Hillery Douglas trying to make back handed deals

This is a sad event but we all fear it is true...
This is an anonymous editorial comment about an event that took place sometime prior to Tuesday, October 9:

It has been confirmed by at least one of those present that Hillery Douglas set up a meeting with Pete Lawrence either earlier this week or late last week for the purpose of forcing a downtown African-American community leader to recant his support for a charter school. The Charter School for Math and Science scheduled to open within the former Rivers High School building next year has stirred resentment from some black organization leaders while it has gained grassroots support from many black and white parents who want improved public school choices downtown. The private meeting amounted to an ambush and an attempted mugging. It failed to sway the intended victim and may have in fact caused him and other downtown black residents to become more ardent supporters of charter school alternatives as a way to get existing schools back on track.

Arthur Peter Lawrence is a Burke High School graduate, a co-founder of the Friends of Burke organization, President of the Westside Neighborhood Association and a recipient of the City of Charleston's Koon Award for his record of community service. He is actively supporting another African-American, Dudley Gregorie, in his campaign for Mayor of Charleston. After much soul searching and seeking answers to many questions, Pete recently came out in support of the proposed Charleston Charter School for Math & Science. He said he did this because the existing CCSD schools located downtown are either not available to most downtown students (Buist is a magnet school with a closed admission process) or most of the remaining downtown schools are failing so badly that there is little hope for change in the near future. CCSD claims it is unable to adequately improve downtown schools or make them racially diverse saying that the causes of poor schools downtown are beyond their control.

Pete has also said that only after the charter school group became active, CCSD finally began to take an interest in advancing plans for the improvement of Burke's academic programs. Previous proposals for Burke by CCSD all were for goals that have all been assoicated with minimum standards. It was as if CCSD had no interest in Burke's success until they were challenged with the possibility of loosing control to another charter school. This one would become an alternative for the relief of long suffering downtown parents. Pete said he could support that.

What made this meeting with Pete Lawrence unusual is that Pete was given the impression he was being invited to meet one-on-one with Nelson Rivers to discuss his support for the downtown charter school. Nelson Rivers is Charleston native and a highly respected national NAACP official who helped start the NAACP's North Charleston branch.

It was not to be that kind of meeting. What Pete Lawrence found when he arrived was a full house. It included Hillery Douglas, Dot Scott, Joe Darby and Ruth Jordan, in addition to Nelson Rivers. What was supposed to be a discussion between two individuals began to appear as if Pete had been set up for a confrontation with a crowd he had opposed before. Unknown to Pete until it was too late, the meeting was arranged and specifically designed to pressure him into publicly recanting his support for the math and science charter school. Nelson Rivers was simply there to "mediate". Pete had been ambushed.

Hillery Douglas reportedly got ugly. He called Pete fowl names and said that he had to change his position or else. He said Pete was betraying the black community by not standing with those who opposed this charter school. What Pete Lawrence discovered was that these individuals who all had been in some way responsible for the poor condition of downtown schools were now desperate for a spokesman to carry their message of opposition to the downtown community. They were opposed to the racially diverse charter school group. They needed someone with a platform within the downtown black community to be their downtown mouthpiece. They decided that Pete was the one, because he had dared speak in favor of the new school. They didn't care if forcing him to change his position meant continuing to cut the throat of downtown schools like Burke. In spite of the pressure, Pete wouldn’t back down.

It became obvious that Pete wouldn't cross over and those present didn't have a person to carry their message with downtown credentials. Hillery Douglas reportedly became very angry and began threatening Pete. Nelson Rivers had to physically come between them according to the witness or it might have gotten worse. Nelson Rivers as it turns out may not have been fully aware of what kind of power play was going on until after the meeting had begun.

The strong arm tactics of Hillery Douglas are deplorable, but it is also highly questionable as to why he and Ruth Jordan, both members of the current Charleston County School Board, would choose to participate in a backroom, closed door attempt to intimidate a downtown school advocate and private citizen knowing that their were witnesses who could go public. Without question they were trying to force Mr. Lawrence to change his public position. They wanted him to ignore logic and to actively oppose a racially diverse, community based charter school group which was organized to create public school choices for downtown parents. Both Douglas and Jordan have gone on record as supporting this charter school but behind the scenes we find they are doing something else. By this account, they have misled the public about their support for the charter school as well as knowingly participated in what amounts to a politically motivated mugging.

Pete Lawrence, and other determined parents and residents of downtown Charleston like him, are continuously being pressured and in some cases threatened financially to not support the charter school. Others have been verbally abused and threatened by Hillery Douglas for speaking out for public schools downtown, a cause the Hillery Douglas dislikes. Pete Lawrence has the courage and the good fortune to not be beholden to corrupt power brokers who have been willing to sell out downtown school children. Because he’s a man of integrity and has no financial ties to these bosses, he continues to speak his mind. Others downtown are not so fortunate. Most downtown parents and public school supporters are just glad that there are people like Pete Lawrence who have the ability to speak of ideas that most people downtown can only think or speak of privately.

It's a disgrace that these people (Douglas, Scott, Jordan and Darby) are given the air of respectability by being portrayed as community representatives only for us to learn later they have behaved like thugs when the cameras are turned off and the reporters go home. Downtown schools, especially Burke High School, are fortunate that they are being defended by courageous and unbending supporters like Pete Lawrence against the assaults and neglect of thugs like Hillery Douglas and his fellow gang members including Dot Scott, Joe Darby and Ruth Jordan