City Council member Goldie Wells made a surprise resolution supporting the Truth and Reconciliation Commission at tonight’s meeting. It was a long, rambling resolution, the key component of which was a rescinsion of the council’s April 2005 vote not to support the TRC.
Wells was supported by fellow members Dianne Bellamy-Small and Yvonne Johnson, who said she was “hoping that we will put this in our history and move on.”
Mayor Keith Holliday defended his non-support of the TRC and the April 2005 vote, still acknowledging that the council “ended up with a line in the sand and we’ve been paying the price ever since.”
Not that Holliday was unsympathetic, adding that the Nov. ’79 Klan-Nazi shootings were “a very complicated issue that was a terrible tragedy…..Had I been been on the jury, there would be some people who would still be in jail.”
The resolution failed by a 5-4 vote, with Bellamy-Small, Wells, Johnson and Sandra Anderson Groat voting in favor.
It’s interesting to note that when Bellamy-Small was speaking, the Channel 13 camera shot to Florence Gatten, who didn’t have a pleased look on her face. But the money shot during the discussion was of the enitre council. I couldn’t help but notice City Manager Mitchell Johnson sitting quietly, taking a sip of his drink. He was probably glad to be onthe sidelines for this one.
