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Editorial/Column
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Justice Finally Served
Last Friday, Florida Gov- ernor Ron Desantis made the surprise decision to posthumously pardon 4 Black men who were accused
of raping a white woman in the small town of Groveland during the summer of 1949.
While the gesture doesn't do much for the men (all of whom are deceased), who had their lives destroyed be- cause of a crime they did not commit, it does right yet an- other wrong that was carried out during a time when mere accusations proved fatal for men and women of color.
I am embarrassed to say that I wasn't aware of the story concerning the Grove- land 4 until my editor brought the incident to my attention. But after doing some research, and reading about the gross injustices these men endured simply because their race deemed them guilty of whatever charge was brought upon them, it wasn't long before I felt the same level of sympa- thy for these four souls that I have felt in the past for other Black men from that era who were victimized through sim- ilar circumstances.
Like so many other broth- ers in the Jim Crow South, Ernest Thomas, Samuel Shepherd, Charles Greenlee and Walter Irvin were used as scape- goats to conceal the nefari- ous deeds of their light-skinned (white) coun- terparts. In their case, it was to prevent the tight-knit community from discovering that a young woman was being violently abused by her husband.
Norma Padgett, who
was then 17, and her spouse, Willie Padgett, concocted the events from 70 years ago as a way of explaining the bruises she received as a re- sult of one of Willie's as- saults. They claimed that Shepherd and Irvin, who stopped to help the Pad- getts when their car broke down, attacked the couple and took turns raping Mrs. Padgett with help from Thomas and Greenlee.
Days after the Padgetts filed a false police report Greenlee, Shepherd and Irvin were jailed. Thomas, who caught wind of what was going on beforehand, fled to the Florida Panhandle where he was tracked down by an angry white mob, led by Lake County Sheriff Willis V. McCall, and shot over 400 times.
The three other men were convicted at trial with Shep- herd and Irvin receiving the death penalty while a 16- year-old Greenlee was sen- tenced to life in prison. Their fates sealed by false testi- mony and evidence that the F.B.I. would later determine as manufactured by the local sheriff's office.
When Shepherd and Irvin appealed their convic- tions the U. S. Supreme Court ruled in their favor and ordered a retrial. But, while being transported from state prison to Lake County for the new trial, they were both shot by Sheriff McCall, who claimed that the two men attempted to escape. Shepherd died at the scene, but Irvin, who pretended to be dead, survived in spite of being refused transport to a hospital and lived long
enough to, once again, be convicted at the re-trial.
Irvin was eventually paroled in 1968, but died a year later of an apparent heart attack. His family, though, believes that his death was a direct result of the lack of medical attention he received after being shot by McCall years earlier.
Greenlee was paroled from prison in 1962, and died in 2012. When his daughter once asked him about the incident that caused his incarceration, he told her he never knew Norma Padgett and only saw her for the first time in his life when he was being tried.
Even in the face of over- whelming evidence, includ- ing a doctor's report from the night in question that con- cluded that Mrs. Padgett was never sexually assaulted, Mrs. Padgett, now 86, re- fuses to take back her ac- count. At the pardoning hearing Mrs. Padgett ex- pressed dismay at the fact that the men, even in death, were being exonerated. Sadly, she appears to be com- pletely comfortable taking the lie, that she's maintained for seven decades, to the grave with her.
While it's impossible to give these men their lives back, hopefully, the decision by officials with the State of Florida to recognize the mis- takes of their predecessors will lead to further changes within a system that, too often, continues to adminis- ter justice based on what can be seen on the other side of the blindfold. It may be a lit- tle too late for the Grove- land 4 but for countless others, who depend on the law to be administered fairly, this could be just the begin- ning.
Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bul- letin Publishing Com- pany. You can contact Mr. Barr at: cbar- ronice@gmail.com.
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C. Blythe Andrews 1901-1977 (1945)
C. Blythe Andrews, Jr. 1930-2010 (1977)
The Rocky Roads Of Tampa
n recent weeks, seven candidates for the Mayoral
seat of Tampa have debated back and forth about everything from the Tampa Bay Rays to mid-rail tran- sit. But one thing they have not debated about is the de- plorable situation of many of this city’s streets, better known as “The Rocky Roads of Tampa.”
Not to be confused with wrestler Dusty Rhodes, we’re instead, referring to a local epidemic of potholes, some as big as canyons that litter a city that quickly touts itself as America’s next great roosting place.
But don’t take our word for it. Ask former President George Herbert Walker Bush how he felt when his lim- ousine crossed so many bumps it caused him to cop a plea to Tampa’s mayor. Better still, go out and look for yourself; experience up-close and personal a trip up Howard Avenue from Kennedy Boulevard at Columbus Drive.
Then just for kicks (pun intended), turn right on Columbus Drive to relive the days when Tampa’s streets were a pavement of bricks and cobble stones.
There is of course, Himes Avenue just as you pass the Buccaneers Stadium, a street that reminds you what it must be like to get hit by an NFL tackler. And then, perhaps, you have your own personal Demolition Derby favorite that keeps your car perpetually out of line.
But one thing is certain: whether Democrat or Re- publican, Tampa’s mayoral candidates must agree, “The Rocky Roads of Tampa” have got to go!
No doubt, they’ll travel that idea during future de- bates.
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FRIDAY, JANUARY 18, 2019 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 5-A