Sumter County's electorate needs a better choice of candidates for the vacant 1st District seat recently vacated by City Councilwoman Eddie Rhea Walker. To date, former City Councilman Albert Cooper and former school principal Juanita Wilson are the only announced candidates. For the elderly Cooper, it is déjà vu all over. Cooper held the same seat fifteen years ago until Councilwoman Walker defeated him. Ironically, both Cooper and Walker, served with nothing to show for it. Cooper and Walker failed to bring home any "major victories" for their constituents during their terms on the council. Walker sat there and did not fight to remove Officer Michael Middleton who fatally beat a disabled Black man. Their tenure was plagued by their lack of political know-how and a slave like mentality toward the White power structure. This is Wilson's first campaign for an elected position. Wilson, who voters will recall, refused to consider Black football coaches for vacant positions at her school. She reported that she didn't want to "ghettoize" her school, even though she is Black and her student population was predominately Black.

Cooper's tenure is remembered by the Black citizens for not initially supporting the naming of highway 19 M.L.K. ,Jr Boulevard. When asked why he waited so long to support the name change, Cooper replied , "We had to do something because y'all were making so much noise." The noise he is referring to is the boycott on merchants in Americus that was led by Reverend Fer-Rell Malone. The boycott forced the merchants to put pressure on the city council to rename the highway to Martin Luther King, Jr Boulevard. His decision to support the naming of the highway came only after the damaging affect the boycott had on White businesses.

Having served four different Americus mayors, Cooper was entrenched with his conservative politics and non-confrontational style when dealing with issues of interest to Blacks. We don't see a change in Cooper's demeanor nor political alertness since being out of office for years. In fact, anyone who continued to attend city council meetings and who went on trips that the city council members were obligated to attend, clearly shows a troubled man or a sore loser for fifteen years. This community can not afford to elect an individual who has had a fifteen-year opportunity to help his constituents since leaving office but failed to do so. He came to many council meetings but he never opened his mouth.The economic stakes are too high to elect Cooper a second time. The community's interests and needs can be best served by someone with plenty of political savvy and energetic. Mr. Cooper does not meet those two criteria.

Although former Americus High School (now Americus- Sumter High South Campus) principal Juanita Wilson never ran for political office, we feel that she is the wrong candidate for the 1st District. For starters, Wilson appears to have an identity problem with her constituents. Her constituents are predominately Black. Second, the community is very disappointed that Wilson gave up her seat on the powerful Payroll Development Authority (PDA) without a reasonable explanation. She did not inform any Black advocacy groups in Sumter of her departure. Wilson probably created some enemies on the PDA for her stance taken after the tornado of 2007. She stood up to Sumter Regional Hospital when the SRH tried to get PDA to support funding local doctors. We applauded her for that and that is precisely why she was needed on that board. On such a powerful board, one should expect anger and retaliation if you vote for the benefit of the community and not just for a small, elite group. Politics at City Council is even a rougher arena than the PDA. And for Wilson to step down and not make sure we had strong representation on the PDA can be construed as someone who is not a fighter for her beliefs, or, worse, someone who does not care about the masses.

Criticisms are always present when a council member votes "the wrong way" on a key issue. So why seek a seat if you do not have the stomach for a fight, or if you have selfish motives and your own agenda?

Sumter County has not had a strong representative since the untimely passing of Councilman Raymond Green. Councilman Green kept his constituents informed about what was happening at City Council, including the local NAACP. Green's successor, Lorenzo Johnson, who is running unopposed for Raymond Green's seat, seldom, if ever, informs his constituents. Johnson has missed many crucial votes that impact Blacks. His electorate must demand from Johnson better attendance and a more activist stance on issues that directly affect them. And like Johnson, the county still has Eloise Paschal, the worst of the Black elected group, and she has the dubious title of being called the "Clarence Thomas" of Americus, GA. She is so loved and endeared by Whites in Americus that they gerrymandered her district to remove large numbers of Blacks [primarily Brookdale subdivision] from her district and replaced them with White voters. This move ensured Whites that they will have a loyal Uncle Tom to continually vote their issues.

How can Blacks in Sumter County ever forget Pascal's vocal support of the Confederate Flag to be flown and her unashamed support for former, racist, Police Chief Michael Yates. Chief Yates terrorized Blacks in Americus for several years until the NAACP leaders ran him out of town. In today's political economic climate, Americus needs politicians who are astute enough to tackle the many issues now affecting their daily lives. Sitting on ones hands with their mouths zipped shut will not work in such an important seat.

The 1st City Council District winner must not be afraid to vote the tough votes and navigate well within a dysfunctional and racist city council. Specifically, the 1st District seat must be filled by someone who is ready on day one, to address unsolved issues as police brutality, unfair termination of Blacks from the police and fire departments. We don't feel Cooper or Wilson have the political stomach for combat to tackle these pressing issues. Nor can we afford someone who seeks only prestige and fame in such a key position and at such a critical time as this.