Black-Power-Advocate Williams Dies a Failure
crosstar
The black-power advocate who vowed to bust Forsyth County, Georgia has died,
a failure. Ironically, Hosea Williams' campaign to establish a bi-racial
committee to govern the all-American county north of Atlanta set in motion the
largest uprising against the Civil Rights Bill ever and spurred formation of
The Nationalist Movement.
Williams, a corpulent cohort of the late Martin Luther King, vowed in 1987 that
he would conduct protests in behalf of confiscating land as "reparations" for Negroes
having been run out of the county in 1912 after a Negro raped an American woman.
Williams, who garnered support from former Governor Georgia George Busbee,
former Attorney-General Ramsey Clark and Senator Edward Kennedy almost got his way.
Except for a determined band of fledgling Nationalists who stood in his way.
Williams had bragged that he had been arrested 106 times while agitating for
black power. But, Forsyth-County resident Frank Shirley announced that 103 of
those instances had been for public drunkenness. Williams could not even drive
to his own protest, because his license had been revoked for drunken driving.
Wherever Williams announced a protest, Forsyth-Countian Mark Watts organized
a counter-protest.
Up until that time, police would check licenses and record names of all
rightist activists -- but not Negroes -- enroute to demonstrations. Watts
compelled the police to cease the shakedowns.
Local officials and the Chamber of Commerce teamed up with Williams to
institute a "bi-racial committee," composed of inner-city minorities, which
met behind locked doors at the Forsyth County Courthouse to govern the
county. Repeated protests by Forsyth-Countian Jerry Lord shut the meetings
down.
When Williams finally bussed his cohorts in to parade, Georgia youth turned
out by the thousands in protest, forming the largest opposition to the Civil
Rights Bill since its passage in 1964.
Former Georgia Governor Lester Maddox showed up to support Williams'
opponents. And locals such as Edward Frix, Junior Staton and Jerry Barrett
garnered headlines for their stubborn defense of the county. Earl Watts and
Jerry Brown even warmed to their newfound roles as national pro-majority
spokesmen.
Sheriff Wesley Walraven arrested sixty-six anti-Williams demonstrators, who
shouted "N----- go home" while waving American, Crosstar and Confederate flags.
But every one of those arrested who went to trial was acquitted and
Walraven was run out of office.
Williams then sued Watts and The Nationalist Movement for allegedly
violating his civil rights. When Richard Barrett, representing the
Nationalists, threatened to counter-sue Williams and his lawyer, Morris Dees,
Williams dismissed the case with prejudice, handing Dees his first defeat.
In federal court in Atlanta, Williams' lawyer, Michael Hauptman, was
pitted against Watts' lawyer, Barrett.
When the trial began, Barrett stood up to speak and so did Hauptman. Judge
William O'Kelley intoned, "You two will have to agree who will speak first."
Barrett fired back, "I will not agree with Mr. Hauptman on anything."
Whereupon, Hauptman sat down, Barrett spoke and the rest is history.
Nationalists then sued to break bans officials had imposed on their parades
and rallies and won in the U.S. Supreme Court in 1992.
Watts' wife Beverly became an overnight sensation when she took the stand
to eloquently call, for the first time, for the rights of the majority over
minorities. And she won. She even told Oprah Winfrey to her face that she
was not welcome in Forsyth County. Winfrey, who came to town to put on her
television show, retorted, "Whew, was I glad to get out of that place."
A shaken and defeated Williams, then, slunk back to Atlanta.
Nationalists followed him there, conducting a parade and rally which
brought out the largest peacetime deployment of the National Guard. Winning
police protection was another first for the Nationalists.
Lawsuits by the Lesbian Legal Defense Fund and the Anti-Klan Network,
together with rioting and looting by minorities, failed to halt the Nationalists,
who proclaimed their platform at the Georgia State Capitol and through
the streets of downtown Atlanta.
As Nationalists surged forward, Williams tried, one more time, to mount a
drive to bust Forsyth County. But, he mustered only a handful of followers
and gave up.
Pro-majority activist Jimmy Wynn challenged Williams to a debate. And Williams
agreed. But, the day of the event, Williams, too drunk to attend, ducked out,
handing yet another moral victory to the Nationalists.
In newspaper editorials and occasional outbursts, Williams continued to press
demands to bus Forsyth-County students into inner-city Atlanta, build welfare
housing-projects in the county and force affirmative hiring practices upon locals.
But, no one was listening.
In his last confrontation on the Forsyth-County Courthouse steps, before
a statewide television audience, Williams was told by Barrett, "Your star is
setting, but our star is rising. You're through. It's over."
Indeed, when Williams died, at 74, Forsyth County remained American, the
Nationalists were continuing to rise and every black-power demand Williams
had made -- for bussing, a "bi-racial committee" and "reparations" -- had been
defeated.
Nationalist Barry Hackney said, "Williams started out on top, but
ended up on the bottom along with his flawed cause and failed followers."
Hackney added: "Williams definitely had the big-money backers behind him,
in his day, but Nationalists had the people and that was what made all
the difference."
http://www.nationalist.org/alt/2000/nov/williams.html
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END
Barry
during deer season!
Maybe he could be a poster boy for alcohol abuse...
crosstar wrote in message ...
