Thomas
Treer bills himself as a historian. I have no idea what he did to earn that
title. Did he graduate with a degree in history? Has he been published? Or does
he just watch the History Channel?
Perhaps Thomas, who I understand is in his
20s, should live up to his billing as historian and learn about the roots of
Lyndhurst’s snobbery toward South Euclid.
Back in 1924, when the South Euclid-Lyndhurst
School District was created, there was a vocal group in Lyndhurst opposed to the
joint district. They wanted Lyndhurst to have its own district. Why? They
spouted some vague generalities about local control. But the real underlying
reason was that South Euclid was home to a large Jewish population, which was
not the case in Lyndhurst at the time. Since Jews have historically excelled
academically, the concern among Lyndhurstians was that this would put their kids
at a disadvantage. Despite Lyndhurstians’ concerns, South Euclid-Lyndhurst was
for generations one of Ohio’s great success stories until Reaganomics came along
and slashed federal education funding. In more recent years, there have been
renewed calls for Lyndhurst to separate from South Euclid which in an area with declining population has zero chance of happening. Mostly these comments
have surfaced in internet forums, and they’re clearly driven by the increased
number of African-Americans in the district, most of who live in South
Euclid. One kind of bigotry has been replaced by another.
Story time: I remember when my son came home
from Elementary school one day. He was excited about a visit from the Chief of
the Lyndhurst fire department. He told me how the fire chief was talking about
how the South Euclid and Lyndhurst fire departments work together, and he joined
his hands together interlacing his fingers to describe how the two departments
were “like brothers.” My son told me with pride that he wanted to become a
fireman. Of course, the week before he told me he wanted to be a baseball
player, and the week after a football player. So you know how it goes.
Look, I
don’t agree with the library’s move and I have yet to meet anyone who does. If
Tommy wants to use the Library issue as yet another wedge to try and drive a
division between South Euclid and Lyndhurst apart he should be upfront about why
he wants it. But if he wants to do something about the Library’s move, he should
do something besides bashing South Euclidians.
And that’s why I am naming Thomas Treer as
March 2013’s douchebag of the month.
