Last week, as he has for years, Allen put on a cowboy hat and saddled up a horse -- this time named Bubba -- to ride in Buena Vista's annual Labor Day parade. Allen, who was born and raised in California, rode down the parade route greeting the Shenandoah Valley crowd by saying, "Howdy! How y'all doing? Good to see y'all."When the image was broadcast, one longtime Allen supporter said he cringed. "Seeing him with a horse called Bubba wearing cowboy boots, that doesn't resonate with us," said Terone Green, a Republican activist from Richmond who is black.
Green added: "He needs to revamp his whole operation. . . . I have never seen it this bad. I have friends who are just so anti-[Allen] now."
Another Henrico resident, 76 year old Reverend Rufus Adkins has been a member of the Republican Party for 30 years. In 2005 he served on the Veterans for Kilgore Steering Committee and Kilgore's African Americans for Kilgore. But now Adkins told Bonnie Winston of the Richmond Free Press that Republicans "don't want any blacks in the party." [1]
On December 2 both Terone Green and Rufus Adkins attended a Henrico County GOP breakfast. Green was very upset because of packets of literature that were anonymously distributed at each seat at the breakfast. The packets contained copies of Free Press articles and hand-scrawled comments criticizing Mr. Green. Attached to each packet was a cover page questioning Terone Green's loyalty and accusations that he attacked various local GOP officials.
When Mr. Green tried to find out who had distributed the packets, he questioned Henrico County Supervisor David A. Kaechele, who became angry and poked Mr. Green in the chest with a rolled up sheaf of papers. Mr. Green did indeed file a police report, but Henrico Sheriff Michael L. Wade talked him out of seeking a warrant against Mr. Kaechele. According to Ms. Winston's article, Sheriff Wade has since been elected chairman of the Henrico County GOP Committee, and was also present at the breakfast meeting.
When the incident occurred, Rev. Adkins and Henrico Supervisor Pat O'Bannon were talking nearby. Last week Supervisor O'Bannon wrote the RFP giving her account of the heated exchange. Now Mr. Adkins shares his take on the events in a letter to the RFP entitled "Focus on What Caused Problem."
I respond to your story, "Police report filed against Henrico supervisor," by Bonnie V. Winston, Dec 7-9 edition:I am greatly disturbed by the reactions to events that occurred at the Dec. 2, 2006, Henrico County Republican breakfast meeting in which Henrico Supervisor David A. Kaechele allegedly assaulted GOP committee member Terone Green. Everyone is focusing on the outcome and not on the cause of the argument.
An unsigned collage of articles that had been published in the Richmond Free Press was distributed with a type-written cover page stating, in part, "Richmond Free Press Owner Ray Boone/ Henrico 'Republican' Terone Green/ Team up to attack Henrico as racist." The material was placed on ALL of the tables.
Why is no one speaking up about that?
I feel that the person who placed the unsigned articles on the tables is hiding behind a hood so that he cannot be identified. Each time that Mr. Boone or Mr. Green wrote articles, they signed their names so that the reader may know the author's identity.
I did not see the "attack" because my back was turned toward Mr. Green and Mr. Kaechele while I was talking to Patricia O'Bannon, the Tuckahoe District representative on the Board of Supervisors.
I feel that no one is focusing on what caused the problem. The chairperson of the Henrico County Republican Committee should speak up and condemn the person who placed the materials on tables without approval of the committee.
Stand up and speak out.
REV. RUFUS ADKINS
The writer is a member of the Henrico County Republican Committee.
According to Winston, Adkins is now
...demanding four things:
-- That the county GOP committee "put out a letter condemning the man who put this information out and send a copy to the Free Press."
-- That the committee press the county administration to hire more African-Americans for top positions, "starting with the county manager's office."
"All I see now are clerks and secretaries," Rev. Adkins said.
-- That the party "be honest with blacks" about whether they want African-American participation within the GOP at more than just election time.
-- That Free Press Editor/ Publisher Raymond H. Boone be invited to address county GOP members at one of the regularly held breakfasts.
Winston also notes that while minorities make up more than 30 percent of the county population, with African-Americans comprising 26 percent, all of the County Manager's top staff is white. 92 percent of the county's police force is white, 98 percent of the county's procurement budget is spent with white firms.
Adkins told Winston that he will stay in the party and fight to the end. He is particularly angry that the focus is on the Green/Kaechele clash while he believes that the real issues include allowing anonymous distribution of information at the GOP meetings and the lack of diversity and inclusion in both the party and the county government.
Adkins said, "No one stood up and said the packets shouldn't have been on the tables unsigned. That's allowing the man who put it out to put on a hood, same as the KKK."
[1] Dec 28-30, 2006: "Another GOP Stalwart rips his party in Henrico County," Bonnie V. Winston, Richmond Free Press.
I was absolutely flabergasted after reading the articles and posts regarding the controversies with the Henrico GOP. But, after reading it, I can't help but ask why Rev., Adkins and Mr. Greene would want to continue their association with the GOP.
Rev., Adkins states that he has been a member of the Republican Party for thirty years - which means he joined the party around 1976 - but looking back in history, it begs another question, why did he join the party then?
From approximately the mid-1920's until the very early 1970's the State of Virginia was controlled by Harry Byrd and other members of the Democratic Party - they were often referred to in Virginia and throughout the south as Dixiecrats. During this time, the county clerk in each locality had unpresedented powers - and that is how the machine controlled the state. They made sure that supervisors in their county were elected countywide in order to prevent minorities from getting elected. In many of these counties, the voter registration office was located on the white side of the county and was only open for one day during the week, for one hour - lunchtime of course, in order to prevent minorities from registering to vote. In terms of electing superviors countywide, this practice was not ended until the 1980's!! when the ACLU began suing these counites in federal court to force them to elect supervisors by district, to give minorities an opportunity to get elcted to county governments accross the state.
During the Civil Rights movement in the 1960's, it was the Republicans throughout Virgina who were the moderates and activily supported the civil rights movement - and the Byrd machine and their flock of sheep did everything to undermine it.
Everthing came to a head at the 1968 (or 1972, my memory is a bit fuzzy on which year) state convention in Virginia when liberals, mainly moderate Republicans, anti-war actvists, minorities, etc., threw out the Dixiecrats at the convention. These events occurred throughout the south and was the beginning of the Republican re-alignment throughout the south.
So as far as issues of race are concerned, the Democratic Party then became the home of support for the civil rights movement and the Republican Party, after all the Dixiecrats joined it in droves, became the party that was openly hostile to the Civil Rights movement. Earlier this year, Republicans in the south were still quite vocal about opposing extending the Voting Rights Act!
So, this all means that Rev., Adkins joined the GOP in 1976, which was taken over by the Dixiecrtas. The GOP has had a consistent record for decades of opposing civil rights for minorities and woman, so it's very confusing to me to understand why Rev., Adkins and Mr. Greene continue to support the GOP - it is only getting more conservative.
Another question: According to sources, Republicans have controlled the Board of Supervisors for almost two decades -so why are there NOT more minorities employed in key positions. I think we all know why.
The Republican Party in the State of Kansas is currently experiencing a blood bath (see posting today on Washington Post website)- moderates are fleeing the party and joining the Democratic Party in droves because the GOP has become SO EXTREME on so many isues. Perhaps it is time for Rev., Adkins and Mr. Greene to consider doing the same.
What's with flipper? I haven't seen this kind of thing since lambdaMOO... just curious.
Hi Cathy. Regarding my post, I was trying to put some history in context as to how it relates to what is going on in the Henrico GOP these days. So many people who read these blogs have moved to Virginia in the last fifteen years and they really don't know the history of politics in Virginia.
Events like the one in Henrico have been going on in GOP circles around the country for years - it's not a new phenomenon, which is why it is so hard to understand why Rev., Adkins and Mr. Geene would want to continue to associate with the GOP.