Thursday, December 23, 2010
December 23, 2010, SUBJECT: UPDATE FOLLOWING PROTEST MARCH IN QUITMAN
TO: All Members of the Press, Editors, Local Elected Officials and Beyond
By Minister Floyd Rose, (229-444-1938)
Not since the 1960's have I seen a community rise up to say, "enough is enough," so quickly, so loudly, and so forcefully. It took place last night, December 22, 2010 at the Bethel AME Church in Quitman, Georgia. Ten of the city's finest citizens had been arrested and charged with voter fraud, including the sitting black school board member, and the two newly elected black members, which gives the blacks the majority for the first time in the history of Brooks County. It was an election in which white candidates spent an estimated $100,000 to hold on to two seats on the school board, which makes you wonder. The charges are bogus and everybody knows it.
The people who were arrested are among the most respected in both the city and county. For them, it was a Rosa Parks moment.
Preachers crowded the pulpit, every seat was filled, and people were standing around the walls. It was the largest crowd to ever assemble for a protest rally in the history of Brooks County and South Georgia.
We will return to Bethel on January 1, 2011 (New Years Day) at 10:00 A.M., and we'll take our protest March to the streets, marching from the church to the Court House. We expect an even larger crowd, as interest and enthusiasm mount surrounding this sad but Historical Event.
Except for channel 10, WALB, the press was conspicuously absent. As George Boston Rhynes has often published that this pattern and practice of keeping citizens deaf; dumb,; and blind to the times in South Georgia must come to an end. Moreover the failure of news media outlets to provide adequate coverage of important events are the same as it was in Montgomery Alabama in 1955. The local press first tried to ignore the boycott and then won!
Floyd E Rose
President local SCLC
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