Well, that's surely an understatement, since only hours before, a contingent of community leaders and supporters of the famed Bicycle Man, Mr. Moses Mathis, were diligently trying to get Mathis' lease renewed and the insurance coverage he needed to continue his work of fixing and refurbishing hundreds of computers and bicycles for underprivileged youth in our community.
A noble cause from a noble man. So, you can imagine the "shock and awe" when everyone woke up one morning, several weeks ago, to read the Fayetteville Observer headline and found out that the building hosting his operation had been sold out from under Mathis, by his arch rival Lula Crenshaw and her elusive and somewhat invisible, posse, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Park Committee.
This devastating event literally took this community's collective breath away. How could this be? There are so many questions on how this could have happened. How can she (Crenshaw), who chairs the MLK Jr. Committee Board, do this? How could the board do this? How was a transaction of this magnitude kept from the public and completely under the Cumberland County officials' radar screen? How did Crenshaw and her "dubious deputies" keep a $500,000 sale to Place Acquisitions LLC of Atlanta, Ga. under wraps and cloaked in secrecy? How did Fayetteville State University get pulled into the fray? But, more importantly, people are asking: where is the compassion? The appreciation? The humanity? Oh my! The indignity of it all.
This man, Moses Mathis, who has been honored locally, regionally and nationally for his commitment and dedication to Cumberland County's children, has been disrespected at the highest level by the very community he serves and loves. Our local African American community, I might add.
This edition of U&CW will attempt to provide our readers with some answers but mostly insights into the Bicycle Man, his plight, his dreams and the nightmare of dealing with Lula Crenshaw and the undaunted, unprecedented hypocrisy of people and a committee that shames the name of the greatest and most wonderful civil rights icon that has graced our nation's history, Martin Luther King, Jr.
Unfortunately, I fear this is only the beginning of the saga. What has transpired here is complicated and convoluted, made worse by nasty people making nastier allegations while being intentionally evasive while providing a proliferation of misinformation and doublespeak. Honestly, the entire situation is an embarrassment and, like an onion, the more you peel it, the more it stinks and yes, it will also make you cry.
The good news is that it will be the people of this community - all the people, white, black, red, yellow and blue - who will ultimately decide the truth and who will be doing the right thing for the right reasons. They will be the ones who will ultimately pass judgment on the value of the work provided by Moses Mathis and on those who abused and misused their faith and public trust.
This is cache, read story here
