The news broke last week that some “men” had burned 4 vehicles in the yard of Walter Hill, Mayor of Mosses and EMA Director. Hill is also Deputy Coroner. He lives in Mosses, Alabama, a small town in County Commission District 2, represented at present by Charlie King, Jr. Hill blamed the vandalism on the thug element in his town, who are reportedly angry because Mosses has hired two police officers.
I could not help but think back a couple of years to when Hill’s yard was the scene of vandalism. That time, somebody wrote the “n” word on that poor black Blazer that is now finished off due to last week’s fire. In that case, Hill had been having tensions with the first white sheriff in 50 years, Charlie “Chip” Williams. He blamed the Sheriff for the vandalism, albeit not directly. Nothing is direct in Lowndes County. People fight with gossip and innuendo. That’s how Hill handled the first vandalism. Blaming the white man was effective; Chip Williams did not survive re-election. As the county’s most infamous race mixer, I was saddened because I knew Chip would arrest his mother if she did wrong, and I like protection. He didn’t seem to care about my racial status. It was a short period of my being able to relax, and it didn’t last.
Hill engineered outrage from the citizens that Chip Williams had been appointed by the Governor (Riley) and the Chief Deputy, Big John Williams (no relation) had been overlooked. In the end, Big John became the Sheriff. That came after Hill had Chip arrested for foul language and once again Hill became a TV star and helped make Lowndes County look like a bunch of yahoos.
Hill played the victim to the hilt, and the resulting fall out pitted our deputies against each other, caused them concern for their jobs and ultimately drove off some good people. It hurt the county. Nobody really believed that Chip was responsible for the racial slur on the vehicle. Hill’s house is not isolated. Somebody would have noticed a large white man spray painting a vehicle. It was pure bull, but it did get Hill more TV attention.
Now Hill is once more the victim. It’s a good place for him. Small in stature, articulate and bright, Hill knows how to turn a phrase and slide out of almost anything. Gossip has him responsible for the Fiery Cross Ballot flyer, but others blame Rev. Aaron McCall and Gene Crum. Who knows. Not one of the three has any principles. Hey, could they and Charlie be considered a gang? That’s a thought.
The truth of the matter is that if the thug element wanted to get Walter Hill they would have burned down his house, not the county and town vehicles. I don’t believe this is about police officers and thugs. I think this is pure, dirty, Lowndes County politics.
Hill had been removed from Homeland Security duties, which were given to the Sheriff’s Department. He had been ordered to turn over all equipment, including vehicles, on April 9th by the Lowndes County Commission. I guess he thought Charlie King would win and he would not have to comply. It didn’t happen that way. Now we, the people, are going to have to pay for Hill’s problems.
There’s been ongoing problems. First, many of the tornado sirens didn’t work properly. There was no county backup plan for water problems. Hill took the heat over those issues. Meanwhile, there’s no fire, death, incident where Walter Hill is not present. He always takes every opportunity to be seen and heard and like I said, he can turn a phrase. But he’s sneaky. It’s the usual skin and grin in your face and do dirt behind your back. While that may be effective in Lowndes County at present, truth brought to light is going to change that. All I know is that I’ve sat through countless, endless, wordy reports from Hill that makes a preacher look short-winded. You can cover up lack of action with words, and Walter is a master. And I cannot forget how Robert Harris fired the previous EMA Director because she failed to use the right “tone” with him.
I long for the days when we just had an EMA Director who did the job without fanfare.
Hill had no right to park those county and city vehicles where they were unsecured, especially with the history of vandalism of his property. I don’t mind Walter Hill playing the victim; it’s entertaining. What I mind is his lack of accountability, his sneakiness and his allegiance to the worst element in Lowndes County. Now let’s see how he slides out of this.
Now run and tell that.
THE WISDOM OF EVOLUTION
May 12, 2012
I apologize, dear readers, for my absence. The elections in Lowndes County were particularly nasty, and I had to weather some storms. The good news is that we have replaced 2 county commissioners with fresh, new folks who have good reputations and good character.
Now it’s up to us, the people, to help the new commissioners do their best. And it’s time to look for women who may want to run for office for upcoming elections. We have far too few elected women. It’s making history to move out two incumbents in Lowndes County; usually folks pass on while in office. So the new people have a great responsibility, and I am sure they will perform admirably. Of course, it’s our job to make sure they do.
Amidst all the political ugliness, the peach tree had a good crop, the daylilies, roses and certain trees bloomed with their spring promise of new life,. I dug up a new little garden in the front yard and planted vegetables, and then of course there’s the never-ending mowing, which I enjoy. I can’t use the weedeater with the dogs outside because Ray Charles (one of my dogs) thinks the thing is attacking me, and so he attacks it. This time of year I get daily reports of friends who raise cows getting new babies, and little foals run around in nearby pastures with their mothers looking on.
You can’t let life get you down with all that going on. It’s signs from above that just as the earth renews itself, we can do the same thing. We can learn and grow. The evolution of our minds must be a lifelong task.
This week the President of the United States presented his evolved views on gay marriage. It has not gone over well, particularly in the black Christian community. Indeed, on my Sunday visits to folks close to me, it seems as if the subject of homosexuality is a regular conversation amongst those who attend church. These are good people, who want to obey God, who believe in the Bible. They tend, however, to focus on the passages that back up their own personal thoughts. They tend to take each word literally, instead of focusing on the point of the scripture itself. I never, ever, hear practicing Christians focus on the bottom line, which, in my view is that we as Christians are to follow the example that Jesus Christ set.
The arguments are never-ending, passionate, emotional, and often result in hard feelings. Every person seems to believe they are the experts in disseminating scripture and proper behavior. The same person who will sit quietly while some of our leaders lie, cheat and steal will become very vocal on the subject of homosexuality. They refuse to believe that folks are born gay, and subscribe to the notion that people would deliberately select a type of sexuality that will, in this social climate, bring them pain, discrimination and a lessening of human rights. They think people “choose” this “lifestyle”. Lifestyle? Please. The gay couples I know have the same lifestyle as me. They want to have equal opportunity, raise their families, have a good life and make a difference. They are sometimes my friends and neighbors, and I subscribe to the passage where Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to love thy neighbor as thyself. To me, that means that everyone should have the same human rights.
As a white woman, it would have been illegal for me to marry my son’s father in 1970. That did not change in Alabama until 2000. That means my child and I would have over 1,000 federal rights kept from us, such as the right to social security, healthcare, etc. This is what gay couples face. Do we really want to discriminate on the basis of sexual preference when it comes to human rights? Do you think Jesus would agree with this? It bothers me that the black church, which is famously homophobic, would not understand the pain of this kind of bigotry. After all, it was used against black folks as well, based on the color of their skin rather than their sexual identity.
The Bible Belt has a higher divorce rate than any other region in the US. What does this tell us? It tells us we are picking and choosing about what we believe. It tells us that religion tends to be social rather than spiritual, and it tells us we need to examine ourselves, our beliefs, and truly develop a relationship with our Creator.
It tells us that we need to spend more time in prayer than we do judging those who we perceive are different than us. It tells us we are missing the point in many areas, and that we need to do more examining of ourselves than we do examining others.
I applaud our President. He did not do it for political reasons; indeed, it many hurt his re-election. He did it because he felt it was right, and I am proud of him. He did it because he believes no group should have to suffer the hurt and humiliation of bias and prejudice.
I often wonder why this subject of sexuality brings forth such strong opinions. Back in the day, some white folks really felt that white women were at risk from black men. Yet it was fine for white men to have sex with black women. It’s just nuts, that double standard. I think this subject of homosexuality is based on the same fears. Sometimes it is based on the turmoil that takes place inside a person who may be fighting their own sexuality for the sake of society and peace. I never compare the struggle of African Americans to the struggles of the gay community because in truth, the gay community can hide their sexuality and black folks can’t hide the color of their skin. But the unfairness is the same.
This is my opinion, and I don’t pretend to think I can change minds. I often say, as an organizer and teacher that you can’t change others, you can only change yourself. I also say that as organizers we cannot make people do things; our job is to make them want to do the right thing. But change must begin within ourselves and I, for one, will continue to practice obedience to God by loving my neighbor as I love myself and my own family. I’m straight, but not narrow.