The Gantt Report
The devil loves a fire! The devil loves hell fire and the devil also loves fires on earth.
Take student devils, for instance, almost every time a college or a university wins a championship or gains national or international notoriety in some way, some students celebrate by starting a fire.
When athletic devils dislike it when a sports star exercises his options and leaves one team for another some people decide to burn the jerseys of the leaving sports star.
Don’t act like you’ve never heard of witches being burned at the stake or about the towns of Tulsa and Rosewood being burned to the ground!
And, if you live in a neighborhood like the one I live in and you want to draw a crowd of your neighbors, you set a bon fire and your devilish neighbors will come out of the woodwork and visit your property even if they pass your house everyday and refuse to speak to you.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were three Jews that were known in Biblical days for being saved by divine intervention from Babylonian devils that tried to burn the young men alive by placing them in a fiery furnace.
It should be obvious by now that this column is about people who set fires with devilish intentions.
In the summer of 1968 hundreds and maybe thousands of American cities went up in flames after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Young Black men and some Black women were arrested and charged with setting fires at that time. But not all men arrested for starting fires were actually guilty of setting the blazes.
One Tallahassee, Florida man arrested in 1968 was charged with firebombing a North Florida store and killing an innocent man.
But in addition to being fire bugs, devils are also liars!
James Colbert was charged with murder for the fiery death of the son of the store owner whose building was set on fire that night after Dr. King’s murder.
Even though he professed his innocence from day one, Colbert, only 17 years old at the time, and another 15-year-old boy was arrested and sent to prison for arson and first degree murder.
The jury that heard the case recommended mercy and Colbert was spared the death penalty but he did serve over three years in jail and was also stabbed by white racists while incarcerated.
In June 1971 the Florida Supreme Court overturned Colbert’s wrongful conviction and ordered a new trial based on civil and constitutional violations.
The Tallahassee Fire Chief at the time said his agency’s investigations revealed that the blaze was not started by a firebomb allegedly thrown through a window. The fire was started from the inside of the store and subsequent reports suggest that the store owner finally admitted that he started the fire that killed his son and the suspected reason was to try to get insurance money for the store by blaming Blacks in the aftermath of Dr. King’s death.
Don’t act so surprised. Even though many Black people were charged and arrested for arson nationwide in 1968, many of those fires were set by devils trying to get insurance payments.
As for James Colbert, he never got a formal apology, compensation or resolution from the Governor’s office for his false and wrongful arrest that sent him to prison for three years for a crime he did not commit.
Speaking about Florida Governor Tricky Ricky Scott, a few days ago Scott signed a bill (HB 227) that allowed a 78 year-old man to finally receive payment for years he wrongly served in prison after being falsely accused of murdering his seven children.
You tell me why Governor Scott won’t do the same for James Colbert!
Colbert needs a lawyer but he doesn’t have a lot of money. To raise money to finance his legal work, Colbert wants to publish a book about his story. He also believes movie rights about his story would be very lucrative to people like Will Packer or Rob Hardy or Spike Lee or Tyler Perry or Ice Cube or Fifty Cents or Cash Money and others that produce films.
If you can help Mr. Colbert in any way hit me up and I’ll give you his address, phone number and other contact information.
So, next time there is a riot or a civil disturbance in an African American neighborhood don’t assume that it was started by wild and angry Black people because the devil loves hell fire and fires on earth!
You are a twit, and your idea of the white “devil” is not misunderstood amongst the common man. You should be fired for your blatant racism. Though I doubt an educate such as yourself understands the difference between common prejudice, and the very real racism that harbors so much resentment in your calloused and cold heart. I would explain it to you but I doubt the echo in that empty skull of yours would bear any reason. Sure it is always the white boogie-man stirring up discord in the black community; that is why so many of those youths that do have potential are consumed in the streets by violent and unnecessary ends at the hands of their own peers. I suppose you couldn’t be bothered to look up any actual information since you are just a racial agitator. You want a fire? I gave birth to it and evolved your simple simian world, how’s that Gantt? Mine is the embodiment of creation, and I go by the name PrometheusLives. It is time for the community to come together, learn, and prosper; not fall prey to the victim mentality that you are so boastful at procuring to the ignorant masses. You stand for nothing, and you will fall for anything; I suppose this is how you intend to misdirect the youths looking for a real way out of poverty, and oppression. It is not one color of skin that suffers alone, we are one human family. Such a shame that a blind man such as yourself would be allowed to take on any leadership in any community, for you sir are the one leading your brothers into the ditch. Go on and marinate on that one up in the mother-wheel why don’t you. In a million lifetimes you will never posses true insight from your current vantage point, so pull your head out.
A hit dog will always holler. Devils come in all colors but those that are hurt by the truth are usually pale!