White reporters were barred from attending a campaign event for black mayoral candidates in Savannah, Georgia, and decided to accept only the entry of African-American journalists, local media reported.
“No media Black press Only!” Read a sign at the entrance to the event, held on Wednesday, according to a photograph published by The Savannah Morning News.
The newspaper explained that several white journalists were denied entry, while African-American reporters from two television channels and a black editor were able to access the event.
The event, organized by a local Reverend, Clarence Teddy Williams, brought together two African-American candidates for mayor of that city of 150,000.
The reporters who entered were forbidden to take photos, videos or audio recordings, an African-American journalist who attended told the local newspaper.
So far, three black candidates have submitted their candidacy for mayor of Savannah, since it will be held in the elections of November this year.
The three will try to win the current municipal leader, the Republican Eddie Deloach, who will seek his re-election after becoming in 2015 the first white mayor of that city in the last 20 years.
Those attending the meeting received a brochure with information on the ethnic composition of the Savannah population, as well as a breakdown of the votes in the 2015 elections.
An editorial in the Savannah Herald newspaper, entitled “United We Win, Divided We Lose” was also written by the former mayor of that town, African-American Otis Johnson.
In the article, Johnson asked the black population to organize and increase their influence on what happens in the community, starting with the mayor’s office and the councilors.
According to the organization Datausa, 53.7% of the population of Savannah is African-American, while 36.7% are white, 5.16% are Hispanic, 2.17% are Asian and 1.84% have other ethnic origins
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the number of radical groups in the country broke a record in 2018 when it reached 1,020, “spurred” by the speech of the president, Donald Trump.
