DEAR COMMISSIONER MARY CUTHBERT: Your message has been received loud and clear.

When I started Congress Heights on the Rise in the Summer of 2008 I realized that along with all the good things that could happen (increased visibility and community participation) there was a good possibility that some not so good things could come alone with it. That someone would either: a) take offense at what I had to say; b)would agree with what I had to say but didn’t think it would be a good idea to ‘air the dirty laundry’; c) would be upset that I was putting them on blast by exposing them online.

I expected that the latter group would most likely represent landlords of nuisance properties; drug dealers intent on staying in business; or bullies who through intimidation and threats of violence expected the community to turn a blind eye to their lawlessness. Despite my sometimes overly optimistic hopes that we can ‘all work together’ , I am a person of the world and sometimes the world can get you a one way ticket to the emergency room (or worse). Concerns about my personal safety were valid ones and as such I opted to write under a pen name and thus ‘The Advoc8te’ was born. To be clear, my concerns were not because Ward 8 is so much more dangerous than any other place in the District but because of the sometimes sensitive nature of the blog topics themselves. It is to be expected that residents (on both sides of the issues) get passionate when it comes to dialoguing about the hopes, dreams and challenges facing our community. What should not (I repeat ‘NOT’) be expected is for conflicts of ideals to disintegrate into acts of violence or even threats of violence. Isaac Asimov said it best, “Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent”.

Long time readers of Congress Heights on the Rise are familiar with the ongoing saga between myself and Commissioner Mary Jane Cuthbert of ANC 8C. In a nutshell she doesn’t like me. She really, really, really doesn’t like me and she has made no secret of that. To be fair I am not the only one on her hit parade. There are documented incidents of her past run ins with other concerned citizens.  Her issues with me seems to lean more toward the personal (she has stated several times I ‘look down my nose at her’ while my issues with her are based primarily in the fact that I want my community to prosper and I am not afraid to ask questions – especially about ANC 8C financial operations. I am not going to rehash the entire history here because a) it really isn’t relevant b) in the general scheme of things (making our community better) it is more than just petty – it’s counterproductive and I don’t do counterproductive.

Now that you have been brought up to speed I come to the heart of today’s post. I have long come to the conclusion that it is better (and just plain easier) to put out there what I am feeling when it comes to writing on CHOTR. Trying to censure myself just doesn’t work. You can’t write dispassionately about something that you are so passionate about (in this case the community). For that reason I am sharing with readers something that happened yesterday and it’s not pretty. In fact it represents all that is ugly (and sometimes dangerous) about writing a community blog.

On Saturday, September 19th I got a call from a friend and a fellow Ward 8 resident. This friend (who will remain nameless) told me that Commissioner Mary Jane Cuthbert of ANC 8C had a message for me, “Tell your friend that I am going to whoop her ass and tell her that I said it”. As it was related to me from the conversation that subsequently followed it seems that Commissioner Cuthbert has taken serious offense to her mentions on CHOTR and those surrounding ANC 8C operations. It seems she doesn’t appreciate the recent attention that readers, residents and DC government agencies have been paying as a result of the numerous posts on this blog. In her words, “No one is going to tell me what to do – especially a young person”.

While I was not really surprised by her disdain for me (she’s communicated that before) or even her repeated threats of violence on my person (seems Mary is no stranger to violence) I was deeply disturbed that she felt very comfortable and not at all concerned about communicating those threats of violence through a third party and in front of witnesses. Not only did she make the threats to commit physical harm upon my person but she wanted to make it clear she wanted this third party to communicate them to me. It is clear she views herself outside of the laws of common decency as well as the laws of the District of Columbia.

Words cannot express how truly disturbed and horrified I am by her comments. Not just because she holds a public office as a Commissioner of ANC 8C but for the following reasons:

1. Mary Cuthbert is a person of color just like me. To promise to “whoop my ass” is offensive as a person of color.


2. Mary Cuthbert is a woman just like me. To promise to “whoop my ass” is offensive as a woman.


3. Mary Cuthbert is someone’s daughter just as I am someone’s daughter. To promise to “whoop my ass” is offensive as a daughter.


4. Mary Cuthbert is a mother just as I have a mother. To promise to “whoop my ass” is offensive to my mother.


5. Mary Cuthbert is a resident of Ward 8 just like I am a resident of Ward 8. To promise to “whoop my ass” is offensive as a Ward 8 resident.


6. Most importantly, Mary Cuthbert is a human being as I am a human being. To promise to “whoop my ass” is offensive as a human being, a child of God and a  member of a civilized society.

This blog is far from perfect, it is in so many ways a work in progress and I learn so much from it every day as well as the readers who keep it relevant, informative and most importantly - honest. I feel privileged and honored to give something back in any small way and if that means I have to put my own personal safety on the line to do it then so be it.

Therefore I say to MARY JANE CUTHBERT, public official, person of color, woman, daughter, mother, resident and human being that I got your message loud and clear and I hope you have now gotten mine. Instead of promising to "whoop my ass" perhaps we should sit down have some pancakes at IHOP (my treat) and talk about how we can get OUR community back on track?

I will NOT be intimidated.
I will NOT back down.

Yours Truly,

Nikki Peele
Person of Color
Woman
Daughter
Resident
Human
Advoc8te