Sept. 27, 2007
This column appears in the print edition Sept. 27.
Disturbing statements have been coming from inside Mayor Frank Melton's inner circle since he and his bodyguards were indicted Sept. 15 for home invasion and demolition. To put it simply, paid Melton supporters are trying to convince city residents—especially "the people"—that he was acting as a crime-fighting hero when he allegedly ordered minors to sledgehammer the rental home of schizophrenic Evans Welch.
Several people in Melton's employ have developed a list of "enemies" that they are vowing to "dig" dirt up on. The list of enemies are mostly African Americans who are trying to protect the rights of citizens—people from the NAACP to the D.A.'s office. This is not pretty. It is ugly. It is divisive. It is dishonest.
Such a witchhunt sets a horrible precedent for young people in Jackson—telling them that if caught committing a crime, the best route is to destroy accusers by any means necessary.
To hear mayoral aides like Bob Hickingbottom and Stephanie Parker-Weaver explain it on talk radio, they plan to bring down the mayor's opponents—whom they falsely characterize as Harvey Johnson supporters. (In fact, many of Melton's loudest critics say they will not support Johnson should he run again.)
Regardless, Parker-Weaver appealed to "the people" Friday night on "Views from the Black Side" on WMPR. "So many people are so eager to lynch Frank Melton in the court of public opinion," said Parker-Weaver, who makes just over $3,000 a month as a city aide. "We will continue to do the investigation to get to the bottom of it," she declared. And, "let's keep working and digging for information."
The theme on that show was that black Jacksonians such as D.A. Faye Peterson are "house negroes" trying to hurt the "field negroes," which includes Melton—who lives in a large North Jackson home, hangs with white Republicans and is often spotted riding around in former Mayor Dale Danks' black Jaguar.
Host Charles Tisdale would not allow any dissent, telling one caller who tried to criticize the mayor: "We come to praise Frank, not to damn him." The caller asked, "You want me to shut up?" Tisdale snapped, "Yeah, shut up."
Listening to the plantation talk, I couldn't help but wonder where Evans Welch, his elderly parents and his landlord, Jennifer Sutton, all of whom are black and struggling to make ends meet, fit in this scenario. House or field?
Of course, the operatives have a tough row to hoe convincing the people that Melton is a man of the field, considering that his staunchest (and most generous) supporters were rich conservatives like Leland Speed (donated $8,000), Billy Mounger ($10,000), Wirt Yerger ($4,000) and Charles Irby ($6,500).
In the Jackson Advocate this week, Tisdale tries to say Leland Speed is a reason Harvey Johnson wants back in office. Tisdale writes, "Undoubtedly the unfinished business is to finish selling out to the likes of Leland Speed and John Elkington (Beale Street developer), so they can more efficiently destroy black neighborhoods and culture."
Except it is Melton that Speed and friends helped put into office, not Harvey Johnson.
I watched Melton address a 2005 breakfast fund raiser hosted by Leland Speed's wife, Bessie, along with Jan Mounger, Jan Hughes and Mary Jane Ridgeway. In his remarks, Melton told the ladies pointblank that he was only running as a Democrat because it was the only way he could get elected in a majority-black city. "Most of you are Republican," he said with a laugh to the delighted group. "The reality is, if you're an African American in Jackson, you have to run as a Democrat to win."
Melton told the women that cleaning up the inner cities would be "easy"—he just needed to get families, especially fathers, to raise their children and get the churches involved. Fast forward many months to the Sunday after he was indicted for the Ridgeway Street rampage—he made a rare appearance at St. Luther's Church, along with his attorney, Dale Danks, while his own family, including his biological children, were home in Texas where they grew up without a father in the house, or the state.
Yet, Melton operatives are using the "house" charge to stir up anger against blacks who dared question Melton's right to sledgehammer the home of a poor, black schizophrenic man on Aug. 26. And they are vowing to destroy real role models like the district attorney—a self-made, tough black woman who grew up and studied right here in Jackson, who shows no deference to the conservative white supporters who backed Melton's campaign (nor to the Advocate folks, for that matter).
In fact, many of Melton's staunchest supporters backed her opponent in 2003. But somehow now, Peterson is not "of the people" because she dares arrest a black man who thinks he's above the law, who does not hesitate to sic dogs and clubs on his own people, who doesn't care about the people's civil liberties nor the need to follow the law, and as a role model teaches young men to break the law.
Melton supporters say he is not a criminal, but was merely engaging in "civil disobedience," like the great civil-rights heroes of the past. Ignoring the fact that police didn't even find pot in the Ridgeway Street duplex, operatives say he's fighting crime the only way he knows how.
But Melton-the-enforcer is selective. Some "drug dealers" get sledgehammered without evidence; others live in his house and use his credit cards. At a campaign forum last year, Melton walked out, supposedly because he would have to be near a "convicted drug dealer"; meantime, his team has hired a Wood Street Players defense attorney to defend his bodyguards.
Melton aide Bob Hickingbottom who earns at least $2,000 a month from the city's Public Works budget, is an operative out front trying to trash Melton detractors (he made $7,500 doing the same thing during the campaign). He is freely bashing the D.A. (but not the sheriff), and on a call to Kim Wade on WJNT Friday, he vowed to bring down Melton's enemies: "I've been at the forefront of every dirty deal that was cut in politics. I'm going to call the roll on some of these people."
Instead, the people should call the roll on dishonesty—saying "enough" to tactics that would make Dr. King turn over in his grave. When a Melton apologist comes around hawking the latest rumor, be sure to ask how much they—the rumormongers—are being paid.
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