One defendant jumped from hotel where our correspondent is staying…

Letter from Denver
by Brooks Boliek

DENVER, Colo., Aug. 26 — The lesson from the Democratic Convention for today is: If you are a racist with guns, bullet-proof vests and drugs in your truck who wants to assassinate a Black politician, do not, and I repeat, do not, drive erratically.

It seems that at least four alleged white supremacists decided to come to Denver to take a shot at Barack Obama. Their plot was foiled when the cops pulled over a truck that was “swerving erratically” and arrested 28-year-old Tharin Gartrell who was driving on a suspended license, according to an AP story quoting Aurora police Detective Marcus Dudley. In the truck were a pair of rifles, one stolen, ammo, walkie talkies and methamphetamine.

The local cops alerted the feds who later arrested Nathan Johnson, 32, and Shawn Robert Adolf, 33, after he broke his leg jumping from a hotel window.

The guy had to be skinny, because the hotel window he was jumping from is in MY hotel. The windows in the Cherry Creek Hotel don’t open very far. I’m pretty skinny, and I’d have a hard time getting through those windows.

Denver’s U.S. attorney Troy Eid is scheduled to address the incident sometime this afternoon, but he has already said there was “no credible threat.”

The local CBS affiliate here, got the scoop of the convention so far, as their investigative reporter Brian Maass interviewed one of the suspects in the jail. From the CBS 4 Website:

“So your friends were saying threatening things about Obama?” Maass asked.

“Yeah,” Nathan Johnson replied.

“It sounded like they didn’t want him to be president?”

“Yeah,” Johnson said.

Later in the interview Nathan revealed his true side.

“He don’t belong in political office. Blacks don’t belong in political office. He ought to be shot,” Johnson told Maass.

“Do you think they were really plotting to kill Obama?” Maass asked.

“I don’t want to say yes. I don’t want to say no,” he said.

Johnson’s girlfriend Natasha Gromek is also under arrest on drug charges, according to the Website.

Say what you will about local news, but that is one damn fine bit of police reporting, and it underscores the truth that everyone is trying to downplay here in Denver.

Race An Issue

Race is still one of the overriding issues in America. Sometimes I wonder if we will ever get over it.

Sometimes I think I make too much of the race issue. Since I’m from the Deep South and Birmingham is my adopted home town, I wonder if I am overly sensitive about it. I don’t want to cover up the sad history of race relations in this country, but somehow I want to atone for it.

I look at the Obama kids, and look at my own children, and I think maybe there is hope. Both my son, West, and my daughter, Livi, have “bestest” friends who are African-American. I like to think sleepovers at their friend’s homes or our homes are no big deal, but that’s kind of a lie to myself. They are a way for me to atone.

When I was growing up, there is no way that my parents would have let me have a sleep over at a black person’s house. My dad went ballistic one time when we spent most of an afternoon and ate supper at a black friend’s place. I had a great time there. His mom taught me how to do the twist, the pony and the fly.

Now, though, it’s OK. Not just to go over to “their” neighborhood, but it’s OK to stay the night. Of course “their” neighborhood is “my” neighborhood, now.

Sometimes I think we don’t give ourselves enough credit. America has come a long way on the race issue.

But then… But then… Something like this “incident” happens in my hotel.

It doesn’t even have to be something that high profile. In my vacation this summer at Smith Lake I was again reminded of how far we have to come.

On one of the concrete supports that hold up “Big Bridge” spray painted in black were the letters KKK, and a legend that warned people not to let the sun set on them. The graffito was on a state-highway bridge near a boat ramp. It had been there a while. No one seemed bothered by it.

Maybe that’s why I’m here in Denver as a journalist without portfolio. It’s important to see Obama get the nod. It’s important to atone.

© 2008 – 2015, Glynn Wilson. All rights reserved.