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 Lance Martin | Daily Herald Gary Grant rallies the audience to sing in order to shut down Monday's Halifax County Board of Commissioners meeting after the board deadlocked while trying to select a chairman. |
The board has been deadlocked since its December 2004 monthly meeting, when commissioners split 3-3 on two candidates. Vice Chair Carolyn Johnson has since presided over the meetings.
Monday was the first organizational meeting for the board after the November election, and some residents hoped the vote would finally be different as a new term begins for three re-elected commissioners.
After District Court Judge Turner Stephenson swore in the re-elected trio - Rives Manning, Gene Minton and James Pierce - the board voted for a chairperson.
As was previously the case, Johnson, Lionel Whidbee and Pierce voted for Pierce, while Manning, Rachel Hux and Minton voted for Minton.
Gary Grant, executive director of Concerned Citizens of Tillery, approached the podium immediately following the vote, calling the situation “B.S.” and demanding the board select a chair. Grant considers the deadlock a racial issue, as those who voted for Pierce are black and those who voted for Minton are white.
“You've played this game with the citizens for two years,” Grant said when County Attorney Bill McBlief instructed him to take his seat and wait until the regular meeting to voice his concerns. “You're having an organizational meeting where you cannot get a chairperson.”
Grant led about 30 of his companions in singing “We Shall Overcome” while waving paper fans printed with Pierce's picture, ignoring McBlief's requests to cease the interruption.
“This board is supposed to be showing leadership, and there will be no meeting in the county today,” Grant replied.
McBlief proposed a short recess and a re-vote, and Grant agreed. When the second vote turned out to be identical to the first, Grant again stood up and approached the podium to interrupt the meeting.
Though Grant said he expected the sheriff to arrive and McBlief had said he would clear those who were disrupting the meeting from the room, no law enforcement showed up. Instead, McBlief finally slammed down his gavel and recessed both the organizational and regular meetings until Jan. 8. The crowd applauded and Grant said he plans to attend the meeting in January as well.
Most of the commissioners were quiet during and after the commotion.
“I'd like to see this issue resolved and put behind us and for our county to unite and move on,” Pierce told the Daily Herald after the meeting had been recessed.
Manning, who has long insisted the deadlock is not a racial issue, told the paper he was “disgusted” by the situation. He cited his Oct. 2 proposal that the top vote-getter in the election be named chair, which Johnson, Pierce and Whidbee voted against. Pierce received the most votes.
“They would have had it hands-down, no opposition,” Manning said about the person who would become chair, “but they chose not to approve it, so we're gonna live by their decision.”
After the meeting, David Harvey, president of the Halifax County chapter of the NAACP, said he agrees with Grant that the deadlock is racially-based and supports Grant's stance, but questioned whether it was the right time to take such drastic measures. Though he held a paper fan, Harvey remained quiet throughout the protest.
“Gary Grant is really, really ambitious about his desire to see the county move forward with a chairman,” Harvey said. “I may not necessarily agree with the tactic, but I do understand the frustration.”
Harvey said he thinks the only way the situation will change is if the black commissioners change their votes. He speculated Manning's suggestion about the top vote-getter being named chair was made in October because he did not think Pierce would receive the most votes. Harvey also said he wishes someone had run against Manning and Minton during their re-election.
After the meeting, Grant told the Daily Herald he thinks white voters contributed to Pierce's popularity at the polls, and that residents of all races are upset by the situation.
“I just don't understand the citizens of this county allowing this kind of shenanigans to go on,” he said, adding he'd hoped the commissioners would be able to reach a decision after two years of deadlock.
The Rev. James Johnson, one of many who accompanied Grant to the meeting, said he thought comedian Michael Richards' use of the “n” word not long ago during a stand-up act was a “wake-up call” to the fact racist attitudes are still embedded in society.
“This is not classism,” Johnson said. “It's racism, and it's unfortunate.”
Grant said he thinks the board would do a better job with a chair. “I think that everything is being delayed because of the fact that we don't have a chair,” Grant said.
Carolina Crossroads has distracted the community from the board's ineffectiveness in other areas, he explained. “We're locked up here in Halifax County where there is no publicity but the Daily Herald and TV-10 ... so people are not aware,” Grant said, adding he wants to “break the isolation” of the county's citizens.
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