ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Smart tailors and seamstresses learn very early that threading a needle is difficult if the thread is ragged.

That’s why, whether stitching by hand or machine, they first moisten the end of the thread so it glides through.

Politicians and community members determined to “fix” Baltimore need to be mindful of that trick of the trade because Charm City could become a model example.

In short, what happens next in Baltimore mustn’t stay in Baltimore, which means it’s time.

It’s time to take this Baltimore “thing” from the top.

Elijah Cummings does not have to like Donald Trump. Donald Trump does not have to like Elijah Cummings.

Neither has to respect the other, and neither has to break bread in the home of the other.

They were born and reared in polar opposite worlds — one white and in high cotton, one black from the other side of the tracks, so to speak.

The U.S. Constitution mandates the twain — the president and the congressman — meet regarding the underbelly of Baltimore.

Most of America has never seen Baltimore’s dark side, except perhaps via the words and lenses of D.C. native and former police reporter David Simon (“Homicide,” “The Corner” and “The Wire”).

Violence, homelessness, substance abuse, funky politics, unemployment, lost souls, you name it, Mr. Simon exposed it (with the help of the late David Mills, who also worked at The Washington Times).

That some media continue to focus on the Trump-Cummings disagreement as a racial “thing” is a classical distraction: Pretend the problem is systemic bias and discrimination, and if that doesn’t work, pretend black folk can’t take care of their themselves and their families.

Do both and nothing changes, however.

Entrenched Democrats and some Republicans do not like change, and they do not like to thread needles. They prefer handing over such tasks to bureaucrats.

Jimmy Carter for a short time was such a Democrat. Recall, he even grew a new Department of Education so that we could pretend it is best that others teach our children right from wrong and good from bad.

That’s how he played his political hand. With both hands after his one term in the White House, though, he helped build housing for poor people who were taught that faith, sweat and commitment are their own rewards.

It’s time to enlist a Renew Baltimore Pack.

For example, some media constantly show historic tapes of athletes gathered around controversial issues, such Muhammad Ali’s ant-draft stance, Colin Kaepernick taking a knee during the national anthem and the Tommie Smith-John Carlos black-gloved fist salute during the 1968 Olympics.

They and Mr. Carter should be petitioned to help redo Baltimore.

So should the Daddies of the Big Bucks — Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. They can call it sweat equity, or not. The goal is to get their dead presidents in the fixer upper game.

The ragged blocks of unoccupied Baltimore will remain ragged unless the people of Baltimore make themselves part of the solution, until Baltimoreans tell the Daddies of the Big Bucks what they want and where. Politicians do it all the time.

Poor schooling and ineffective job training in Baltimore will remain unchanged unless the residents themselves thread the needle. Donald Trump can’t say that, and Elijah Cummings knows but won’t say that.

Some people don’t even want you to know what it will take to stitch Baltimore back together again.

To tell the truth, they don’t even want you to know what a needle is, let alone how to thread it.

Just know that first you must always use a thimble so as not to get pricked by the politics of urban renewal, so called — that’s a secret from socio-, er, seventh-grade home economics.

⦁ Deborah Simmons can be contacted at [email protected]

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