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COLUMBUS, Ga. — “Journalism is reporting things powerful people want kept hidden for the wrong reasons: moral wrongs, bad behaviors. As journalists, we are the custodians of the public’s conscience.” — James O’Keefe, referencing Custodians of Conscience: Investigative Journalism and Public Virtue, by James S. Ettema and Theodore L. Glasser.
Mayor Skip Henderson apparently has an awful lot to learn about why he should not attempt to silence, coerce, or influence the press.
During the 38th annual Black History Month Observance Breakfast yesterday on Feb. 27, Mayor Skip Henderson gave a statement that covertly sought to influence the public and the press to not publish stories that harshly criticize the state of our city.
Through a poorly-veiled metaphor of handwriting, Henderson asked the rhetorical question of whether we are using “divisive strokes, harsh and angry strokes, or the smooth flowing strokes of a loved one … when we are writing our collective history.”
Henderson then went on to encourage everyone to only speak and write with those “smooth strokes ” when writing the history of our city.
Respectfully, Mr. Mayor: you do not get to decide that, and you may politely go muck yourself for having tried.
Having an elected official — let alone the mayor of a city — suggest that we only speak, write, and publish positive things is precisely the reason why we shouldn’t — and it is exactly the sort of cultural kneecapper that has landed our city in the violent state of urban decay it is currently in.
The real world doesn’t run on the unicorn farts and fairy dust Henderson wishes would magically hide the malevolent wrongdoings and violent crimes our city continues to experience each and every day under his charge. The real world doesn’t run on kumbaya. The real world has gunshot victims. The real world has grieving families. The real world has consequences.
As the head of our city’s public safety department, Henderson is in fact the person responsible for those consequences.
If Henderson does not want his administration’s divisiveness to be published by the press, then perhaps he ought not to be divisive — you know, like labeling 70% of our city’s entire police force as ‘racist’ because they voiced their concerns for our city’s safety due to the ineptitude of police chief Freddie Blackmon.
If Henderson does not want harsh sentiments published by the press, then perhaps he ought not to take actions that cause his constituents to feel so harshly — you know, like continuing to ignore the voices of those same police officers while our city experiences 11 homicides in the first seven weeks of the year.
If Henderson is concerned for how his leadership and the actions of his administration are being reported by journalists that he cannot control, then perhaps he ought to change his behavior and the state of the city he’s in charge of to match the history he wishes to be written — you know, like by not making veiled comments that seek to silence and influence the press.
In the meantime, we’ll continue to use whatever strokes of the pen we damn well choose, thank you very much.
If you as the reader wish to remain in the ‘Wonderful City of Oz’ as our mayor decides what should and should not be questioned, criticized, written, and published by a free press in the freest nation on earth, then pay no attention to the man behind the green curtain and take your own medicine.
If instead you wish to see the truth behind the issues that drive the safety and security of our city so that our officials have no choice but to act in their repair, then do what needs to be done: Ask the hard questions. Fix the hard answers. Rake the muck.
Facts are stubborn things — and we’ll keep publishing them, whether city officials like them or not.
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