Assault on storefront preacher in Athens possibly racially motivated

By Joe Johnson

A storefront preacher recently fended off what might have been a racially motivated assault near a busy westside Athens intersection.

Gainesville resident Jacarra Smith on Saturday afternoon was preaching through a sound system under a tent at the Shell gas station on Tallassee Road near Mitchell Bridge Road when a young white male got out of a pickup truck and tried to pick a fight with the 36-year-old preacher, according to an Athens-Clarke County police report.

The male “starts becoming argumentative about (Smith) and what he was speaking of,” the report notes, and when the aggressor tried to punch the preacher, Smith warded off the blow with his arm.

The suspect was then pulled away from Smith by friends and they drove away westbound on Tallassee Road, police said.

In an interview on Wednesday, Smith told Classic City News that the suspect yelled racial epithets during the incident.

“I don't know if it was a racial thing, but he said things like, ‘bust a move nigger,’ and things I think he said to try to instigate a fight with us,” according to Smith who said that he was with two other black males who belonged to the Fisher of Men Ministry.

“His face was just a few inches from mine when he started swinging on me, but I blocked him," Smith said.

Signs that were posted around the tent had pictures of slave ships on them, he said.

Smith said he had been to Athens several times before to preach, mostly around the Nellie B Avenue area in east Athens, and that that other blacks were his target audience as he tried to spread the word of nonviolence.

“Our whole goal is to try and stop our people from killing each other and getting them back to God’s commandments,” he said.

Police said they were able to view the incident on the Shell station’s surveillance system.

The suspect was a slim, younger white male who wore white shorts, flip flops and a white hat, according to police, and the pickup truck he was in was a red 2001 Chevrolet Silverado that possibly disp0layed Georgia tag TEF5927.

Police said that further investigation was needed to identify the offender, who faced possible charges of simple assault and attempted simple battery.