Voting Station

Charles Evers

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Advocate

The Resume

    (September 11, 1922-July 22, 2020)
    Born in Decatur, Mississippi
    Republican
    Birth name is James Charles Evers
    African-American civil rights activist
    Older brother to civil rights icon and martyr, Medgar Evers
    NAACP State Voter Registration Chairman (1954); later inherited his brother's Field Director position
    Elected to office as Mayor of Fayette, Mississippi, in 1969
    Wrote and self-published two autobiographies - 'Evers' written with Grace Halsell (1971), and 'Have No Fear,' written with Andrew Szanton (1997)
    Came to national attention after announcing that he was throwing his support behind Donald J. Trump for the Republican Presidential nomination, formally endorsing his candidacy (Mar. 4, 2016)

Why he might be annoying:

    He is frequently pegged as Medgar Evers' younger brother when he's not (he was three years Medgar's senior).
    He briefly served as a George Wallace surrogate.
    He admitted to participating in bootlegging, hustling, and prostitution management, in Chicago, before his political career.
    He was defeated for Mayoral re-election after twenty years' tenure (1989).
    He was characterized as difficult to work with and unable to properly delegate authority during his time as Mayor.
    He unsuccessfully ran for governor in 1971.
    He also ran for the Senate in 1978, as an Independent candidate, but lost again.
    Following his 1989 defeat, he gave a concession speech saying: 'Twenty years is enough. I'm tired of being out front. Let someone else be out front.'
    He was more interested in getting to meet with Donald Trump to discuss getting a catfish plant (and maybe a few casinos) built in Mississippi than he was in discussing Trump's assorted stances on issues pertaining to civil rights or minorities.
    He later elaborated on his economic motivations for endorsing Trump by saying 'Our catfish is shipped to China and brought back for us to buy. Put a catfish farm here!'
    His endorsement of Trump was greeted by supporters as a means to excuse or neutralize accusations that Trump was insensitive to people of color (and to combat the notion that his support base was only comprised of poorly educated whites who beat up on protesters).
    He endorsed for President a man famous for his rhetoric against illegal immigration but for some reason still felt compelled to use the politically correct term 'undocumented' when discussing his position on the issue.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was named 'Man of the Year' by the NAACP for 1969.
    He worked closely with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
    He became the first black mayor of a Mississippi town or city since the time of post-Civil War Reconstruction.
    He fell in love with a Pacific islander during his WWII service, but was unable to marry her due to segregation laws in his home state.
    He was an advisor to Bobby Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and Lyndon B. Johnson.
    He was arguably more politically gifted than his more famous brother, who now posthumously overshadows him.
    He endured the emotional trauma of having his brother mysteriously killed by an unidentified assailant.
    Roy Wilkins was apparently deadest against his taking on his late brother's old Field Director position, but he insisted on taking on the position.
    He popularized the slogan, 'hands that picked cotton can now pick the mayor.'
    He spent most of his time as Mayor as an Independent, only changing his registration to Republican in order to vote for Ronald Reagan, in 1980.
    He praised Donald Trump for being an unscripted political figure who didn't rely on pre-written speeches.
    He steadfastly refused to get sucked into an identity politic debate when MSNBC tried to pull the 'Trump won't denounce David Duke' card on him, during an interview.

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 6 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 16 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 136 Votes: 45.59% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 89 Votes: 51.69% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 22 Votes: 59.09% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 17 Votes: 70.59% Annoying