{"id":1146,"date":"2019-02-09T10:17:53","date_gmt":"2019-02-09T15:17:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=1146"},"modified":"2019-02-09T10:29:15","modified_gmt":"2019-02-09T15:29:15","slug":"why-a-town-is-finally-honoring-a-black-veteran-attacked-by-its-white-police-chief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=1146","title":{"rendered":"Why a Town Is Finally Honoring a Black Veteran Attacked by Its White Police Chief"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"468\" height=\"589\" data-attachment-id=\"1149\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?attachment_id=1149\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Picture8.jpg?fit=468%2C589&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"468,589\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Picture8\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Picture8.jpg?fit=468%2C589&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Picture8.jpg?resize=468%2C589&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1149\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Picture8.jpg?w=468&amp;ssl=1 468w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Picture8.jpg?resize=238%2C300&amp;ssl=1 238w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 468px) 100vw, 468px\" \/><figcaption>Sgt. Isaac Woodard Jr., who was blinded during a brutal beating by the police in South Carolina, with his mother in 1946.CreditSpecial Collections and Archives\/Georgia State University Library<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>By\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/audra-d-s-burch\">Audra\nD. S. Burch<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Feb. 8, 2019<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>It\nwas a racial assault so vicious that it became one of the early chords of the\ncivil rights movement, and led to the desegregation of the military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sgt.\nIsaac Woodard Jr., 26, was a decorated African-American veteran. He had just\nbeen honorably discharged from the United States Army in 1946 and was headed\nhome to Winnsboro, S.C. Still in uniform, Mr. Woodard, was forcibly removed\nfrom the bus, brutally beaten and jailed by the white police chief in the town\nof Batesburg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But\nin the small town where Mr. Woodard was beaten so severely that he lost his\nsight, the crime went unpunished and largely faded from memory. Almost three\ngenerations later, a black Army veteran in Georgia and a white federal judge in\nSouth Carolina separately stumbled upon Mr. Woodard\u2019s story and vowed to honor\nhis memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On\nSaturday afternoon, town and civic leaders and groups of veterans will walk the\ntwo blocks from the bus stop to the jail where Mr. Woodard was taken to honor\nhis memory and acknowledge the cruelty that was done to him. Part of the\ntrickle of small towns throughout the country confronting their violent, racist\nhistories, the town of 5,000 \u2014 now called Batesburg-Leesville \u2014 will <a href=\"https:\/\/www.postandcourier.com\/columnists\/column-a-cop-gouged-out-a-black-vet-s-eyes\/article_b112cf02-2a7d-11e9-ad8c-07e0bc45c3aa.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">unveil a historic marker<\/a>\ndowntown as a permanent reminder of the racial injustice that happened there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>[For\nmore coverage of race, <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/10\/01\/us\/subscribe-race-related-newsletter.html?action=click&amp;module=inline&amp;pgtype=Article\">sign up here<\/a><em> to have our Race\/Related\nnewsletter delivered weekly to your inbox.]<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHere\nis this hero that so many people have forgotten or didn\u2019t know about,\u201d said Don\nNorth, a former Army major from Carrollton, Ga., who spent three years\nresearching and raising money for the marker. \u201cThis is about remembering him,\nwhat he endured and the legacy he left behind.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mr.\nWoodard enlisted in the Army in 1942, serving as a longshoreman in the Pacific\nTheater of World War II. After he was discharged, he left from Camp Gordon in\nAugusta, Ga.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What\nhappened on the bus is still unclear, but a dispute over a restroom break led\nthe driver to call the police when they stopped in Batesburg, 35 miles\nsouthwest of Columbia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mr.\nWoodard and the bus driver argued after Mr. Woodard asked to take a bathroom\nbreak. The bus company\u2019s policy required drivers to accommodate such requests.\nThe driver later said Mr. Woodard had been drunk and unruly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\npolice chief, Lynwood Shull, and another officer ordered Mr. Woodard off the\nbus. He was beaten at various points while in police custody, despite\nprotesting that he had done nothing to warrant the assault. Chief Shull jammed\nthe ends of his blackjack into Mr. Woodard\u2019s eyes, at one point striking him so\nviolently that the stick broke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\nnext morning, Mr. Woodard appeared before the local judge where he was convicted\nof drunken and disorderly conduct and fined $50, the coda to a story that\nintimately portrayed the disrespect and horrific treatment of black veterans\nreturning from service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere\nwere multiple episodes of black veterans abused across the South,\u201d said Judge\nRichard Gergel, the federal judge who began researching Mr. Woodard\u2019s history\nin 2011. \u201cThey were serving their country, fighting for American liberty and\nfreedom and not given liberty and freedom when they came back home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>News\nof the blinding of a World World II veteran traveled beyond the South, much of\nit carried by the black press. President Harry Truman was sickened by the\nassault and ordered a federal investigation. It was a highly unusual move at\nthe time: investigating a white law enforcement officer for violating a black\nperson\u2019s civil rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At\nthe trial, Chief Shull said he acted in self-defense and had only struck Mr.\nWoodard once. Medical records never shown in court disproved Chief Shull\u2019s\nclaim. It took 28 minutes for an all-white jury to acquit the police chief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\njudge who presided over the trial, J. Waties Waring, was deeply angered by the\nverdict, later issuing several decisions that helped upend Jim Crow laws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cTwo\nof the people profoundly affected by this story were Truman and J. Waties\nWaring,\u201d Judge Gergel said. \u201cTruman formed the first presidential civil rights\ncommittee and Judge Waring, who was influenced by the travesty of justice,\nbegan writing landmark civil rights decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>[Judge\nGergel has written a book about the case. <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/02\/07\/books\/review\/richard-gergel-unexampled-courage.html?module=inline\"><em>Read our review here.<\/em><\/a><em>]<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mr.\nWoodard recovered in a veteran\u2019s hospital and eventually moved to New York\nwithout his wife, who walked out on the marriage after the incident. His family\nin New York helped to care for him until his death in 1992. He was 73.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Robert\nYoung, 81, Mr. Woodard\u2019s nephew and main caretaker, said that for some time his\nuncle was understandably bitter about what had happened. \u201cBut at some point, he\njust tried to live his life,\u201d he said. \u201cI still have this wonderful memory of\nhim coming home for a break before he went overseas. He was standing in the\nkitchen in his Army uniform and my mom and sister were so excited to see him.\nHe had made us proud.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mr.\nWoodard\u2019s story might never have been formally noted by Batesburg-Leesville if\nnot for Mr. North and Judge Gergel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mr.\nNorth was stationed at Fort McPherson in Atlanta in the early 1990s when he\nfirst heard about Mr. Woodard. A student of black military history, Mr. North\nresearched more and decided a historic marker at the site of the bus stop was\nthe best way to honor the veteran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He\nlaunched the Sgt. Isaac Woodard Jr. Historical Marker Association and submitted\nplans to state officials in 2017. The Disabled American Veterans organization\nfunded most of the cost of the marker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Judge\nGergel, who presided in the Dylann Roof murder trial in 2017, began poring over\npolice, court and medical records looking for the tiniest details of the\nWoodard attack around 2011. He talked to the town\u2019s city attorney, Chris\nSpradley. He had never heard of the case. Neither had Mr. Spradley\u2019s father,\nwho was a former mayor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\npapers and archives were not enough to fully unravel an attack that was six\ndecades old. So on a cool winter morning in December 2017, Judge Gergel\ntraveled from Charleston to Batesburg-Leesville to see where it all happened,\nand walk the 250 or so paces from the bus stop to the jail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Town\nleaders met him there. They, too, wanted to find a meaningful way to honor Mr.\nWoodard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\nhad not heard about this,\u201d said Mayor Lance Shull, who is not related to the\nlate police chief. \u201cThis event had been mostly swept under the rug. I know it\ncan\u2019t be corrected, we can\u2019t erase what happened but we can acknowledge this\nhorrible incident.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\nwant people to know it is not 1946 here anymore,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\ntown jumped in to support Mr. North\u2019s plans for the marker. Leaders also\ndecided to do something else, equally permanent: they reopened the case in June\nagainst Mr. Woodard and a municipal court judge dismissed the drunken and\ndisorderly charge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On\nSaturday, a group of town leaders, African-American and disabled veterans as\nwell as Mr. Young and Mr. Gergel, who are meeting in person for the first time,\nwill walk the two blocks through downtown and past the remnants of what Mr.\nWoodard likely last saw before being robbed of his eyesight: the railroad\nstation, a drugstore, a hardware store.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They\nwill gather at the corner of a vacant lot where the old jail once stood. The\nstate historic marker will rise from a tiny patch of earth, filled with freshly\nplanted yellow nandina plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mr.\nWoodard\u2019s story is etched in the marker. In print. And Braille.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A version of this article appears in print on Feb. 9, 2019,\non Page A17 of the New York edition with the headline: This Town Repressed the\nMemory of a Brutal Racial Attack, Until Now. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytreprints.com\/\">Order Reprints<\/a>\n| <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/pages\/todayspaper\/index.html\">Today\u2019s Paper<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/subscriptions\/Multiproduct\/lp8HYKU.html?campaignId=48JQY\">Subscribe<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sgt. Isaac Woodard Jr., who was blinded during a brutal beating by the police in South Carolina, with his mother in 1946.CreditSpecial Collections and Archives\/Georgia&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[20,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-policing","category-national-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8VBh7-iu","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":654,"url":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=654","url_meta":{"origin":1146,"position":0},"title":"Prosecutor took huge donation from police union just before clearing union boss in killing of unarmed pregnant teen","author":"Donnie","date":"March 17, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"MARTIN CIZMAR\u00a0\u00a017 MAR 2018 Alameda County prosecutor Nancy O'Malley\/Screenshot In March 2017, a group of men\u00a0wearing street clothes and carrying AR-15sambushed a car full of teenagers at an apartment complex in Hayward, a suburb of San Francisco. 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