The same day the Garland Unit of the NAACP shared its virtual Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration, a despicable message was left on the organization’s voicemail. Gwendolyn Daniels, who plans the annual event, said that she checked the voicemail on the evening of Saturday, Jan. 17, after the event. She was curious to see if anyone had left messages about the celebration.
The caller who allegedly left the hateful message had used the N-word and made derogatory remarks about Dr. King. At first, it caught Daniels off guard; however, after she had time to think about it, she wasn’t that surprised.
Daniels said that the caller had to have listened through many message prompts.
“He was patient,” she said. “When he got to the one that said if you have something about MLK, that’s when he tapped into my box and left the voicemail.”
Police notified
Daniels talked to the Garland NAACP Unit’s President Annie Dickson and other members of the organization and a decision was made to notify the police. So she emailed the recording to Police Chief Jeff Bryan who expressed disgust over the message. Additionally, he said there would be an investigation.
Daniels was shocked by the suspect’s response to the Garland police. He told the detective that he couldn’t believe that they had called him just for leaving that message. Similarly, the suspect also allegedly made a point to say that he did it and it’s how he feels.
Case goes to grand jury
The matter was assigned to a detective who has put together the information and sent it to the Dallas County district attorney’s office. The charge is Harassment.
According to GPD’s Public Information Officer, Lt. Pedro Barineau, as of Friday, Feb. 5, the case is in line to be presented to the grand jury who will decide if there is sufficient evidence to indict the suspect.
The caller is not a Garland resident. However, Daniels speculated that he must have watched the celebration then called and left the message. The virtual program was shown on YouTube, the city of Garland’s channel and the Garland ISD channel so the caller had ample opportunity to see it.
Dickson said that at her age, she has seen it all.
“But, I haven’t seen it as horribly as my mother and people before her, but it’s something you just live with and you just pray and you get through it by the grace of God…But it’s something totally new to my daughters and granddaughters because they did not grow up with that,” she said.
In addition, Dickson said that this is the second time in 50 years that she has heard that word from someone like this caller.
“The first time, someone said it to my face from a car many years ago,” she said. “And then to hear that message just cut through my soul, like someone took a knife and just drove it through my heart.”
Facebook page removed
Daniels and other NAACP members working on the MLK celebration had already experienced some stressful days. Facebook took the organization’s page down without warning just a few days before the virtual event. Moreover, the social media platform has still not told them why the page was removed.
The entire celebration had been planned for presentation on FB. Dr. Chonda Williams who is the Garland NAACP secretary and currently acting as first vice president, was able to set up a YouTube channel for the event and it went off with no problems.
“In my opinion, it all worked out for the best,” Williams said. “It [YouTube] actually ended up being a better platform.”
Subsequently, the group was asked if they planned to change their phone number and the answer was resounding “no.”
“We are not changing our phone number or our voicemail boxes,” Williams said. “We are not going to give in to intimidation or fear or prejudice. We’re not doing that. That’s not going to happen.”
An update will be posted when the grand jury makes a decision.