Founder of “The Folding Chair” Podcast Calls Montgomery’s Brawl ‘Karma’

Before the Montgomery Brawl spawned the memes, there was a podcast titled ‘The Folding Chair.’ Its founder, social justice activist Osyrus Bolly, created the platform to discuss systemic racism and its impact on Black Americans.

“I’m getting a lot of phone calls that assume I just ran with the title in this viral moment,” Bolly said. “A lot of people have been contacting me, asking, ‘How did you come up with the name so fast?’”

But Bolly was ahead of his time. Long before scores of Black men and women raced – and swam – to help riverboat captain Damien Pickett fight off a group of white men on the Montgomery docks, the Arkansas native knew the impact of a good folding chair.

“I initially started the podcast in 2020,” he explained. “The planning happened in 2019. At the beginning of that year, I had so many friends doing great things in the community and around the state … I was trying to write stories and submit them, but no one wanted to publish them … but I was like, ‘This content is too good to let it sit on one of my email drives.’ So, I decided to release them in podcast form.”

Again, Bolly had timing on his side.

“I had no clue it [the pandemic] was going to happen,” he said. “It worked out because everyone was sheltering in place. I don’t think anybody has better timing than the Most High and maybe Thelonious Monk. But I think the best thing I had was a plan for content to be released over a six-to-nine-month period. I just wanted to be consistent and release something monthly for 2020. There were also a lot of protests in the summer of 2020.”

The murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer defined the summer of 2020. Bystanders videotaped Derek Chauvin kneeling for over nine minutes on Floyd’s neck as he pleaded for help and repeatedly said, “I can’t breathe.” In 2021 Chauvin was convicted of murder and sentenced to 21 years in prison.

‘Generational Beatdown’

Cellphone cameras were also rolling when several white men attacked Damien Pickett, a Black riverboat co-captain trying to dock his vessel in its reserved space. As Pickett answered the first blows with some of his own, a fight broke out on the Montgomery Riverfront, where enslaved Africans had arrived centuries ago during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Cellphone videos show defenders from various places along the riverfront racing to Pickett’s aid. The videos of the brawl went viral with the picture of a Black man wielding a folding chair among the memes shared on social media. Police have reportedly interviewed the man.

“When I first saw it, it inspired me,” Bolly stated. “It ignited me because a lot of times we see a lot of unwarranted white violence not answered. We don’t see Black people being defended. So, the whole brawl … you asked for it. This is karma. It just shows when people unite. We see wrong being done and we address it immediately. It shows you cannot attack people for no reason and assume people won’t respond.”

New Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to Congress and the first Black candidate for a major-party nomination for president, inspired Bolly’s folding chair. Chisholm famously said, “If they don’t give you a seat the table, bring a folding chair.”

He recalled brainstorming with friends whose conversation also touched on the song by Solange, ‘Seat at the Table.’

Bolly and Black America are still sharing thoughts and insights about the poetic justice witnessed at what’s being called the ‘Alabama Sweet Tea Party.’ Hilarious memes continue to circulate almost a week after the brawl. And assault charges have been filed against three of the white men who attacked Pickett.

The duality of the moment is not lost on the man who will spend the coming months focused on ‘The Folding Chair.’

“It was a matter of life and death in my opinion. That brother with the chair, I appreciate him,” Bolly added. “He’s given everyone so much social media content. I think it’s important we laugh in these types of moments because laughter is medicine for the soul. It’s okay to laugh.”