The Testifiers: 4 who speak consistently during city council meetings share their reasons why – Shreveport Times

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The City Council meetings at Government Plaza have people who consistently speak at every meeting. (Photo: Henrietta Wildsmith/The Times)

Whether it's fighting for disinvested neighborhoods, reciting a poem, sharing a bit of levity, or suggesting a better way for governing bodies to conduct their business, Marvin Muhammad, Craig Lee, Bill Weiner and Sammy Mearsare well-known citizens who exercise without fail, their right to speak during public meetings.

Well call them the Testifiers.

Craig Lee is an activists who speaks at the City Council meetings consistently. (Photo: Henrietta Wildsmith/The Times)

His strong Chicago political ties shaped his earliest activism. The generational disinvestment of African American communitiesspurs his continued efforts. He feels compelled to address the Shreveport City Council and Caddo Commission, over and over again, even though his testimonies seem to fall on deaf ears.

Lee owns and runs Creole SoulLouisiana Meat Pies but finds time during the day to carry out his civic duty.

I returned to Shreveport in 1994 as a pharmaceutical sales rep, said Lee, dressedcasually in denim, wearing his signature red, green and gold beanie as he sat at a small table in The Times newsroom to share his story.

Although Im a native of Shreveport, I have the same mindset as most of my colleagues that I grew up with. I got into the political arena in New Orleans at Xavier (University) by way of my contacts in Chicago. As a freshman, we had a lot of upperclassmen. One guy in particular went on to become president of the Cook County Commission, Todd Stroger, Jr.

Stroger and Lee graduated at the same time.

There were several guys who were a big influence and they called it the Chicago Club, Lee said. This was my first time seeing political activism. These guys were doing absentee voting for (late Chicago Mayor) Harold Washington in the mid-'80s and so it was shocking. I was aware of federal politics, but I was not aware of the local politics. So, when they helped Harold Washington win, that was thrilling to see, and it was through all of that that my political identity began to be shaped and crafted.

Lees Chicago connections run deep. Marc Morial, president/CEO, National Urban League, he said, was their political handler at that time.

It was a Queensboro murder, the community Lee grew up in, that was part of the reason he decided to stay in Shreveport.

It was a young man I was a big brother to in high school, Lee said. He came from a two-parent household and when I saw his photo plastered on the news, I wondered how he could become a killer? I asked the question, Why are these brothers and sisters murdering each other? There was no spirituality, no culture, no education, no economic cohesiveness.

Lee decided at that moment that he was done with corporate America and started his community activism. This May will be 25 years that hes been doing grassroots advocacy work.

Turns out, Lee has deep-rooted family connections to Shreveport. His great, great-grandfather, Phillip Moore, and Moore'sbrother, migrated from east Texas,Lee said.

They bought up 1,000 acres plus some land over where you see the municipal airport and incorporated the land and called it Moores Town. So, I have a vested interest in the transformation.

Relatives eventually sold the property to the City of Shreveport. It was incorporated and is now called Mooretown.

When you go in front of that podium, especially when you know youre not going to have the votes on an issue that is very important, theres some dejection to some degree, but I will continue to do this until I die.

Sammy Mears speaks at the City Council meetings consistently. (Photo: Henrietta Wildsmith/The Times)

Lovable and charming is how most people describe Mears, who brings a bit of levity along with his concerns. His time at the podium are the moments those in attendance look forward to and appreciate. You never know what hes going to share, but its always delightful and sometimes serious.

Mears can add "hero"to his list of accomplishments. The Shreveport Police Department recognized him recently for his quick-thinking efforts in saving his neighbors life and presented him with the Chief Appreciation Award during a February council meeting as he took center stage in the spotlight.

Easily recognized by his long hair as he sits in his regular seat on the first row of the meeting room chambers, Mears said Friday he likes to lighten things up with a little joke before he shares his concerns.

I show up to speak at the meetings because I have something to say, Mears said. One of the things Im concerned about now is that three people came to me and said theyve seen me at the City Council meetings and they wanted to know what I could do to help them out with the rooster thats running around and scaring people in the Highland area. I told them I would take care of it at the meeting. I went down there to let it be known that this rooster is out there, and it may (seriously hurt) a person or an animal or even a little child. So, it needs to be caught and taken away.

Mears enjoys church activities and also spends time reading at the Shreveport Memorial Library.

I go to the Highland Blessing Dinner because I have a good time fellowshipping with people at the table.

As to what he thinks about Shreveport, Mears said there'stoo much violence going on and it needs to stop.

Famous for his jokes, Mears shared one for The Times audience, 'What did one wall, say to the other wall?' Answer: ''Ill meet you in the corner. Thats one of the best ones Ive told, he added. He shared another one, Who takes the shortest time to get ready for a vacation, the elephant or the rooster? The next time you see Mears, ask him for the answer.

Bill Wiener attends public meetings cause he wants to make Shreveport a better place. (Photo: Henrietta Wildsmith/The Times )

Sculpture artist and architect Bill Wiener Jr., 83, hails from a renownedfamily of architects who in the 1930spioneered what came to be known as the International Style of architecture.

As for his sculptures, each piece is based on geometry and repetition of a variation on a theme. Weiner has enjoyed taking two-dimensional material such as steel plate, and creating three-dimensional art.

The arts, however, are not the only thing on his mind as hes taken part in local government for years and still does today, though he mentioned recently that hes growing weary because the council ignores his suggestions.

A family members involvement in the Underground Railroadinfluenced his civic engagement.

My parents were always involved in government, Wiener said. Ive done a lot of things and Ive served on national boards under both (former U.S. presidents) Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. Ive had a lot of experiences that influenced me.

I come hereand I see what Shreveport is doing wrong and what theyre not doing but Im about to stop all this because they dont care, Wiener said. "Several weeks ago, I went there to tell them what to do to get ready for the coronavirus. Its always the same answers, Well get a committee to look at this but I never hear back. Since then, I wrote a letter to the mayor and told him that he must buy chemicals for the water plant because the 18-wheelers will not be runningand chemicals might not be available.

Weiner said city government is not thinking in long-range terms as to how to make the city better.

On the issue of race relations in Shreveport, Wiener said, Were one community of men, women, white, black, Hispanic, gays, and we need to look at the whole community.

Marvin Muhummad speaks at the City Council meetings consistently. (Photo: Henrietta Wildsmith/The Times)

During the day, Marvin Muhammad, 51, works at Turnkey Painting and Remodeling, a company he owns. He relocated just under a year ago to Shreveport from Dallas. Hes settling here to be near his family. Not long after, he was appointed to serve on the Caddo Parish Industrial Development Board, an engine he saidfor him to help stimulate economic development throughout the city and parish.

I was born in San Francisco but my adopted father, Odell Davis Sr., moved across the country back in the 1970s to get away form big city life and he implanted us into what was first known as Cooper Road, now known as the Martin Luther King community, Muhammad said.

There is a reason he speaks.

What we have to understand is that everything in life, our every activity, is dictated and predicated by public policy, Muhammad said of why he continues to show up and speak during public meetings. "So, if were going to be a society of laws and ordinances, then we want to be engaged so we can have some type of controlling factor over ourselves.

On the frustration level of seemingly not being able to get anything approved through the council that will benefit African American communities, Muhammad said people have to be politically astute.

We push voter registration drives and we push getting to the polls, but the political involvement in our community, stops there, Muhammad said. We have to understand that our political engagement must extend past the voting movement. We must fill the chambers of Government Plaza and we must attend school board meetings and engage these municipalities that control our lives.

As far as being frustrated, Muhammad said hes actually glad.

We as a people, believe that politics is a vehicle for us to achieve freedom and justice and true equity and equality and thats just not the case, Muhammad said.

"In five short months, we'll be commemorating, the 1965 Voting Rights Act signed by Lyndon B. Johnson. Since that time, it has been amended on a major scale at least five times. Once in 1970, again in 1975, 1982, 1992 and 2006. Why is it that we as black people in Americaand have contributed so much to America, we have to have a Voting Rights Act, when we have the 14th and 15th Amendment of the (U.S.) Constitution and we are U.S. citizens? Something is wrong with that picture.''

After slavery, black people walked away with nothing but determination and the shirt on their back. Black women, he said because of negative historical factors, lost trust that black men could protect them.

Theres a longstanding gap between black women and black men, so the black man has a lot of work to do to regain the trust, the love and the admiration, of the black woman, Muhammad said. When the sisters have the lovethey need from us and we have the admiration from the sisters, then we can accomplish whatever we so desire. When we achieve that, we can build our communities up.

As for race relations, Muhammad said an honest dialogue with no shouting or screaming is needed.

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The Testifiers: 4 who speak consistently during city council meetings share their reasons why - Shreveport Times