Valdosta Daily Times: Lynch cases should be reopened; support legislation
Cold cases should be reopened
Lynchings in Georgia – long ignored – should be investigated and prosecuted.
Period.
Mobs lynched black people, including our own Mary Turner, with impunity.
Though many of the killers are long dead, black families across the state of Georgia still deserve justice.
Rep. Carl Gilliard’s Georgia Cold Case Project to combat historic lynchings is more than symbolic. His measure is about social justice and it’s just right.
After the brutal murder of Ahmaud Arbery, our state has moved in the right direction by abolishing the arrest laws of Jim Crow-era citizens and enacting hate crime laws, but we still have a long way to go.
Ignoring history does not erase the atrocities of the past.
More than 500 lynchings in Georgia’s past went unprosecuted.
This is not only unacceptable, it is irresponsible.
These are mistakes that need to be corrected.
In many cases, the lynchings were very public and the public knew who the killers were.
Gilliard and his family understand this farce of justice all too well. His own brother was lynched and mutilated in 1957, years before the state congressman was born.
Given his family’s history, Gilliard’s words are poignant as he says, “Georgia has a history and we must do something to give these people what they deserve. We may not be getting every last case out of the 500 weird cases we know of, but if we’re getting one more than we had, we’re moving in the right direction.”
The 1918 lynching of Mary Turner on the Lowndes-Brooks County border was among the most brutal lynchings in American history, but it was far from an isolated event in Georgian history.
According to the Equal Justice Initiative, Georgia ranks second for most reported lynchings with 593 between 1877 and 1950.
Besides Turner, four lynchings have been documented in Lowndes County alone – Will Lowe 1890, David Goosby I. 1894, Caesar Sheffield 1915, (unknown) Lewis 1916. Eight lynchings have been documented in Thomas County and the lynchings of Ed Henderson in 1899, two unidentified persons on January 29, 1900, and Charles Lokie in 1908 in Tift County. Seven lynchings were reported in Colquitt County.
Given South Georgia’s past, our Legislative Delegation should be at the forefront of supporting Gilliard’s bill.
Not only would this law reopen cold cases and provide mechanisms to allow lynchings to be prosecuted, it would also exonerate lynching victims wrongfully accused of a crime.
Legislation won’t change the past, but it recognizes wrongs and is just right.
Braunschweiger Nachrichten: Resistance to the Citizens’ Protest Act makes no sense
Why any member of the Georgia General Assembly should oppose Senate Bill 171 is beyond explanation. The measure simply states that anyone planning a public protest must obtain permission from the city or county government, do not physically harm or kill anyone, do not damage state or private property, and do not block public roads. To do so would be a criminal offence.
Believe it or not, there are those who oppose the bill. They claim it violates freedom of association and a person’s right to express dissatisfaction or anger at an action or inaction.
The argument against this law is complete nonsense. It doesn’t do anything like that. A protester can shout, yell, shake his head or fist, yell to his heart’s content, wave signs representing a point, and trott home to dinner without fear of arrest or arrest.
This is freedom of expression and assembly. Senate Bill 171 doesn’t bother that.
What the legislature does is strengthen the laws already on the books. It improves protection for those who happen to live near a place of permitted gathering or accidentally find themselves in the path of an angry mob. It should be remembered that in this state it is illegal to firebomb someone’s home or business, or to kick anyone to death, regardless of the reason for the violence erupting.
Under the measure, local governments that do nothing to stop protesters from destroying property or targeting innocent people could face fines.
Lawmakers writing this bill took cues from cities like Atlanta that didn’t stop rabid protesters from running amok in 2020. Protesters even set fire to a Wendy’s restaurant and bombed a public safety building. City officials ignored everything. You haven’t done anything.
The new law also protects motorists who refuse to stop because they yell at protesters who are blocking a road or highway. Few will forget the horror of watching news clips of drivers being yanked from vehicles and badly beaten.
In short, the bill only reminds those who take to the streets to educate Cain in the name of their individual rights to remember to respect the rights of non-protestants.
