DeKalb’s Eugene Walker on loss in court today: Constitutional and civil rights at stake
Here is a response from former DeKalb school board chair Eugene Walker to his loss in federal court today:
By Eugene Walker
I am dismayed but not deterred, following our setback in federal court Monday. I respectfully but wholeheartedly disagree with the judge’s decision, and I plan to continue to seek justice through the court system until this matter with the Governor is resolved. This is why:
I was born in Thomaston, a small town in Upson County Georgia. The indignity of segregation and racism was the backdrop of my youth. I swore at that time that I would stand up for my rights no matter the cost. I have not swayed from the self commitment, and virtually all my adult life has been dedicated to service to my fellow man, with a special dedication to education.
I preface this to explain, again, why I am obligated to engage the governor in the court system. It is morally abhorrent to sit idly by and allow the usurping of the one man one vote rights that has been bought and paid with the blood, sweat and tears of my generation. It is imperative that public servants preserve and protect the constitution and adhere to all laws, including the precept of a citizens’ right to choose their representative government. With the current assault of Section V of the voting rights act and the perpetual gerrymandering to disenfranchise races of people, I am compelled to employ every means available to me to protect citizens’ rights. The governor is using SACS and the State Board of Education as a hammer and chisel to chip away at the progress we have made.
No one on the DeKalb County Board of Education, myself included, has committed a crime or misappropriated, misused or misspent funds entrusted to us. Quite the opposite: We have served with honesty and integrity. In fact, this board under the severe stress by the downturn of the economy has worked tirelessly to provide a quality education to our children with a minimum amount of adverse impact on the homeowners of this county. It has not been easy, and there has not always been a consensus. There is no crime in that, rather it is an inherent ingredient in the democratic process.
I don’t feel the governor is personally attacking me. This is not about Eugene Walker. When I step aside through my own actions or through the wisdom of the electorate, I believe I will ultimately be judged on my legacy as an educator, coach, administrator, state senator, state commissioner, pardon and parole board member, in addition to my role now as a school board member. I believe the greatest gift I can bequeath to the children of this school system at this time is a contemporary lesson on civics, civil liberties and standing up for what is right.
If this unconstitutional act is to stand, then what is next? It will only be a matter of time before another constitutional right will be taken away by another wayward and self-perpetuating politico under the guise of the greater good. Minorities should not feel secure if contrived allegations from anonymous sources with hidden agendas can go to private agencies and to have their civil rights stolen away. This cannot and shall not be allowed to stand.
Leadership calls for tough and sometimes unpopular decisions. Such it is with standing up to the power brokers who seek to systematically erode, divide and conquer the voting strength of partisan and racial minorities. If I lose, so be it. But I cannot and will not go down without a fight on the principles at stake here.
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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176 comments Add your comment
Pat & Mike
March 5th, 2013
6:27 pm
DeKalb School Watch has published “Why Jester and Speaks Did Not Resign from DeKalb School Board.”
Ella
March 5th, 2013
7:01 pm
I used to teach in DeKalb County and there used to be a set policy of the DeKalb County School Board that indicated if charges are brought against you as an employee of the school board then the school board will pay for legal representation. However, I have taught in the school system for at least 10 years so this may have changed since then.
The legislature is trying to make a bill that indicates that the school board members cannot use school system funds to represent them in court if removed from office by the governor. I do hope it passes.
I do believe Dr. Walker has every right to go to court if he feels his rights have been violated but I do feel he needs to use his own money.
I do not think race has anything to do with the situation. I hate that the race card was used by Dr. Walker. However, according to him he has made it clear that he sees color when making decisions as a member of the board.
I totally respect Dr. Walker and his fight for civil rights. However, I respectfully do not see this as a race issue. On the other hand I do see race as a factor that did cause many issues regarding decisions made by some school board members.
I sincerely hope that the new board members all can look beyond race and north and south and make decisions that are best for every child that attends the DeKalb County Schools.
Jo
March 5th, 2013
7:18 pm
Does anyone know what happens if the Georgia Supreme Court finds the law that removed some, but not all, of the elected DCSS BOE members to be unconstitutional — and/or that the letter of the law was not followed? What happens then?
Sherry
March 5th, 2013
7:25 pm
Ella, why do you feel the need to continue the race discussion? It’s impossible to get past it when people like you continue to bring it up over and over and over again. Like picking at a scab …
Dekalbite@Maureen
March 5th, 2013
7:49 pm
Did you hear back from McMahan? He is my Board rep so of course I wonder how he will respond.
Maureen Downey
March 5th, 2013
7:59 pm
@DeKalb: Yes, I did and I am wondering if the newly elected board members have taken a vow of silence.
As I said to Marshall Orson in an email this week on this issue, more is better in DeKalb. DeKalb parents really want to know. They crave information. When I sent out a Twitter message last night that I had put the federal court ruling in a Google doc and provided the link, there were 50 people reading it in a matter of minutes. Give these parents details. Give them links. Give them reports. Give them audits.
An hour ago, a DeKalb parent sent me this note about the SACS update that the district posted today: Unless I’m missing something I’m amazed at the lack of substance to the update. I could have thrown that together in 5 minutes for a planning meeting at my office. Hoping we see a higher level of thinking coming out of the Central Office soon.
This parent absolutely nailed it. When I received the email that DeKalb had posted a SACS update, I went to the site. The update was one of those jargon-filled blurbs that hardly tells you anything.
Back to my note and Mr. McMahan’s response.
Dekalbite@Maureen
March 5th, 2013
9:44 pm
Thank you. I and many of my neighbors gave a lot of support to Jim McMahan and still believe he did not vote to continue this lawsuit but have not been able to verify this.
I wonder if the lawyer Bob Wilson told them not to comment?
Reading the Open Records law, it appears that legal discussions can be held in closed meetings. However, when it comes to a straight up vote on legal expenditures, it appears that taxpayers have a right to know who voted for the expenditure and who voted against. DeKalb Watch says Jester and Speaks voted no to the legal expenditures, and they probably have a very good source. So that leaves one or more of the newly elected BOE members supporting this lawsuit with taxpayer money. Everyone has a right to their opinion on this, but taxpayers should have a right to know who voted for an expenditure and who voted against an expenditure.
This is very typical of the lack of transparency In DeKalb. Tell the taxpayers nothing and they will forget about it. It has always worked. I warned Cerebration a few years ago that they will wear you down and wait you out.
OriginalProf
March 5th, 2013
9:56 pm
There’s a humungous lawsuit going on, and I think that everyone who has any possible connection to it–other board members, SACS officials, and anyone else involved–is keeping absolutely quiet about everything and anything pertinent to the case. They don’t want to get pulled into the vortex and asked to testify. I would do that myself in this situation.
home-tutoring parent
March 5th, 2013
10:07 pm
“Where did Mr. Walker get the degree that gives him the right to be called Dr. ?”
Duke University in Durham, NC.
Somebody might want to peruse Dr. Waker’s thesis, and Duke grades (as an education leaders, he should approve their public release.)
Was Dr. Walker a beneficiary of Affirmative Action, a “reparations” program that enabled African Americans to be admitted to universities whose admissions committees examined applicants transcripts ( courses taken and grades issued) as well SAT’s, or GREs, or LSAT’s or MCATS, that out-of-hand rejected white applicants who presented comparable academic records?
The following suggests to me that Dr. Walker’s Duke Ph.D. shows some tell-tale evidence of being Affirmative Action-grade, not white-student Duke-PhD-grade, arguably not even Duke freshman-student composition-skills level.
He had an opportunity to deliberatively write, read, re-read and edit his statement, so self-error-correction was in his purview. Nevertheless, he submitted the following:
“usurping of the one man one vote rights that has been bought…”. That’s a singular right, not multiple rights. He got the verb right, but for the wrong subject. To use “rights” demanded “have”.
“With the current assault of Section V of the voting rights act..” “of” should really have been “on” or “upon”, and “Voting Rights Act” requires caps.
“including the precept of a citizens’ right to choose their representative government.”
I think it is a concept, but more importantly, It’s “a citizen’s right”. Also it should be “his or her”, unless you remove the single-person article, “a”. I’m sorry, but “their” is plural.
“No one on the DeKalb County Board of Education, myself included, has committed…”
It is should be “I included”. Not “me” or “myself”.
“Minorities should not feel secure if contrived allegations from anonymous sources with hidden agendas can go to private agencies and to have their civil rights stolen away.”
This needs a couple commas, after “if”, and “agencies”, and omit the last “and”., or “to”.
“Such it is with standing up to the power brokers who seek to systematically erode, divide and conquer the voting strength of partisan and racial minorities.” “with” needs to be expunged. Also “conquer” needs to be “erode”, or “extirpate” or “annihilate”, or”severely weaken”.
I’m not an English-teacher grammarian, I’m just conveying what I was taught two generations ago, in public and parochial schools. I don’t think that a white Duke History PhD would make Dr. Walker’s an-error-in-almost-every-paragraph mis-constructions in written English-language discourse.
Dekalbite@Original Prof
March 5th, 2013
10:25 pm
” They don’t want to get pulled into the vortex and asked to testify. I would do that myself in this situation.”
I understand that. But how can you be pulled into a lawsuit if all you say is I did not vote for the expenditure for this lawsuit or I did vote for the expenditure for this lawsuit?
IMO – I don’t think any of the three new members want to be identified as having voted for this expenditure rather than any fear of a lawsuit entanglement. Can you keep your vote for or against a large expenditure a secret from your constituents who after all are paying for the expenditure? How can taxpayers/voters draw conclusions on the fiscal responsibility of their representative when votes for or against a large expenditure are kept secret?
home-tutoring parent
March 5th, 2013
10:40 pm
oops, given the verb “erode” in Dr. Walker’s statement, the last verb “conquer” should have just been “extirpate”, “annihilate” or “destroy”.
Here is what I think. If you want a black education leader, for the DeKalb County School Board, Neil DeGrass Tyson is really good (liberal). Ben Carson (Christian) has done amazing things.
Do you want some black leadership who can inspire young black people? Why don’t you hire both of them, give them free-reign and big budgets in DCSS to inspire Georgia’s best young minds to blow NY’ers and Cali’ers minds. Put them together, as co-chiefs. Just try it. These are probably America’s top-African minds. Give treasures to your black people. And your white students. It can’t hurt to give treasures to your kids, and sort out who understands their value.
vanessa cooper
March 5th, 2013
11:57 pm
Eugene, when I gathered the evidence of Transportation and HR, and presented to the entire board. What did you do?
Now you see, and feel, and hurt like I did when i was illegally discriminated against along with the other 4 who had been on FMLA. 5 of us were terminated because we were considered first in the layoff because Guillory said our medical leave was seperation of duty.
Jamie Wilson of HR reinstated one employee, because he listed board members as his references.
Eugene try and process this again and tell me what the Hell did you expect. Now you all want to cry unjust and blood of ancestors, etc., etc. But you know what? What’s done in darkness shall be bought to light. Didnt I tell you that my Father would give me the desires of my heart if I walk upright before him. Thats the diff between me and you. I did nothing wrong. I WAS THE MOST PRODUCTIVE DISPATCHER that Dekalb County ever, ever had. I showed you the proof. Eugene you are through. accept it, Guillory, his demon Alex Riley, and every one of you that I named in the Federal Lawsuit in Ga. Northern court. : case 1:11-cv-2006 need to go somewhere and shut the hell up!
home-tutoring parent
March 6th, 2013
12:44 am
My favorite night dives were following Mike Lish. He was totally blowing up phosphoplankton. One time after we did a night dive, we picked up a girl. and,
Mike moved over over and she satin the wet seat, was that a toot or what?
bootney farnsworth
March 6th, 2013
7:45 am
either home tutoring parent has had a stroke, or someone is playing a not so nice game with the name and account
Private Citizen
March 6th, 2013
7:55 am
home tutoring parent, why don’t you tell us, errr, what really happened?
Just posting to mention to you, about affirmative action and such, did you know that up until 1962 black people were banned from public libraries in Georgia? So if any of the elder folk are bitter, I can resonate with them, but it does not make it right to use the political race hammer in years 2000 and beyond. Anyway, I’m happy for Mr. Walker or anyone else getting a degree of any kind from Duke. It’s a substantial skill. But it appears the degree may be a stepping stone to something else. Where have we seen that before? Maybe from the white guy Arne Duncan and his “race to the top” with 3rd graders filling out 20 question evaluations of their teachers? On who has the seat closest to Satan, between Walker and Duncan, well, you can make your own decisions. Mr. Walker has certainly turned into a political animal, but you ought not to chop at his grades and degrees.
bootney farnsworth
March 6th, 2013
8:00 am
@ maureen
it appears somebody has bogarted home-tutoring’s name. that or she had a stroke.
bootney farnsworth
March 6th, 2013
9:22 am
sorry for the duplication. either my computer or your blog was acting wonky. on trip to Starbucks later….
The Foreman
March 6th, 2013
9:47 am
Mr Walker:
You are quite unbelievable. The issues at hand have nothing to do with civil rights. They have to do with your incapability to fulfill your duties. I was the foreman of the March-April 2012 DeKalb County Grady Jury that questioned you and your fellow board members. I was appalled at the lack of control and the level of blame that you all attempted to place on others. In your fictitious ‘rebuttal’ to the Grand Jury presentment you proceeded to call the entire document untrue. What you were basically attempting to say is that a room full of 26 of your peers ALL got it wrong when that presentment was created. Every word of the Grand Jury presentment was true and the sad part is that you know it, but want to place blame yet again on others for exposing your ineptitude.
Do you really believe that people are out to get you, that EVERYONE is wrong and you are right? There’s a saying that goes something like this: you run into a jerk in the morning and he’s the jerk. You run into jerks all day and you are the jerk.
I know others have asked you to do the right thing and walk away. I clearly understand that this is an impossibility because you are incapable of discerning right and wrong.
OriginalProf
March 6th, 2013
11:13 am
@ Dekalbite@Original Prof, March 5th, 10:25 pm.
But this vote for the expenditure of funds for the lawsuit was taken during an Executive Session, wasn’t it? Now, perhaps the Executive Session was wrongly invoked (I think it was), but still, an Executive Session means that the proceedings are not to be made public. So the remaining Board members are still bound by that rule. And once they reveal what was done in that Executive Session, what’s to prevent them from discussing other Executive Sessions if they are, say, asked by a lawyer in a court of law?
OriginalProf
March 6th, 2013
11:19 am
@ Private Citizen, 7:55 am. I agree with you.
Also, several of Dr. Walker’s grammatical constructions that “home-tutoring parent” criticizes as incorrect are actually correct.
Who stands for the children?
March 6th, 2013
11:27 am
To Bernie, Charles Douglas Edwards, Witnessweeine and K Gray: All of you have valid points–voting rights, justice, the constitution, etc. etc. (notwithstanding, of course, the constitutional rights and justice for the children. Oh well, shoot….they’re not old enough to vote, so why do we care…let’s worry about the adults). So, with that in mind, here’s a scathingly brilliant idea. Why don’t all of you team up with Eugene Walker, personally hire Mr. Wilson or any other counsel of choice, split the legal fees, and FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT.
Ella Smith
March 6th, 2013
9:19 pm
Sherry, I do believe an honest discussion about ethics of school board members, race, representing part of the county verses the whole county, north verses south does need to be discussed. We do need to move beyond this. However, discussing the problem and trying to having leaders from all parts of the county work on the problem will hopefully allow us to move away from these problems that have hurt our children and all our citizens in Dekalb to focusing on issues that will help improve the education of our children in DeKalb.
dekalbite@Original Prof
March 6th, 2013
10:13 pm
“Now, perhaps the Executive Session was wrongly invoked (I think it was), but still, an Executive Session means that the proceedings are not to be made public.”
But who voted for an expenditure must be public. Nancy Jester said it is a matter of public record that she did not vote for the expenditure of tax dollars to fund this legal challenge. There is a difference in knowing the details of a closed session and knowing who voted for a large expenditure of tax dollars.
It is extremely important to DeKalb voters to know which new Board member voted to spend tax dollars to try to ensure Walker and the ousted BOE members retained their jobs.
Pride and Joy
March 7th, 2013
12:38 pm
AH, so Eugene plays the RACE CARD within two sentences of his response.
I would be appalled if I wasn’t so UNsurprised.
Gene, civil rights have zero to do with your predicament.
YOu are WORSE than the KKK idiots because you lived through the civil rights eraq and learned…SQUAT from it.
“Civil rights” to Eugene Walker means one thing — GET BACK at white people.
Just Waiting
March 11th, 2013
8:57 am
Once Walker runs out of options in court, look for him to drag the US Justice Department into this mess. I can just hear it now how black voters have been totally disenfranchised by a mostly white state BOE and a white governor. I am sure Eric Holder and crew would love to sink their teeth into this one so they can grab a few “race card” headlines. Just wait for it folks, we all know it is coming.
DeKalb’s Eugene Walker intends to pass hat to pay for continued legal fight over school board suspension | Get Schooled
March 23rd, 2013
11:07 am
[...] he is seeking donations to defray his legal battle. In a post on this blog about the importance of challenging the state law, Walker explained, “If this unconstitutional act is to stand, then what is next? It will only [...]