In Their Own Words: Activists Share Reflections on Chattanooga Recall

This coming Friday the recall of Mayor Ron Littlefield returns to the Division II Circuit Court room of Judge Jeff Hollingsworth. In the lead up to this momentous day I have taken the time to ask some of the folks who were deeply involved in the recall to share their personal thoughts and reflections on what the recall has meant and continues to mean to them:

Caara Stoney

"Working the recall was especially encouraging for me as a person living in a diverse neighborhood and believing that we all must be part of community and practical change in local government. The folks that I met began to change their feelings about social justice and personal involvement in the process within minutes of our conversations. They had seen the work that COA was doing to recall the mayor and their apathy turned toward hope and pride in being part of positive change. There are many who think that the recall was a waste of time. For me, it was a sign of change, a sign of growth and a sign of empowerment that will last in an area that many had thought a wasteland. I'm hopeful that the next elections will produce a wave of voters ready to step up for democracy. Ready to be the change that they seek." - Caara Stoney

Perrin Lance

"I've thought about it often. Why I did it. Why I took to the streets for days on end and pounded pavement and went through so much stress, so much work, so much. I've thought about it a lot and the best reason, the truest, was because I wanted to be an arm of the people. I wanted myself, my work and my actions, the very thing I woke up to do every morning to be an emodiement of the democratic experiment. I wanted people to have a chance at doing something big, more than recalling a Mayor that had failed them. I wanted to give them a chance to fundamentally change the circumstances of their lives, to give them a real say."

- Perrin Lance

Video taken at City Council Agenda Meeting on Tuesday February 7 2012

Lana Sutton

"The recall was voters asserting their right to remove Mayor Ron Littlefield. It has become a neon reminder that our elected officials don't acknowledge us as the rightful government, but as the ones who will be ruled, and the ones who will be overruled by our mayor, certain city council members, a certain judge, and elements of the city's elite, who mean to remain in power over us. They don't care if they have to trample our charter, our rights, and our will to do it. The gauntlet is down. Are we the government, or are the usurpers in high positions the government? Who gets our power, our resources, our wealth, us or them? Forget the delusion of democracy. Our mayor has. Our council has. Our county judge has. It really is us vs the ones who would exploit us for profit and personal aggrandizement. And they're winning, for now." - Lana Sutton

Video taken from City Council Meeting in 2010 after Judge Jeff Hollingsworth issued a ruling on the side of the mayor - the ruling was later overturned by the Tennessee Court of Appeals.