Greene County Democrat

Category: Community

  • Emmett Till bill reauthorized

     

    Will it spur more of an effort to solve civil rights murders than the original legislation

    By Frederick Lowe

    Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from NorthStarNewsToday.com

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     Emmett Till

    (TriceEdneyWire.com) – President Barack Obama has signed legislation permanently reauthorizing a law that expands prosecution of civil rights-era murders after an earlier version of the law failed miserably to live up to expectations.

    The President, Dec. 16, signed the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Bill of 2007, which expands the authority of the Department of Justice and FBI to investigate and prosecute race-based murders.

    The legislation is named in honor of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Chicago boy who was kidnapped and murdered on Aug. 28, 1955,  in Money, Miss., by Roy Bryant and J. W. Milam for allegedly whistling at Carolyn Bryant, a White woman.

    The teenager’s beaten and horribly mutilated body, tied to a heavy industrial fan, floated to the surface of the Tallahatchie River, where it was discovered by two boys swimming in the river.

    An all-White male jury found Milam and Bryant not guilty, but the two admitted killing Till in a Jan. 24, 1956 interview with Look magazine for which they were paid. Bryant operated a store and it went out business after blacks launched a boycott.

    The current Emmett Till legislation was scheduled to expire on Sept. 30, 2017, the end of the government’s fiscal year.  The legislation was passed in 2008, after being introduced by Congressman John Lewis, a veteran of the civil rights movement. Lewis’ bill limited investigations to violations that occurred before 1970.

    The original legislation failed to live up to its promise, according to a U. S. Senate review of the law. There has been only one successful prosecution as result of the bill. The Senate also noted other challenges such as the Fifth Amendment protection against double jeopardy and a pre-1994 five-year statute of limitations on federal criminal civil rights charges.

    “Ultimately, a DOJ report stated that it is unlikely that any of the remaining cases would be prosecuted,” the Senate reported. The Cold Case Justice Initiative of the DOJ last year closed 115 of the 126 cases on their list, often without pursuing potential witnesses or victims’ family members, the Senate said.

    Last year, civil right activists testified before the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, that the DOJ and the FBI have not done enough to solve the murders of civil rights workers in the 1940s, 50s and 60s despite the Emmett Till legislation.

    The murders of black men, women and children have been extensive and almost no perpetrators have been brought to justice.

    The Equal Justice Initiatve, which is based in Montgomery, Ala., reported that nearly 4,000 black men, black women and black children were lynched between 1877 and 1950. Many lynching were extrajudicial but others were either organized or encouraged by law enforcement officials.

    Congress passed the expanded Emmett Till legislation on Dec. 13th. The legislation was introduced into the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Senate bill, S. 2854, and House bill, H. R. 5067, require the Department of Justice to reopen and review cases closed without an in-person investigation conducted by the DOJ or the FBI. The DOJ also must establish a task force to conduct a thorough investigation of Emmett Till Act Cases.

    “Perhaps most significantly to us is that the FBI will be required to travel to the communities to do their investigative work, not simply read over old files from a desk in Washington and make a couple phone calls,” said Janis McDonald, co-director of the Cold Case Justice Initiative, which is based at Syracuse University.

    The DOJ must indicate the number of cases referred by a civil rights organization, an institution of higher education or a state or local law enforcement agency.  The bill also requires the DOJ to report the number of cases that resulted in federal charges, the date charges were filed and whether DOJ declined to prosecute or participate in an investigation of a referred case and any activity on reopened cases.

    In addition, the law enforcement agencies must coordinate information sharing, hold accountable perpetrators or accomplices in unsolved civil rights murders and comply with Freedom Information Act requests.

    The legislation also allows DOJ to award grants to civil rights organizations, institutions of higher education and other eligible entities for expenses associated with investigating murders under the Emmett Till Act.

    One major issue facing this legislation is the extent to which it will be implemented in a U. S. Justice Department headed by Trump Attorney General nominee, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, who did not vote for this and other civil rights legislation during his Senatorial career.

  • ANSC and SOS protest nomination of Jeff Sessions to be U. S. Attorney General

    protestersA group of thirty representatives of the Alabama New South Coalition (ANSC) and the Save Ourselves Movement for Justice and Democracy (SOS) Direct Action Committee protested the nomination, by President-elect Trump, of Alabama Senator Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III to become U. S. Attorney General. The protest was held for the past two Tuesdays, in front of the Federal Courthouse Building in Montgomery, where Sessions has his Alabama office.

    The ANSC and SOS have issued a detailed statement opposing Session’s nomination. The statement says:
    “We are compelled to issue this statement, because as citizens and residents of Alabama, we are intimately knowlegable and keenly aware of the harm that Senator Sessions has brought to our people and our state. We are issuing this statement as a warning to people in other states of the United States that Jeff Sessions is singularly unfit, manifestly unqualified and totally insensitive to serve as the chief law enforcement agent for our great nation.
    “We are especially concerned that as Attorney General, he will be charged with enforcing civil rights, voting rights, and human rights laws, as well as being the primary caretaker of our criminal justice system. A criminal justice system and the policing mechanisms that support it are in urgent need of reform. By education, temperament and actions over the past 40 years, Jeff Sessions has shown himself to be unfit, unqualified and insensitive to serve in this critical position.”
    The ANSC, SOS and other groups will continue to protest Session’s nomination. On Friday, December 16, 2016, at 11:00 AM the NAACP, the Alabama Moral Movement, ANSC, SOS and other organizations will protest at the Vance Federal Office Building in Birmingham, where Sessions has another of his state offices

  • Greene County Commission agrees to submit grant proposal for Alabama Gulf Coast Railroad

    At its regular meeting on Monday night, December 12, 2016, the Greene County Commission agreed to submit a grant proposal on behalf of The Alabama Gulf Coast Railroad to the FASTLANE II program of the U. S. Department of Transportation.
    The Alabama Gulf Coast Railroad runs from Columbus, Mississippi to the ports of Mobile, Alabama Pensacola, Florida, on the Gulf Coast. The 348-mile railroad provides freight services to industries in Pickens, Greene, Hale, Marengo, Wilcox, Monroe and Escambia counties in Alabama; and Escambia and Baldwin counties in Florida.
    The proposed project will provide support for major and minor improvements to 114 bridges along the route of the railroad. These improvements will allow the use of 286,000 pound standard maximum weight freight cars, so customers can increase their shipping capabilities and competitiveness.
    The project costs a total of $16.1 million. The A&GC Railroad has contributed $7 million, the Florida DOT has made a 5% match at $ 769,000 and the DOT FASTLANE grant request is for $ 8.3 million. The Railroad needed a state or county government sponsor to submit the grant. The Greene County Commission agreed to be a sponsor and will receive some administrative fees for serving as the fiscal agent for the grant.
    The Greene County Commission received a financial report from Paula Bird, County Finance Officer, showing total expenses for the two months (October and November 2016) of the fiscal year were $1,276,482.50, which is 11.11% of the budget and in line with the projections for the year. She also reported $ 3.54 million in cash on hand; $681,151 and $390,094 in bond sinking funds; and an escrow for Greenetrack funds of $83,343.In other business, the Commission:
    • approved travel for staff to training programs,
    • approved County Engineers request to change County Road 119 to a dirt road,
    • adopted holiday calendar for Dec. 23 and Dec. 30,
    • employed Vernon Nickson, as van driver for the Eutaw Nutrition Center,
    • extended County Engineers contract until December 2021.

  • Town of Forkland has a new mayor, Charlie McAlpine

    In a special municipal run-off election held Tuesday, December 13, 2016, Charlie McAlpine was elected as Mayor of Forkland, Alabama with 167 votes to Johnny L. Isaac’s 100 votes. The District 5 council seat went to Willie Sashington who received 27 votes to Sam Isaac’s 20 votes.
    The municipal run-off elections previously scheduled, across the county for October 4, 2016, were cancelled for the Town of Forkland by the incumbent Mayor Ollie Vester, who decided to seek a recount after the appropriate dateline for a recount had passed. Vester had sought re-election as mayor in the municipal election held August 23, 2016, but had not made the run-off.
    Reportedly, Vester postponed the Oct. 4 run-off elections despite instructions from the Alabama League of Municipalities to proceed with the election. These delays resulted in the recently held special run-off election on Dec. 13.
    The Forkland Council Members are: District 1, Joe Lewis Tuck; District 2, Christopher Armstead; District 3, Preston Davis; District 4, Samitria Gray; District 5, Willie Sashington.
    The Forkland Town Mayor Charlie McAlpine and Council Members will take office on January 2, 2017.

  • Unfinished Nigerian chapel collapses with heavy fatalities

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    Nigerian church collapse
    Dec. 12, 2016 (GIN) – Newly-installed steel girders supporting a megachurch filled with Nigerian parishioners snapped abruptly during a Saturday church service, trapping hundreds and leaving a trail of tragedy for close to 200 congregants who lost their lives, according to local sources.

    Mortuaries in the southern Nigerian city of Uyo were overflowing after the incident, Etete Peters, medical director of the University of Uyo teaching hospital, told the Associated Press.

    In anticipation of the consecration service for the church founder, Apostle Akan, and a visit by the state governor, congregants told reporters on the scene that builders may have been pushed to finish the enormous structure earlier than planned.

    The governor of the Nigerian state of Akwa Ibom, Emmanuel Udom, was inside the building when the girders fell onto worshippers and the corrugated iron roof caved in. Emmanuel escaped unhurt.

    According to Reports Afrique, an online news service, Apostle Akan had urged engineers to remove the center scaffold that held up the roof to create more space in the church.

    Journalists at the scene said church officials tried to prevent them from documenting the incident, trying to seize cameras and forcing some to leave the area. Later, Gov. Udom downplayed the number of fatalities – from 160 to 23 – blaming the discrepancy on shoddy reporting.

    Body counts are now a matter of dispute since a lower number of fatalities was released by the Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association, Akwa Ibom State Branch, Dr. Aniekeme Uwah, and higher numbers were released by foreign news agencies.

    An article titled “Tell the Public the Truth about the Total Number of Victims and Casualties Now,” demanded an end to a “shameful coverup in order to undermine the gravity of the avoidable disaster.” The article, by human rights lawyer Inibehe Effiong, appeared in the online news service Sahara Reporters. Effiong is the convener of the Coalition of Human Rights Defenders of Nigeria.

    Meanwhile, a megachurch was again the scene of a tragedy on the same day when a stampede occurred at the Synagogue Church of All Nations in Ikotun, Lagos State. Worshippers were reportedly attempting to reach the General Overseer, Prophet TB Joshua, as he led a special healing service.

    Three worshippers have been confirmed dead after the stampede which occurred around 4:30 a.m., according to PUNCH.

  • Trump fills Cabinet quota with Dr. Ben Carson as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

    By Lauren Victoria Burke (NNPA Newswire Contributor)

     

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    •  Dr. Ben Carson
      In 1984, at age 33, Ben Carson became the youngest chief of pediatric neurosurgery at John Hopkins Hospital. He pioneered a number of neurosurgical procedures and was even awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2008.
      Carson is a skilled neurosurgeon and has earned a number of accolades during his storied career in medicine, but none of those accomplishments speak to the skills needed to craft policy for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the federal agency that President-elect Donald Trump has asked him to lead.
      Carson’s ability to run a federal bureaucracy with a $27 billion budget such as HUD is unknown. But Donald Trump has been consistent in selected unqualified millionaires and billionaires with no specific policy expertise to run the federal government. With that, Trump has selected Ben Carson to run HUD.
      HUD has traditionally been the cabinet department that Republican presidents have chosen African American nominees. It has been the predictable quota position for GOP presidents and Trump is carrying on that tradition. In 1981, President Ronald Reagan selected Sam Pierce as his HUD Secretary and, in 2004, President George W. Bush chose Alfonso Jackson. But whether they were picked in part, because of skin color or not, both Jackson and Pierce still had at least some experience in a government position before becoming Secretary of HUD. Jackson was the former executive director of the St. Louis Housing Authority and later ran the Dallas Housing Authority. “Silent Sam” Pierce had at least served in the Department of Treasury before being selected as Reagan’s only Black cabinet member.
      During Pierce’s tenure, a Congressional investigation revealed that, “Pierce’s aides, who said they had been acting on his orders, distributed millions of dollars in housing subsidies to prominent Republican consultants at a time when the Reagan administration was sharply reducing the agency’s budget,” according to “The New York Times.”
      The New York Times article continued: “Under President Ronald Reagan, annual spending on subsidized housing programs dropped to $8 billion from $26 billion, cuts that Mr. Pierce defended.
      Carson’s housing strategy is likely to be a mix of novice policy making and unproven theory. That’s how policy novices who think they know everything on subjects they have no expertise typically approach government. Given that, Congress is likely to be the entity truly in charge of the policy as Carson fumbles around with the details.
      Ben Carson has already shown a rugged disregard for plain fact since the time he retired from Johns Hopkins in 2013. That trait hasn’t gone unnoticed. On the day Carson was nominated, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) blasted Trump’s decision. “Dr. Carson’s nomination to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is frightening. He may be a brain surgeon but he is not qualified to run HUD. Donald Trump knows this,” Waters asserted in the statement. “During the Republican primary, [Trump] called him a liar, pathological and even violent. Dr. Carson himself has said he is not qualified to lead a federal agency. Now, we are expected to forget these disqualifying statements by both of them and entrust Dr. Carson with overseeing HUD, which has a budget of $47 billion.”
      The statement continued: “Millions of Americans rely on HUD assistance to help them access safe, decent, and affordable housing. And they are not all in the inner cities; they are in rural and suburban areas as well. HUD provides critical investments in these areas to spur economic development and house the most vulnerable. This is no easy task. The rural and urban Americans who benefit from HUD programs deserve a strong, qualified leader at the helm of this important agency. Dr. Carson is not this person. We know it, Donald Trump knows it, and yes, even Dr. Carson knows it.”
      The confirmation hearing for Carson should be quite long and entertaining. Just like Trump’s choice of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education, the choice of Carson by Trump would indicate that the department is of little to no importance to the incoming President, but that there may be major change in federal housing policy on the horizon.

  • Baton Rouge’s 1st Black female Mayor hopes to unify a city torn apart by racial strife

    By. Kiersten Willis, Atlanta Black Star

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    Sharon Weston Broome

    Residents of Louisiana’s state capital of Baton Rouge elected their first Black female mayor over the weekend. Sharon Weston Broome, a former state senator, will succeed Baton Rouge’s first Black mayor Kip Holden, whose 12-year term has wrapped.
    According to The Times-Picayune, Broome, a Democrat, won the runoff election over Republican Sen. Bodi White with just over 3 percent of the votes separating the candidates. After winning with 51.83 percent of the vote, Broome became mayor-president of Baton Rouge and East Baton Rouge Parish Saturday, Dec. 10.
    Before her win, WAFB reported Broome was a member of the state legislature for 24 years, serving as a state representative for 14 years beginning in 1991 before going to the Senate and becoming the first woman in the role for District 15. She also became the Pro Tempore of both the House and the Senate.
    “Tonight, Baton Rouge made a statement,” Broome said, according to The Times-Picayune. “A statement that we are a city of inclusion. This is an opportunity to rise from the ashes of the past six months and write a new chapter, a new chapter that we can all be proud of.”
    Broome’s campaign was largely based on promoting unity in a parish wracked with police brutality incidents since two cops killed Alton Sterling on July 5. Two days later, a peaceful protest was disrupted with gunfire after Army veteran Micah Xavier Johnson opened fire, killing five police officers and wounding nine others. Aside from social problems, Louisiana also was hit with historic flooding in August.
    “This has been a challenging year with the killing of Alton Sterling and the killing of the police officers,” said Broome, who was personally affected by the flood. “I want to bring the citizens of this community together and law enforcement together. I want to be the mayor who leads the effort to rebuild and recover.”
    Broome will be inaugurated as mayor-president on Dec. 31.

  • Jim Brown and Ray Lewis, former NFL players meet with President-elect Trump

     

    By Des Bieler , Washington Post

    Jim Brown and Ray Lewis.jpgJim Brown and Ray Lewis speak with reporters at Trump Tower. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images

    Trump Tower was the scene of NFL royalty Tuesday, as Ray Lewis and Jim Brown met with the president-elect at his New York transition offices. After the meeting, Lewis spoke of addressing urgent economic conditions, saying, “Black or white is irrelevant.”
    Trump, who has been criticized for racially insensitive comments and policy positions, also met Tuesday with pop star Kanye West and former “Apprentice” contestant Omarosa Manigault. “I feel it is important to have a direct line of communication with our future president if we truly want change,” West subsequently tweeted.
    “Urban development and job creation are everything,” Lewis, a former star linebacker for the Ravens, told reporters after his meeting. “What we believe with the Trump administration is if we can combine these two powers of coming together — forget black or white. Black or white is irrelevant. The bottom line is job creation and economic development in these urban areas to change the whole scheme of what our kids see.”
    “I fell in love with him because he really talks about helping African American, black people and that’s why I’m here,” Brown said on CNN after his meeting. At Trump Tower, he told reporters that he hadn’t voted for Trump, but that “we couldn’t have had a better meeting.”
    “The graciousness, the intelligence, the reception we got was fantastic,” Brown said. Brown, a Hall of Famer widely regarded as the greatest running back in NFL history, said he talked to Trump about, among other things, his Amer-I-Can Program, which helps teach life skills to people struggling with poverty.
    Lewis said that, because of the program, “we have 30,000 to 40,000 former gang members who’ve changed their lives.” He also said (via the Baltimore Sun) that he thought Ben Carson was a good pick to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

  • “Stand As One” rally held in B’ham

    Closing Prayers.jpgOn Sunday evening, November 27, 2016, the Greater Birmingham Ministries and other organizations sponsored a “Stand As One” prayer vigil in Linn Park, across from City Hall in Birmingham.
    More than 200 concerned people from Birmingham and around the state attended.
    The purpose of the gathering was to “give thanks for ALL of our neighbors and to let them know that they are not alone.”

    “We want to Stand As One especially with members of our community who may feel vulnerable and targeted by the divisive rhetoric of the presidential campaign. We want to shout out loud that regardless of religion, immigration status, race, sexual orientation, country of origin, mental or physical disabilities, we are all one and will not be divided,” said Rev. Angie Wright, Associate Director of Greater Birmingham Ministries.
    Scott Douglas, Executive Director of GBM, said, “We are moved by our shared belief that, as Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “When one is affected directly, all are affected
    indirectly. When our brothers and sisters are targeted and living in fear, it affects us all. It rips at the seams of our entire community. We plan to Stand As One to protect vulnerable families and communities in Alabama.”
    “We stand as one against hate and fear and stand together for Love and Hope – no matter who you are, where you come from, how you worship, if you worship, what’s your gender, what’s your gender identity, who you love, how you are differently abled, how old you are, how young you are. We gather here today to march and pray that together we will stand as one.
    “Mahatma Gandhi was once asked aren’t you a Hindu? He replied, “Yes I am, I am also a Muslim, a Christian, a Buddhist, and a Jew.” No, he wasn’t talking about his religious tradition, he was talking about his faithful tradition of solidarity with anyone who finds themselves oppressed and solidarity with any religion, any activity that lifts up humanity”, said Douglas.
    Several other religious leaders including: Rev. Dollie Pinkney (CME),
    Rabbi Barry Left (conservative Judiasm), Sister Gabrielle Ramirez (Roman Catholic), Imam Sameh Asal (Birmingham Islamic Society), Jim Truesdale (Presbyterian) and Rev. Angie Wright (United Church of Christ) also spoke and prayed together at the vigil.
    Scott Douglas asked the group to “ Continue to stand as one using our cell phones. All you need to do is type “standasone” – one word – to 313131. That’s 313131 on the “to” line and “standasone” as the message”, as a way to stay in touch for the future.

  • 21st Century youth attend leadership camp

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    Senator Hank Sanders leads discussion on leadership traits with participants
    at 21st Century’s Youth Leadership Development Winter camp.

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    L to R: Harambe participants at 21C Winter Leadership Camp held at the Selma Center for Non violence, Truth and Reconcilliation. Justine Morton, Akeem Hardy, Alphonzo Morton, IV, Ivan Peebles, Alphonzo Morton, III, Destiny Dancy, Jamia Jackson, Carol Zippert, Daijah Means.

    Approximately 40 students, representing five counties, participated in the annual 21st Century Youth Leadership Movement Winter Camp in Selma, AL, December 2-4, 2016. The week end activities opened on Friday evening with the usual pep rally of freedom and leadership songs composed over the years by 21C founder, Attorney Faya Rose Toure.
    This was followed by a special presentation by Mrs. Annie Pearl Avery on her coming of age and continuing activities in the Civil Rights and Freedom Movement.

    Mrs. Avery, a former SNCC worker, held engaging exchanges with the students who were in awe of the risks she and so many others took in the struggles across the South.
    Saturday’s activities included Mindful Movements led by April Caddell, Co-Coordinator of the Winter Camp. April also led a session on Mindfulness is a Super Power. A core session on leadership traits was presented by Senator Hank Sanders, utilizing the leadership strategies in the story of Gideon from the Bible.
    The students viewed a documentary, entitled 13th, on the prison industrial system produced by Ava Duvernay. The following discussion was led by Alphonzo Morton, III, Camp Co-Coordinator. The film brought out how the 13th Amendment of the US Constitution condones the slavery of persons incarcerated. Slave labor of convicted felons became a big enterprise in this country.
    Pep rallies with original 21C songs were inserted throughout the day, which was capped off with a trip to the movies for entertainment. All camp participants, students and adults, enjoyed Almost Christmas at the Walton Theater in Selma.
    The week end camp closed out by noon on Sunday with a Takeaway Session where the young people shared their experiences and leadership lessons learned.
    21st Century Youth Leadership Movement was founded in 1986 as a non profit organization dedicated to developing young people as community directed leaders. The various county chapters are led by volunteers who are committed to the vision and goals of the organization.