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S ERVING C OLUMBUS , F T. B ENNING , P HENIX C ITY & S URROUNDING A REAS
Inspirational-Informative-Empowering...Your Source For The Truth Vol. 15 Edition 23 Free Thursday Juy 23, 2020
A View From A Pew
Would There Be A Need For Discussion If This Were A Statue In Memory of Adolf Hitler?
Bacon & Eggs: Committment vs Contribution Page 3
Citizens Review Board
Brother Love Offers A Thought-Provoking Opinion
Page 7 MCSD School Opening
PAGE 5
The New Normal; What You Need To Know About Your Child’s Education This Fall
Page 9
JULY 23, 2020 Here Is A Thought The street committee wants to know if the move to streamline and consolidate the M a r s h a l ’ s Department with the Sheriff’s Department in t h e effort to s a v e money, why not consider consolidating the Columbus Police Department with the Sheriff’s Department also. The street committee is sure
Greg Countryman would not have a problem with that. On another note, the street committee bets current Sheriff Donna Tompkins had no idea when she went before council asking that city council abolish the Marshal’s office and place the agency’s employees in the Sheriff’s Department, that she would not be the one leading the department.
FLOOR STATEMENT FOR CONGRESSMAN BISHOP MOMENT OF SILENCE FOR CONGRESSMAN JOHN LEWIS MONDAY, JULY 20, 2020 and at that moment transitioned from Labor to Reward. The world is a better place because John Lewis spent his life pursuing freedom, justice, opportunity, love and peace for all of humanity.
While he
is an icon in the history of America for his courage and sacrifice in making “good trouble”, his enduring humility reflected the true timbre of his
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Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous
“conscience of the Congress” and we
William Cullen Bryant said:
love and share the life and legacy of
have all been truly blessed to know,
“So live, that when thy summons comes The innumerable caravan, which moves to
I ask that you join my wife, Vivian,
that Mysterious realm, where each shall
and me, along with the Members of
take His chamber in the silent halls of
the Georgia delegation, in extending
death
our deepest condolences to John’s
Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,
family, friends, staff—including his
Scourged to his dungeon,
faithful and devoted Chief of Staff,
But sustained and soothed Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch About him and lies down to pleasant dreams.”
The Courier Eco Latino Newspaper *Any editorial content are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of this newspaper, publisher or staff” The Courier Eco Latino Newspaper 1300 Wynnton Rd Suite 104 Columbus, Georgia 3190 Phone: 706.225.0106 Mailing Address: P.O. Box 5747 Columbus, Ga 31906
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Michael Collins— and all those who mourn his loss. John, rest in peace and lie down with pleasant dreams knowing that this current generation will continue the fight
Ladies and Gentlemen of the House, Dean of the Georgia Delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives, to announce and include in the Records and Proceedings of this august body, NOTICE, that since we
Andrea J. McCorvey Purchasing Division Manager
this extraordinary human being.
to join
it has become my solemn duty, as
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He inspired us as the
consent to speak out of order.
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave
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character.
last convened and specifically on Friday, July 17, 2020, THE HONORABLE
JOHN
R O B E RT L E W I S ,
Representative
of
the
5th
Congressional District of Georgia — our hero, our colleague, our brother, our friend — received and answered His final summons from God Almighty
for the ultimate realization of your beloved community.
July 23, 2020
PAGE 4
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COVER STORY
PAGE 5
Courier Thursday July 23, 2020
Would There Be A Need For Discussion If This Were A Memorial Monument For Adolph Hitler? By Wane A. Hailes The Courier Let’s be clear, statues and symbols matter. They matter quite a lot. To Blacks confederate monuments are more than reminders of our racist past; which includes slavery, the Civil War and Jim Crow. They are symbols of our racist present, Rayshard Brooks, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ferguson, Missouri and Charleston, South Carolina.
As our local historian on African American history we asked Mr. Johnny Warner to provide a historical perspective and opinion regarding the removal of the Confederate Memorial monument located on Broadway in Columbus, Georgia.
Historical monuments are symbols inspiring virtues of loyalty, discipline, responsibilities, and a feeling that you should respect yourself and deserve to be respected by other people because of your ancestor’s accomplishments. Southern White history is rooted from the Civil War. Before the Civil War, many Southern Whites had no history to inspire them. Many Europeans came to the New Colonies from England as convicted criminals and had to serve as indentured servants (temporary slaves). The average Confederate enlisted soldier was 25 years old, poor, and uneducated. The leaders of the Confederacy had easily manipulated them to believe that the Civil War was about States Rights. The average Confederate soldier did not own slaves, so it would have been virtually impossible to have him fight for slavery.
To most Black citizens in the country, state and this city the Confederate flag is as offensive to us as the swastika is to the Jewish community. That is because we know the history behind it. In 1860-61, eleven southern states seceded from the United States to protect the institution of slavery, forming the Confederate States of America and precipitating the Civil War. During the war, the Confederacy and its military forces used a variety of flags, but the flag that became most associated with the Confederacy was the so-called "battle flag." Organizations such as the Sons of Confederate Veterans adopted the flag as a symbol of Southern heritage, but the flag also served as a potent symbol of slavery and white supremacy, which has caused it to be very popular among white supremacists today. Erected by the ladies of the Memorial Association in 1879, the Columbus, Georgia Confederate Memorial Monument was dedicated and gave honor to the Columbus Confederate soldiers and those Confederate soldiers who died in the Columbus Confederate Hospitals. Towering several feet at a cost of $4,500, the white marble monument was placed in ìSalisbury Parkî on Broadway/Broad Street between Seventh and Eighth Streets. Granite steps were added for $500 in 1881 to increase the height. It was the pride of the lower residents of Broad Street/Broadway. Many of the lower residents of Broad Street/Broadway were descendants of the pioneers of Columbus, Georgia: the Peabody’s, Schell’s, Josephs, Wells, Torbett’s, Battles, and Wheats. According to the (1832-1864) Muscogee County Tax records, most of the pioneer families owned slaves. Salisbury Park was named for Colonel William Salisbury (1830-1878). His home formerly faced the park. Colonel William Salisbury was a Confederate soldier, editor, banker, and a distin-
To those who argue that the removal of such statues in prominent public settings dishonors the memory of those who died fighting for the Confederacy I have this to say. There are other places for that — on battlefields, cemeteries and or museums. The Confederates lost the war. The winners were the thousands of soldiers; black and white who fought for the United States and died to protect this country. It dishonors them to celebrate
the men who killed them and tried to kill off our nation. To those who say this is an attempt to erase history I would have to emphatically disagree. History will still be taught and studied. People will know who Harriet Tubman, Robert E. Lee, Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis were. And perhaps this time they will be able to learn the true contributions of Blacks in America. To paraphrase recent legislation introduced in congress by Anthony Brown, D-Md., and Don Bacon, R-Neb., to rename military installations; Blacks make up 52% of this community and if it matters to us that certain monuments and statues are a reminder of slavery and oppression then it should matter to the culture of inclusivity and unity needed for Blacks and Whites in our community to coexist.
guished citizen of Columbus, Georgia. He served with the Georgia Grays, Fifth Georgia Regiment of the Confederate Army from Columbus, Georgia. As owner and publisher of the Columbus Enquirer-Sun, he was slain because of an editorial he published in his paper. His funeral procession was one of the largest in Columbus history. More than 5,000 people extended from his home to Linwood Cemetery. Formed March 10, 1865, the Memorial Association, formerly known as the Ladies Soldiers’’ Aid Society, were fervent Confederates. They were the founders of the annual Confederate Memorial Day, April 26, 1866. Similar to the Roman Catholic custom of decorating graves on All Saints Day, the Ladies Soldiers’ Aid Society began a custom of decorating Confederate soldiers’ graves with flowers. The annual decorating of graves on Confederate Memorial Day had extended to parades, festivals, and an annual address. Around the mid 1870’s, the Memorial Association had decided to erect a monument on Broad Street/Broadway to the Confederate soldiers of Columbus, Georgia. The monument was placed in ìSalisbury Parkî between Seventh and Eighth Streets because of greener grass, larg-
er trees, and funding raised by the ladies of the Memorial Association living between Seventh and Eighth Streets. On Confederate Memorial Day local citizens and their children with wreaths of cedar and evergreen decorated the Confederate Memorial Monument. The parade had begun with a salute fired next to the Confederate Memorial Monument. It was headed by the Marshal of the Day, followed by the ladies of the Memorial Association in carriages, military companies, and band marching to the Springer Opera House for the annual address.
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OPINION
Page 7
Thursday July 23, 2020
Why The Dreadful Fear Of Subpoena Power For A Citizens Review Board? A Thought-Provoking Opinion By Brother Love little Black girl's life did not matter when she was taken from her home barefooted and without the protection of a winter coat on her back by a police officer who threw her in the back of a police cruiser and took off down the road to the Macon Road KMart, where he had not even viewed the security video footage before he went running off to the child's home to snatch her up away from her father and 16-year old sister in the winter time. The police officer had no warrant. It was a case of all teenage Black girls that day at that time shopping in the Macon Road KMart looking alike. He traumatized this 13-year old child, her sister, and the father because he never stopped to view security video at the store.
PART II The CPD is a department within the Columbus Consolidated Government. Police officers enforce the law but are not above the law. They have badges and carry firearms, can be judge, jury, and executioner in the performance of their sworn duties, but police officers are still government employees. As government employees they must be held accountable for their actions and failures to act. These sworn peace officers can rob a citizens of life, liberty, and happiness in a single instance of mistaken identity, as was the case in 2006 with Atlanta police officers firing 39 shots and killing 92-year old Kathryn Johnston in her own home. After police killed Ms. Johnston, they lied about what occurred and they planted illegal drugs to cover up the killing of Ms. Johnston. They tried to get a confidential informant to lie along with them. That is the power police have. That is why police must not be left to routinely investigate their own. Citizen oversight with subpoena power is only a threat to a corrupt city government and corrupt leaders of corrupt police officers. In 2007, one year after Ms. Johnston was shot and killed, the City of Atlanta formed the Atlanta Citizens Review Board as an independent agency. The
ACRB was officially given subpoena power in May of 2010 so the board would have the power and authority to be totally effective. This sensible and progressive response to the tragedy was not the case in Columbus after an unarmed Kenneth B. Walker was shot twice in the head because the deputy first imagined he had a gun and admitted shooting, but then later on the story changed to he tripped and the 9mm submachine gun accidentally fired. When a police officer pulled his weapon and threaten to kill an unarmed teenager and was not fired or charged, and when Hector Arreola was died after his encounter with Columbus police, Mayor Teresa Pike Tomlinson still was standing firm against a citizens review board with subpoena power because it benefits the city for the citizens to be kept in the dark far away from the truth that we are being played and betrayed in this city. The lives of certain people, or people groups, in Columbus do not matter as lives matter in other cities. A 13-year old
That police officer could have went to that father and tried to take his baby daughter out the home and things could have turned out very bad all around. Anything could have happen in an instance. That is why we need and the opposing powers do not want a citizens review board with subpoena power. They are protecting the police and concealing the whole truth. The ones that make all the fuss and throw out all the excuses why there should not be a board with subpoena power to get to the truth of every matter that would come to its attention, well, those are the ones it appear are deeply involved in the cover-up of police wrongdoing and concealing of the ugly truth from the taxpaying citizens. We play by a different set of rules here in Columbus. Let's just be open and honest for a change about our city. We have our own modern day version of a "peculiar institution" or system in the Deep South. Don't be fooled by the fact that there a Black people in power positions in the CCG. They may be people of integri-
ty, but they are still employees of the city. They say and do what they are told to say and do or they look for another job. Teresa Pike Tomlinson even said Columbus Consolidated Government had a good ol boy system, which she actually only gave a makeover and upgrade. We still play by good ol boy rules. The examples of wrongdoing, excessive force, and misconduct I will now describe happen under Tomlinson as Mayor/Public Safety Director. It is just fine here if a troubled female teenager in a group home in Columbus can be slammed on a couch and a police sergeant can pull his loaded weapon and point it at the child's head and announce twice that he will f-king kill her. He can lie on an official report, and go home after resigning and actually getting away with committing what would amount to three (3) felonies, Aggravated Assault, Terrorist Threats, and Violation of Oath of Office. The police officer was not even fired under the truthfulness policy, like Tony Adams, but the Assistant Chief of Police told the news reporter that Chief Boren chose to handle the whole incident administratively, meaning not criminally. The case was not turned over to the District Attorney, nor, I am sure, was the Columbus Council ever informed by the Public Safety Director. These councilors deliberately do not make that sort of thing their business because of the unwritten laws they apparently adhere to as a legislative b o d y . That's good ol boy. That is a blatant betrayal of the citizens' trust. They are failing to fully represent and getting away with it. (Continued in Part III)
Page 8 PART II Right here in Columbus, Georgia we have a ranking officer with CPD who was investigated by CPD investigators and lied at least 22 times on the record during the investigation, and apparently induced a female subordinate to also lie over 20 times in support of his lies, and that former captain was not fired on the spot by the chief for the overall good of the department, but was at the first clear opportunity promoted in rank and twice placed in a greater leadership position over even more officers to the point that the talk today is that he will either be the next police chief or assistant police chief. The captain had been held in contempt of court and placed on probations by a sitting judge. Why would the chief allow a documented liar to remain with CPD, and allow that same captain to swap out his 3-day slap on the wrist suspension with three (3) personal vacation days and never miss a day at work. That is not a bad deal for lying over 20 times to police investigators when you are a police captain. That police captain as a documented liar would not even be allowed to take the witness stand by a District Attorney in a court of law. Criminals could walk free if the defense attorney discovered the captain was a well-documented liar in his own police department. That is the kind of thing tolerated and hide from the public in Columbus. Is that an example of trustworthy leadership? If the leaders can lie and get away with it, do you really think that patrol officers and the detectives that see and know this will not do the very same thing and follow the example that has been set by the very top? Why do you have any of that highly questionable conduct and decisionmaking which I have described to you going on with CPD? Because the police chief handled it administratively, and the mayor, whatever mayor, and council close their eyes and pretend things like this never go on, and, last but certainly not least of all, there is no independent citizens police review board with subpoena power to look into such matters and bring them to the attention of the public. It is a conspiracy of secretiveness and silence. It is malfeasance. They do not want
BROTHER LOVE CONTINUED you to know the truth. The younger community activists and fighters for justice now on the scene in Columbus motivated by the killings of George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks must not compromise this time or ever when they are standing on right and fighting for justice. Go after a board with subpoena power because you are concerned citizens who are sick and tired of being denied and treated like you are second class and third rate. Don't allow them to tell you in a polite way that you don't matter so take or leave it. Don't accept a compromise on what the power structure has deliberately been denying the people for these seventeen (17) years. Yes, that is right, Berry " S k i p " Henderson III, nice guy and all, has b e e n against a citizens r e v i e w board with subpoena power for seventeen (17) years. That is a terrible record on his part. That is an absolute insult to Black community, at least to those of us with any self-respect and unafraid. They are actually denying our humanity, and putting us in danger. Hector Arreola is dead behind some 300 pound CPD officers sitting on his back with Hector telling the officers sixteen (16) times, "I can't breathe." They are more worried in this city about bricks and mortar and the next SPLOST than they are about flesh and blood, depending on whose flesh and blood you are talking about. Where is the right in any of that? Where is the mayor's love and desire for the community moving forward together as a One Columbus? Where is his full commitment to accountability and transparency that has not been on display for seventeen (17) years that we can count?
What is the tremendous fear of subpoena power if all is truly as professional and as perfectly carried out as they claim with the Columbus Police Department and its officers? You don't spend a lot of time dreaming up excuses and ways to hide things when there is nothing to hide. They are calling us all fools to our faces, and have been doing that with help from members of the Black community. They are telling us that we are inferior as citizens of Columbus, and as human beings. This is the same old story we have been living as Black and Brown people in the South, and it is time to put a quick and decisive end to it while the rest of the nation will back us up in the fight for justice. You will not have to get ugly, but you may definitely have to get very loud for the deaf to hear what we have been saying for far too long in the 21st century. Fight the same fight but in a new and improved way. A Columbus Citizens Review Board with Subpoena Power is something that can be done, and they know just like I know how it can legally be done the same as it is in Atlanta. If how the Black community felt mattered after a tragedy, then it would have been done almost twenty (20) years ago. They don't worry about Black citizens in Columbus holding the line so they don't care. The NAACP is the only recognized group that has called for and fought for a citizens review board with subpoena power. Don't be deceived. All that sugary talk you will hear is simply the way the power structure tells you that they do not plan on giving you any more than what little they eventually decide to give you whenever they get around to doing it. It is all about them. They
Thursday July 23, 2020 matter and we don't matter. That has been the underlying message all along. They are clear about who is deserving and who is not deserving. We hold no real value to them so we are not deserving. This type of thing runs deep within a person's heart. There is no true citizens review board without subpoena power, and they know it. That is why they oppose subpoena power and investigative authority. As a concerned citizen and community activist I have heard every conceivable lie they could come up with to in the final result just tell us no. Whatever civil rights and community activists recommend just can't be done. The answer is always no. That is the same good ol boy, plantation mindset that has really characterized the multiple rejections since local NAACP President Edward O. DuBose first appeared before Columbus Council and called for a citizens review board with subpoena power in 2003. Don't take "no" for an answer when you know it can be done and should be done in the interest of good government and the good of the citizens and the police department. Don't accept the second-class, subordinate citizenship status some of the leading older Black generation members in Columbus is happy and content with apparently to this very day. Go forward un-bossed, un-bought, unafraid, uncompromised and uncompromising. Stand united of one mind and one voice against all injustice and every double-standard. Don't sell out the people as others have for lunch at the Columbus Country Club or dinner at the Green Island Hills Country Club. Don't lose your soul in service to injustice and oppression. Columbus will never move forward if it is allowed to remain backward when it comes to treating all citizens with dignity and respect. The time is now to do something great for the younger generation that believes that all lives will not matter until Black lives do. You can make a real and lasting difference here in Columbus, Georgia. I know you can do it because you are very so much more than a few. You have the numbers. Go do the work. No Justice, No peace
Page 9
Thursday July 23, 2020
COVER STORY
Pagina 2
23 de julio 2020
Justicia para Héctor ... "No puedo respirar" comunidad sino para el país ", dijo el padre de Héctor.
del encuentro de Héctor con la policía.
By Wane A. Hailes The Courier La familia de Héctor Arreola conoce muy bien la angustia por la que está pasando la familia de George Floyd. También están enojados porque observan una respuesta muy diferente de los funcionarios en Minneapolis en comparación con lo que ocurrió aquí. El 9 de enero de 2017, la policía de Columbus respondió a una llamada en Moss Drive alrededor de las 5 a.m.En algún momento hubo una lucha y Héctor Arreola fue llevado al Midtown Medical Center, d o n d e murió al día siguiente. Hasta el día de hoy, la familia de Héctor Arreola aún no ha recibido ninguna respuesta sobre lo que realmente sucedió esa noche. Según su hermana Patricia Ragan, la policía local y los funcionarios de la ciudad continúan negando las acusaciones. "La vida de mi hermano importaba". Durante una entrevista reciente, la hermana de Héctor, Patricia Ragan y su padre, el SGM retirado Rod Arreola relató lo que presenciaron en el video
"Alto, alto, alto", grita la policía. "Ni siquiera estoy haciendo nada, Ma, me van a matar", dice Arreola. "Héctor suplicó 16 veces, no puedo respirar", contó su padre. "Le duele, le duele", le dice su madre a los oficiales en la escena esa noche. "No puedo respirar", dice Héctor antes de que el policía le diga a su madre que "está bien, puede respirar". “Le aplicaron presión durante más de 2 minutos después de que lo esposaron hasta que no respondió. Un tercer oficial llegó a la escena con grilletes y grilletes. Después de encadenar a Héctor, continuó sentado boca arriba durante unos minutos para que conozcas el momento Kodak, dijo Rod. La familia recientemente obtuvo una victoria parcial en un tribunal federal donde el juez negó la inmunidad del oficial allanando el camino para el reclamo de fuerza excesiva. Pero la familia ahora exige acción. "Cuando alguien dice que no puedo respirar, significa que no puede respirar y que debes retroceder". Debe retroceder y dejar que esa persona respire. Simplemente no puedes darlo por sentado, oh, él está bien y lo hacen porque se entrenan en eso es parte de su política cuando alguien dice que no puedo respirar, pueden respirar. Si no pudieran respirar, no estarían hablando. Eso tiene que ser abolido de la política. Tenemos que hacer ese cambio no para esta
La familia inicialmente se acercó a Teresa Tomlinson, quien era la alcaldesa en ese momento. "Ella no hizo nada, excepto por poner información engañosa". Recientemente han buscado respuestas del actual alcalde Skip Henderson, pero aún no han recibido ninguna respuesta. "Todo lo que queríamos era una disculpa, un reconocimiento de lo sucedido, una pizca de compasión por la muerte de Héctor Arreola". Hoy dijeron que han pasado una disculpa. Exigen acción y responsabilidad de la oficina del alcalde hasta el fiscal de distrito. El GBI concluyó su investigación hace meses, pero la fiscal de distrito, Julia Slater, se niega a publicar los resultados. Según la familia, el ex fiscal Mark Post representa a la familia Arreola y exige un juicio con jurado.
ENGLISH The family of Hector Arreola knows all too well the anguish that the family of George Floyd is going through. They are angry too as they observe a much different response from officials in Minneapolis compared to what occurred here. On January 9, 2017 Columbus police responded to a call on Moss Drive around 5 a.m. At some point there was a struggle and Hector Arreola was taken to Midtown Medical Center where he died the next day. To this day the family of Hector Arreola have yet to receive any answers about what actually happened that night. According to his sister Patricia Ragan local law enforcement and city officials continue to deny any wrongdoing. ìMy brother’s life mattered,. During a recent interview Hector’s sister, Patricia Ragan and father, Retired SGM Rod Arreola recounted what they witnessed from the video of Hector’s
encounter with the police. “Stop, Stop, Stop police yell. I’m not even doing nothing, Ma they’re going to kill me”, Arreola says. Hector pleaded 16 times, I can’t breathe, his dad recounted. He’s hurting, he’s hurting, his mother tells officers on the scene that night. I can’t breathe, Hector says before the police officer tells his mom he’s fine, he can breathe. They applied pressure for over 2 minutes after he was handcuffed until he went nonresponsive. A third officer arrived on the scene with leg irons and shackles. After shackling Hector, he continued to sit on his back for a few minutes for you know the Kodak moment, said Rod. The family recently won a partial victory in federal court where the judge denied the officer’s immunity paving the way for the excessive force claim. But the family is demanding action now. When someone says I can’t breathe, it means they can’t breathe, and you need to back off. You need to back off and let that person breathe. You just can’t take it for granted, oh he’s okay and they do that because they get trained on that it’s part of their policy when somebody says I can’t breathe uh, they can breathe. If they couldn’t breathe, they wouldn’t be talking. That has to be abolished from the policy. We have to make that change not for this community but for the Country, Hector’s dad said. The family initially approached Teresa Tomlinson who was the Mayor at the time. She did nothing except for putting out misleading information. Recently they have sought answers from the current Mayor Skip Henderson but have yet to receive any response. ìAll we wanted was an apology, acknowledgement of what happened, an ounce of compassion for Hector Arreola’s death. Today they said they’re way past an apology. They are demanding action and accountability from the Mayor’s office all the way to the District Attorney. The GBI concluded their investigation months ago yet the District Attorney, Julia Slater refuses to release the results. According to the family former Prosecutor Mark Post represents the Arreola family and is demanding a jury trial.
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S ERVING C OLUMBUS , F T. B ENNING , P HENIX C ITY & S URROUNDING A REAS
La voz de la comunidad hispana Vol. 15
Edición 23 Gratis
Jueves 23 de julio 2020
Justicia para Héctor ..."No puedo respirar"
Pagina 2