South Pittsburg resident Jackie Walker and others complaining to the South Pittsburg City Commission on Tuesday about the events on April 29 during the National Cornbread Festival. SOUTH PITTSBURG, Tenn. – Some residents of South Pittsburg are furious because they say race was the sole reason a state patrol “strike team” was called to disperse a large crowd at the National Cornbread Festival in late April.
And this week they expressed that anger to the South Pittsburg City Commission.
For the last two years, the predominantly black neighborhood around Moore Park along First Street has organized a gathering at the park with free food and music during the annual festival.
“Never once has there been an unkind word to anybody that came to that park,” resident Jackie Walker said. “We have not been a problem.”
But on the night of April 29, a large crowd formed between the park and the festival just blocks away on Cedar Avenue, making First Street impassable.