By Gretchen Keiser

Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan has joined the ranks of those concerned about the impact of an upcoming nationwide CBS-TV “docudrama” whose subject is the tragic Atlanta child murders that took place four years ago.

After viewing about half of the five-hour film in a private screening at WAGA-TV (Channel 5) last Saturday, the archbishop confessed that he was “confused and a little bit frightened” by the impact of the film and the inability of the viewer to tell what in the film is based on historical fact and what is fiction,

Watching the film, “it is very difficult knowing what is fact and what is fiction,” Archbishop Donnellan said. The confusion is aggravated by the fact that the film is technically “very well presented” and well acted, he said.

The docudrama, which will air on Channel 5, the local CBS affiliate, Feb. 10 and Feb. 12 in two parts suggests that Wayne Williams, convicted of killing two of the 28 young blacks who were on the city’s list of “missing and murdered children” in 1981, was improperly found guilty in an atmosphere of hysteria and pressure to solve the cases.

Archbishop Donnellan was among some 70 civic, business and religious leaders asked to attend a closed-door meeting by Mayor Andrew Young Jan. 31 to discuss the upcoming show and its impact upon the city of Atlanta, the city’s children, and the city’s image across the country.

Among aspects of the city shown negatively in the first half of the film were allegations that the Atlanta police force was crippled by racial tension. One scene, for instance, shows a white police officer trying to convince a black ranking officer - apparently depicting then Commissioner of Public Safety Lee Brown - that a series of murders of black children are connected and the possible work of a single killer. The black superior won’t accept the theory, accuses the white police officer of having trouble taking “orders from a black man” and the white officer turns in his badge and quits the force. In other scenes, a white policewoman makes racist remarks about the mother of one of the murdered children, while questioning her. There is also tension between the black city administration and the families of the missing and murdered children.

One of the few positive notes in the first half is struck when a white clergyman brings a group of people to join in a weekend search for clues to the missing children which has been organized by the black community.

Much of the first half claims to depict the internal workings of the police investigation, questioning of families of the missing and murdered children, closed doors at City Hall where the mothers met with city and police officials, and the interrogation of Wayne Williams.

Only those privy to the police investigation would be able to comment upon the accuracy or inaccuracy of much of the presentation, Archbishop Donnellan noted.

But he described the reflection upon then-Commissioner Brown and then-Mayor Maynard Jackson as “dreadful” and said the film’s image of their attitude did not square with his memory of the time or the city’s effort to surmount the tragedy.

“From my contact with them (Commissioner Brown and Mayor Jackson), I was very impressed by their grave concern” and by their efforts to bring together different groups in the city to try and assist, the archbishop said.

The film’s emphasis upon racial division “impugns the concern of the city of Atlanta,” the archbishop said.

“My own experience is that there was truly a united concern and a united effort to solve” the missing and murdered children’s cases, he said.

The archbishop recalled that he and other religious leaders were asked to take part in numerous meetings at the time both to try and assist some aspect of the investigation and to try and contribute to an atmosphere of calm and concern in the city. The meetings cut across all racial and religious lines, he said.

Along with virtually every church and denomination in Atlanta, the archdiocese took part in the summer of 1981 in a massive program called “Help The Children” which was designed to provide a safe place for city children, especially those in inner city black neighborhoods, to spend summer days. On its own the archdiocese ran three day camps which cared for 900 to 1,000 children every week day that summer.

Financial support and volunteers for the day camps came not just from the archdiocese but from Catholic communities all over the country.