She’s Dancing in the Stars

As long as I can remember, dancing and I have been inseparable — it was the thing that set me free and made me feel safe…at the same time.

I started taking lessons when I was two. It was 1953 and Miss Mary Roth taught in the old Chipley Elementary School gym. When I was four, I started taking from Mrs. Mary Cleveland in LaGrange and continued there until I left Harris County High in 1968.

We mostly did tap dancing…there was a little ballet thrown in. But the main course was good old-fashioned tapping to Broadway music. Miss Mary Cleveland, as I called her, loved her some show tunes.

I even majored in dance at UGA for one year. But the department was part of the  physical education curriculum — and teaching P.E. in school was not what I had in mind. I wanted to perform.

In addition, the UGA School of Dance emphasized the modern genre. The music was weird and nobody smiled on stage.

I was definitely a fish out of water.

So I put down my dancing shoes for five years and promptly gained about 20 pounds. Yikes…I’m not too tall and 20 pounds on me is like 50 on most folks. I wanted to change what the scales said. Motivation, however, eluded me. .

But when I left C&S Bank and took a job as the advertising manager for The Athens Observer, the opportunity to dance again came my way.

One of my coworkers told me about a dance teacher I really needed to meet.

So I went to Mell Street Studio and introduced myself to Gail. As soon as she saw me move my feet, it was love at first sight. She took me under her wing and encouraged me. She challenged me to dance in a way I had never done before.

She taught me about my center — the physical one in my diaphragm that needed to be the strongest muscle in my body. She turned my classical ballet illiteracy into a good, basic knowledge of my body’s strength and resilience.

And getting stronger made my tap dancing on point. Pun intended.

But she also taught me about having an emotional center — that core in our being from whence our little light shines. She taught me to breathe into my center all the good I could hold and exhale all the bad energy.

She literally gave me the tools that have helped me survive the darkest times of my life.

And I loved her dearly.

She was my mentor — my idol.

I wanted to be just like her.

But we lost her this week — her sweet spirit crossed over Monday. 

And we all weep…all of those lives she touched, challenged and encouraged.

We all weep.

But I know she’s singing and dancing somewhere — as full of life as she was in her studio.

So this one’s for you, Gail — a giant of a person in the body of a sprite…the sweetest of sweet spirits.

“She’s Dancing in the Stars”

She’s dancing in the stars and shining with the sun,

Endlessly living a life that’s just begun.

Flying like the wind and singing with the trees,

She disguises her touch as a springtime  breeze.

The pain of losing her is deep and sad,

As empty a feeling as I have ever had.

But her love is in my heart and will always be,

As precious as the sweet dancing one was to me.

My Son: Georgia’s Next Attorney General

Ok.

I know I’m his mama, but…

…he’s got what it takes to be an excellent attorney general — ethics, experience, and a deep love for his home state. And regardless of one’s political affiliation, I imagine most folks believe that Georgia’s top cop needs to know the law and enforce it regardless of  what other elected officials might want him to do.

And Charlie doesn’t hesitate to stand up for that which he knows is right and just. He was just born that way.

And, of course, I could not be prouder.

Now his campaign is in full gear, and I’m learning quickly how important every single vote and contribution are.

After you read about Charlie, if you want a personal call from him, email me with your contact info,  and I’ll make sure that happens.

We’ll also welcome any campaign volunteers. There’s nothing more powerful than people working to get out the vote.

And if you are inspired to make a donation — and no donation is too small — here is my fundraising site.

We look forward to a busy, yet rewarding, seven months.

Charlie Bailey for Georgia.

#CharlieBaileyforAttorneyGeneral #Georgiapolitics

He Was Lynched in 1947. We Honored Him in 2018.

He was lynched in 1947. 

And the Harris and Troup County communities honored him in 2018.

Mr. Henry (Peg) Gilbert – a very successful farmer and landowner in the Jones Crossroads community – was wrongfully accused of hiding an African-American fugitive who shot and killed a white man. Gilbert was arrested without cause by Troup County authorities, taken from his home, transported to the Harris County jail, beaten, and murdered.

The Harris County Chief of Police, William H. Buchanan, initially claimed it was self-defense. He later recanted that statement and said a group of white men took him from the jail and killed him.

We may never know the real truth — whether Buchanan did it, a jailer or a mob.

What’s important is that there was no conviction. There was no justice.

Those of us in ONE Harris County — a trust building and racial reconciliation initiative — knew we could not change these events. But we knew we had to recognize the crime and honor the victim and his family.

And that is exactly what happened Saturday. Hundreds gathered at Union Springs Methodist Church at Jones Crossroads to celebrate Mr. Gilbert’s life and that of his wife, Mrs. Mae Henry Davenport Gilbert.

The family was there — from all over the country. Dr. Margaret Burnham from the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project at Northeastern School of Law in Boston was there. She and her associates did the copious amounts of research that confirmed Mr. Gilbert’s lynching.

Law enforcement from both Troup and Harris Counties were there. Members of the judiciary were there.

In the words of Harris County Sheriff Mike Jolley, who spoke to the overflowing congregation:

“I am honored to take part in this ceremony and acknowledgement…the acknowledgement that in 1947 the criminal justice system of our country, our state, our county and more specifically, a profession in which I represent, failed. We failed to serve and protect a citizen, Mr. Henry ‘Peg’ Gilbert’ during their most defenseless and exposed time…a time in which we as a profession should’ve been there to protect and support. No one in their right frame of mind and especially a law enforcement officer of today could believe that Mr. Gilbert received justice the last few weeks of 1947 because he did not.”

And Hon. Ron Mullins, Superior Court Judge for the Chattahoochee Circuit, spoke for the judiciary:

 “Our system of law works well, some of the time and I say that because in Mr. Gilbert’s case, it didn’t work at all. By all reports, it was a total failure. The system cost Mr. Gilbert his life and did irreparable harm to his family and his community.”

We did not gather to cast blame.We did not gather to open wounds.

As Lynn Norris, coordinator of ONE Harris County said, “How could we open wounds that had never healed?”

We gatheredto have closure for a family who had kept this secret for decades. The Gilbert grandchildren found out two years ago. Their mothers (there were four Gilbert girls) had buried this secret deep in their souls — still fearful of telling the truth.

We gathered to honor the memory of a man whose life was stolen from his family — a man who did nothing wrong.

We gathered to pay homage to his wife, who was brave when many of us would not have been.

We gathered to dedicate the new gravestones for the Gilberts.

The music was pure and soulful, including the beautiful selections Darlene and Randy Dameron performed graveside.

And afterwards, in true Southern tradition, there was dinner on the ground. We sat outside and enjoyed the food prepared by Union Baptist Church, Union Springs Methodist and Baptist, St. Nicholas congregants and ONE Harris County members. People stayed for hours after the ceremony and fellowshipped  — just like folks did in 1947.

The event was indeed memorable and noteworthy: A 1947 Southern lynching victim was honored — by his Southern community.

But the most memorable part of the day was the love — the incredible amount of love we all felt last Saturday.

That gives me hope.

And these days, we need all the hope we can get.