I propose a statue of Jerry Bledsoe

Congratulations Jerry Bledsoe on concluding your ninety-two part series "Cops in Black and White." Greensboro owes you one. A big one. Without you, Greensboro would have irrevocably become the "city of the lie," as you called us. You rescued us from a fate of ignorance, however, and we are truly thankful.

Four years ago, Greensboro was on a trajectory towards enshrining a huge deception in our public consciousness and history-- a deep and pervasive meme that would have had us for years filter people, events and motives through a delusion as though it were real. We came perilously close to becoming victims of the disinformation of people who sought to confound public understanding for their own personal ends. We surely would have been the walking dead -- idiots who would have had no idea that what we thought we knew was just an illusion; no idea that what we had come to think of as reality was just a phantom molded from shit. It would have been the biggest fake out--the biggest con job--in Greensboro's history.

Whether or not you are convinced of every detail in the narrative Bledsoe tells in his series, it is inescapable that Jerry, with a tenacity and diligence unmatched by any other person or organization, probed the facts and rescued the important truths from their liars' tomb. Considering the powerful forces that were aligned in support of the lies--the institutions and the people--it is ultimately amazing that the truth came to light. That such power lost the battle is a testament to Bledsoe's achievement. Others contributed to the fight and deserve credit, including series publisher The Rhino Times, but Bledsoe was the steady motor that kept moving the train down the facttrack, pulling all other passengers, willing and reluctant, to the truth station.

It is very satisfying that Bledsoe concludes his series, in part, by reminding us of who is to blame. In a city where it is considered impolite to question authority and rude to question motives, it is precisely that reluctance for scorn that evildoers rely upon in order to perpetrate their bad deeds. Lying, cheating, obfuscating and misleading are not always criminal; sometimes the only defense against them is the consequence of embarrassment and humiliation.

Greensboro is too genteel to apply the treatment of shame. As a result, even when incompetents and rascals come up against an unshakable repudiation of their actions, they are free to ignore it. Do you doubt it? Ask yourself this: Who in this whole sad tale has stepped forward and said they made a mistake? There has not been one person. What does that tell you? That no mistakes were made? No. To me it says that the malefactors are either too dumb to know they been exposed, too small to admit error or they are certain people will not be so rude as to call them out, so they think themselves perfectly safe in avoiding contrition. Bledsoe has sealed off that escape hatch.

I watched, we all did, as people in positions of power suspended reason, made untenable excuses, gave false explanations and otherwise frustrated the public's desire for honesty. Now, thanks to Bledsoe, blame has been rightly affixed. Bledsoe pins the misdeeds and missteps on the elected representatives, city staff, police officers and culpable members of the media who, quite frankly, deserve it. They probably didn't think this day would come. It may sound callous, but I find this to be a very satisfying form of social justice.

These people had obligations, sworn by oath, in many cases, and demanded by their positions in institutions and society in other cases, that they failed to meet. These people will have to live with their sullied legacies, whether they acknowledge them as sullied or not. There is a temptation to feel sorry, but no. These people had opportunity after opportunity to garner some goodwill along the way, instead they bred contempt with their obstinate disdain for accuracy or transparency and ultimate refusal to admit any error or responsibility. They were (still are) supremely arrogant in their intransigence--which we could ignore if it were not at our expense. Thanks to Bledsoe, their actions now stand exposed. It is all plainly, and literally, in black and white.

There should be a statute of Jerry Bledsoe erected in Greensboro. Since he is a former employee and, as a final repudiation* of their astounding malpractice, I suggest that the (Greensboro, NC) News & Record erect this statue at their front door.


[* Technically, this would not be their final repudiation, but the first.]