Police chief's supporters plan march on City Hall

Organizers say criticism of Goliath Davis is an attack on the black community as a whole.

By ED QUIOCO

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 24, 2000

ST. PETERSBURG -- Charging that the city's black police chief has faced racist and unfair criticism, supporters of Goliath Davis said Sunday they will march on City Hall to show that the community stands behind him.

Bishop John Copeland, pastor of the Macedonia Freewill Baptist Church, urged the community to show they will not tolerate attacks on the chief.

"We are in trouble unless we respond," Copeland said at a Sunday rally sponsored by the Coalition of African-American Leadership.

"If there's one thing about being black: You can be a lawyer, doctor, scientist . . . but to the system, you are still nobody."

The march on City Hall is scheduled for Saturday, with marchers assembling at noon at 701 Dr. M.L. King (Ninth) St. S.

Omali Yeshitela, the coalition's political action committee chairman, said the attacks on Davis are attempts to undo the black community's progress.

"It's not about Goliath," Yeshitela said. "It's an attack on this community through Goliath. Let's get the whole community, and march and let them know we don't appreciate attacks on the chief because we know what they are after."

About 100 people, including St. Petersburg Mayor David Fischer, council members Frank Peterman and Rene Flowers and several local ministers, attended the rally on Sunday.

"When I heard that this would be a rally for (Davis), I thought you should see the person who hired him," said Fischer, who described Davis as one of the finest police chiefs the city has seen. "I stand by him at any call."

Yeshitela also asked the community to consider a boycott of Tyrone Square Mall, where a 15-year-old was recently kicked out because he was wearing his hat to the side. Mall officials said that Ephraim Sykes, son of the Rev. Manuel L. Sykes, was asked to straighten his cap. Family members say he complied.

Mall officials agree that he did, but they say he later turned it to the side again. The guard was enforcing the mall's dress code, which prohibits clothing commonly recognized as gang-related, they said.

Yeshitela said the mall's action and policy are racist.

"(Ephraim Sykes') offense was walking through the mall trying to give white people his money," Yeshitela said. "(Mall officials) have to change those policies. If you don't change it, then you don't get our money."

Yeshitela said there are no black gangs in St. Petersburg. "Most of the gangs in St. Petersburg are white," he said.

Yeshitela also urged the community to run a black candidate for mayor to force other candidates to be specific about what they planned for the black community.

"What we have to do is organize the power of this community," Yeshitela said.

Darryl Ervin Rouson, of the local law firm Rouson, Pellarchy & Davis, also voiced his support for Davis.

"If Goliath Davis asked me to run buck naked down Central Avenue, I wouldn't do it, but I would think about it for a long time," Rouson said.

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