The Greene County Democrat

Category: Celebrity

  • Picket Line and Rally against Trump Administration to be held Saturday, April 5th at Eutaw Post Office, 10:00 AM to Noon

    You are invited to a Picket Line and Rally, this Saturday, April 5, 2025, at the Eutaw Post Office, 227 Prairie Avenue. This is a protest against the polices and actions of the Trump Administration, during its first 75 days in office.
    This public witness of dissatisfaction with Trump-Vance-Musk, at a Federal building in Eutaw, Alabama, is open to anyone who is angry, frustrated and feels betrayed by our national government.
    This Greene County demonstration is part of a larger national and international “Hands Off Our Democracy” protest going on in hundreds of places across America and the world this Saturday, April 5, 2025.
    This is a grassroots response to the power-grab by millionaires and billionaires, like Trump, Vance, Musk and their MAGA supporters, of our Constitutional rights, benefit programs and ultimately of our democracy.
    In recent weeks, the Trump-Vance-Musk regime has unfairly fired thousands of needed Federal workers; unlawfully closed whole agencies and departments, USAID, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Department of Education and others; suspended and questioned contracts with CBO’s because they are implementing policies of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).

    Trump and his associates are also trying to cut Federal programs – Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, National Parks, Smithsonian Museums, SNAP (food stamps), WIC, Food Banks, school lunches and post offices serving working and poor people. Many of these actions have been taken to provide funding for tax cuts to the top 1% of wealthy people in our country, who do not need tax cuts and should be paying their fair share.

    Trump is also working to take your voting rights; women’s reproductive rights; deporting hundreds of immigrants, who are our neighbors; changing foreign policy to abandon Canada, Mexico and Europe for an alliance with Putin, the Russian dictator; abandoning climate change and environmental justice; and trying to eliminate our Constitution and end our Democracy.

    If you are affected and displeased with any of these policies and unlawful actions, come and join us on Saturday morning, at the Eutaw Post Office and let people see that we are resisting and protesting the Trump-Vance-Musk Administration. This is your chance to show your opposition to the things Trump and his MAGA supporters are doing to America. This is your chance to show that small rural communities, as well as big cities, do not support and want to reverse the policies, cutbacks and unjustifiable and unlawful policies of the Trump Administration.

    This protest is open to all that oppose and want to resist Trump-Vance-Musk. Bring your own handmade sign, protesting the parts of the Trump agenda you most disagree with. Sign up for future actions and protests.

    For more information, contact the Publishers of the Greene County Democrat at 205-372-3373 or by 205-657-0273.

  • Newswire : Nationwide protests against Tesla successful – reflect popular dissatisfaction with Trump,Vance and Musk

    Protest at Tesla dealership in San Francisco, CA and Tesla protestor in Jacksonville, Florida

    By Pat Bryant

    Nearly every Tesla dealership in the United States and the world had 100 to 500 peaceful protestors out front Saturday March 29. Elon Musk’s electric car company earned rebuke, a 6-week sales slump continued, stock values dropped by half, and large stockholders sold out. Telsa’s destruction is Elon Musk’s payback for his role in firing hundreds of thousands of federal workers and crippling and destroying federal agencies and programs illegally without Congressional approval.
    Federal judges ordered Musk and the Trump administration to stop wreckage of America’s institutions. But Trump and Musk continue. A constitutional crisis looms where Trump may be able to rewrite the U.S. Constitution with the help of six republican members of the U.S. Supreme Court. Trump’s control of the three branches of government would create a one-man rule—a dictatorship.
    Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress are taking no action. Republican lawmakers are refusing to come to town hall gatherings to talk about Trump , Vance, and Musk’s institutional carnage. In many towns, Jacksonville included, citizens have organized “empty chair” town halls that Republican Congress persons refused to show.
    At Tesla in Jacksonville, Florida, this reporter talked with several protestors who are resolute to destroy Tesla and Musk to save American democracy. A few of their concerns are below:
    Cathy, a middle-aged woman, army retired, holding a homemade sign “Musk UnAmerican NAZI”. The retiree warned “our democracy is at risk in so many ways. What they have done to our top military brass to everything that is truly American. They are going after our museums. What they are doing is terribly insane”.
    Colonel Lynnette Kennison, U.S. Army retired called President Trump a bully. “He is allowing Musk to destroy our institutions. They are going to be terribly hard to rebuild. We are imploding from the inside. I am worried about losing Social Security and so many things”.
    Julie Spellman carried a sign that read “Tax the Rich, Musk and Trump = Putin’s Puppets Follow the $$$ Julie”. Of Trump she said “he wants to destroy our country so his oligarch friends can keep their tax relief and takeover our country as a corporatocracy” Spellman is related to the benefactors that founded Spellman College in Atlanta, an HBCU serving Black women.
    A retired nurse carried a sign, “Deport Musk, DeThrone Trump”. She said “they have done more to destroy our country than anyone I can think of. Friends are no longer friends. We can’t talk. Senior citizens depend on social security. This is crazy. They are short staffed at Social Security.”
    As this reporter was talking to a Musk/Tesla protestor and thirtyish man rode by angrily and close to demonstrators and yelled curse words. Cheryl an elderly woman remarked “he is an idiot. None of them have an idea of what’s going on. They have not talked to anyone who has lost a job or anything else. They are coming for my Social Security and I am not happy about that.”
    Tesla peaceful protests continue world-wide Saturday April 5th noon to 2 pm.
    *Pat Bryant is a long-time journalist, human rights organizer in the southern United States. He may be reached at pat46bryant@gmail.com.

  • Newswire : ‘Bloody Sunday’ 60th anniversary marked in Selma with remembrances and concerns about the future

    State troopers swing billy clubs to break up a civil rights voting march in Selma, Ala., on Bloody Sunday.AP files

    By The Associated Press

    SELMA, Ala. — Charles Mauldin was near the front of a line of voting rights marchers walking in pairs across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama on March 7, 1965.
    The marchers were protesting white officials’ refusal to allow Black Alabamians to register to vote, as well as the killing days earlier of Jimmie Lee Jackson, a minister and voting rights organizer who was shot by a state trooper in nearby Marion.
    At the apex of the span over the Alabama River, they saw what awaited them: a line of state troopers, deputies and men on horseback. After they approached, law enforcement gave a warning to disperse and then unleashed violence.
    “Within about a minute or a half, they took their billy clubs, holding it on both ends, began to push us back, back us up, and then they began to beat men, women and children, and tear gas men, women and children, and cattle prod men, women and children viciously,” said Mauldin, who was 17 at the time.
    Mauldin is the founder of the Saturday morning ‘Footsoldiers Breakfast’ at the Bridge Crossing Jubilee, at which persons who participated in the march tell their stories
    Selma on Sunday marked the 60th anniversary of the clash that became known as Bloody Sunday. The attack shocked the nation and galvanized support for the U.S. Voting Rights Act of 1965. The annual commemoration paid homage to those who fought to secure voting rights for Black Americans and brought calls to recommit to the fight for equality.
    For foot soldiers of the movement, the celebration comes amid concerns about new voting restrictions and the Trump administration’s effort to remake federal agencies they said helped make America a democracy for all.
    “This country was not a democracy for Black folks until that happened,” Mauldin said of voting rights. “And we’re still constantly fighting to make that a more concrete reality for ourselves.”
    Speaking at the pulpit of the city’s historic Tabernacle Baptist Church, the site of the first mass meeting of the voting rights movement, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said what happened in Selma changed the nation. But he said the 60th anniversary comes at a time when there is “trouble all around” and some “want to whitewash our history.” But he said like the marchers of Bloody Sunday, they must keep going.
    “At this moment, faced with trouble on every side, we’ve got to press on,” Jeffries said to the crowd that included the Rev. Jesse Jackson, multiple members of Congress and others gathered for the commemoration.
    U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., said they are gathering in Selma for the 60th anniversary “at a time when the vote is in peril.”

    Sewell noted the number of voting restrictions introduced since the U.S. Supreme Court, in Shelby County vs. Holder, effectively abolished a key part of the Voting Rights Act that required jurisdictions with a history of racial discrimination to pre-clear new voting laws with the Justice Department
    Sewell this week reintroduced legislation to restore the requirement. The proposal has repeatedly stalled in Congress. The legislation is named for John Lewis, the late Georgia congressman who was at the lead of the Bloody Sunday march.
    The annual celebration will conclude with a ceremony and march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. At the time, the Bloody Sunday marchers walked in pairs across the Selma bridge. Mauldin was in the third pair of the line led by Lewis and Hosea Williams.
    “We had steeled our nerves to a point where we were so determined that we were willing to confront. It was past being courageous. We were determined, and we were indignant,” Mauldin recalled in an interview with The Associated Press. Mauldin, who took a blow to the head, said he believes law enforcement officers were trying to incite a riot as they attacked marchers.
    Kirk Carrington was just 13 on Bloody Sunday. As the violence erupted, a white man on a horse wielding a stick a chased him all the way back to the public housing projects in Selma where his family lived.
    Carrington said he started marching after witnessing his father get belittled by his white employers when his father returned from service in World War II. Standing in Tabernacle Baptist Church where he was trained in non-violent protest tactics 60 years earlier, he was brought to tears thinking about what the people of his city achieved.
    “When we started marching, we did not know the impact we would have in America. We knew after we got older and got grown that the impact it not only had in Selma, but the impact it had in the entire world,” Carrington said.
    Dr. Verdell Lett Dawson, who grew up in Selma, remembers a time when she was expected to lower her gaze if she passed a white person on the street to avoid making eye contact.
    Dawson and Mauldin said they are concerned about the potential dismantling of the Department of Education and other changes to federal agencies. Trump has pushed to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs within the federal government.
    Support from the federal government “is how Black Americans have been able to get justice, to get some semblance of equality, because left to states’ rights, it is going to be the white majority that’s going to rule,” Dawson said.“That that’s a tragedy of 60 years later: what we are looking at now is a return to the 1950s,” Dawson said.

  • The Bridge Crossing Jubilee in Selma is one week away

    Many Dignitaries and Leaders coming from
    across the country and around the World

    SELMA, AL – The 33rd Annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee and 60th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday Commemoration and Celebration begins next week in Selma, Alabama. This year the Bridge Crossing Jubilee will be held during the first full weekend in March, March 6-9, 2025. The Jubilee starts on Thursday, March 6,  with dozens of events for people of all ages, including a mass Meeting at Tabernacle Baptist Church.

    The Foot Soldiers Breakfast and the Annual Freedom Flame Awards Gala on Saturday, March 8, and the Annual Martin & Coretta King Unity Breakfast and march re-enactment on Sunday March 9. There are many educational workshops, held on Friday and Saturday, which are open and free to the public.
    There will also be a street fair with musical entertainment and vendors, on Water Street, at the Selma side of the bridge.

    The Bloody Sunday March events and the official March re-enactment at the Edmund Pettus Bridge is on Sunday, March 9 starting at 1:00 from the foot on the bridge in Selma and across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, with a rally on the east side (Montgomery) of the bridge.

    Leaders from across the country will be in Selma for the Annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee, including the 60th Anniversary events. Some of these leaders include U.S. House of Representatives Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries; a delegation of approximately 30 members of Congress including U.S. Reps. Jim Clyburn, Jasmine Crockett, Maxine Waters and Alabama U.S. Reps.; Martin Luther King, III; leaders of National Civil Rights Organizations; National Labor Leaders; other national and international leaders.

    According to Hank Sanders and Faya Rose Toure (Sanders), founders and co-chairs of the Bridge Crossing Jubilee, have confirmed additional speakers who are listed below, at a press conference held this week. These are:

    The Honorable Andy Beshear, Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky
    Maya Wiley, President & CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
    Janai Nelson, President & Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund
    Derrick Johnson, President & CEO of the NAACP
    Fred Redmond, Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO
    Marc Morial, President of The Urban League
    Barbara Arnwine, President & Founder of the Transformative Justice Coalition
    Sherilynn Ifill, Founder of the 14th Amendment Center for Law & Democracy
    Damon T. Hewitt, President & Executive Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
    Celina Stewart, CEO of the League of Women Voters
    Kristen Clarke, Former Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice
    LaTosha Brown, Co-Founder of Black Voters Matter
    Cliff Albright, Co-Founder of Black Voter Matters
    Deborah N. Archer, President of the American Civil Liberties Union
    Rev. Al Sharpton, Founder & President of the National Action Network and host of Politics Nation
    Alabama U.S. Reps. Terri Sewell and Shomari Figures and 30 other members of Congress
    And more to be announced

    The Bridge Crossing Jubilee organizers also have invited Governors Wes Moore (Maryland), Gavin Newsom (California), JB Pritzker (Illinois), and Gretchen Whitmer (Michigan) and will provide updates as to their confirmations in the coming days. In addition to the landmark events highlighted in previous press conferences, the Jubilee includes dozens of workshops led by many of the national leaders listed above, who will also be speaking at the Marin & Coretta King Unity Breakfast, as well as many more events to be highlighted in the coming days.

    Because the Jubilee has been the largest civil rights gathering in the nation for the past 25 years, many esteemed organizations hold meetings and events during the Annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee, but they never hold them out as being Jubilee events. However, we now have some for-profit organizations holding events to raise money and holding them out to be Jubilee events, when they are not. The Jubilee and the Selma to Montgomery March Foundation are and have always been non-profit organizations supported mostly by volunteers and donations.  
     
    “Each year the Bridge Crossing Jubilee is the largest annual Civil Rights gathering in the nation. But the Jubilee commemorations and celebrations every ten years are always massive,” said Hank Sanders. He continued, “For the 50th Anniversary there were more than 115 thousand people in attendance on the Sunday alone. The 60th is also expected to be massive. At the Annual Jubilee, there is something for everyone – from the very young to the very senior. It is a pilgrimage that many make every year from across the country and around the world. See you in Selma for the 60th Anniversary and the Annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee! “

    For more information and schedule updates, go to this website: http://www.selmajubilee.com

  • Newswire: Soul and R&B mourn loss of Roberta Flack. Gwen McCrae and Jerry Butler

    Roberta Flack, Jerry Butler and Gwen McCrae

    By Stacy M. Brown
    NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

    Roberta Flack, the Grammy-winning singer and pianist whose smooth vocals and intimate style made her a defining artist of the 1970s, died Monday at her home surrounded by family. She was 88. Her publicist, Elaine Schock, confirmed the news in a statement. Flack revealed in 2022 that she had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, which had taken away her ability to sing.
    Her death came just one day after the passing of soul-funk singer Gwen McCrae, who died Sunday at 81. McCrae, best known for hits like “Rockin’ Chair” and “Funky Sensation,” was celebrated for her enduring influence on soul and disco music. It also came just days after three-time Grammy nominee and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Jerry Butler, a premier soul singer of the 1960s, died at 85.
    Butler, known as “Ice Man,” had numerous hits including “For Your Precious Love,” and “Make It Easy on Yourself.” Butler’s niece, Yolanda Goff, told The Associated Press that Butler died of Parkinson’s disease at his home in Chicago.

     

    Roberta Flack: A Life in Music

    Born Roberta Cleopatra Flack on February 10, 1937, in Black Mountain, North Carolina, she was raised in Arlington, Virginia, where her musical roots were cultivated at the Lomax African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. Flack began piano lessons at nine and earned a full scholarship to Howard University at 15. She initially studied piano before switching to voice. She graduated at 19 and later taught music and English in North Carolina after her father’s death.
    In Washington, D.C., Flack balanced teaching with nightclub performances, captivating audiences at local venues like Mr. Henry’s on Capitol Hill. Her breakthrough came when jazz pianist Les McCann discovered her and arranged an audition with Atlantic Records. Her 1969 debut album First Take initially received little attention until Clint Eastwood featured her rendition of “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” in his 1971 film Play Misty for Me. Released as a single in 1972, the song topped the Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks and earned Flack her first Grammy Award for Record of the Year.

    Flack’s success soared with her 1973 recording of “Killing Me Softly with His Song,” which became her signature hit. The song spent five weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned her two Grammys: Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. With the win, Flack became the first artist to earn consecutive Record of the Year awards.

    Her partnership with Donny Hathaway produced hits like “Where Is the Love,” which won a Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group. She continued her chart success with “Feel Like Makin’ Love” in 1974, making her the first female vocalist to top the Hot 100 in three consecutive years. Flack’s later collaborations with Peabo Bryson and Maxi Priest yielded popular tracks like “Tonight I Celebrate My Love” and “Set the Night to Music.”
    Throughout her career, Flack advocated for artist rights and founded the Roberta Flack School of Music, providing free music education to underprivileged youth. She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1999 and performed for Nelson Mandela that same year. Flack is survived by her son, musician Bernard Wright.
    Gwen McCrae: Soul and Disco Legacy

    Gwen McCrae, celebrated for her rich voice and lasting impact on the disco and soul music scenes, died Sunday at 81. A statement from her official brand account called her passing “more bad news” for the music world and acknowledged how fans “are still jamming to ‘Rockin’ Chair’ all these years later.”Born Gwen Mosley in Pensacola, Florida, McCrae began singing in church choirs before meeting George McCrae, whom she married in 1963. The couple performed as a duo and signed with Henry Stone’s Alston label. By 1970, McCrae had achieved early success with “Lead Me On.” In 1972, she released “Always On My Mind,” a song later popularized by artists including Elvis Presley, Willie Nelson, and the Pet Shop Boys.
    Her biggest commercial success came in 1975 with “Rockin’ Chair,” which topped the R&B chart and reached No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100. While the single remains her most widely recognized hit, many fans and DJs remember her for the 1981 club favorite “Funky Sensation,” which has endured as a dancefloor staple. McCrae’s career spanned decades, and her other notable songs included “Keep the Fire Burning.” Despite her accomplishments, she often spoke about the lack of recognition and fair compensation for Black artists of her era.

    After suffering a stroke in 2012 that left her partially paralyzed, McCrae retired from performing. Her daughter, Leah McCrae, carries on the family’s musical legacy as a solo artist and member of the group Daughters of Soul.

  • Greene County Commission holds routine meeting, still dealing with Water and Sewer Authority Board’s strike and request for $400 a month stipend

    Greene County Commission commends Eddie Austin for service on Greene County Hospital Board. L to R. Commissioners Summerville and Turner, Eddie Austin, commissioners Cockrell and Spencer

    By John Zippert, Co-Publisher

    This is a report on the Greene County Commission’s work session on February 5 and regular monthly meeting on February 10, 2025. The issue of payment of a $400 a month stipend to the board of the Greene County Water and Sewer Authority, although not on the agenda for either meeting, was a major issue of discussion.

    William Morgan, Chair of the Water and Sewer Authority, was present at both meetings pushing the proposal that the Greene County Commission allow the Water and Sewer Authority to pay its five members a $400 a month stipend, which would be an annual cost of $24,000.

    Commission Chair Garria Spencer pointed out that no other boards appointed by the Commission – Hospital, Industrial Development, PARA, Library and others – receive a monthly stipend. They serve on these boards as a public service. He also said the stipend proposal had been voted down in a previous meeting and could not be on the agenda unless three Commissioners approved placing it on the agenda.

    Morgan said, “Our Board has been doing its work. We have secured $14.2 million in grants from USDA Rural Development , ADECA and ADEM for the system. We have 1,451 paying customers. We are fiscally sound and can pay the stipend. We have been paid a small stipend ($500 a year for the chair and $250 for the members) which is in our bylaws since 1982.”

    When Commissioner Roshonda Summerville asked that the issue of the stipends and another issue of purchasing the Robert H. Young Community Center from the City of Eutaw for $200,000, be placed on the regular meeting agenda, Attorney Mark Pernell advised the Commission not to consider adding either item to the agenda.

    Parnell said since the Water and Sewer Authority payment was in its by-laws, they needed to change their by-laws before requesting a resolution for an increase in pay. A simple resolution approving the increase in pay from a nominal $1,500 a year to $24,000 a year, was not the proper way to do this. Parnell indicated that he had informed the Water and Sewer Board and their attorney Barrown Lankster of this procedure, when the issue first came up. Commissioner Turner asked that he inform them and their lawyer again.

    Parnell suggested to the Commission that they had not done the due diligence to make the purchase of the Robert H. Young Community Center from the City of Eutaw. You have not had an inspection or appraisal of the
    building. You need to do some more work before you commit the funds for this project. Commissioner Spencer said he thought that rather than buying the building, the Commission should partner with the City of Eutaw, to put the funds into improving the facility, as a joint partnership for a better facility.

    This led to a discussion of a special joint meeting of the Commission and the Eutaw City Council to partner on a plan to develop the Robert H. Young (former Carver School) Community Center. Commissioner Corey Cockrell, who had been discussing this project with Eutaw Council member Jonathan Woodruff agreed to work toward a joint meeting to discuss a joint plan for the needed facility.

    In its regular meeting on February 10, 2025, the Commission approved a ten percent match on a $500,000 CDBG grant for improvements to county facilities, recommended by the Highway Department. The Commission also approved purchase of a $56,073.79 Chevrolet Suburban for the Coroner. This van will need to be modified to meet the coroner’s request. The Commission said it would approve the modifications separately to be sure they met the coroner’s requirements.

    The Commission also approved a contract with Diversified Computer Service for the installation of trackers on four new tractors, at a cost of $100 for each tractor and $20 a month for maintenance and monitoring.

    In other business, the Greene County Commission:

    • Approved travel for the Board of Registrars to attend a training in Montgomery on February 20 – 22 , 2025.
    • Approved travel for the Assistant County Engineer for Bridge and Road training on March 4, 2025, in Clanton, Alabama.
    • Approved procedures for ABC Licensing and Compliance for the year 2025.
    • Accepted the resignation of Frank Smith from the PARA Board. Did not receive a second to accept the resignation of Andre Woods from the Water and Sewer Authority.

    The Commission heard and received a financial report from Macaroy ‘Underwood, CFO, which indicated the Commission spent $ 3,354,789.67 for claims, plus $115,453.64 in electronic payments for January 2025. Most department spending was within the budget of 67% per cent of funds remaining. The balance sheet showed $8,503,929 in Citizens Trust Bank of which $3,271,089 were unrestricted and $ 5,232,839 were restricted funds. Merchants and Farmers Bank had a total of $ 3,430,157 with $ 2,057,012 in restricted funds and $ 1,373,145 in unrestricted funds. The total in deposits is $11,934,087. There are also $1,898,291 in certificates as a reserve for bonds.

  • The Massive Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee is Upon Us!

    Celebrating and Commemorating the 60th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday,

    The Selma to Montgomery March and the 1965 Voting Rights Act

     

    For more information, contact: Hank Sanders at (334) 782-1651; hank23sanders@gmail.com and Faya Rose Toure at (334) 349-4494; fayarose@gmail.com

     

    SELMA, AL — The 60th Anniversary of some of the most momentous events in American History will be celebrated and memorialized in Selma, Alabama from Monday, March 3, 2025, through Friday, March 14, 2025. A key part of the celebrations and commemorations will be the world-famous Bridge Crossing Jubilee, which takes place from Thursday, March 6, 2025 through Sunday, March 9, 2025. This is the 33rd Annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee, and people come from all over the world to join in the celebrations, commemorations, memorials and marches.

    The events leading to Bloody Sunday, the Selma to Montgomery March and the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act were sparked by the shooting and beating of Jimmie Lee Jackson on February 18, 1965 in Marion, Alabama. He died eight days later from his injuries, and the outrage over his death prompted high profile, history changing events of the 1965 Voting Rights Moment.

    Marchers were beaten on March 7, 1965 as they first attempted to march from Selma to Montgomery. This became known as Bloody Sunday. Then the full Selma to Montgomery march took place from March 21, 1965 through March 25, 1965. The murders of Jimmie Lee Jackson, Reverend James Reeb and Viola Liuzzo as well as the brutal beatings on Bloody Sunday on the Edmund Pettus Bridge horrified the nation. These events and the Selma to Montgomery March led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act, which was signed into law by President Lyndon Baines Johnson on August 6, 1965, This landmark legislation changed America in profound and positive ways and led to nearly all Americans finally having the right to vote.

    The Bridge Crossing Jubilee commences this year on Thursday, March 6th with a series of events including the Voting Rights History Bowl for students and a Ministers of Justice Roundtable with pastors and other religious leaders discussing spiritual leadership in community movements in the past and present. It ends that night with the Old Fashion Mass Meeting with songs and speeches and prayers at Selma Tabernacle Baptist Church where the first mass meeting in the Selma Voting Rights Movement was held.

    Friday’s events begin with an Education Summit followed by the Children’s Sojourn, the Invisible Giants Conference, the Voting Rights Mock Trial, and A Public Conversation as well as other events.

    Saturday’s Jubilee activities start with the Foot Solider Breakfast and continue with many events including a Voting Rights Parade, the Street Festival, the Hip Hop Summit and the Freedom Flame Awards Gala. The Freedom Flame Awards honor outstanding past and present contributors to history. There are many other events set for this day including arts and cultural events and the annual street festival.

    The final day of the Jubilee opens with the Martin and Coretta King Unity Breakfast on Sunday, March 9th. It then continues with special morning services at various churches, the Bloody Sunday March and a massive gathering at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge. There are also other events scheduled for that Sunday.

    The official Bridge Crossing Jubilee has dozens of events, almost all of which are free to the public. Other groups hold unofficial events. These groups and events are not connected to the Jubilee, but some falsely claim they are Jubilee events.

    Each year the Bridge Crossing Jubilee is the largest annual Civil Rights gathering in the nation. But the Jubilee commemorations and celebrations every ten years are always massive. For the 50th Anniversary there were more than 115 thousand people in attendance on the Sunday alone. The 60th is also expected to be massive. At the Annual Jubilee, there is something for everyone – from the very young to the very senior. It is a pilgrimage that many make every year from across the country and around the world. See you in Selma for the 60th Anniversary and the Annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee!

    ###

  • Watoto Children’s Choir comes to Eutaw

    Submitted by Mrs. Miriam Leftwich

    Several months out of the year, Ugandan children travel with staff from the Watoto Ministries to cities around the world to share their stories of resilience. On Friday, January 17, 2025, their audience was residents of Greene and surrounding counties.
    Members of the Watoto Children’s Choir performed Ugandan songs and Christian contemporary music in Eutaw, Alabama at the New Generation Community Life Center. The Choir performed songs from their brand new album, Better Days-There is Hope. They sang, danced and shared their stories of restoration and hope. One child shared how her parents had died but she later found a new life with a community in the Watoto Ministry.
    Adult leaders had testaments as well, both said they too had found a family at Watoto, a ministry based in Uganda’s capital city of Kampala. Through Watoto, they were able to get a quality education. Both have earned their degrees in Management and Engineering.
    The Watoto ministries provides housing, education and health services for children in Uganda who have been abandoned when their parents have died or because of war and poverty. The Ministry has helped thousands of children. The audience was inspired by the stories of how the children have overcome a hurdle of hardships.
    Watoto Children’s Choirs have traveled extensively since 1994. In fact, almost every day of the year the choir is performing somewhere throughout the world. That means thousands of people get to meet some of our future leaders. As people see their smiles and are embraced by their hugs, the children have the privilege of telling people, “ No matter what you’re going through, Jesus is our hope and there are better days ahead. Look at what God has done in my life.”
    The group was invited by United Purposes, a non profit organization, to come and share this one of a kind experience with Eutaw and surrounding counties.
    Thank God for this awesome experience. Special thanks to Pastor Joe Webb for providing the facilities for the Choir’s performance, Deacon Frank Lewis and Lee Smith for their assistance at the center. Lt. Zackary Fluker, Chief Rex Flowers, of the Demopolis Police Department, Sheriff Joe Benison and the GC officers for coordinating escort for the Choir…that was a big deal to them; they were all so excited. Mrs. Phillis Belcher, representing the Industrial Board, was on site to welcome the group and provided snacks. Thanks to Ms. Mildred Gill, Ms. Belvin Thomas, Mrs. Gloria Young, Mrs. Nadeen Chess, and Mrs. Darlene Robinson for your assistance throughout the day; thanks to Ms. Cynthia Crawford for capturing the beautiful smiles, Eutaw Mayor Latasha Johnson, Judy Spree, Mary Leach, Dr. Carol Zippert, Leah Banks and Mr & Mrs. Ron Edwards, thanks for providing food & drink. Thanks to Probate Judge Rolanda Wedgeworth for attending, and to each and every attendee thanks for coming and supporting this program.
    A love offering in the amount of $1,065 was collected and presented to the Watoto Children’s Choir.

  • Mayor Johnson announces completion of project to re-pave West End Avenue

    Mayor Latasha Johnson together with (L to R) Commissioner Tennyson Smith (District 2), City Council members Valerie Watkins and Suzette Powell announce completion of project to resurface 1.374 miles of West End Avenue, from Lower Gainesville Road to Highway 11 (Boligee Street). This street is heavily trafficked due to housing complexes. The State of Alabama under the Rebuild Alabama Act contributed $316,671.81 toward the project. The City of Eutaw contributed $66,671.81 in matching funds and $47,000 in engineering costs for a total contribution of $113,671.81 to complete the project. S. T. Bunn was awarded the contract to do the project. Former City Council member Jacqueline Stewart (District 5) was instrumental in pushing for the City of Eutaw to do this project in her district.

  • Newswire: President Trump promises to promote peace while pardoning those who promoted pain

     

    Tech Billionaires attend Trump’s inauguration L. to R. Mark Zuckerberg (Meta-Facebook), Bezos’ fiancé Lauren Sanchez, Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Sundar Pichal (Google) and Elon Musk (Tesla)

    By Hazel Trice Edney

    (TriceEdneyWire.com) – President Donald J. Trump, promising in his inaugural address to use his power to “bring a new spirit of unity to a world that has been angry, violent, and totally unpredictable”, has rewarded hundreds of violent Jan. 6 insurrectionists with full pardons and release from prisons despite many of their pleas of guilt.

    Approximately 1,500 of the predominately White crowd, several of whom beat police officers with the United States flag, sprayed them with chemicals, and threatened to hang Vice President Mike Pence, are going free this week with no chance of further punishment for attempting to stop the certification of President Joe Biden on Jan. 6, 2021. Yet, Trump has repeated called the Jan. 6 insurrection a “day of love.”

    Many of those who protested that day were led by the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, both known as far-right militant organizations. Proud Boys leader, Enrique Tarrio, who had begun his sentence of 22 years and Stewart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers, had begun an 18-year sentence are now free after Trump’s pardons. They had been convicted of seditious conspiracy. 

    Ironically, Trump’s inaugural address had spoken of glorious days to come for the nation. “We will move with purpose and speed to bring back hope, prosperity, safety, and peace for citizens of every race, religion, color, and creed,” he said. 

    Despite Trump’s sweeping pardons of the Capitol attackers, there has never been an apology from him for his recently continued and repeated false accusations against the Central Park 5 who were found completely innocent of a Central Park jogger 36 years ago. Nor has he apologized for falsely accusing Haitian people of eating dogs and cats of their Ohio neighbors and the string of other lies against people of color.

    Remarkably, Trump’s inauguration, which appeared to have gone smoothly Jan. 20, complete with an indoor U. S. Capitol swearing in ceremony due to the cold, an indoor parade at the Capital One Arena and three inaugural balls, were all undermined by what appeared to be continued lies, insults and not one good word about Biden; nor Vice President Kamala Harris, who Trump handily defeated.
    “From this day forward, our country will flourish and be respected again all over the world.  We will be the envy of every nation, and we will not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of any longer.  During every single day of the Trump administration, I will, very simply, put America first,” Trump said in his inaugural address in front of members of Congress, the U. S. Supreme Court and Presidents Biden, Obama, Bush, Clinton, Vice President Harris and even former Vice President Pence. Several tech billionaires were strategically placed on the dais, in front of Trump’s family members and cabinet selections.

    “Our sovereignty will be reclaimed.  Our safety will be restored.  The scales of justice will be rebalanced.  The vicious, violent, and unfair weaponization of the Justice Department and our government will end,” Trump said to applause. He did not mention the pending pardons during his official inaugural address.

    But only a few hours later, he announced the more than a thousand pardons of what he called, “J-6 hostages.” In campaign promises along the trail over the past months, Trump had promised there would be pardons of those convicted of crimes on Jan. 6. But even his Republican supporters did not expect him to release violent offenders that led to the wounding of more than 140 police officers, the deaths of six others and millions of dollars in damages to the Capitol building.

    “If you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn’t be pardoned,” then Vice President-elect Vance said in front of cameras only days before the inauguration. Republican Speaker Mike Johnson agreed that he thought Trump was not promising sweeping pardons. On Tuesday, he told Politico that he had not yet seen the list and would be reviewing it.

    “Full pardons. Full pardons,” Trump said repeatedly as he signed the executive orders. He said only about six would receive clemency, which means their slates are not wiped cleaned, but their sentences would end or be significantly reduced.

    Trump supporters have argued that Biden’s pardons of his son, Hunter, weeks ago as well as his pardon of members of his entire family within the last few minutes of his tenure as president may have prompted Trump to release the Jan. 6 convicts. But others argue that Trump likely knew exactly what he was going to do and, besides, Biden’s family members were not violent.

    Another executive order issued by Trump includes ending (DEI) Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the federal government. “The injection of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) into our institutions has corrupted them by replacing hard work, merit, and equality with a divisive and dangerous preferential hierarchy,” said a statement on
    NAACP president: anti-DEI law harming students, professors