More Plantation Politics by “Massa Eddie” Holbrook Report by Robert A. Williams

According to reports from trusted sources:

1. The usual political forum sponsored by the NAACP has allegedly been hijacked by the Ebenezer Association of black churches in Cleveland County. Sources report this forum was poorly reported in last Friday’s Shelby Star that this Forum would be held at the Cleveland County Schools Central Offices Auditorium at 400 W Marion Street Tuesday at 6 PM. Massa Eddie or his surrogates are reported to be requiring that no questions be asked about the Sports Complex proposed by Willie Green or Massa Eddie will not show up. No word from any other incumbent Commissioner candidates.

2. Commissioner “Massa Eddie” Holbrook as well as all the other Commissioners, County Manager, Assistant County Manager and County Clerk are refusing to accept my emailed requests for public records in violation of State law. Others copied on the emailed request have received their copy. Apparently Massa Eddie has declared that nobody in the Cleveland County.com system can receive my emails. The rejected email notice arrived today in regard to a request for qualifications and pay of former County Managers Jeff Richardson, Jason Falls and present County Manager Brian Epley. Also, Commissioners are saying my request for emails regarding these County Managers over the past six months would cost me $59,065 and would include over one million documents when state says I should be able to inspect those records for free.

For your information, the email that was rejected stated:

To: Phyllis Noland;;Eddie Holbrook;Ronnie Whetstine;Doug Bridges;Susan Allen;Johnny Hutchins;Brian Epley;Kerri Melton;Tim Moore;

From: Robert A. Williams

Ms. Noland, Commissioners,

Please note that I have attached the Guide to Open Meetings and Public Records produced by former Attorney General and now Governor Roy Cooper, AGAIN, for your information and use. Also note that I would never consider authorizing anybody in Cleveland County Governmental to charge me for copying 1,000,000 (one million) pages of documents without my review. What I would probably receive would be one page of an irrelevant document copied one million times.

According to my review of the attached guide, I am allowed to inspect any and all public documents for free and would only be charged reasonable rates for those copies that I specifically requested to be copied. Also, according to the attached guide, it is Cleveland County’s responsibility to store public documents in an easily retrievable manner and at no cost to the requester. The attached guide also states that it would be Cleveland County’s responsibility to do any reviews, etc. required for the document inspection at no cost to the requester. As far as any IT assistance, that would also be Cleveland County’s responsibility and free to the requester. However, I have an IT expert that would be glad to assist Cleveland County in the recovery of the emails that I requested for no charge to Cleveland County.

I would also state that I am totally displeased with Cleveland County’s responses to the public records that I have requested and feel these poor responses are planned schemes concocted and directed at the highest levels (Commissioners-especially Commissioners running for re-election) with the intent to prevent the public to know and understand the real aspects of county business that are probably unethical and likely illegal too.

I am restating my requests to inspect public records as previously submitted immediately and in accordance with Federal and North Carolina law. I am not authorizing and will refuse to pay for copying millions (your numbers) of documents for which I am supposed to be able to inspect for no fees or charges.

Regards,

Robert A. Williams

Massa Eddie and the others obviously didn’t want any of this to be on his email records, Same with everybody else on the county IT system. It is easier to lie when the records have been erased from their computers. But, I have a copy and it is available for all to see.

3. The Rev. Dante Murphy replied to my article “Commissioner Holbrook Plays Race Card.” Rev. Murphy’s c comment certainly and totally refutes Massa Eddie’s claim to anything positive about his claim of good relations with the black community. Massa Eddie’s MO as well as other so called white leadership in Cleveland County regarding race relations is to “pay off” the “Uncle Toms” in the black community with the expectation that the Uncle Toms will keep the other black citizens under control and do the bidding of all the other white “Massas” in Cleveland County.

Rev. Murphy’s comment is provided again for your convenience:

Rev. Dante A. Murphy
April 8, 2018 at 10:59 pm
Collateral damage from the civil rights movement that created greater opportunities for minorities also produced a generation of black baby boomers who became easily controlled and manipulated by whites in leadership. This process can be interrupted when either whites openly challenge other whites on this very issue or blacks become frustration to the point of using unconventional measures to bring about change. This ideology is partly observed in a recent article written by Robert Williams that exposes Cleveland County Commissioner Eddie Holbrook with playing the race card to secure another term as county commissioner. Mr. Holbrook referred the editor, Robert Williams, to his association “with the black community back to the 60’s.” I am personally unable to comment on Mr. Holbrook’s association with the black community as far back as the sixties. However, I am well aware of his association with the black community for the ten years (2006-2016) I lived in Cleveland County. During this time, I witnessed Mr. Holbrook being very astute in the process of buying out black leaders with the ultimate intent of manipulating others. Mr. Holbrook’s words uttered at a NAACP meeting, during one of his past campaign bids for county commissioner, are etched in my mind. He declared his commitment to raise money for the Community Math Academy which is an organization I was part of founding. At the moment Mr. Holbrook committed to supplying money for the Community Math Academy, at least four prominent black leaders in the African American community solidified themselves as sellouts to their community and Mr. Holbrook was the buyer. That buyout ultimately resulted in a prominent black pastor in the community being used to divide the black community. Rather than allowing this tactic to succeed, several black pastors regrettably did not push back on the prostitution of a black leader. Gradually, that same black pastor was used to kick other black pastors off a school board diversity team because of their challenging views and speaking truth to power. I was reminded some years later by a New York Times reporter that it is “fairly easy to buy out a black man.” I was thrown in disbelief at what I had just heard, not because of its validity or truth, but because a white man so easily said it. Having succumb to the shock of such racial truths I am now equally shocked when a white man is accused of buying out blacks, but denies doing so. So is the case with Mr. Eddie Holbrook’s denial of “playing the race card.”

Mr. Holbrook’s response to the article failed to take into account that among blacks these racial tactics are frequently discussed and talked about. Blacks openly acknowledge among each other that whites strategically shop for black leaders, give them a few amenities, such as, board appointments, free baseball tickets, invitations to events, and a sense of “having arrived” for a return favor of controlling the temperature in the black community. This reality in and of itself may not enrage neither blacks or whites in the community. What should enrage both blacks and whites is that Mr. Holbrook’s decision to stall and outright deny promoting a sports complex partnership is an action that will obstruct a level of expertise needed for the enhancement of many athletes coming out of Cleveland County and the surrounding areas.

What is yet to be revealed are direct statements made, possibly representing the sentiment of all county commissioners, as to why a partnership cannot be made with former NFL player and two-time Super Bowl winner, Mr. Willie Green. In order to gain a better understanding of the details citizens should begin sending emails and ask every sitting county commissioner the following questions: 1) why North Carolina House Speaker and Cleveland County Attorney, Tim Moore, took commissioners into a closed session during its last meeting to discuss a “potential legal matter,” 2) why Mr. Willie Green’s association with certain blacks have impacted Cleveland County’s ability to partner with Mr. Green, 3) why a former county employee and pastor was forced off as a board member to one of Mr. Green’s non-profit organization as a negotiating tool to increase the chances of Cleveland County forming a partnership with Mr. Green. More than likely, they will tell you “we can’t discuss that because of a pending legal matter.” For those wanting to dig deep into secrets of a previous lawsuit and a forthcoming lawsuit against Cleveland County I would suggest doing a freedom of information request for all correspondences between myself and county officials, especially, North Carolina House Speaker and County Attorney, Tim Moore.

I am not suggesting by any means that Mr. Holbrook lacks attributes beneficial to Cleveland County. I am suggesting that his racist and discriminatory attack towards a rare partnership with an African American should be challenged furiously by the white community. Mr. Holbrook’s demonstrated knowledge in athletics alone is an obvious “red flag” as to why this partnership is being stalled and blackballed. In that, having a former professional athlete alone, of Mr. Green’s caliber who wants to give back to a small town, is a rare opportunity and without reason as to why anyone, especially, a person of Mr. Holbrook’s athletic mindset, would not want to promote.

White voters should also challenge Mr. Holbrook’s favor towards partnerships that cater predominately to the older population while projects enhancing the lives of children and youth are non-existent. The sports complex partnership proposed by Mr. Willie Green is one of only two partnerships during my years in Cleveland County that covered a wide range of youth with the added benefit of a continuous and direct impact on the population served. The other partnership is the Cleveland County Promise that would have provided free college tuition to every high school graduate in Cleveland County. That project also received no backing or promotion from Mr. Eddie Holbrook as it was also introduced to Cleveland County by Mr. Willie Green. For those of you wondering how easily this plan could have come to fruition, I would suggest you do a simple google search of the cities that have implemented free college tuition since Mr. Green made his initial presentation years ago. You will then come to your own conclusions as to whether Mr. Holbrook’s actions are hurting the future of your children and, consequently, is an indicator that he has outlived his time as a major player in Cleveland County politics.

More to come as I receive reports and get confirmation.

Proof of my reports and conclusions noted in this article is easy. Take a look at all these so-called “Close the Gap” initiatives and wonder aloud; After all these years of closing the gap, why is there still a gap???

Looking back it is easy to see just how much progress has NOT been made in Cleveland County. My solution is get rid of Massa Eddie Holbrook in the Democrat Primary on May 8 and get rid of “Massa Ronnie” Whetstine and “Massa Doug” Bridges in the General Election on November 8. It’s either that or keep on bending over for the Massas of Cleveland County’s so called good deeds.