Pith has been on the receiving end of an unpleasant phone call or two over the years, but rarely have they risen to the level of the tongue-lashing we got from Councilwoman Erica Gilmore Monday morning.
On Saturday night, Pith noticed a tweet from Gilmore saluting the local branch of the Church of Scientology on an anniversary.
"Congratulations to the Church of Scientology on 30 years. #scientology" read the tweet, which has since been deleted.
That struck us as odd, especially from an eight-year council member who's currently running for an at-large seat. You don't see many politicians these days eager to link their names to the controversial church — especially after Alex Gibney's explosive HBO documentary Going Clear, which includes critical interviews with former members, paints Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard as dishonest and disturbed, and reports allegations of abuse against church higher-ups while detailing their famously aggressive tactics to silence critics and former members.
My comment on Twitter consisted of a single word: "Huh."
On Monday morning, Pith reached out to the District 19 councilwoman to ask about the tweet and why she deleted it. When she called back, a plainly furious Gilmore didn't want to talk about Twitter or deleted tweets or Scientology. Instead, she responded to the inquiry with wide-ranging criticism of her coverage in the Scene, in a largely one-way conversation that went on for 15 minutes.
She cited a recent story by this reporter on the council's rejection of Mayor Karl Dean's three major capital projects — which had focused in part on Gilmore's initial support for (and then opposition to) plans for a relocated police headquarters in her district, and whether she had gone back on a deal made with the Dean administration. To Gilmore, this was an example of an unfair, "chauvinist" story from a reporter "operating from white male privilege."
"The men don't get the same coverage," she said. "They can do everything, they can be obnoxious and they still get a good pat on the back for being a council member because that's the way guys are supposed to act."
Of the tweet referencing her tweet, Gilmore said that "it was not objective at all." OK, that point Pith concedes — we couldn't hide our surprise at seeing a candidate for higher office giving a shout-out to the Church of Scientology. But that wasn't the extent of her concern.
"It was really extreme," she said, later (wrongly) accusing Pith of retweeting "offensive responses" to her tweet. "Very extreme. And the level of intolerance concerns me here.”
“You don’t know anything about the people here," she added. "What have you done? They’ve done things for the community.”
When Pith referenced the allegations against the Church of Scientology, Gilmore suggested it was the same as other major religions.
“There are legitimate questions about Christianity, there are legitimate questions about the flag, but just because a person has it you don’t go to the extreme," she said. "There are legitimate concerns about Muslims, but if people associate with them you don’t do the whole to the part. That’s not logical. That’s crazy.”
After all that, we still don't know much about Gilmore's evening at the Church of Scientology. Asked if she wanted to provide any context for her tweet and the event she was apparently attending, she declined.
"It doesn't make a difference because you can't see my point of view, you don't understand, and I think it's a certain privilege that you get to operate from," she said. "So it's not going to be beneficial."
Update (6/23): Dr. Sekou Franklin, a Middle Tennessee State University professor and North Nashville community activist, reached out Monday night to offer some more context about the local Church of Scientology. Franklin says that the pastor of the church has worked closely with prominent black pastors on civil rights issues. These Christian pastors, Franklin says, have celebrated that coalition building work.
We also got this message from Remziya Suleyman, well-known locally as an activist and prominent member of the Kurdish community — and also featured in our 2013 People Issue — who now works in Washington, D.C., as Director of Congressional Affairs for the Kurdistan Regional Government.
@iamstevenhale Rev. Fessler has done incredible interfaith work in Nashville. The church may have a stigma but he & their leaders work hard
— Remziya (@Remziya) June 23, 2015
