Mayor Ghalib and the company he keeps

When Mayor Amer Ghalib ran for office, he promised he would be all about unity.
Well, it’s been over a year now since he won the election, and there’s been anything but unity here.
We won’t go over the issues he’s been tangled up in, other than to say that it’s a little part of the bigger nationwide culture war raging across the land.
What we find curious is the company he’s been keeping lately: far-right extremists who are also definitely not about bringing people together.
And now, as if he’s doubling down, Ghalib did an interview on Russian RT television – a media outlet that our government deems as a propaganda tool for Putin with the goal of stirring up division among Americans.
His association with these folks now has some people seriously pondering whether Ghalib is a Russian asset, or an unwitting one, or is being groomed to become one.
Why Ghalib is aligning with these characters is unsettling, and perhaps speaks volumes about him. There’s a saying, coined by author Maya Angelou about what people say and the actions they take, and it’s fitting:
“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”
Ghalib’s position is that he’s the one being attacked and criticized, never mind the words he has spoken or the actions he has taken. Often, we find his explanations ending up in a confusing mass of verbal knots.
We sincerely want the mayor to succeed, but so far, he has a funny way of showing how to be a bridge-builder.
Posted Oct. 6, 2023