City of Macon
The white mayor of Macon, Georgia, has vetoed the renaming of the municipal auditorium for the city’s first Black mayor. The resolution to honor C. Jack Ellis passed 5-4, but Mayor Robert Reichert put the kibosh on it. City Commissioner Mallory Jones, who voted against the resolution, called Ellis “a divisive political character,” the Macon Telegraph reported. Commissioner Elaine Lucas blasted those who supported the measure, saying earlier this month, “It just becomes so obvious to this majority Black city that the folks who rise to the highest level of leadership in this community, if they are Black, then they can’t be respected.” Reichert also vetoed an anti-discrimination rule, telling commissioners that “discrimination against any individual for an improper reason is easy to denounce, but it is sometimes difficult to prohibit.”