WSB-TV (Television station : Atlanta, Ga.)

Description

In this WSB newsfilm clip from June 1971, Joseph W. Sargis, director of public safety in Columbus, Georgia, comments on the recent firing of seven black policemen from the Columbus police department.The clip begins outside of an office building, where a reporter comments on the sun's brightness to Columbus director of public safety Joseph W. Sargis. Next, the reporter asks Sargis "were you provoked, in your opinion, into firing these men," a reference to seven black officers recently fired from the Columbus police department. Sargis responds that he does not feel that he was provoked, instead, he considers the firings a response to a "continual series of acts" that began on March 26, and included making unfounded public statements and false allegations against fellow police officers. He notes that the officers' discredited allegations were investigated extensively by a grand jury and a committee appointed by the mayor. Referring to a protest on May 31 when the same seven officers ripped American flag emblems from their uniforms, Sargis concludes that he "simply reached the point where I felt that removing the flag was a final act of conduct unbecoming a police officer."On May 31, 1971, seven African American police officers (George Arnold, J. H. Clarke, Robert Leonard, G. L. Smith, W. L. Pearson, F. L. White, and Vinson Willis) were fired from the Columbus police department after ripping American flag shoulder patches from their uniforms as they picketed police headquarters. The officers, all members of Columbus' Afro-American Police League, had organized...

Record Contributed By

Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection

Record Harvested From

Digital Library of Georgia