Changes

When racial rioting broke out in Macon on June 20, 1970, Thompson issued "shoot-to-kill" orders to police to stop looting. He drove a [[National Guard]] [[tank]] onto a Macon elementary school campus to intimidate would-be criminals. He authorized billboards in Macon warning that armed robbers would be "shot on sight".<ref>http://laughingwolf.net/archives/2005_08.html.</ref>

When racial rioting broke out in Macon on June 20, 1970, Thompson issued "shoot-to-kill" orders to police to stop looting. He drove a [[National Guard]] [[tank]] onto a Macon elementary school campus to intimidate would-be criminals. He authorized billboards in Macon warning that armed robbers would be "shot on sight".<ref>http://laughingwolf.net/archives/2005_08.html.</ref>

In the midsummer of 1971, a racial crisis erupted when a black city employee was shot and killed by a white policeman, who a month later was cleared of involuntary manslaughter.<ref>Robert Friedman, "City Votes to Pay Officer's Defense," ''Macon Telegraph,'' June 30, 1971, p. A1; Grant Jackson, "Mayor to Keep Beck on Duty," ''Macon Telegraph,'' June 30, 1971,  p. A3; Jackson, "Beck Case Dismissed by Jury," ''Macon Telegraph,'' July 16, 1971, p. A1.</ref> Mayor Thompson imposed a 36-hour [[curfew]] after several suspected fire bombings. He fired a carbine in the air, heard over police [[radio]], while he accompanied a police patrol.<ref>http://www.mindspring.com/~teeth/caution/macontg100years.htm</ref> He further angered [[liberal]]s by publicly discussing the "best type of bullet" to use against the criminal element. Critics called him "Machine Gun Ronnie," a sobriquet to which he did not object though he never handled a [[machine gun]]. In fact, he paid for his campaigns by selling memorabilia containing the name "Thompson" on model machine guns.<ref>http://www.rru.com/~meo/ga-folk/ga.5.html; http://www.civilrights.uga.edu/bibliographies/macon/mayor_thompson.htm</ref>

In the midsummer of 1971, a racial crisis erupted when a black city employee was shot and killed by a white policeman, who a month later was cleared of involuntary manslaughter.<ref>Robert Friedman, "City Votes to Pay Officer's Defense," ''Macon Telegraph,'' June 30, 1971, p. A1; Grant Jackson, "Mayor to Keep Beck on Duty," ''Macon Telegraph,'' June 30, 1971,  p. A3; Jackson, "Beck Case Dismissed by Jury," ''Macon Telegraph,'' July 16, 1971, p. A1.</ref> Mayor Thompson imposed a 36-hour curfew after several suspected fire bombings. He fired a carbine in the air, heard over police [[radio]], while he accompanied a police patrol.<ref>http://www.mindspring.com/~teeth/caution/macontg100years.htm</ref> He further angered [[liberal]]s by publicly discussing the "best type of bullet" to use against the criminal element. Critics called him "Machine Gun Ronnie," a sobriquet to which he did not object though he never handled a [[machine gun]]. In fact, he paid for his campaigns by selling memorabilia containing the name "Thompson" on model machine guns.<ref>http://www.rru.com/~meo/ga-folk/ga.5.html; http://www.civilrights.uga.edu/bibliographies/macon/mayor_thompson.htm</ref>

The Reverend Julius Caesar Hope (born 1932), a Macon black minister and the president of the Georgia [[NAACP]], contended that African Americans in Macon were tired of living with unfulfilled promises for so long.<ref>http://crdl.usg.edu/voci/go/crdl/dvd/viewItemc/wsbn63449-1-broll/flash/6517/2;jsessionid=7157AB6843F3D68E8CA43EC2ED1A0965</ref> Hope viewed Thompson as ambivalent toward blacks: "I think Mayor Thompson was a politician of expediency. I really don't think deep down within Ronnie Thompson was a [[racist]]."<ref>Buddy Moore, Thesis, pp. 34-35.</ref> Macon lawyer Virgil Adams, who was a teenager at the time of the Thompson administration, alleged that Thompson "damaged Macon's image. When it got dark, you (blacks) needed to be off the street. Parents wouldn't let us out of the house at night for fear of being locked up, beaten by police, or shot."<ref>https://books.google.com/books?id=4qPZiyJZOkYC&pg=PA129&lpg=PA129&dq=Ronnie+Thompson+(Macon,+Georgia)+&source=web&ots=5vhIr1Ngab&sig=MehwVaKHcaJ3LUWqMi9OYP0eVpc&hl=en</ref>

The Reverend Julius Caesar Hope (born 1932), a Macon black minister and the president of the Georgia [[NAACP]], contended that African Americans in Macon were tired of living with unfulfilled promises for so long.<ref>http://crdl.usg.edu/voci/go/crdl/dvd/viewItemc/wsbn63449-1-broll/flash/6517/2;jsessionid=7157AB6843F3D68E8CA43EC2ED1A0965</ref> Hope viewed Thompson as ambivalent toward blacks: "I think Mayor Thompson was a politician of expediency. I really don't think deep down within Ronnie Thompson was a [[racist]]."<ref>Buddy Moore, Thesis, pp. 34-35.</ref> Macon lawyer Virgil Adams, who was a teenager at the time of the Thompson administration, alleged that Thompson "damaged Macon's image. When it got dark, you (blacks) needed to be off the street. Parents wouldn't let us out of the house at night for fear of being locked up, beaten by police, or shot."<ref>https://books.google.com/books?id=4qPZiyJZOkYC&pg=PA129&lpg=PA129&dq=Ronnie+Thompson+(Macon,+Georgia)+&source=web&ots=5vhIr1Ngab&sig=MehwVaKHcaJ3LUWqMi9OYP0eVpc&hl=en</ref>