Over the course of the last couple of years, I’ve tried to be more politically aware and involved.  I’ve been going to our county Republican Party meetings, helped out with some campaigns during the last election, and I’ve been attending County Commissioners’ meetings when I get a chance (and watching them online when I’m unable to attend).  Since I was off work last night, I managed to make it to the Commissioners’ meeting.  The meeting itself wasn’t nearly as interesting as the exchange after the meeting….when former president of the Alamance County Chapter of the NAACP Michael Graves and County Commissioner Tim Sutton engaged in a heated exchange on the sidewalk outside the County Office Building.  Here’s my account of what I saw and heard…

 

 

After I left the Commissioners’ meeting, I stopped on the sidewalk to talk with someone.  We had not been talking long before I heard someone behind us yelling “Idiot!” over and over again.  This caught our attention and we turned to see Tim Sutton and Michael Graves leaving the building.  Sutton was walking toward his vehicle and Graves walked alongside him repeatedly yelling “Idiot!”  Graves walked in between Sutton and his vehicle and turned to face him blocking his path.  Graves continued calling Sutton an idiot.  Sutton said something that sounded like “Ol’ blue eyes can take care of you” and then went around Graves toward his vehicle as Graves pressed toward him.  Graves started yelling, “Are you threatening me?”  I heard Sutton yelling back at him, “You’re full of it.”

I don’t believe Sutton was making a threat toward Graves.  He never threatened to harm him in any way.  However, Graves was clearly positioning himself to intimidate and antagonize Sutton.  If anything, I would consider Graves’ behavior an attempt to provoke Sutton.

We watched the scene unfold, commenting about how juvenile the behavior seemed.  We also noticed Eddie Shoe, one of the regular meeting attendees, standing on the steps filming the incident.  Well, apparently Mr. Shoe has released the video to the media.  It appeared on the Burlington Times-News website within the last couple of hours.  The video seriously needs a disclaimer because it doesn’t show the whole incident, but it does show what happened following what I described above.  Here it is…

 

 

 

There have been some comments on the Times News forums questioning whether Mr. Shoe’s video was edited and whether the whole incident was planned for the camera.  I’ve reviewed the video posted on the Times News and compared it with the surveillance camera video on Fox 8.  The surveillance video shows Mr. Shoe took a video camera out of a camera bag and began filming when both men were near the street.  I don’t believe his video was edited or altered and is an accurate representation of what happened from that point forward.  I’m not going to speculate about whether the incident was planned.  It is interesting to note Mr. Shoe had a regular video camera with him at the Commissioners’ Meeting and filmed the incident with that video camera, not a cell phone camera as reported in the Times News as follows.

“Shoe said he watched as Sutton and Graves argued outside on the sidewalk near two parked vehicles at Elm Street. Shoe said he decided to begin recording the incident with his cell phone camera.”

(Link to Times News article Graves Makes Report with Graham Police Over Incident with Commissioner)

Either Mr. Shoe inaccurately told the Times News that he filmed with a cell phone or the Times News decided to report something different than they were told.  Whatever the case, the news account doesn’t match the video in that regard.

Here’s Fox 8′s coverage of the incident along with interviews with both men (Fox 8 did a much better job presenting both sides than the Times news).  Graves blatantly lied about Sutton coming up behind him and then bumping him.  I watched both men walking side by side away from the steps.  Graves stepped in front of Sutton, blocking Sutton’s path to his vehicle.  Sutton can be seen in the surveillance camera clip moving around Graves in the direction he had been heading toward his vehicle.  Graves’ vehicle was parked much further up the road and it would certainly have been easier for him to walk up the broad part of the sidewalk rather than cut Sutton off in the narrow area between the planters and the street.  To be fair, Graves wasn’t the only one with a fuzzy memory about what really happened.  In the Fox 8 interview, Sutton also stumbles over what he actually said to Graves about “Ol’ blue eyes.”

The related Times News article can be found here.

And, added as I’ve been writing…The Times News is reporting that Graves has now filed a report with the Graham Police Department.  If they actually investigate Graves’ claim, I suppose I should be contacted soon.

It crossed my mind to pull out my cell phone and start filming.  I now wish I did so the public could have seen EVERYTHING that occurred, not just a portion.  I remember thinking at the time, I hope the building surveillance camera is running.  Fox 8 played a short clip from it, but to be fair to Commissioner Sutton, the whole thing really needs to be released so the public can see how Graves was behaving.  There were also 3 witnesses other than myself and Mr. Shoe.  What I witnessed is certainly different than what Mr. Graves is reporting to the media.

Graves told the Times News, “To me it was racial intimidation.”  That’s a load of crap.  If anything, Graves tried to introduce racist undertones when called Sutton a bigot and a few moments later yelled, “This is not 1960, I don’t have to do what you say!” after Sutton told him to show the letters that he has supposedly accrued condemning some comments Sutton previously made.

This mess all began when Graves accused Sutton of making a racist comment on Talkline, a local AM radio call-in talk show.  Graves wants the Board of Commissioners to publicly condemn Sutton’s remarks and wants Sutton to publicly apologize.  Commenting on the recent shooting death of a black teenager, Shakana China, in Durham, Sutton said,

“Do you think for a moment — I’ll just be blunt about it — do you think for a moment whites would let people do that without saying you’re going to face me or you’re not going to be able to do it,”   “We are going to take you or you’re going to take us. I don’t think we’d let it happen.”  “I think the black community turns their back on stuff”  “They’re afraid to confront the people that are doing it, and it’s socioeconomic. If you don’t have a man in the house, if you have — you know — divorce rates or no-married rates that are what they are I guess maybe you don’t have anybody to confront these people that are doing it.”

Graves argues that the remark is racist and as a representative of the county, Sutton should apologize.  Sutton argues that he has the right to free speech and owes no apology. Graves even wrote the following letter to Commissioner Linda Massey, Chairwoman of the Alamance Board of Commissioners:

Chairwoman Massey,

This is a formal request for the condemnation of Commissioner Sutton.

On 5-16-2011, Commissioner Tim Sutton called the local radio station WBAG 1150 AM and made several comments. Some of his comments were racist in nature toward the black community. Among his hate filled comments he degraded single family homes with females at the head of the house hold.

He also stated we should not expect anything more from the poor or kids in these communities because they have no father in their homes. He also stated that people in these communities allow their neighborhoods to be over taken, almost invite, by crime, drugs and gangs and then turn their backs on illegal activity. All of these statements and the “people” of which he inferred were all black people, he made sure to say that white people would never let these things happen in their neighborhood. This conversation I thought we had in 1950 and we should not be having it today in 2011 and certainly not with an elected official leading such a discussion in such a hateful and racist manner. He cast so many negative aspersions against all black people and did it in such a resolute manner and in such a public way that not only embarrassed himself but this county and all of the good decent citizens of all races who are this county.

Mr. Sutton is the representative of all people in this county including the ones he degraded in his racist, insensitive and false remarks, regardless if he got their vote and regardless of their race.

We the Concerned Citizens demand an immediate apology from him and a condemnation of Commissioner Sutton by this board. We also we be bring to you at a later date a later signed with clergy members and leaders in the community as well as everyday citizens asking for a immediate reprimand of Commissioner Sutton. Because we fill Mr. Sutton actions were so egregious we will also look in to what steps that could be taken to have him removed from the board.

Your actions will be watched by decent individuals in this county who believe that all men are created equal and although the sins of our forefathers our Creator extols us to forgive which we are obedient and will but we will not re-live them.

Thank you and we look forward to your response in this most unfortunate matter.

Very best regards,

Michael J. Graves

President, Concerned Citizens of Alamance County

Talk about bullying.  I agree with Sutton on this one.  I think his views probably represent the majority of his constituency.  Regardless of whether others hold the same perspective, I don’t feel that Sutton presents himself as representing the county when he calls in to Talkline.  I’ve never felt that Sutton expresses his views as anyone’s other than his own.

 

Here are some video excerpts from the Commisssioner’s Meetings that provide a bit more background on this issue.

In the June 20, 2011 Commissioner’s Meeting, local businessman John Peterson addressed the Board concerning Commissioner Sutton’s Remarks.  The following video shows Mr. Peterson’s remarks followed by comments from Hugh Webster and then Commissioner Sutton’s reply which included a video from ABC’s Raleigh-Durham area affiliate WTVD 11 with the audio from Talkline and some commentary from Sidney Brodie, a black activist from Durham who organized vigils in the aftermath of Shakana China’s death.

Here’s what Sidney Brodie said in his interview with ABC’s WTVD 11 News,

“Tim Sutton spoke the truth. He happens to be white.  But, he’s telling the truth.”

“No…Blacks, well, we don’t do enough.  We don’t.  And, that’s part of my outrage.  Accusations of that commissioner’s comments being racist is..it’s a diversion and I don’t know why…I don’t know why a black leader would hone in on something like that when we’ve got young black boys shooting thirteen year old black girls here in our city.”

Commissioner Sutton also referenced comments made by Barry Saunders in his editorial, “It’s time to show thugs you’ll tell” published on May 23, 2011 in the Raleigh News & Observer.

Here’s what Barry Saunders said in his editorial,

Man, I was one angry Negro after reading those disturbing comments, and I couldn’t wait to tell Sutton what I thought.

I had just two words for him.

No, not those two.

I told him, “Right on.” At least sometimes.

Face it. The dude’s got a point, because you know darn well somebody knows who killed that child. It wasn’t even night when she was shot in front of the apartment she lived in all-too-briefly with her mama and younger siblings.

Read the full text here

In the July 18, 2011 Commissioner’s Meeting, Catherine Smith and Sidney Smith spoke to the Board as representatives of Concerned Citizens of Alamance.  Catherine Smith asked the Board of Commissioners to censure Commissioner Sutton under the premise that he violated the Board’s code of ethics.  The following video shows the statements by Catherine and Sidney Smith followed by Commissioner Sutton’s response.

 

I’m disappointed in the way the whole incident is being presented in the media.  Maybe Sutton should have walked away, but I feel like his response to Graves’ continued provocation was natural  (and I’ve read or seen nothing in the media about Graves’ contribution to the incident).  Graves needs to step up and admit that he was following alongside Sutton repeatedly yelling “Idiot!” and trying to provoke a fight.  Graves is the one that won’t let these issues die and is doing his best to exploit this for his own ends.

For me, the highlight of Eddie Shoe’s video was Graves ending with the line “And, I’m more educated than you!…Idiot!”