WE CAN NOT WIN RACIAL JUSTICE IN THE DARK THE FIGHT FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EQUALITY CONTINUES

By Patrick Davis

The Rural Progressive and Afro-Southeast Georgian

Waycross is a majority-black city of approximately 14,000 people in southeast Georgia, near the Florida State line. However, it is the home of Pastor Ferrell Malone, a missionary preacher at the historic Macedonia Baptist Church. Malone has been a civil and voting rights leader for nearly four decades.

With Donald Trump ascending to a second presidential term, we are in a moment in American history that we cannot afford to be quiet.

Many of the hard-fought legal victories in the 1950s and 1960s that led to the Voting and Civil Rights Act signed by Lyndon Johnson are being actively threatened by Donald Trump, and Republicans are determined to take us back to the Jim Crow Era.

One of Trump's first acts was to rescind a 1965 executive order by Lyndon Johnson.

The executive action, signed by President Johnson on September 24, 1965, established requirements for non-discriminatory practices in the hiring and employing U.S. government contractors. As amended, it prohibited "federal contractors and subcontractors and federally assisted construction contractors and subcontractors that generally have contracts that exceed $10,000 from discriminating in employment decisions based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

"It also required contractors to "take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed and that employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin." 

At this moment, the nation needs vocal leaders to lead the resistance.

Malone is not afraid to speak his mind and speak truth to power even if it may cost him members of his church.

In early February 2025, Malone led a march through downtown Waycross with a group of dedicated and inspired peoplewilling to let their voices be heard and provide a form of resistance in the same vein as Martin Luther King and John Lewis did decades earlier.

"You have nothing to fear," Pastor Ferrell Malone shouts confidently.

Malone invited all Waycross-based pastors to come and participate, but several declined. However, this did not deter Malone from delivering a forceful message of inspiration; instead, it implored people to resist.

"We are not going to let anyone turn us around."

Marches were a powerful tool in the civil rights movement, allowing people to demonstrate their demands and press for change.

In October 2021, eight months after Joe Biden was elected along with a Democratically controlled Congress, Senators Joe Manchin and Kirsten Sinema were major holdouts in passing voting rights legislation.

This led voting rights activists --along with Malone-- to escalate demands for the White House to act on voting rights , in an action that resulted in the arrests of 25 participants.

Malone had released the following statement before being arrested.

“The goal of state-level anti-voter attacks is to shut out and shut up the rising majority of Black, Latinx, Asian, and Indigenous voters. We have a moral responsibility to pass federal legislation to protect our freedom to vote -- anything short of that undermines the incredible work of organizers and voters who showed up in record numbers, especially rural Georgia voters and turned out to elect new leaders who must deliver for us. 

If more substantial national voting standards had been in place, the Georgia voter anti-voting rights law would have been stopped. Regardless of where you live, every voter deserves free, fair, and accessible elections. We call on President Bident and Vice President Harris to use the full power of the administration to work with the Senate — and secure the votes to pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act,” said Reverend Fer-Rell M. Malone, Sr.

In an interview with Voices of the Village Podcast host Andreal Mallard, Malone reminisced about when he was a small child about Martin Luther King visiting Waycross during the height of the Civil Rights Movement.

Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a speech in Waycross, Georgia, on March 23, 1968, as part of the Washington Campaign. The speech was given at Greater Mt. Zion AME Church.

Just two weeks later, on April 4, 1968, MLK was killed.

The Washington Campaign was part of the Poor People's Campaign, which King announced in 1967. The Campaign aimed to address economic inequality and create financial security for families. It influenced public policy at the local and federal levels.

King had previously led the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963, where he delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. King also founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) with other Black church leaders in the South. The SCLC organized nonviolent protests against Jim Crow laws.

In the Voices of the Village podcast, Malone discussed the effort to get justice for Ahmaud Arbery and hold the former Brunswick Judicial District Attorney Jackie Johnson and Waycross Judicial Circuit District George Barnhill accountable for attempting to sweep the case under the rug.

A recall effort was initiated.

An effort to recall George Barnhill from his position as the district attorney for the Waycross Judicial Circuit District in Georgia did not go to a vote in 2020. 

The recall petition was filed with the Secretary of State on June 15, 2020. Recall supporters had 45 days to collect approximately 22,000 signatures from registered voters in the Waycross Judicial Circuit District to get the recall on the ballot. They did not collect enough signatures before the filing deadline.

The recall effort started after Barnhill said no charges were warranted in the death of Ahmaud Arbery, who was shot and killed on February 23, 2020.

Barnhill took over the case from Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney Jackie Johnson, who recused herself on February 27, 2020. Barnhill later recused himself from the case on April 7, 2020, due to his son's connection to Arbery in a former prosecution case. Both Barnhill and Johnson were subjects of federal and state investigations into handling the case at the time of the recall effort.

Gregory McMichael and his son, Travis McMichael, were arrested and charged with Arbery's murder on May 7, 2020, after the Georgia Bureau of Investigation became involved in the case. A third suspect, William “Roddie” Bryan, was also charged. The Glynn County Grand Jury indicted the McMichaels and Bryan on nine counts each on June 24, 2020.

Oneida Oliver-Sanders, one of the organizers of the recall effort, said she and others started the process because Barnhill failed to file charges in Arbery's case.

The recall petition was initially filed with the Ware County Board of Elections on May 29, 2020. Barnhill filed a legal challenge against that petition.

The next step for recall supporters was to apply to the recall petition with the Georgia Secretary of State with at least 100 signatures from sponsors. Recall supporters applied on June 15, 2020, with more than 200 signatures. After the recall petition was approved, supporters were given 45 days to collect approximately 22,000 signatures of registered voters in the Waycross Judicial Circuit District, equivalent to 30% of eligible voters at Barnhill's last election.

Georgia recall law requires circulators of recall petitions to be eligible to vote in the recall election. Recall supporters filed a lawsuit calling that requirement unconstitutional. 

The Georgia Secretary of State did not file an opposition to the lawsuit and entered into a consent order on June 19, 2020, agreeing not to enforce that requirement.

What's next for Malone?

Organizing and Strategizing.

In the coming months, a proposed 85-county tour of town hall meetings to gather information and gain opposition support is being planned. After the 85 counties, the next phase would be a Waycross to Washington Tour on Highway US-1.

The struggle to defend democracy continues, and Waycross' Pastor Ferrell Malone will be on the frontlines.

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Pastor Ferrell Malone Appears on Voices of The Village Podcast