Outrage

Since I am now an apprentice at Koinonia Farm, I am learning more and more about the history of this place. I have a 22-year history with Koinonia, and I have lived in Americus for 8 years, 7 of those years, working with the Prison & Jail Project, so I thought I was pretty well aware of the stories of struggle.

 Recently, though, I learned some more details about Koinonia, the Prison & Jail Project, the White Plantation Mentality, and the struggle for justice and equality in Southwest Georgia. Racism, bigotry, and hatred are not things of the past. They are going on still today.

 Koinonia Farm was founded to teach and practice Jesus reconciling love. So when Clarence Jordan was asked to sponsor two Black students at Georgia State University in 1956, that was the Christian thing to do. It also rained down merciless violence on the members of Koinonia: bombings, fires, shootings, beatings, threats, and boycotts.

Police forces of various kinds use the motto, To Protect and Serve, but it is clear in the case of Koinonia and the Civil Rights Movement everywhere that sheriffs, deputies, police, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation were out to protect and serve the interests of the Old White South.

When the GBI came on the scene, they investigated Koinonia for possible subversive activities. The Sumter County Grand Jury concluded that Koinonia had done all the damage to its property on its own, including shooting at its buildings and its children, so that donors would be sympathetic and give more money.

During this same time in Sumter County, the political future of a man named J.W. Southwell was on the rise. One year after Koinonia was founded in 1942, Southwell became a policeman in Albany, GA, in 1943. I wonder how many brutal arrests of Black people he made. According to the Georgia Senate, Southwell rose rapidly through the ranks to become a GBI agent and a deputy sheriff of Sumter  County in the 1950s.

It was Southwell who conducted the GBI investigation of Koinonia. In the early 1960s, he also investigated the burning of three African American churches on one cloudless night. He determined that all three churches, separated by many miles, were struck by lightning on a clear night.

 From the GBI, Southwell went on to a 30-year career as Chief Magistrate Judge in Sumter County. Throughout those 30 years, Southwell continued to terrorize the African American community. 15 years ago the Prison & Jail Project was founded at Koinonia. One evening, a frightened mother came to P&JPs Director John Cole Vodickas door at his home in the Forest Park neighborhood of Koinonia. Her son, a junior in high school, had been sentenced by Southwell to 60 days at the Sumter County Work Camp (a State Prison for adult men) because he allegedly sassed his teacher at school. It was Friday evening, and John was unable to visit the young man until Monday. John had witnessed some pretty terrible things, but he spent the weekend believing that this mother must be mistaken.

However, when Monday arrived, John was able to visit, and the truth came out: The young mans teacher felt he was being verbally disrespectful and sent him to see the principal. The principal determined that the young man needed to go home for the rest of the day. Since there was no one at home to provide transportation, and the student could not be released to walk home, the principal called the sheriffs office. Two deputies arrived, but instead of taking the young man home, they took him to Judge Southwells office. The young man had no legal representation, and no adult with him. His parents had not been contacted. The judge asked the deputies what had happened, and they told Southwell that they were summoned when the teacher felt threatened by the student. The judge asked the student what he had to say for himself, and the young man said that the deputies werent telling the truth. But Judge Southwell said, I find you guilty, and I sentence you to 60 days at the County Work Camp. This whole proceeding was totally illegal.

John and the mother of the young man were able to secure his release, and after a struggle, Judge J.W. Southwell resigned. As I was doing a bit of research for this column, I was outraged to come across Georgia Senate Resolution 58, from 1995/1996, commendingJudge J.W. Southwell, a resolution brought by Senator George Hooks. It reads in part:

WHEREAS, Judge J.W. Southwell has been a valuable member of the community of Sumter County and has selflessly given 51 wonderful years of devoted service and leadership in law enforcement and the judiciary to his community and the State of Georgia; and 

WHEREAS, Judge Southwell began his distinguished career in law enforcement in 1943 as a policeman in Albany and rose rapidly through the ranks to become a GBI agent and a deputy sheriff of Sumter County in the 1950s; and

WHEREAS, throughout his distinguished career, Judge Southwell has performed a great service for the people of Sumter County who benefited from his work. . . .

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE that the members of this body commend Judge J.W. Southwell for his superlative service. Judge Southwell died several years back, so we cant hold him accountable anymore, but George Hooks is still our Senator. If Southwell was a valuable member of the Sumter County community, selflessly giving 51 years of wonderful service, but he was locking up young African American men without giving them their basic rights, what part of the community was he valuable to? If throughout Southwells distinguished career, he performed a great service for the people of Sumter County, did that service include telling lies about Koinonia, making up preposterous stories about African American church burnings, andenslaving young Black men?

As we write our history, and as we tell the truth, we must pass our own Resolutions, commending those who stand with us in the struggle, speaking truth to power, and living a life in scorn of the consequences.