2. Is Rev. Ronald Rawls, Jr. a racist? Is his behavior demagogic and dangerous?
3. Is Rawls anti-democratic, an uncouth boor, petulantly rejecting the City's Solomonic decision to contextualize historic 1873/1879 Confederate war dead monument? You tell me. He reminds me of Donald John Trump, all anger and no substance. He's a hater.
4. Rawls admits that his intent and plan is to "disrupt" the City and its Nights of Lights. Ipse dixit, he can't fix it.
5. If Rawls sues the City of St. Augustine, he will lose.
6. If Rawls violates the ordinance, he will be arrested.
7. Rawls fancies himself a modern MLK, but he is no MLK.
8. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rev. Andrew Young told civil rights marchers here not to march with him unless they had "love in their hearts."
9. Sadly, I see no "love" in Rawls' heart, only anger and bitterness. He is a phony.
10. Rawls has a business plan for what he terms his "business" -- St. Paul A.M.E. It included obtaining Echo House under false pretenses and demolishing it for parking, claiming God told him to do so.
11. Rawls is unhappy and sows discord.
12. Pray for this hateful homophobe to promote healing and compassion.
13. The City of St. Augustine has a legal duty to prevent bloodshed and its ordinance will achieve that goal. http://www.citystaug.com/document_center/Administration/CommissionMeetings/2018/Ord2018-16.pdf
14. The key lesson learned from Charlottesville, Virginia in August 2017 is not to allow people who vehemently disagree with one another to confront each other physically.
15. As City Attorney Isabelle Christine Lopez wisely stated, "“We welcome a clash of opinions; we just don’t want a clash of bodies, and that’s the gist of our ordinance."
16. In August 2017, Charlottesville, Virginia law enforcement officers lost control and failed to separate groups of protesters with differing views, causing bloodshed. https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/how-charlottesville-lost-control-amid-deadly-protest/2017/08/26/288ffd4a-88f7-11e7-a94f-3139abce39f5_story.html?utm_term=.2049fcf4160b
17. We will not have another Charlottesville.
18. Rawls' wife, Meshon Rawls, Master Legal Skills Professor and the Director of the Gator TeamChild Juvenile Law Clinic at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, was elected an Alachua County Court Judge on November 6, 2018.
19. Perhaps Judge-elect Meshon Rawls will reason with her husband, Ronald Rawls, to explain the law and the facts of life.
20. Perhaps a wise pastoral counselor or psychiatrist will do so.
21. We will NOT allow extremists of the left or right to get someone hurt or killed.
22. We will protect First Amendment protected activity.
23. Rawls' misled, misguided followers' cruelly stomping through our 2017 Nights of Lights celebration --- allegedly stepping on peoples' toes, elbowing people, screaming and acting out-- was uncouth, unkind and uncool.
24. It was offensive, and beneath the dignity of his church and our city and Nation. Enough.
25. As the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools." Rawls needs to stop the foolishness. Now.
St. Augustine commissioners enact Plaza protest ordinance at tense hearing
By Sheldon Gardner
Posted at 8:13 PM
Updated at 8:44 PM
St. Augustine Record
Commissioners enacted an ordinance 3-2 on Tuesday night that will limit protests in the Plaza during events.
Commissioners made the decision after tense discussion and public comment focused on safety and free speech.
The ordinance will allow the city to keep protesters and counter protesters on the Plaza’s perimeter sidewalk during events, and it allows police to separate protesters and counter protesters.
It will be in place for Saturday’s kickoff to Nights of Lights in the Plaza de la Constitucion, called Light-Up! Night.
The Rev. Ron Rawls said he plans to protest that event over what he describes as a culture of white supremacy in the city, and he spoke against the ordinance at the meeting.
Rawls led a protest of last year’s Light-Up! Night because of the Commission’s decision to keep the city’s Confederate monument in the Plaza. Protesters and counter-protesters clashed verbally but no violence was reported.
He and others said, or indicated, that they believed the ordinance was an attempt to hinder their protest.
The Rev. Ronald Stafford was one of more than 10 people who spoke to the Commission Tuesday night.
“It’s a sad ... night when we come to a point and a place that racism has to become a part of a city ordinance, when you have to block off people who want to quietly protest,” he said.
Rawls left the Commission chambers after a motion to deny (sic) the ordinance failed.
He raised his fist and spoke as Mayor Nancy Shaver hit the gavel at him on his way out, and others followed.
City Attorney Isabelle Lopez said the ordinance is about protecting the rights of protesters and counter-protesters to be heard while keeping them safe, which is what the city is required to do, she said. She said it wasn’t targeted at any group or event.
“We welcome a clash of opinions; we just don’t want a clash of bodies, and that’s the gist of our ordinance,” she said.
Police Chief Barry Fox said keeping protesters and counter-protesters on the Plaza’s perimeter sidewalk would make it easier for police to respond to violence.
He also raised concerns about safety at Nights of Lights.
“We have seen recently some opinions starting to flare in reference to violence, and in particular we’ve seen it in reference to Nights of Lights, and that has picked up recently,” he said.
Vice Mayor Todd Neville and Commissioner Nancy Sikes-Kline voted against the ordinance. Sikes-Kline supported having a community dialogue instead of passing the ordinance.
Neville said he would have voted for the ordinance earlier in the year. But he disagreed with passing it right before Nights of Lights and including a ban of livestock in the Plaza as part of the ordinance.
“I think it’s incredibly tone deaf to the situation we’re in,” Neville said. “Personally, I think it inflames the situation more than it helps.”
Shaver agreed that the timing was bad, but she said it was essential the ordinance pass for safety.
“Public safety is the highest job of the city,” Shaver said. “This in no way silences voices. This in no way prohibits protest. ... (I understand people) feel like this about the color of their skin. ... This is not what this is about.”
Commissioner Leanna Freeman said she didn’t like that people were offended by the ordinance.
“But if I have to offend somebody to make our town more safe ... then I will make that decision,” she said.
Jimmy Midyette, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, said he believes the ordinance was tailored based on content — and targeted at specific people — and he cautioned the Commission against enacting it.
“This city and county have paid dearly over the years for hasty actions taken in meetings like this,” he said. “There’s probably other ways to spend your money.”
No comments:
Post a Comment