So Now the Bodies Don't Count?

Something has changed in Columbus. Not the pain. Not the grieving families. Not the candlelight vigils. Not the mothers identifying their children. The bodies are still falling. The gunfire is still echoing through neighborhoods. Families are still planning funerals instead of birthdays. What has changed is the volume of the outrage.

During former Police Chief Freddie Blackmon's tenure, every homicide seemed to become a political issue. Crime statistics were dissected. Questions were asked at council meetings. Press conferences followed. Community leaders demanded answers. Social media lit up. The message was clear: someone had to be held accountable.

Today, I have one question: Where is that same energy? Where are the voices that once demanded accountability? Where is Councilor Toyia Tucker? Where is Councilor Charmaine Crabb? Where is Glenn Davis? Where is Joanne Cogle?Where is Walker Garrett?  These were among the elected officials who were outspoken when crime dominated the conversation under Chief Blackmon. They publicly questioned leadership, pressed for answers, and made public safety a central issue.

So why the silence now? If accountability was the standard then, why isn't it the standard today? If every homicide deserved an explanation then, doesn't every homicide deserve one now? If Columbus wasn't safe then, has something changed today—or have we simply changed who we're willing to question?

These are not rhetorical questions. They deserve answers. This isn't about defending Freddie Blackmon. This isn't about attacking Chief Stoney Mathis. This is about consistency.

Chief Mathis now leads the Columbus Police Department. With that position comes responsibility, just as it did for every chief before him. When violence continues to claim lives, the public has every right to ask what is being done, what strategies are working, and what challenges remain.

I realize mayor Skip Henderson and Councilor Joanne Cogle's time is short but while they are still in position they and the rest of City Council have a responsibility to ask those questions publicly. That is oversight. That is leadership. That is what elected officials are supposed to do.

Instead, the public hears very little. Where are the demands for detailed crime briefings? Where are the calls for updated homicide strategies? Where are the tough questions during council meetings? Where is the urgency?

Have we become so politically comfortable that accountability has become optional? The standard should never depend on personalities. It should never depend on political friendships. It should never depend on who appointed whom or who supported whom during an election.

If you demanded answers from one police chief, you should demand answers from the next. If you criticized one administration over violent crime, you should be just as willing to question the current one. Otherwise, the public is left to conclude that accountability isn't about public safety at all. It's about politics.

Every homicide represents a life that will never come home. Every shooting leaves another family forever changed. Those victims deserve more than temporary outrage that disappears after an election. They deserve leaders who will ask difficult questions regardless of who occupies the mayor's office or the chief's office.

So I'll ask them again. Councilor Toyia Tucker... Councilor Charmaine Crabb...Councilor Glenn Davis…Councilor Walker Garrett Where is the same passion? Where are the same demands? Where are the same tough questions you once insisted had to be asked? Because if the standard was accountability yesterday, it should still be accountability today.

The people of Columbus deserve consistency. The families of the victims deserve consistency. And the dead deserve to count—every single one of them—regardless of who is in charge.

So let me ask Councilor, Bruce Huff…Councilor Travis Chambers…Councilor Gary Allen and the newly elected Councilors Simi Barnes and Cathy Cook now that you are there...Will the Bodies Count?