Changes

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>

Thompson, however, defends his mayoral record on race relations. "Race wasn't an issue until my opponent brought it in. My administration built three new [[hospital]]s. Jet airport, firehouses, integrated the police department, had black personnel in every department. We went eight years without a tax increase or [[bond issue]]. I had a biracial committee<ref>http://crdl.usg.edu/voci/go/crdl/publicSearch/viewVBO/6517/0;jsessionid=8E605E31732715B994440854E6255064</ref> that met every month. Things like doctor's offices. Black patients had to go in a back door. We got it stopped. And the [[newspaper]]s had a different edition for black subscribers. My committee talked to them, and they stopped it."<ref>https://books.google.com/books?id=su2g0MFHfpgC&pg=RA1-PA188&lpg=RA1-PA188&dq=will+d+campbell+ronnie+thompson&source=web&ots=5ttOIp_gzf&sig=eS3tR54AnASFJxQ77eTFE77MsmM&hl=en#PRA1-PA189,M1</ref>

Thompson, however, defends his mayoral record on race relations. "Race wasn't an issue until my opponent brought it in. My administration built three new [[hospital]]s. Jet airport, firehouses, integrated the police department, had black personnel in every department. We went eight years without a tax increase or bond issue. I had a biracial committee<ref>http://crdl.usg.edu/voci/go/crdl/publicSearch/viewVBO/6517/0;jsessionid=8E605E31732715B994440854E6255064</ref> that met every month. Things like doctor's offices. Black patients had to go in a back door. We got it stopped. And the [[newspaper]]s had a different edition for black subscribers. My committee talked to them, and they stopped it."<ref>https://books.google.com/books?id=su2g0MFHfpgC&pg=RA1-PA188&lpg=RA1-PA188&dq=will+d+campbell+ronnie+thompson&source=web&ots=5ttOIp_gzf&sig=eS3tR54AnASFJxQ77eTFE77MsmM&hl=en#PRA1-PA189,M1</ref>

In a 1971 speech to the Macon Optimist Club, Thompson urged blacks to work hard. He noted that he is descended from "a laboring family from a mill town." Thompson said that he understands the discrimination of poverty and declared that "the best way that I know to fight poverty is to go to work." The speech brought a standing ovation from the Optimists. Thompson declared that the city would fight for its citizens and businesses.<ref>http://crdl.usg.edu/voci/go/crdl/publicSearch/viewVBO/6517/0;jsessionid=8E605E31732715B994440854E6255064</ref>

In a 1971 speech to the Macon Optimist Club, Thompson urged blacks to work hard. He noted that he is descended from "a laboring family from a mill town." Thompson said that he understands the discrimination of poverty and declared that "the best way that I know to fight poverty is to go to work." The speech brought a standing ovation from the Optimists. Thompson declared that the city would fight for its citizens and businesses.<ref>http://crdl.usg.edu/voci/go/crdl/publicSearch/viewVBO/6517/0;jsessionid=8E605E31732715B994440854E6255064</ref>