Desperation leads to conspiracy theory about a candidate's name. Will the real Carrie Searcy please stand up.

From the July 16th Tennessee Tribune

Things really get weird and silly this close to election and they don't get much weirder or sillier than in District 2 where Carrie Searcy is running for Council and is being attacked because her last name is "Searcy."

Searcy is  also the name of a prominent Black family here in Nashville. Walter Searcy is an attorney and Joyce Searcy, his wife, heads a large non-profit organization.


Not only are opponents of Carrie Searcy scrambling to ensure everyone knows that Carrie Searcy is not Joyce Searcy, or related to that Searcy family, but in a recent piece, opponents of Carrie Searcy alleged she purposely took the name Searcy to confuse people and to promote her law practice. A word of mouth campaign is spreading the theory that she has hid her white identity and has purposely let people think she was Joyce Searcy.  They allege Searcy is not really her name at all, but a name she just chose.

A piece published in CNN iReports by a community blogger shows multiple head shots of Carrie Searcy captioned as Carrie with various last names of prominent Black attorneys. (link)

Carrie Searcy is married to  James Searcy who works as a probation officer for General Sessions Court. When she married she took her husbands last name which is traditional and was the norm until fairly recently. Carrie says if those questioning her last name would just go to the Davidson County Clerk's office and check, her marriage certificate is on file.

The Tennessee Tribune, a newspaper serving the Black communality,  has called Searcy "Lilly white" and unable to represent an African-American community.

They have alleged she has hid her identity so people would not know she was white. They allege her campaign material does not show her picture.

I have seen her primary campaign piece and her picture is prominent and the press release announcing her candidacy that she sent me included a picture. Carrie told me that the only campaign material without her picture is her yard signs.  Most yard signs do not have a candidate's picture.  It sounds to me like her opponents are pretty desperate.

Just for the record, if I ever decide to run for office again or write a book or become a performer or do anything where name recognition is important, my name is "Rod Williams;" well, actually it is Rodney M. Williams (the "M" stands for Mark but that is not on my birth certificate.) "Williams" really is my last name but I am not related to Avon Williams, Robin Williams, Tennessee Williams or Hank Williams.

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