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6 JAN 04: PUSH AND PULL
Monday marked the start of "Weigh Down Columbus" - a three-month drive for residents to lose 10,000 pounds. And if there's anything Columbus needs right now, it's for some people to lighten up....
Yet another protest meeting was held Monday night in response to the Kenneth Walker shooting - this time at "New Revival Christian Center" on Forrest Road. Some of us can remember when these places were called churches.
I went to the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition's "protest rally" partly to see what would happen, and partly to hear civil rights leaders answer some questions which have come up in recent days. If I can go back and forth between the leaders and the critics, maybe we can find common ground - in about ten years.
If anything became clear from Monday night's rally, the Kenneth Walker case is becoming a tug-of-war over money. There was talk of boycotting city-owned facilities. There was talk of pulling money out of Columbus banks. In fact, there was talk about everything but paying the Walker family's legal bills.
Rainbow/PUSH President Dr. William Howell (my apologies for misnaming him Monday) called for the federal government to cut off funding to Columbus and Muscogee County law enforcement agencies "until they get their house in order." Be thankful he stopped short of suggesting this for Muscogee County schools - because they'd probably have to shut down.
Dr. William Howell also said he's prepared to call for a boycott of Civic Center events, unless changes occur in the Sheriff's Department soon. We figure this would reduce attendance at Riverdragons games by half - down to about 400.
But before a boycott is called, Dr. William Howell is organzing three days of marches next week - with protesters walking around the Government Center with picket signs. So far, there are NO plans to burn a Ralph Johnson doll in the veterans' eternal flame.
Dr. William Howell told the Rainbow/PUSH rally Muscogee County Sheriff Ralph Johnson is being "very arrogant" and "selfish" regarding the Kenneth Walker case. Perhaps so - but is he the only one guilty of this? Howell never announced how big the offering was at the rally.
Dr. William Howell said the sheriff's deputy who shot Kenneth Walker last month should be fired, indicted and put in jail. Now hold on a minute! Why should this deputy be treated worse than Robert Blake?
Dr. William Howell seemed annoyed the Kenneth Walker case hasn't received national news coverage. In his words: "We're the biggest joke, and nobody knows what's happening in Columbus, Georgia." Now he knows how Roy Bourgeois felt last November, on SOA Watch weekend.
(Nobody knows what's happening in Columbus? I'm trying, Dr. Howell, I'm trying....)
The Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance passed around petitions at the protest rally, calling for Sheriff Ralph Johnson to quit. A spokesman for the group admitted that's not likely to happen -- but Governor Perdue is coming to Columbus today, so he might name the Sheriff Georgia's next Corrections Commissioner.
Several different speakers addressed the Rainbow/PUSH protest rally. An attorney from Montgomery said it was NOT a matter of race. An activist from Americus said it was. The man from Americus obviously looked around the sanctuary -
where fewer than five white people were present.
Montgomery attorney Dwayne Brown represents the three other men with Kenneth Walker on the night their car was stopped on I-185. He wants a "special prosecutor" brought in from outside Columbus to handle the investigation. Someone should tell him that strategy didn't stop the property tax freeze.
Dwayne Brown argued the District Attorney's office can't be impartial in the Kenneth Walker case, because that office has to be linked with law enforcement to prosecute other cases. He makes a good point. So far there's no TV show called "Law WITHOUT Order."
Dwayne Brown also hinted the still-unnamed deputy who shot Kenneth Walker may have used excessive force once before. If they try to make spanking children an issue in this....
Many at the protest rally were stunned when John Cole Vodicka of the "Prison and Jail Project" in Americus spoke about deep-seeded racism by white people like him. They were less stunned when William Howell stumbled over Vodicka's name, while introducing him.
John Cole Vodicka claimed racial profiling by law enforcement occurs in his part of Georgia, too. He said several months ago, white teenagers found drunk at Lake Blackshear were given a "free taxi ride home.... without seeing the inside of a police car." This was news to us - since we didn't think Sumter County was big enough to have taxi service.
One speaker at the protest rally expanded the "excessive force" issue beyond the Sheriff's office. Realtor Mary G. Walker Crooks claimed several police officers raided a house she was selling on Johnson Avenue last July, and handcuffed her daughter and four of her workers at gunpoint. The training for the "Police and Fire Games" is getting a bit out of hand.
(Mary G. Walker Crooks received a letter from Police Chief Willie Dozier, claiming an internal investigation found the officers were within their authority and police policy to make the raid. Crooks argues her realty sign was outside the house, so her realty office should have been called first - which would give drug dealers a new way to escape arrest.)
The Rainbow/PUSH rally moved from protest to absurdity when an unscheduled speaker from the Nation of Islam stood up. For starters, four other men stood up with him - and moved to positions around the sanctuary, apparently for security reasons. The other ministers there seemed to have faith God would strike down attackers.
The Nation of Islam representative openly wished "the media had stayed" to hear John Cole Vodicka's comments about being a "recovering racist." Hopefully someone told the man later that white guy with a notepad near the back WAS media - namely me.
The Nation of Islam speaker said his sect is misunderstood, by people engaging in "religious profiling." For one thing, he stated members "love Christ" and "believe in the Lord Jesus." Oh really?!? Does this group define "lord" as a ruler and master - or someone who has a nice seat in the British Parliament?
The Nation of Islam representative didn't stop there, declaring Allah/God is punishing Caucasian people for centuries of violent behavior by sending tornadoes. He claimed one twister in the 1960's hit the Muscogee County Courthouse and Green Island Hills, but "jumped over Elizabeth Canty Homes." So why do Atlantic hurricanes tend to hit Caribbean countries first?
(The N.O.I. guy kept rolling, saying floods tend to hit areas where white people live. The people whose homes were damaged in West Point last spring will be thrilled to hear such words of compassion.)
Edward DuBose of the NAACP arrived at the Rainbow/PUSH rally about two hours late. He explained he'd been at Pierce Chapel United Methodist Church in Midland, where his explanation of the Kenneth Walker case made some women cry. Imagine how much their husbands cried, at the thought of no more Monday night football games for months.
Edward DuBose urged protesters to use "economic empowerment" and corporate Columbus to bring change in law enforcement. He cited one recent case where a threat to boycott Regions Bank brought a $2,500 bank donation to the NAACP. No, you white conservatives - this is NOT where the term "black-mail" originated.
A.D. Carter of the National Action Network declared the Rainbow/PUSH protest rally was "packed" at one point. Obviously the packed front pew obscured his view of the nearly-empty couple of pews around mine.
I counted at most about 100 people at the Forrest Road rally. Dr. William Howell of Rainbow/PUSH said the protest should have had "standing room only." Who could have guessed Tavis Smiley's debut on Georgia Public Radio would draw that large an audience?
After nearly three hours, the protest rally ended - and I finally walked up to Dr. William Howell to ask my tough questions. Would his group care, I asked, if an African-American officer had shot a white man? [3 Jan] "We would call it just as we see it," Howell replied. "We would take the same actions." So at least ONE group of Columbus drivers can rest a bit easier....
What about the realtor's complaints of Columbus police brutality? Dr. William Howell told me, "This matter does not concern Chief Dozier at the present time. We want to stay focused on the agenda." Police officers should be on the lookout for Sheriff's deputies attempting to steal their badges.
Dr. William Howell said there also are cases of law officers mistreating white people, as well as African-American people. So here's a tip for all readers: do NOT read any of these jokes out loud to ANY deputy you meet.
Throughout the three-hour protest rally, the name of the deputy who shot Kenneth Walker never was mentioned. I asked Dr. William Howell about that, and he said his group knows who did it, "but it's not our place to declare who he is." Apparently that privilege is reserved only for businesses that don't donate to civil rights groups.
As I drove home from the rally, I suddenly felt very stupid. There I stood face-to-face with the President of
Rainbow/PUSH - and I completely forgot to ask him about my moral dilemma, involving his group's boycott of Piggly Wiggly stores! [14 Dec 03] Considering how much that boycott has been ignored, Phenix City probably doesn't need to hurry building a convention center.
(BLOGGER'S NOTE: I've reached a decision on what to do with that Piggly Wiggly gift certificate.... but I won't reveal the answer until next week....)
I did a Google search Monday night for "Sheriff Ralph Johnson" - and amazingly, another name came up first. There's a Sheriff with the exact same name in the Florida panhandle, who also has faced some legal controversies. Can we make a trade - with each man getting asylum?
Now some quick hits from a winter Monday that started out feeling like spring:
+ United Way drive chairman Guy Sims admitted it may be February before the area's financial goal is reached. That'll teach the former school superintendent to endorse a higher sales tax....
+ AFLAC stock dropped more than one dollar in an up market. "Nightly Business Report" claimed the C.S. Boston firm reduced its rating of the company to "underperform." We would have used that term to describe the AFLAC duck in its new commercial.
+ The Platinum Club on Manchester Expressway had this sign outside: "HOT GIRLS, COLD BEER." Do you think the owners ever get those two mixed up?
COMING WEDNESDAY: We mark one year of blogging by updating some loose ends from recent stories....
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