that is the case. It has been more than 20 years since I was first elected to public office, but even then, the ability to hide behind a computer emboldened people to call me names, accuse me of corruption, and even threaten me with harm. This behavior has only become more pervasive through the proliferation of social media.
While not as public as Mayor Young’s “pop off,” there were plenty of times I pushed back on constituents who leveled ad hominem attacks. Nothing was more satisfying than clapping back and receiving an apology or forcing them to the table for an adult conversation.
Voters have plenty of reasons to distrust government and at times to be outraged with the behavior of their elected leaders. However, elected officials are only human; the weight of their responsibilities can be crushing, and sometimes they reach their limit for abuse. And the latter may be the most positive outcome of this kerfuffle: Mayor Young let us all know he has a line in the sand that cannot be crossed without repercussions.
In the novella about Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Jekyll ultimately succumbs to the monster that is Hyde. I don’t believe that is the fate of Mayor Paul Young, but before you come for him, remember he has a PK from Oakhaven potion in his coat pocket.