By Kevin Palmer
In his Metro Spirit column titled, Roundtree’s Stubbornness Exceeded Only by His Ego, radio host Austin Rhodes referred to Augusta, Georgia Sheriff Richard Roundtree as “an immature A-hole.” Rhodes must issue a public apology to Sheriff Roundtree.
Austin’s white privilege is not permission to use vulgarisms to describe an African American sheriff. Perception is everything. When a Black sheriff is denigrated, so is the Black community. In response, Blacks must weaponize their consumer dollars.
In Augusta, there are over 190 thousand Black folks. Make no mistake, to be successful local businesses need Black consumer dollars. Businesses can’t afford to have Austin Rhodes negatively affect their bottom line. Smart business people would rather collect the Black consumer dollar, then sponsor an uncouth windbag. Until Austin Rhodes apologizes, Blacks must not frequent businesses which sponsor his radio program.
The Austin Rhodes Show sponsors are listed at WGAC.com. Contact businesses using social media to voice your displeasure, i.e., text, email, tweet, Facebook posts, etc.
The Black community must send a loud and clear message.