“…it will just give these nuts a forum.”

Steve Hall introduced the first piece of evidence to show an example of a decade of abuse heaped upon the plaintiff by the TEAM GOLIATH conspirators. He goes back eleven years using three emails written by Georgia State University Professor of American History, Chuck Steffen, Central Atlanta Progress’s Senior Project Director, Richard Orr and Central Atlanta Progress’s President, A. J. Robinson. In October of 2003 Professor Steffen put together a panel discussion to be held the evening of November 12. His email invites Central Atlanta Progress (CAP) to participate in “a panel discussion of homelessness, poverty, public space, and the ‘Let’s Do Downtown’ Initiative.’” (Mayor Shirley Franklin’s project.)

Steffen lists for Richard Orr the invitees thus far: Colin Campbell of the AJC, Rev. Timothy McDonald of Concerned Black Clergy, Senator Vincent Fort and Anita Beaty of the Atlanta Task Force. Steffen writes, “This would be a diverse panel to say the least. But it would bring together many of the leading voices in the issue of homelessness, and it would create a real dialogue at a critical moment when we most need it.” The Professor ended his email to Orr with the cordial close, “Speaking in behalf of the History Department and the larger GSU community, I do hope that CAP will accept our invitation to participate in the panel discussion.” Richard Orr never responded to Chuck Steffen; however, he forwarded the email to A. J. Robinson and to two CAP lieutenants, Paul Kelman and David Wardell. In this Orr email he wrote only, “Oh boy, here’s a hot one below.”

The next morning A. J. Robinson wrote the following e-mail to Richard Orr: “If we were to do something like this, there need to be ground rules otherwise it will just give these nuts a forum in front of the media and we lose…. Not sure we are the ones to discuss to discuss homelessness rather Sibley or Hardin or even someone from the Mayor’s office.”

Note: Always, CAP leadership chills to the bone at the thought of an open forum. Robinson operates, as he has written, “under a cloak of darkness.” An open forum suggests honest exchange. An open forum suggests the right for all sides to have a voice. An open forum suggests everyone can be heard. An open forum suggests a desire for justice. A. J. Robinson’s “these nuts” statement was written in 2003, over a decade ago. Scholars such as Larry Keating and Charles Rutheiser have shown Central Atlanta Progress to be exclusionists. And anyone who dares to oppose their Draconian policies is put into the “these nuts” category. A. J. Robinson said it best way back in 2003, “…there need to be ground rules otherwise it will just give these nuts a forum in front of the media and we lose.” This fear of being exposed by the truth was written a decade before CAP became defendants in a court of law, accused of tortious interference, racketeering and taking by fraud. In 2003 A. J Robinson avoided facing a panel discussion. Now, in 2014 he avoids at all peril facing a jury panel. Is it any wonder that Central Atlanta Progress and their fellow conspirators for four years have escaped going to trial? It’s no wonder at all; it’s the way the club works. But through it all, through it all the words ring out, “Give these nuts a forum in front of the media we lose.” Can’t unring that bell, “WE LOSE, WE LOSE, WE LOSE.”

If A. J. Robinson is anything, he’s a protector of his lair. My essay, “Justice for CAP” shows that CAP is a champion of and for justice. This great downtown giant stands for justice, every time. That is every time that those mean old NUTS gang up against CAP.  Read my, “Central Atlanta Demands Justice–FOR Central Atlanta Progress” posted December 26, 2009.

 

James Wilson Beaty

Jeremiah 22:16

July 17, 2014