I had heard that there would be a man at a City of Columbia council meeting that wanted to speak on racism with The Comet. He was going to talk about the injustice with the bus routes not going to more black neighborhoods. It was serving too many white neighborhoods. He had written an op-ed in a newspaper earlier about the fact that more blacks had voted for the transportation penny tax than whites, so he felt that black neighborhoods were entitled for better service. I had to be there, because I had helped design many of those routes, and I felt that the bus service should be for all of the people in the community, and not just for one segment or another.
This was the same man who had called me a "silver spoon white boy" for being the President of the Midlands Transit Riders Association. He said that a black person should be president, because the majority of bus riders were black. I had also been called a racist in the early days of planning the routes. There were two routes that went into areas that were heavy on criminal behavior. Some wanted to bring the bus into those areas after dark. I pointed out at the time that it would be dangerous for the bus drivers to be in those areas after dark. I was called a racist for that thinking. I was being a realist. So, the buses ran into those areas after dark, and one was shot at the first week. Fortunately, the driver wasn't hurt, but there was a bullet hole in a window of the bus. The Comet pulled back on those schedules to avoid that happening again. I knew Columbia. I had lived there most of my life. I knew the neighborhoods.
So, it came time for the council meeting. I signed up to speak. Most of the people there at the meeting wanted to speak in protest of a plan to relocate the sports field at Dreher High School which would cause loud noise and disturb the homes around the school. Once that issue was addressed, most of the audience left. It came time to take up this man's complaint. I looked around, and there were also two representatives of The Comet there. The man was called on to speak, and he sent his wife up to the podium to speak in his behalf. I thought that was kind of cowardly of him. She read what he had written. She talked about entitlement. That is a word that I cringe, when I hear. I was frantically writing down what I wanted to say. When she was finished with his speech, the chair asked if there was anyone else who wanted to speak on this topic. I raised my hand and was recognized. I identified myself as the former president of the Midlands Transit Riders Association and a bus rider. I could barely read my scribbling on the paper, but I talked about the fact that the bus system is for all the people, not just some. I then talked about my family teaching me to treat everyone the same, no matter what skin color they were. I talked about my family's history from a grandmother who taught black kids in school in Alabama to a cousin who was a freedom rider with Dr. King. Then, I got a little loud in my speech. I addressed racism in Columbia. I told the council that I wasn't racist; the Comet wasn't racist, to which I pointed to the two people from the Comet sitting there; and then I pointed to the man and his wife and called them out as racists. They just shrunk in their seats.
After the meeting was over, the City Manager thanked me for what I had said, as did several of the council members. I was leaving to get on the elevator to go downstairs, and one of my personal heroes was on the elevator with me. His name is Jim Felder. He was a military pallbearer at President Kennedy's funeral and a civil rights leader. He had been at the council meeting. Jim told me that there are people out there who don't understand the meaning of racism, and he agreed with my assessment. His comment meant the world to me. When I got outside, the Mayor called to me. He told me that he wished that people like that couple would stop coming to the council meetings. All they want to be is divisive. I told him that we need to have more unity in the city to get stuff done. He agreed.
As I saw many times working with the buses, there are some people who just want to stir up trouble. You know the sky is blue, but they will tell you it is green. That is just the way it is. If one can find some common ground with those people, things will work out better. If there is no common ground to be found, walk away.
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