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Watching what's happened on camera this week in Minneapolis has gotten me thinking about the thousands of small but consequential moments that most of us never hear about. And so, here's a story about a guy you might not have heard of: George Simkins. 1/
In 1955, Simkins was a dentist in Greensboro. He was also a golfer, but had gotten tired of playing at Greensboro's black course, Nocho Park. It was near a sewage plant, and it was shabbier than the other city owned course, Gillespie Golf Course. 2/
Gillespie was whites-only and owned by the city, but in 1949, some black golfers said they were taxpayers, and thus had the right to play. The city responded by leasing the course to a private company, and that company made the course members-only. All were white. 3/
Simkins wanted to play there. So in 1955, he and five friends showed up, paid the $.75 greens fee, and teed off. The golf pro was irate, and followed them around. Simkins: "I had to keep a club in my hand for protection, because I thought any minute that he would hit me." 4/
The police showed up, but the men kept playing. They gave up after nine holes. Later that night, officers arrested all of the men at their homes and charged them with trespassing. 5/
At city court, the judge told the men to pay the fine and be done with it. They refused. In Superior Court, Simkins's lawyer found out two white jurors had played at Gillespie, and called them as witnesses. The jurors said they weren't members, but had no trouble playing. 6/
Still, Simkins and the others were found guilty. They appealed, and at the same time, they took their case to a federal court, which ordered Gillespie to be integrated. Two weeks before the order took effect, Gillespie's clubhouse mysteriously burned down. 7/
Rather than rebuild the clubhouse and integrate, the city of Greensboro used the fire to *condemn the entire course.* It then removed the topsoil from the front nine and built a garage on it. The city closed Nocho Park down as well. 8/
Four years later, in 1959, Simkins's original case then reached the U.S. Supreme Court. He lost, because of a technicality. 9/ https://www.oyez.org/cases/1959/7
So, up until this point: A city, the state judicial system and others mobilized to keep a black man from playing golf, and in the one case when they *were* ordered to integrate, the city responded by closing down *all* recreational facilities, black and white. 10/
So, what did George Simkins do? He set out to get thousands of black men and women in Greensboro registered to vote. Before, about 5,500 were registered. Simkins and others doubled that number. 11/
After that, Simkins sent letters to those newly registered voters, telling them to throw out the councilmen responsible for closing Greensboro's recreational facilities. It worked. That new voting bloc was powerful enough to change the makeup of city council. 12/
So on December 7, 1962, exactly seven years after Simkins was arrested for playing golf, he hit the first tee shot at the newly reopened and integrated Gillespie Golf Course. Of course, he wasn't done. 13/ https://www.ourstate.com/the-round-that-changed-a-town/
So basically, it's no small leap to say that arresting a black man for playing golf literally changed the course of an entire city. It changed the course of Simkins's life too. Before, he was a dentist. Afterward, he dedicated his life to civil rights. 14/
So, when I see what's happening in Minneapolis, or in Georgia, or in Louisville, I wonder how it's going to change lives in ways that will reverberate months, or years, or decades from now. And I wonder how many little unseen moments will do the same. 15/
tl;dr VOTE 16/16
