By Norma Adams-Wade
Columnist
An Ellis County judge made me change my mind about how to solve the dispute over preserving or tearing down Confederate monuments. I changed my mind after reading that Ellis County Judge Todd Little got in trouble in early January for allegedly defacing court property. Ellis County officials said the property—a sign that read “Negroes” over a former courthouse water fountain—had been preserved to remind all that racist segregation should not be repeated.
The story behind how Little, a White man, ended up allegedly defacing the sign so far is still a bizarre mystery, mixed with lots of guessing about his motive–good, bad or misguided. Last November, I expressed my then firm belief about my best solution to the tear down or preserve argument. Keep the monuments in place and post a permanent plaque explaining why they were wrong and how we should learn from the mistakes of our past. But I was just thinking….Now that I witness how Judge Little’s story is turning out, maybe my plan is not so foolproof.
Here’s what led up to the defacement. Ellis County Constable Curtis Polk Jr. complained on social media that as the only Black person elected to an Ellis County position, he felt insulted that his office was moved to the courthouse basement and next to the lesson-teaching “Negroes” sign that he had to see daily. News media widely exposed the story, the county apologized, and moved Polk to a proper office location. Judge Little supervised the correction and news media quoted him making a nice apologetic statement:
“I would suggest the signage was kept so the evil of requiring people of another color to drink at another water fountain would never happen again,” Little’s quote stated. “I am saddened Constable Polk was hurt by this office relocation process. That was not the intent.” Perhaps that should have ended the matter. But it did not. The situation became bizarre. A YouTube video soon surfaced apparently showing the judge directing another man to paint over the “Negroes” sign. Soon after, the judge was named as a suspect in an Ellis County District Attorney felony investigation into vandalism of a public monument.
Outgoing Ellis County DA Patrick Wilson recused himself from the case and it was transferred to Dallas County DA John Creuzot. As I write this report, Creuzot has not yet commented. Interestingly, Dallas County had a similar situation with a segregation-era water fountain that began about 18 years ago in 2003 and was resolved about 10 years later. A metal plate fell off from over a water fountain in the County Records Building in downtown Dallas. A fading “Whites Only” sign was revealed still visible on the wall. A longstanding debate ensued concerning what to do about the sign–paint over it or preserve and explain it as a teachable lesson.
Lauren Woods, a talented Black artist—born in Kansas City Missouri but raised in Dallas—intervened. She proposed an idea to Dallas County Commissioners in 2005 and worked eight years to raise funds and construct “A Dallas Drinking Fountain Project” that was unveiled in 2013. The multimedia art installation plays instructive videos from the civil rights era when anyone turns on the fountain to drink water. Unlike the Lauren Woods project, the Judge Todd Little/ Constable Curtis Polk Jr./DA John Creuzot drama remains unsolved as of this writing. So far, we are left to wonder why Little took the action he did. Was his heart in the right place but his thinking not clear? Did the “vandalism” help the situation or make it worst? Meanwhile, my lesson: maybe posting a plaque and saying “don’t do this again” may not be that simple of a solution.
Norma Adams-Wade, is a proud Dallas native, University of Texas at Austin journalism graduate and retired Dallas Morning News senior staff writer. She is a founder of the National Association of Black Journalists and was its first southwest regional director. She became The News’ first Black full-time reporter in 1974. norma_adams_wade@yahoo.com
