Sable: "Playing the Race Card Paved the Way for Fraud in Seattle Schools"

Sable:

The Washington State Auditor’s Office has released a jaw-dropping report detailing fraud and questionable spending of $1.8m dollars belonging to the Seattle School District by a former employee. The scandal has implicated well respected organizations and individuals in Seattle’s African American community who the state auditor says received money for work that either didn’t benefit the district or was never completed.

Rumors have swirled for a few years that Silas Potter, as the director of the School District’s Regional Small Business Development Program, used district money to pay off some of the district’s harshest critics in the African American community who were upset about school closures and their impact on children of color. The audit found no proof of that, but it’s curious that once those individuals started getting money from the district by way of contracts, they mostly if not completely stopped criticizing school closures.

Some of the most prominent African American men and organizations in Seattle have been cast in a light less than flattering by the auditor’s report. Eddie Rye, Tony Orange, The Urban League, Charles Rolland- these are well known individuals who have been around for a long time.

Some people feel they represent a self-serving good ol boys club and others feel they’re leaders and trailblazers. MORE...