Newspaper Page Text
The True Citizen, Wednesday, August 4, 2021 — Page 5
Michael N. Searles covid
Continued from front
WHO ARE THESE MASKED MEN?
In a recent scene, six white
men dressed in black, with all
but one wearing a black mask,
stood around a table. One man
wearing a light blue suit and
wearing a white mask signed a
document. In the background
an American and Georgia state
flag flanked a picturesque im
pressionistic painting of a road
and house partly obstructed by
a large tree. The painting, by
Olessia Maximenko, is of the
Callaway Plantation in Wash
ington, Georgia.
The serenity of the painting
belies what took place there
during the antebellum period.
The soft brushstrokes do not
reveal the lives of those who
lived on Callaway Planta
tion. The brick manor house
built with Georgia red clay in
a Greek Revival style would
become the Callaway family
home. Prior to its construction,
Callaway family lived in what
was known as the Grey House.
During the 1860s, slaves built
the brick house depicted in
the painting as other enslaved
men and women made their
way to cotton fields that pro
vided wealth for the family.
The plantation was composed
of 3,000 acres with several
hundred slaves residing on
the property. The history and
record of the slaves owned by
the Callaway family essentially
have been erased except for a
few listings in a will. A slave
cabin still exists hidden by
trees, but the slaves that died
there were buried in a separate
slave cemetery that was aban
doned in 1910 and is no longer
recognizable.
The men standing around
the table likely were unaware
of the painting or the history
of Callaway plantation as they
awaited the signing of the
Election Integrity Act of 2021.
Even Governor Kemp may
have lacked knowledge of the
house as he sat in one of the
many offices in the Georgia
Capitol. For the legislators,
it was just a room like others
in the Capitol and the painting
just a part of the background.
History has an interesting
way of intruding into our daily
lives. This is especially true
concerning matters relating to
slavery and race. While the law
affected African Americans, no
black person was present at the
closed-door ceremony. The
one black state representative,
Park Cannon, who knocked
on the door was handcuffed
and arrested by Georgia state
troopers. Representative Can
non was charged with obstruc
tion of law enforcement and
preventing or disrupting the
General Assembly. White men
watching another white man
sign a law deemed voter sup
pression legislation in front of a
slave plantation did not lose its
irony on various reporters and
observers; however, the para
doxical image did not seem to
weigh on the governor or the
men who observed the signing
of the legislation.
Some images are fleeting and
others indelibly imprinted in
our minds. We do not know if
the image of Governor Kemp’s
signing the Election Integrity
Act in a room of white men
will have a lasting historical
impact. Will this signing with
all its trappings of dignity be
listed by the Georgia Historical
Society as a return to Jim Crow
Voting in Georgia? It may not
reach the level of enmity rep
resented in the “Largest Slave
Sale in Georgia History—The
Weeping Times” historical
marker that announced “One
of the largest sales of enslaved
persons in U.S. history took
place on March 2-3, 1859, at
Ten Broeck Race Track Course
on the outskirts of Savannah,
Georgia. To satisfy his credi
tors, Pierce M. Butler sold 436
men, women, and children
from his Butler and Hamp
ton plantations near Darien,
Georgia. The breakup of the
families and the loss of home
became part of African-Amer
ican heritage remembered as
‘the weeping times.’ The event
was reported extensively in the
northern press and reaction to
the sale deepened the nation’s
growing sectional divide in the
years immediately preceding
the Civil War.”
If the record number of black
votes in the 2020 presidential
election representing over
50% of all Democratic voters
in Georgia dramatically drops
in 2024, partial credit must
be given to Governor Brian
Kemp and the Republicans
who passed their restrictive
voter legislation. His name and
image will be part of the dark
record of those who valued po
litical power over democracy.
out, and so they did.”
Emily chronicled her ex
perience on a public Face-
book post July 29, describ
ing her disappointment in the
medical treatment that she
and her husband received
through the Burke Medical
Center’s Emergency Room
department July 28.
“I have never felt so alone
or helpless,” she wrote.
Although the medical staff
did take an x-ray of Em
ily’s lungs, she claimed on
Facebook that no one took
her temperature, conducted
blood work or checked her
for dehydration. She said
she was prescribed medica
tion and released after she
was found to have an oxygen
saturation level within a
normal range.
“Meanwhile, Bobby
waited so long in the car
without his inhaler, he’s
texting me (and) saying he
can’t breathe,” Emily wrote
on the post and later wrote
that medical staff took an x-
ray of her husband’s lungs,
found his temperature to
be 102.7 degrees and con
ducted blood work. He was
prescribed medication and
released.
According to Augusta
University Health, which
reported 53 COVID-positive
in-patients Tuesday morn
ing, not everyone with the
virus gets admitted. Only
people who present two or
more significant
medical conditions or who
require oxygen are kept in
the hospital, said Senior
Communications Officer
Lisa Kaylor.
Bridgers said Emily nev
er got tested for COVID-
19. “We do not currently test
unless a patient is admitted.
This is necessary as it may
take between 24 to 72 hours
to receive results when sent
to an outside lab," said Burke
Medical Center CEO Mike
Hester in an email August 3.
"Occasionally, tests may be
performed at the Health De
partment or Medical Special
ists during their office hours
for patients being transferred
to other facilities that require
it for transfer. Our hearts go
out to any family suffering
such a loss.”
The couple’s health spiraled
downward once they returned
home. Although she left meals
for the couple under a carport,
the threat of contracting the
vims, kept her from physically
checking on her sister. Bridg
ers became concerned after
she couldn’t make phone con
tact with Emily after July 29.
“I called her husband and
he said she was sleeping,”
she said and pointed out that
by the evening of July 31, she
became so worried she called
9-1-1 dispatch at 9:24 p.m.
and asked that an ambulance
be sent to the house.
“We sent Burke County
Sheriff’s Office out on 7/31
for a welfare check and to
make contact at the residence.
The deputy advised he made
contact and both parties were
ok,” said Burke County E911
Director Laycee Silas in an
email August 3.
Bobby called Bridgers
the next day and said Emily
was unresponsive. When the
Burke County EMA arrived,
Emily had already succumbed
to the virus.
“When I got there, she was
gone,” Bridgers said sob
bing. “Bobby’s oxygen level
was 77, when they got there
yesterday. He was hardly
coherent. He would be dead
right now, if I had not called
the ambulance.”
The True Citizen was un
able to obtain an official
response from the Sheriff’s
office in regard to the well
ness check.
Bobby works at Plant
Vogtle, where several dozen
workers currently test posi
tive for COVID. Georgia
Power Spokesperson Jeffrey
Wilson issued the following
statement Monday:
“Site leadership remains
focused on protecting the
safety and health of workers
at the Vogtle 3 & 4 site, and
comprehensive measures in
response to the COVID-19
pandemic have been in place
since the pandemic began.
There are currently approxi
mately 65 individuals among
the Vogtle 3&4 workforce
who have tested positive for
COVID-19. Workers at the
site have been, and continue
to be, strongly encouraged to
receive the vaccine.”
Emily, a former Plant Vog
tle employee, worked from
home as a foster parent. She
was not taking care of any
children at the time of her
death.
“I just couldn’t believe
how she just took to being
a mother-figure,” Bridgers
said. “She took the children
to church. She just totally
amazed me, how she tried to
turn their lives around.”
Bridgers will always re
member her sister’s kind
heart.
“When she would see
someone standing with a
sign, she would give them her
last penny,” she said. “She
would help anybody. She
loved with all of her heart.”
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