Remember the 40 elderly Black folks from a senior center in Louisville, GA, who were pulled off a bus that was going to take them to the polls for early voting? A voter outreach organization called Black Voters Matter had visited the center, and someone (it isn't clear who) complained about the bus to the Jefferson County Commissioner's Office, but it almost doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter because a County Administrator with a moral center and strength of heart would have stood up to such a racist complaint and told them to go f*ck their racist-@ss selves sideways with a cactus. Or at least, he would have explained that there is nothing whatsoever wrong or illegal or troubling about a bus that says "Black Voters Matter" on it transporting actual Black voters to the polls to vote, and that they should be happy Black people only want equality and not revenge and I certainly don't seem to be able to hold myself back, today, do I?

Instead, what they got was Adam Brett, a County Administrator who decided the right thing to do was yank them off the bus, and issue an incredibly weakly-worded, and legally shaky statement attempting to justify the decision to block this bus from taking fully-functioning, autonomous, free Black adults to the polls to vote.

Here is his original statement:

Jefferson County operates a Senior Center that provides meals and entertainment to senior citizens in Jefferson County three days per week. The Jefferson County Board of Commissioners has a long standing practice of not allowing political activities during normal business hours or at County sponsored activities. These senior citizens are under the complete care and supervision of Jefferson County while they are at the Senior Center. Jefferson County Administration felt uncomfortable with allowing Senior Center patrons to leave the facility in a bus with an unknown third party. Additionally, the event in question that took place at the Jefferson County Senior Center was led by the President of the Jefferson County Democratic Party and as such was considered a political event. No seniors at the Jefferson County Senior Center were denied their right to vote. In fact, Senior Center staff routinely arrange Jefferson County Public Transit to transport senior citizens to vote. Jefferson County invites and encourages all registered voters to vote from October 15-November 2 from 8 AM to 5 PM, October 27 from 9 AM to 4 PM and on election day November 6 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

He met with LaTosha Brown and Cliff Albright, co-founders of Black Voters Matter on Wednesday after he issued that nonsensical excuse. In that meeting, they refuted every one of his BS excuses and reasons with things such as facts and logic - some of which even he had to agree were valid and true.

He then contradicted his own statement, blaming the decision on the Senior Center staff.

As of Friday, the Senior Center had no comment when I spoke to them. And when I called the Commissioner's office Friday morning, I was informed he had issued a revised statement on Thursday, which they would email me. They did, and the attachment included a note which said, "No other comments are being made Ms. Worthington other than the attached statement." Ah. Well..here's the revised statement, which uses different words to say the same thing he said before:

October 18, 2018

The Jefferson County Board of Commissioners has a practice of not allowing political activities during normal business hours on County property or at County sponsored activities.

On October 15th, the Senior Center staff declined to allow a third party and unknown bus operator to pick County residents on County property for political purposes.

The Senior Center staff routinely arrange Jefferson County Public Transit to transport senior citizens to vote. Jefferson County invites and encourages all registered voters to vote from October 15-November 2 from 8 AM to 5 PM, October 27 from 9 AM to 4 PM and on election day November 6 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Jefferson County operates a Senior Center that provides meals and entertainment to senior citizens in Jefferson County three days per week.

To which Black Voters Matter responded:

And wouldn't you know, even Brett himself has engaged in political posturing on Facebook, making it clear where he stands. According to Think Progress, he "wrote on Facebook in 2016 asking his Democratic friends to name one thing the government does well. 'I don’t think my belief in limited government will change any time soon.'" But the simple act of voting while Black is too political, right?

You know what wouldn't be political? Firing Adam Brett for attempting to keep Black seniors from voting in Georgia.