Posted by George Rhynes on 5/9/2005 20:59:24
- Dear Editor and Patriots of Our Republic
NOTE: I no longer write just to be published in a newspaper. I write to inform and enlighten other human beings beyond the box of incarceration and to help save the soul of our community, state and nation for the real Patriots of our Republic!
On May 5, 2005, fifteen Law Abiding Citizens in Valdosta Georgia were arrested. The incident was practically a Whiteout by all members of the local media in the South Georgia Area. Case and point the local press failed to mention Leigh Touchton remarks at City Council Meeting in support of renaming Barber Park. Miss Touchton is the former President of the Local NAACP Branch and a National Hero for being the first White Woman to be elected President of an NAACP Branch in the United States of America. This is not the first time that the Valdosta Daily Times Publisher and Editor has ignored this historical and highly respected White Right Person and National Figure in our community!
Moreover, the press said nothing about remarks made by a highly respected Retired Lowndes County Educator Jessie Clark who also spoke at the meeting. He gave the benefits of changing the Park name in honor of Ossie Davis.”
The Times also omitted the arrest of the President of the Valdosta, Lowndes County Branch of the NAACP. In addition, they failed to report that two of the seven females arrested and placed in the Lowndes County Jail over night by the Mayor and Council were White. On must ask. What is their purpose in NOT informing the local citizenry.. Is it to keep the people confused and ignorant? They reported that Barber Park had been donated to the city and that a contractual agreement existed. However, after meeting with the City Manager, Mayor, and other Council Members there were no Contractual Agreement and the land was not donated and they continue to allow Rants and Raves to be published to this effect. So what’s up with this?
Many Publishers and Editors would consider this important to their readers. But not here in Lowndes County Georgia in the 21st Century.
In fact this seem to be routine practice (proof available upon request). In addition, the names of these fifteen citizens who participated in acts of Non-Violent Protest and Civil Disobedience were only reported in the Local Crime Report in the Times.
However, these citizens followed in the foot steps of Rev. Martin L. King Jr., They were: “Calle Fielden, 21, Reggie Griffin, 21, Tony Daniels, 43, Karren Camion, 43, Faye Chachere, 44, Catherine Touchton, 45, Willie Head, 51, George B. Rhynes, 53, Cahtryn Harris, 63, Joann Y. Mosley, 57, Willie J. Robertson, 54, Freddie Richardson, 58, Jesse Clark, 64, Floyd Rose, 66, Mary T. Sherman, 67, and many others but had to keep a low profile to maintain their jobs.
The Valdosta City Mayor and Council agreed to arrest Rev. Floyd Rose and others concerning the renaming of Barber Park because he wanted the council to establish a committee to study the request. The park is presently named Barber after a man who kept Blacks out of the park during the ugly period of segregation.
Today whites no longer dominate the community. It is now 97% Black but elected officials seem bent on keeping the name Barber. Even though, many see Lowndes County as a one sided town in favor of certain people over others.
It was just last year that the Mayor and Council voted to remove an 1860 Valdosta City Charter from the wall that lead into the Municipal Court Room of Judge Edwards. However, local media never informed the public that it was removed.
It read in Article 100, Section XI, “That the Mayor, and Council shall pass all proper and necessary laws and ordinances for the control of slaves and free persons of color in said town and suppress and abate all nuisances arriving from hogs, dogs, horses, or other stock straying at large in said town, or from other causes.”
It appears that we must ask our local elected officials which City Charter are we being governed by 2005 or 1860? Apparently, the 1860 Charter was removed from the walls but not from the heart of our elected officials. There were White and Black Right people arrested but this was excluded local news media outlets in its entirety. In my humble opinion they are consistent.
Therefore, until some independent objective reporter or news magazine come to this area and report the unreported, open the closed, uncover the covered, give hope to the hopeless, stop the inhumane, unsanitary, abusive, and denial of Constitutional Rights of American Citizens, and go beyond skin color, rich or poor, Republican or Democrat, suppress and abate certain groups over another. Then things will remain the same, and the 1860 mentality will forever exist along the roadside of our beloved community.
GEORGE RHYNES
A concerned citizen and brother of humanity
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