Greene County Democrat

Month: March 2022

  • Newswire: Major League Soccer launches $25 million transaction with Black banks; Citizen Trust Bank leads the bank collaboration

    Major League Soccer

    NEW YORK – February 24, 2022 – Major League Soccer today announced that it would leverage a historic $25 million loan from a syndicate of Black banks, marking the first time any sports league has participated in a major commercial transaction exclusively with Black banks. This comes following significant enhancements to MLS’s Diversity Hiring Policy in 2021, a Barbershop Forum on Building Bridges to Prosperity within the Black Community, and the historic 2020 solidarity demonstration by Black Players for Change.

    “Major League Soccer’s partnership with the National Black Bank Foundation is a tangible step in the efforts to close the racial economic gap in the United States, and it’s the right business decision for us,” said MLS Commissioner Don Garber. “As a league, we continue to increase our initiatives in support of racial justice. To make a genuine impact, economic justice must be part of the equation. This transaction with a syndicate of community-focused Black banks is an important measure, and it is our hope this will raise awareness of the importance of Black-owned banks and their impact on the economy.” 
     
     The new MLS partnership, coupled with the league’s strong credit rating, will grow the banks’ capital cushion through fees and interest earned, creating additional capacity for new lines of credit for home and small business loans in communities of color across the country. The loan was facilitated by the nonprofit National Black Bank Foundation, which organized a syndication team led by Atlanta-based Citizens Trust Bank and New York-based Carver Federal Savings Bank. 
     
    “Major League Soccer has raised the bar for corporate America with this transformative partnership,” NBBF co-founder and general counsel, Ashley Bell, said. “If other leagues and major corporations follow the MLS model, lives of Black families all across this country will change for the better because their local Black bank will have the capital resources to approve historic numbers of home and small business loans.”

    This partnership is a testament of how we are stronger together,” said Cynthia Day, President and CEO of Citizens Trust Bank.  “MLS and the NBBF are aligned with and trust our commitment to make a difference in reducing the racial wealth gap with diversity and inclusion woven into every aspect of our economic ecosystem. Our goal is to provide access to capital for more minority businesses that represent the lifeblood of our communities.  They are the catalyst for creating jobs, supporting homeownership, and creating sustainable wealth for generations. We look forward to the many opportunities for partnerships like these that promote and assist in our continued pursuit of the health and financial well-being of minority businesses, families, and communities,” added Day.

    Black banks seek to reduce Black-white wealth gap

    Black banks fuel social mobility in the United States by connecting borrowers of color to capital. However, the sector’s impact has been limited by a chronic, acute undercapitalization that has restricted the flow of credit it could create for underserved borrowers.
     
    According to the Federal Reserve, the Black-white economic gap in the United States has remained virtually untouched since the Civil Rights Movement. Historical efforts by Black families to escape the continuum of poverty by building intergenerational wealth, primarily through homeownership and small business entrepreneurship, have been thwarted by racialized credit access. In 2020, lenders denied Black mortgage applicants at a rate 84% higher than white borrowers. 
      
    Transacting major deals with Black banks as MLS has done is one step of many in erasing America’s racial wealth gap. These partnerships diversify Black banks’ portfolio risk and grow their capital capacity to create and extend credit and other wealth-building services to Black borrowers.
     
    Roughly half of all U.S. Black households were unbanked or underbanked in 2019, compared to just 15 percent of white families. The lack of access to essential financial services has forced Black households to rely on costly alternatives like check-cashing services, payday loans, money orders, and prepaid credit cards. Over a financial lifetime, those fees can total upwards of $40,000, according to the Brookings Institute.

    As part of this partnership, MLS will collaborate (through MLS WORKS, the League’s social responsibility platform) with the National Black Bank Foundation, 100 Black Men of America, Inc., National Coalition of 100 Black Women and Black Players for Change to continue to increase the awareness of Black banks and educate their constituents and members on the opportunities that Blank banks can provide through economic empowerment programming.     

    MLS and the National Black Bank Foundation worked with leaders across the league including club ownership, current, and former MLS players, and league officials to bring this landmark partnership to fruition.

    The syndication team was led by Lead Arranger Citizens Trust Bank and Co-lead Arranger Carver Federal Savings Bank. A number of other banks were members of the syndicate. Comer Capital Group, LLC served as financial and syndication advisor, and Dentons US LLP served as counsel. 
     
    In October 2020, MLS unveiled a series of initiatives aimed at combatting racism, advocating for social justice, and increasing Black representation in the sport. Using the league’s resources and platform to make tangible contributions to closing the racial wealth gap is one important component of MLS’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

    “This transformative partnership between MLS and Black banks around the country is evidence of what can happen when leaders courageously stand up and decide to participate in equitable change,” said King Center CEO and National Black Bank Foundation Board Member, Dr. Bernice A. King. “I brought MLS and NBBF together because I saw an opportunity to create a partnership with the power to transform lives in Black communities and change hearts and minds throughout our nation. This deal undoubtedly marks an important moment in the continuing struggle for civil rights in the United States.” 

     

  • Newswire: Robert F. Smith , Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan Frank Bakers and William Pickard top list of Black donors to HBCUs

    five top donors

    By Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., President and CEO, National Newspaper Publishers Association

    Billionaire philanthropist and novelist MacKenzie Scott’s $560 million donation last year to 23 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) made headlines across the country at a time when racial equity has become front-page news. However, for decades Black leaders in business, entertainment, education, and other fields have been the main sources of philanthropic donations to HBCUs.
    A recent Washington Post story found that Black Americans donate a higher share of their wealth than their white counterparts – to the tune of around $11 billion each year. Given their cultural and educational importance to the Black community, HBCUs are the repository of much of these donations with a number of household names – and some you may not know – making big-dollar contributions to these institutions.

    Here are some of the most prominent Black philanthropists to donate to HBCUS:
    Robert F. Smith – Chairman & CEO, Vista Equity Partners 

    Smith, the billionaire investor behind the software private equity firm Vista Equity Partners, drew widespread praise in May 2019 when he announced that he and his family would pay off the entire student loan debt of the 2019 Morehouse College graduating class of 396 students. Along with paying off the student debt, Smith’s $35 million donation also helped establish the Student Success Program to reduce or eliminate debt for all Morehouse grads. The private equity guru also gave the school an additional $1.5 million to create the Robert Frederick Smith Scholars Program and build a park on campus.
    As board chair of the Student Freedom Initiative – a plan to provide STEM students at HBCUs with a family-centric, income-contingent payment alternative to high-cost, fixed-payment debt – Smith pledged $50 million. Smith’s donation jumpstarted the initiative, which hopes to raise $500 million for the effort and began operations in the fall of 2021 at eleven HBCUs.

    “Each year, thousands of Black graduates from HBCUs across America enter the workforce with a crushing debt burden that stunts future decisions and prevents opportunities and choices,” Smith said. “The initiative is purposefully built to redress historic economic and social inequities and to offer a sustainable, scalable platform to invest in the education of future Black leaders.”
    Oprah Winfrey, Television Personality, Philanthropist, Author, Entrepreneur & Actress

    Most people may know the philanthropic acts of Oprah – who, like Beyoncé, Prince, and Zendaya needs no further introduction – through the infamous “You get a Car!” episode of her talk show, but she is also quietly, one of the biggest donors to HBCUs in the country.
    In 2019, Oprah donated $13 million to Morehouse College to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Oprah Winfrey Scholars Program at the HBCU. Overall, Oprah has donated at least $25 million to the Atlanta school. “I felt that the very first time I came here,” Oprah said. “The money was an offering to support that in these young men. I understand that African American men are an endangered species. They are so misunderstood. They are so marginalized.”

    Besides her gift to Morehouse, Oprah also donated $1.5 million to the United Negro College Fund to help pay for scholarships for Black students and general scholarship funds for 37 private HBCUs.
    Frank Baker – Founder and Managing Partner of Siris Capital

    Baker, the founder of private equity firm Siris, along with his wife, interior designer Laura Day Baker, donated $1 million in May 2020 to establish a scholarship fund at Atlanta’s Spelman College, the oldest private historically Black liberal arts college for women.
    Initially, the scholarship paid off the existing spring tuition balances of nearly 50 members of Spelman’s 2020 graduating class and the remaining funds are meant to ensure that future high achieving graduating seniors have the financial resources to graduate.
    “We are all aware of the headwinds that people of color — especially women — face in our country, the challenges of which are made even more apparent by the economic and health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the couple said in a press release. “We believe it is critical that talented women finish college and confidently enter – free of undue financial stress – the initial stage of their professional careers.

    William F. Pickard – Businessman, Co-owner of Real Times Media 

    Detroit businessman and philanthropist Pickard has a long history of donating to HBCUs across the country. Most recently Pickard and his cousin, Cincinnati businessman Judson W. Pickard Jr., donated $2 million to Morehouse College to create the Pickard Scholars Program. This program will recruit and support Black students from metro Detroit, Flint, greater Cincinnati, and LaGrange, Georgia to attend the Atlanta HBCU.
    “People have uplifted and helped me grow and I believe in blessing others,” Pickard, whose children attended Morehouse, told the Atlanta Tribune. “Our gifts are given to where we are from and those who have invested in us and who we are.”
    The Pickard Family Foundation also donated $100,000 to the National Black MBA Association to create the William F. Pickard Business Scholarship Fund. The fund is open to qualified business student members at several HBCUs who need help financing their education.
    Michael Jordan – Former NBA Superstar 

    Michael Jordan is arguably the greatest basketball player of all time and is almost single-handedly responsible for transforming the game into the global phenomenon it is today. So, if anybody knows how to make an impact on HBCUs, it would be His Airness.
    The six-time NBA champion and five-time league MVP, along with Nike’s Jordan Brand, donated $1 million last year to Morehouse College to boost the school’s journalism and sports-related studies program. The donation is meant to bolster a program launched thanks to the donation of another icon, director Spike Lee.
    “Education is crucial for understanding the Black experience today,” Jordan said in a press release. “We want to help people understand the truth of our past and help tell the stories that will shape our future.”

    The donation to Morehouse is part of a pledge made by Jordan and his brand in 2020 to donate $100 million over the next ten years to combat racism across the country.

    Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr is President and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) and is the Executive Producer/Host of The Chavis Chronicles (TCC) television show broadcast weekly on PBS TV stations throughout the United States.

  • Newswire : Pregnant mother whose photo showed tragedy of maternity hospital bombing in Ukraine dies with her baby

    A woman is carried from the maternity hospital that was shelled in Mariupol, Ukraine, last week. (photo: Evgeniy Maloletka/AP)

    By: Annabelle Timsit, The Washington Post, as reported in Reader Supported News

    March 14, 2022: A pregnant woman, her face pale, lies on a stretcher. Her left hip is covered in blood as she is rushed out of a hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which had just been hit by an airstrike.
    The gripping picture, captured by photographer Evgeniy Maloletka for the Associated Press, encapsulated the toll on civilians of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It was shared, and the strike condemned, around the world — but little was known about the woman herself.
    Now, the AP reports that the woman and her baby died in horrific conditions in the aftermath of the attack on the hospital — arriving for surgery with her pelvis crushed and hip detached.
    Surgeon Timur Marin told the AP that medics delivered the baby via Caesarean section but that the infant showed “no signs of life.”
    The woman, whose name has not been revealed publicly, is part of a civilian death toll from the war in Ukraine that the United Nations puts at 596, although it said it “believes that the actual figures are considerably higher.”
    The woman’s story illustrates the perilous situation facing those who are pregnant in Ukraine, where at least 31 attacks on health-care facilities or equipment have been documented by the World Health Organization since the start of Russia’s assault 2½ weeks ago.
    According to the United Nations, “80,000 Ukrainian women are expected to give birth in the next three months while oxygen and medical supplies, including for the management of pregnancy complications, are running dangerously low.”
    In Mariupol, a southern port in Ukraine that officials say has been under Russian bombardment for days, a maternity hospital was hit Wednesday. Ukrainians blamed Russian forces; Moscow has claimed without evidence that the hospital was emptied of patients and used as a base for Ukrainian military activity.
    Videos and photos taken at the scene show children and injured pregnant women being led away from the hospital after the attack. Mariupol’s city council said Thursday that three people, including a child, were killed, while 17 — among them children, women and medical workers — were injured. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the attack an “atrocity.”
    “What kind of country is this, the Russian Federation, which is afraid of hospitals and maternity hospitals and destroys them?” Zelensky said in a video address late Wednesday. Global leaders condemned the attack, with Britain’s minister for the armed forces, James Heappey, calling it a “war crime.”
    Among the photos and videos that circulated in the aftermath of the attack, one featured the pregnant woman being evacuated on a stretcher amid the rubble.
    She was sent to another hospital, the AP reported, drawing on testimony from medics and the surgeon who treated her. The woman reportedly told medics to “kill me now” when she realized that she was losing her baby.
    The woman’s surgeon said attempts were made for “more than 30 minutes” to resuscitate her but that in the end, she and her baby “both died.” Her body was picked up from the hospital, medics told the AP, but they were not able to record the woman’s name.
    Another injured pregnant woman who was captured by photographers fleeing the maternity hospital gave birth on Friday, according to AP photos. In one, Mariana Vishegirskaya, wearing the same top as when she was pictured walking down the stairs of the Mariupol hospital after the strike, holds her newborn daughter close to her chest as she lies on a hospital bed.
    International organizations say the attack on the Mariupol maternity hospital was not the first.
    In a joint statement published Sunday, the leaders of the WHO, the United Nations Population Fund and UNICEF demanded an end to attacks on health-care facilities or equipment.
    “To attack the most vulnerable — babies, children, pregnant women, and those already suffering from illness and disease, and health workers risking their own lives to save lives — is an act of unconscionable cruelty,” their statement says.

  • Anikia Coleman seeks District 5 commission seat

    I’m excited about my candidacy for the Greene County  Commission and I humbly ask for your vote, Tuesday, May 24, 2022 if you are a resident of District 5.
    I am respectfully your, Anikia Coleman, saying out loud that the District 5 Commissioner’s scope of work should go far beyond upgrading two roads. That’s why my campaign slogan is “Expect More!”
    I believe that I am the candidate who will embrace that “more” and deliver to District 5, the kind of leadership that it takes to make our quality of  life  much better.
    I am the daughter of Mrs. Barbara Collins and the late Arthur Carpenter and step daughter of the late Harry Collins, Jr. As I worked toward graduating for Paramount High School, I learned while a member of Future Business Leader America that commanding leadership skills is priceless and I’m a proud to share that I was most fortunate to become Miss FBLA at  that time. 
    When I am elected Commissioner for District 5, I will quickly  prove that voting for me was the right choice. My sleeves are rolled up, I already have a laundry list of improvements and special projects in hand that will deliver to you “more.” More concern for the needs of our elderly, educational enhancement for our amazing children and for all family units that call District 5 their home.
    I am confident in my vision of more for us because I’ve experienced these thing first hand – provided community service on my own, feeding the elderly. I’ve volunteered cleaning our senior homes and sitting with some who are bedridden. I am employed with Mercedes Benz US International. I am an office holding member of the Bible Way Pentecostal Church where I participate on both the praise and worship teams.

  • LaPorsha Brown takes her father’s seat on County Commission; Chairman signs Greenetrack Settlement Resolution; approves ARPA funds allocation

    LaPorsha Brown, her daugther Peyton Brown and District Judge Lillie Jones Osborne
    Linette Brown, LaPorsha Brown, her daugther Peyton Brown and District Judge Lillie Jones Osborne

    The Greene County Commission opened its March 14, 2022 meeting with newly sworn-in Commissioner LaPorsha Brown representing District 1. Ms. Brown was appointed by Alabama Governor Kay Ivey to fill the unexpired tern of the late Mr. Lester Brown, LaPorsha’s father. LaPorsha was sworn in Friday, March 11 by Greene County District Judge Lillie Jones Osborne, and will serve until the new commissioner for District 1 is selected in the General Election in November.
    Ms. Brown also followed in her Father’s role as she was selected to serve as Vice Chairperson of the Commission. She received three votes for vice chair and Commissioner Roshanda Summerville received two votes.
    The commission approved option one relative to the Greenetrack settlement on past due rent to the county for use of its share of Greenetrack property. The settlement resolution calls for $800,000 to be paid to the county by Greenetrack in five annual installments of $160,000. The specific payment plan requires an annual payment of $260,000 with $160,000 toward repayment of past rent and $100,000 in current rent payment. This rental settlement is for two years followed by a renegotiation of the current rental payment amount only. The commissioners approved the settlement on a four to one vote with Commissioner Corey Cockrell voting no.
    Commission Chairperson, Allen Turner, stated that he has signed the Resolution agreement and now Greenetrack’s CEO and President, Luther Winn, must sign for it to go into effect.
    The county’s Roads Department capital funding project received unanimous approval by the commissioners as well as the Franchise Agreement with Charter Communications regarding broadband services in the county. At the work session held March 9, the commission was informed by Robert Smith Charter Communications that the federal government is financing the broad band in specific areas of Greene County. The franchise agreement is needed for the right-of-way, which will provide a 5% feee to the county when the project is operating. Once the network is in, it will be possible to extend the service to other areas of the county.
    The commission approved a Positive Pay arrangement for all bank accounts assuring that only listed checks will be paid.
    An Employee Association bank account, which was dormant with a minimal balance, will be closed with the funds to be deposited in the general fund account.
    The commission approved establishing a rainy day fund and a public works fund with $500,000 from bingo monies allocated to each fund. The commission also adopted a Fund Balance Policy requiring reserve funds. This policy was approved with four votes for; commissioner Corey Cockrell voted no.
    In the commission’s recent work session the county’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds were discussed, noting that the county has $204,646.78 remaining and an additional $787,733.50 allocated. The commission approved a plan for expending these funds which include the following: Each commission district would be allocated up to $100,000 for qualified ARPA projects; $300,000 to the Highway Department; $150,000 for Essential Worker Pay; approximately $5,000 each to the Activity Center and the Highway Department for multi media upgrades; Approximately $10,000 each for Courthouse and Activity Center bathroom renovations. Remaining funds to be allocated later.
    The commission approved a request from the Greene County Board of Education for an agreement that the county will turn over to the board moneys from millage taxes already prescribed to the board.
    CSFO, Macaroy Underwood presented the commission an update on FY 2022 refunding bonds cited below.

    County Refunds Bonds, Saving $336,000
    Greene County Commission approved its Series 2022 Refunding Bonds in the par amount of $3,655,000 to refund its Series 2007 Bonds generating a savings of $336,316.81 or 8.72% savings. Several weeks ago, the county authorized Piper Sandler & Co. and finance to review current market conditions to determine if the county’s outstanding debt could be refunded (refinanced) at a lower interest rate to save more than 3%. This process is similar to refinancing your home mortgage and it leads to issuance of the County’s Series 2022 Refunding bonds reducing the county’s annual debt service payments by $50,000 per year from 2023 through 2037 (over the remaining life of the bonds). The annual debt service payments are secured by Road & Bridge Ad Valorem Tax and Capital Improvement fund revenue; therefore, the county will have additional funds for road projects over the next 14 years.

  • Eutaw City Council approves assistance
    to airport and farmers’ market

    Pamela Madzima, Coordinator of the Alabama State Association of Cooperatives requests the City Council to sell two acres, where the farmers’ market is located, to the Greene-Sumter Farmers Cooperative

     


    At its regular meeting on March 8, 2022, the Eutaw City Council approved motions, resolutions and ordinances to assist its relationships with
    various partners to enhance the city and services to its residents.

    The Council heard a report from Billy Minges on the Eutaw Airport Authority. The Eutaw airport was closed in 2018 based on an inspection report by the ALDOT Aeronautics Bureau that found it was not suitable for operations.

    The Airport Authority received a quote from a company in 2020 for engineering, paving and painting of $665,923 to restore the runway and allow the airport to be licensed as operational. In 2021, the Eutaw Airport Authority received a $499,000 grant to resurface the airport, if it could raise the 20% matching funds requirement.

    Minges indicated that the Airport Authority had received $96,600 from the City of Eutaw, from funds on hand for the airport and $40,000 from the Greene County IDA in funding support. He asked the Council to approve $6,600 in additional funds toward the match to repair the runway. The Council voted 3 to 2 to approve this expenditure from its Capital Improvement Fund.

    In his report, Minges said he was hoping the Airport Authority could develop ten aircraft hangers at the airport, for people to house their planes.
    The rental from these hangers would help to cover the ongoing operating costs of the airport. With an operating airport, the FAA would be obligated to 95% of additional repair costs to maintain the airport.

    Mayor Johnson said, ”When businesses come to locate in a city, they ask if there is a hospital, airport, schools and other facilities. This is why we are supporting our Airport Authority to help us get an operational airport again.”

    The Council heard a presentation by Eric Lafoy of DRAX Company, a wood pellet manufacturer with plants in Aliceville and Demopolis. He was looking for a central facility for training workers for his expanding plants. He requested use of space at the Robert H. Young Community Center (old Carver School) as a central training facility. He indicated that he was willing to employ and train Greene County residents. The Council approved his proposal.

    The Council heard a request from the Greene-Sumter Farmers Cooperative, to purchase two acres from the City of Eutaw at 137 Furse Avenue, where the market is located. The Co-op has been leasing the site but needs to own it, to secure foundation funding for improvements. The Council approved a resolution declaring the site surplus and agreed to sell it to the cooperative for a $1.00 to provide an enhanced farmers market for Greene County farmers and a source of nutritious vegetables and fruits for area residents.

    The Council also approved a resolution declaring two acres and a house at 116 Park Street as surplus for sale to Larry Sanford, a long-time city employee, who has been living in the house for a number of years.

    In other actions, the Eutaw City Council:

    • Approved travel and per diem for the Mayor and staff to attended training sessions.
    • Approved bidding for engineering services.
    • Approved advertising for bidding on the repair and painting of the Armory Water Tank.
    • Approved Skid-car Training for all police officers in Demopolis.
    • Approved a roadside cleaning contract for Total Lawncare Co.
    • Approved payment of all bills.

    In her report, Mayor Johnson stated that all permits had been secured from businesses around the old Courthouse Square, which would allow the Streetscape grant to proceed to the next phase.

    The Water Department reported that with the installation of their new telemetry system, they were able to cancel a $60,000 well monitoring contract. The Water Department has developed a new full page billing statement to replace the former post cards. Customers will receive two bills for the month of February – one on a post card and one in a letter format. The customer needs to pay only one bill, since they are for the same period. In the future, the city water bill will come in the letter format.

    In the Public Comment period, Barry and Sandra Walker, representing Christ Temple Church, said their organization had invested money in buying unused buildings in the city, such as the old Hook Theater, several buildings on Boligee Street, three buildings on the Courthouse Square and others for remodeling. They expressed concerns that the city was taking a “negative position” toward their efforts and harassing them rather than helping them in the business licensing and other procedures. “We are investing in the city and creating businesses and we feel we are not getting the support the city should be giving to our revitalization efforts,” said Walker.

     

  • COVID-19

    As of March 15, 2022, at 10:00 AM
    (according to Alabama Political Reporter)

    Alabama had 1,289,227 confirmed cases of coronavirus,
    (2,459) more than last week with 18,943 deaths (295) more
    than last week)

    Greene County had 1,860 confirmed cases, (4) more cases than last week), with 48 deaths

    Sumter Co. had 2,565 cases with 48 deaths

    Hale Co. had 4,674 cases with 103 deaths

    Note: Greene County Physicians Clinic has testing and vaccination for COVID-19; Call for appointments at 205/372-3388, Ext. 142; ages 5 and up.

  • Vice-President Kamala Harris joins thousands to commemorate 57th. Anniversary of ‘Bloody Sunday’ and calls for the resurrection of the Voting Rights Act and end to voter suppression

    Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at foot of Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma
    Spiver W. Gordon walks with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg

    Special to the Democrat by John Zippert, Co-Publisher


    Vice-President of the United States, Kamala Harris, was the keynote speaker at a rally at the foot of the Edmond Pettus Bridge, in Selma, Alabama on Sunday March 6, 2022, to mark the 57th anniversary of the ‘Bloody Sunday’ March, which led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

    Harris and many other civil rights and U. S. cabinet officials said it was critical to commemorate this anniversary because Black, Brown, poor and young people had a better chance to vote in 1965, after passage of the Voting Rights Act, than they have today, when the right to vote is under challenge, as part of a larger attack on democracy.

    “In 2020, despite the pandemic, we had a record turnout of voters, which helped to elect President Biden and myself. As a result, the Republicans have launched an assault on the freedom to vote. They have passed and are working on passing legislation in over 30 states to make it more difficult to vote.

    “Every Republican Senator voted against passage of the John Lewis Freedom to Vote Act, when it came up for a vote earlier this year. We have no choice, we must stand and fight for the right to vote and we must fight with determination, even in the face of arcane rules, like the filibuster,” said Harris.

    The Vice-President was accompanied to Selma by her husband, Doug Emhoff, the second gentleman, and five Biden Administration cabinet members, including: HUD Secretary, Marcia Fudge, Education Secretary, Miguel Cardona, Transportation Secretary, Pete Buttigieg, Michael Regan, Environmental Protection Agency head and Donald Remy, Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

    After her talk, she joined a group of three hundred civil rights leaders, local foot-soldiers, public officials, cabinet members and others at the front of the march across the bridge. Over 10,000 or more other marchers, who had started from Browns Chapel Church, followed behind a line of Secret Service, law enforcement and other security officials protecting the Vice-President and five cabinet officials, who traveled to Selma with Harris and also spoke at the rally.

    Sunday’s march re-enactment and protest for revitalizing the Voting Rights Act came at the end of the Bridge Crossing Jubilee weekend, which featured more than 30 activities including a parade, banquet, several breakfasts, many workshops, a golf tournament and other related events.

    “The Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee is the largest civil rights and voting rights activity in our nation. Some of our activities were virtual and others were curtailed and impacted by the pandemic, but we still had large crowds of engaged people, which was our goal,” said Hank Sanders, cofounder with his wife Faya Rose Toure (Sanders) of the Jubilee, more than 30 years ago.

    Many of the speakers, related the struggle for voting rights in our country, to the struggle to defeat the Russian invasion of Ukraine and preserve democracy in that eastern European country.
    Sherrilyn Ifill, Director of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, after recounting the attacks on voting rights by the Supreme Count and state legislatures, said, “What we do in Selma, in Washington, D. C., Fulton County, Georgia, will have global implications. Black people must save democracy and we must make our country better.”

    Latosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter said, “We are winning, we voted in record numbers in 2020. The turnout was younger, browner and more diverse than ever. This is what generated the attacks on voting rights and this is why we must continue to fight.”

    Rev. Jesse Jackson, assisted by his son Jonathan Jackson, Bishop William Barber of the Poor People’s Campaign, Barbara Arnwine of the Transformative Justice Coalition, Derrick Johnson, NAACP, Melanie Campbell of the Black Women’s Roundtable, Rev. Al Sharpton of the National Action Network, Charles Steele of SCLC, Congresswoman Terri Sewell and many other members of the Black Congressional Caucus were present and gave remarks.

    Many of the civil rights leaders were in town for the Bridge Crossing Jubilee, because they agreed to work jointly to continue the march from Selma to Montgomery, this week (March 7-11). They felt the necessity to illuminate the challenges to the Voting Rights Act and engage people in the 2022 mid-term elections to work for passage of the John Lewis Voter Advancement Act, in future sessions of Congress.

  • Shelia Daniels is a candidate for County Commission District 1

    Please allow me to humbly introduce myself as a candidate for Greene County Commissioner District 1. I am a native of Greene County and am actively involved in the community by serving individuals, families, and outreach programs through mentorship, parental engagement, and community awareness. As your commissioner, I will serve with respect, honesty, and fairness.
    I am asking you, the citizens of District 1, for your vote on May 24, 2022. My message to each of you is “Mission Possible” “It’s Time To Go To Work.”

  • The One Book- One Community Reading a Huge Success

    The “Read Greene Read” held its first One Book- One Community reading on March 2, 2022. The guest artists were local author Jocelyn Steel and illustrator Mynecia Steele. Jocelyn Steele read and discussed her book “The Square Nose Pig.” The event was held via Zoom. Over 150 individuals registered for the event.

    The event was sponsored by The Greene County Children’s Policy Council, The Greene County School System and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., Greene County Cultured Pearls Interest Group. According to Judge Lillie Jones-Osborne the next reading will take place in May 2022 and we are inviting all of Greene Countian to join the “Read Greene Read” campaign. Pictured below are students from the Branch Heights After School Program participating in the event.