9-26-07, 9:24 am

The other day while playing with my remote control, I stumbled onto the “Andy Griffith Show.” This was the later Griffith years, the colorized broadcasts. Opie had to have been around 12. Aunt Bee was still baking pies and using them for blackmail leverage. Andy was still datin’ Helen Crump (no sex, just datin’). And Deputy Barney “One Bullet” Fife had moved on to the big screen. All was well in Mayberry until I caught wind of a strange sight. I saw a Black man walking down the sidewalk. My first instinct was to call the police, but how do you give directions to Mayberry?

I mean what was wrong with Andy anyway? Didn’t he at least ask his producers what they meant when they told him the show was going color? This brother didn’t seem very comfortable during his split-second debut, he was careening at a pretty fast pace and reading a newspaper at the same time. I asked myself, 'Why would a Black man walk so fast in Mayberry?’ I mean it wasn’t like he was in Selma or Boston. This was Mayberry; a quiet peaceful town. Certainly he couldn’t have been in any trouble or anything; hey, maybe he was late or something. Late for his daily walk. Ya’ll know how we are. Maybe Ernest T. Bass was after him. Even worse maybe Floyd the Barber was after him. Look, all I know is I was watching Andy Griffith one day and I saw a Black man walk by. Maybe he was doin’ Helen, I don’t know. Look I’m sorry I brought this up, so let’s change the subject, OK? Just remember a Black man, sweater, cap, reading a newspaper. The only person to take notice of him was Howard Sprague the County Clerk; who just gave brotherman a half-smile.


I wondered long after he had blurred past my screen, how did he even get that part? And how fast did the director tell him to walk? Did they spot him while he was walking down the street? Did they say, 'Hey there now, that’s a nice walk you got there boy… ahhh sir. Would you mind if we used you as an extra? Don’t walk too slow now, the audience will get too familiar with you. Don’t run, they won’t notice the nice colored guy walking by, understand?' Walk fast Black man, walk fast. Believe it or not, the show wasn’t even about the brother, obviously he had more important things to do. That episode was about Aunt Bee trying to raise money to buy robes for her church choir. In all fairness I didn’t watch the whole episode maybe the brotha had a ‘trois with Helen and Daphne. Ya'll remember Daphne, she was down for whateva', 'hello doll' was her intro.

You see, it’s not really Mayberry I’m thinking about. It’s the town of Jena, LA. All jokes aside, but all most whites want us to do down there is keep walking, keep walking and buy all means walk fast. Walk past the eating area, walk past the people, and yes walk past the tree, walk past all shaded areas. The whites own the shades, or so they thought. Recently an estimated 50,000 Blacks rode, flew and walked to Jena, and stuck around a spell. Even though this demonstration only stiffened the court's resolve against freeing Mychal Bell on 9/21, can we afford to just keep walking by why our prisoners just keep sitting? We can’t tolerate any more half-smiles, we can’t afford to do any more half-stepping. Our only option is to take a stand. This really isn’t TV at all, but life and death.

There has been some descrepancy as to why Bell is still locked up only days after tens of thousands were screaming 'Free Mychal Bell!' The criticism seems directed mainly toward civil rights leaders and celebrities who led the march but were cited for not being able to raise the $90,000 bail to get him released both before and during the rally. It would seem that all those brothers and sisters there who no-doubt spent good money to travel to Jena should have been able to chip in and that is exactly what many did. Reportedly they contributed $23,000, but among the celebs only rock star David Bowie added to the pot by giving $10,000.

The possibility exists that Bell is still incarcerated because there no longer is a bail because that $90,000 only applies to the charges that were dropped on 9/21. If that's the case then no new bail can be issued and Bell's ongoing lockdown is due to simple backlash from the judicial system due to much local white resentment over the fuss being made over the six and what they no-doubt see as a week-long obstruction their daily routine.

--Chris Stevenson is a columnist for the Buffalo Criterion. Contact him at

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