Greene County Democrat

Category: Crime

  • Newswire : Obama calls for gun control: ‘We are not helpless’ to stop attacks

    CASEY DARNELL, Yahoo News

    Former President Barack Obama

    Former President Barack Obama called for stricter gun control laws in a Monday statement after two mass shootings over the weekend left more than 30 people dead in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio.
    “We are not helpless here,” Obama said in a statement posted on Twitter. “And until all of us stand up and insist on holding public officials accountable for changing our gun laws, these tragedies will keep happening.”
    Obama said the El Paso shooting followed a “dangerous trend” of violence motivated by racist ideologies. He compared white supremacist websites to terrorist groups like ISIS and called on law enforcement and internet platforms to reduce the influence of hate groups.
    The El Paso shooting is being investigated as a possible hate crime after an anti-immigrant “manifesto” posted online was connected to the alleged gunman. Posts on 8chan, an online messaging board used by right-wing extremists, have also been connected to the alleged gunman. Law enforcement officials said on Saturday that the suspect told them he wanted to shoot as many Mexicans as possible.
    Obama also called on Americans to “soundly reject language coming out of the mouths of any of our leaders that feeds a climate of fear and hatred or normalizes racist sentiments.” He didn’t specify which leaders he was talking about. President Trump is known for anti-immigrant rhetoric, repeatedly referring to a migrant caravan at the U.S.-Mexico border as an “invasion.”
    Obama noted that hateful rhetoric and language that demonizes others isn’t new but has been at the “root of most human tragedy.”
    “It has no place in our politics and our public life,” he wrote. “And it’s time for the overwhelming majority of Americans of goodwill, of every race and faith and political party, to say as much — clearly and unequivocally.”
    Obama also called on Americans to “soundly reject language coming out of the mouths of any of our leaders that feeds a climate of fear and hatred or normalizes racist sentiments.” He didn’t specify which leaders he was talking about. President Trump is known for anti-immigrant rhetoric, repeatedly referring to a migrant caravan at the U.S.-Mexico border as an “invasion.”
    Obama noted that hateful rhetoric and language that demonizes others isn’t new but has been at the “root of most human tragedy.”
    “It has no place in our politics and our public life,” he wrote. “And it’s time for the overwhelming majority of Americans of goodwill, of every race and faith and political party, to say as much — clearly and unequivocally.”
    Trump delivered remarks at the White House on Monday morning, condemning the attacks as “evil” and “wicked.” While he cited “racist hate” in the manifesto, he blamed the shootings on mental illness, violent video games and the internet.
    “We must recognize that the internet has provided a dangerous avenue to radicalize disturbed minds and perform demented acts,“ Trump said. “We must shine light on the dark recesses of the internet and stop mass murders before they start.”

  • Newswire : After hate-filled massacres: NAACP blames Trump for fueling ‘racism, bigotry and white Supremacy’

    Dayton, Ohio victims. Credit: CBS News

    (TriceEdneyWire.com) – President Donald Trump, in the wake of mass shootings that killed at least 31 people over the weekend, called for a unified condemnation of “racism, bigotry, and white supremacy” while he, himself has consistently promoted and supported racism, bigotry and White supremacy.

    At least 22 were killed and more than 20 injured at a Walmart in El Paso Texas on Saturday as parents and children ventured out for back to school shopping. Dallas resident, Patrick Crusius, 21, was arrested in the shootings. According to authorities and widespread reports, Crusius wrote a manifesto claiming responsibility for the attack and railing against what he described as a “Hispanic invasion of Texas,” using language mirroring Trump’s language describing “invasion” immigrants.
    Crusius also reportedly told authorities that he had intended to kill as many Mexicans as he could. At least 18 Mexican nationals were shot. Nine died, reports say.

    Federal investigators, including the FBI, have classified the case as domestic terrorism.
    Less than 15 hours later, another White male opened fire at a bar in Dayton, Ohio, killing nine people, six of them Black. Twenty-seven others were injured in Dayton. The shooter, Connor Betts, 24,
    was shot dead by responding officers.

    “The shooter in El Paso posted a manifesto online consumed by racist hate. In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry, and white supremacy,” Trump said in a televised speech from the White House Monday morning. “These sinister ideologies must be defeated. Hate has no place in America. Hatred warps the mind, ravages the heart, and devours the soul. We have asked the FBI to identify all further resources they need to investigate and disrupt hate crimes and domestic terrorism – whatever they need.”

    Ironically, Trump also called the Internet “a dangerous avenue to radicalize disturbed minds and perform demented acts” and described it as a place with “dark recesses”.

    But some – including the NAACP – believe it has been clearly Trump himself who has used social media – mainly Twitter – to fuel racism, White supremacy and bigotry throughout the nation and around the world through his attacks on people of color, portraying them as less than human.

    Following the recent shootings, NAACP President Derrick Johnson
    called out Trump’s own hate-filled behavior on the Internet over past
    years, months, weeks and days.

    “These tragic shootings are stark reminders of the dangers that plague our communities under the resurgence of white nationalism, domestic terrorism, intolerance, and racial hatred germinating from the White House,” wrote Johnson in a statement.

    Other civil rights leaders chimed in, appearing to be at a loss for answers.
    “When is Enough, enough?” asked Melanie Campbell, president/CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation (NCBCP) and Convener of the Black Women’s Roundtable (BWR). “Gun violence in America must end, and it must end now. How many more lives must be lost by senseless gun violence for
    elected officials to step up and lead?”

    Campbell issued the following statistics on gun violence to date in 2019:
    • There have been 253 mass shootings in America in 216 days of this year. That is more than one mass shooting per day for 2019. And we still have five more months to go this year.
    • According to the Gun Violence Archive, to date, the total number of gun-related incidents in this country now stands at 33,076, resulting in 8,744 deaths and 17,366 injuries.
    • The number of youths killed, ages 1 to 17, now stands at 2,197.
    •
    “This is absolute insanity for a so-called ‘civilized’ nation. The shootings in El Paso and Dayton were senseless acts of hate that could possibly have been prevented had there been laws in place to control access to high powered, rapid-fire, military grade weapons. The National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and the Black Women’s Roundtable strongly urges the U. S. Senate to come off of vacation and deal with this crisis by passing a
    national common sense gun safety law now.”

    In Trump’s speech, he mentioned mental illness that leads to gun violence, but said nothing about his own hateful tweets.
    He said, “We must reform our mental health laws to better identify mentally disturbed individuals who may commit acts of violence and make sure those people not only get treatment, but, when necessary, involuntary confinement.”
    He said he is directing the Department of Justice to work in “partnership with local, state, and federal agencies, as well as social media companies, to develop tools that can detect mass shooters before
    they strike.”

    He said the “glorification of violence in our society” through “gruesome and grisly video games” must end.
    He added,“We must make sure that those judged to pose a grave risk to public safety do not have access to firearms, and that, if they do, those firearms can be taken through rapid due process. That is why I have called for red flag laws, also known as extreme risk protection orders.”

    Finally, Trump said he was “directing the Department of Justice to propose legislation ensuring that those who commit hate crimes and mass murders face the death penalty, and that this capital punishment be delivered quickly, decisively, and without years of needless delay.”

    Still civil rights leaders lay blame for the El Paso and Dayton massacres squarely at Trump’s feet:
    Johnson wrote: “The NAACP is calling on the Trump administration to cease its use of divisive and discriminatory rhetoric which fuel these unconscionable attacks and allot resources to combat the rise of domestic terrorism and hate crimes.”

  • Aged and rotted tree on courthouse square removed; annual festival will go on

    The organizers of the annual Black Belt Folk Roots Festival, which is in its 44th year of community celebration, had a moment of concern when they were informed that an aged tree on the old courthouse square posed a potential danger to anyone on the grounds. The downtown square has been the site for the festival for most of those 44 years. The Eutaw Area Chamber of Commerce, which supervises use of the old courthouse square, posted yellow caution tape barring the two largest trees on the grounds from close access. This action raised concern among many in the community. The constant questions became: What about our festival? Will we still have our festival in August on the old courthouse square with the blues and gospel stage, assorted handcrafts, and a variety of foods?
    The Black Belt Folk Roots Festival is scheduled for Saturday, August 24 and Sunday August 25, 2019 and the festival will go on.
    Chamber President, Beverly Gordon, was very diligent in seeking solutions to the tree dilemma. The huge oak tree situated behind the former office of the county circuit clerk on the square was visibly rotted and a hazard that needed to be removed. Ms. Gordon consulted with city and county officials including the Greene County Cooperative Extension Office for input and assistance. Subsequently, an arrangement was worked out with Mrs. Lovie Burrell Parks, County Extension Coordinator to secure resources through an AlPro Health Obesity Grant, funded through Auburn University.
    According to Mrs. Parks, Greene is one of 13 counties, with adult obesity rates greater than 40%, funded through local community coalitions in support of initiatives to reduce obesity by providing increase access to healthy foods and places for physical activity. She explained that the Eutaw Community Coalition readily applied some of its ALPro Health grant funds to defray the cost to remove the rotted tree, since the sidewalk around the old courthouse square is utilized for healthy walks by many in the community. The benches on the square, also provided by the project, serve the needs of individuals walking for better health.
    “ The cutting of the tree will allow community citizens to walk around the square for more physical activity in greater safety,” Parks said. She extended a special thank you to the Eutaw Community Coalition for allowing this project to take place in the Eutaw city square.

  • Newswire: Nigerian claims to defeating Boko Haram are ‘far from true reality’

    Nigerian armed forces

    July 29, 2019 (GIN) – In Borno State, one of Nigeria’s most conflicted states in the Northeast, few would be celebrating the anniversary of the first outbreak of violence by the Boko Haram fighters whose trail of heartbreak and tragedy weave through the region’s many small towns.

    It might have seemed foolhardy for a small village to take on the Boko Haram fighters with knives and hunting guns. But two weeks ago, villagers of the Nganzai area attempted just that. Some 11 Boko Haram fighters reportedly died in the scuffle and 10 AK-47 rifles were captured.

    “These people have been stealing from us so we decided to come together because we could no longer wait for an eternity for soldiers to defend us,” said Aji Gaji Mallam, who said he lost four brothers in previous attacks.

    But it wasn’t long before Boko Haram fighters came on a reprisal mission in the form of armed men on motorbikes who, witnesses said, roared into the area and attacked a funeral procession, killing at least 65 people, many of them mourners.

    In a region devastated by violence, displacement, climate change and the resulting widespread malnutrition, the insurgency has led to tens of thousands of deaths and the displacement of about two million people.

    Yet Nigeria’s government and military claim repeatedly that Boko Haram is being subdued, even on the brink of defeat, its hiding places decimated. Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari said he received assurances from the armed forces that the terrorists who committed these killings “will pay a big price for their action”.

    “This administration is determined to end the menace of terrorism,” the president said in the statement issued by his spokesman Garba Shehu.

    Human rights groups, aid organizations and local Nigerians have long disputed such claims, and attacks have persisted. “People like us who have been operating in the field, we know that what the government is saying is far from the true reality on the ground,” said Ms. Hamsatu Allamin, a human rights advocate who has worked with foreign aid groups.

    Meanwhile, spokesman Shehu acknowledged the difficulties faced by Nigeria’s military to defeat Boko Haram. “The honest truth is lack of capacity,” he said.

    “I’m not saying a lack of fighting capacity, but lack of capacity In terms of personnel, equipment, in terms of mobility access to react quickly,” he added.

    “The Nigerian army, air force and the navy are all evolved in this operation; they are thinly spread on the ground. We do not have enough boots on the ground to pull that area.”

  • Newswire: Donald Trump views people of color as ‘infestations’

    He uses the word again in attack on Baltimore and its Black Congressman
    By Hazel Trice Edney

    Congressman Elijah Cummings

    (TriceEdneyWire.com) – President Donald Trump has repeatedly used a form of the word “infested” as he refers to Black and brown people, clearly expressing his view of them as something less than human.
    This was the observation of an emotional CNN anchor, who happens to be a Baltimore native, as well as activists, civil rights leaders and the general public in response to Trump’s latest racial insult. This time he was referring to Baltimore Rep. Elijah Cummings, chair of the House Oversight Committee, which has heavily monitored Trump and his administration, including on their treatment of immigrants.
    “Cumming’s District is a disgusting rat and rodent infested mess. If he spent more time in Baltimore maybe he could clean up this very dangerous and filthy place…No human being would want to live there,” Trump ranted in an angry tweet Monday morning.
    Baltimore-born CNN anchor Victor Blackwell, clearly fed up with Trump’s insults of people of color, issued a live, on the air rebuke, quoting the times the president has used a form of the word, “infested” in descriptions of people of color or where they live:
    “Infested: That’s usually reserved for references to rodents and insects, but we’ve seen the president invoke infestation to criticize law makers before. Do you see a pattern here? Just two weeks ago, president Trump attacked four minority Congresswomen: ‘Why don’t they go back to the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came?’ Reminder: Three of them were born here. All of them are American.’”
    Blackwell continued, ‘“Infested’. A week before his inauguration, January 2017, Congressman John Lewis should spend more time fixing and helping his district which is in horrible shape and falling apart; not to mention crime infested. Donald Trump has tweeted more than 43,000 times. He’s insulted thousands of people. Many different types of people. But when he tweets about infestation, it’s about Black and Brown people.
    He continued, “Sept. 2014 at the height of an urgent health emergency: ‘Why are we sending thousands of ill-trained soldiers into Ebola-infested areas of Africa. Bring the plague to the U. S.? Obama is so stupid.’”
    Finally, “There’s a revolution going on in California. So many sanctuary areas want out to this ridiculous crime-infested and breeding concept,” Blackwell quotes before speaking directly to Trump from his anchors chair.
    “The president says about Congressman Cummings’ district (emotional pause) ‘That no human would want to live there. You know who did, Mr. President? I did. From the day I was brought home from the hospital to the day I left for college. And a lot of people I care about still do. There are challenges, no doubt. But people are proud of their community. I don’t want to sound self-righteous, but people get up and go to work there. They care for their families there. They love their children who pledge allegiance to the flag just like people who live in districts of Congressmen who support you, sir. They are Americans too.”
    Blackwell wasn’t alone by a long stretch. The President’s latest racist remarks drew ire from Black Republicans and Democrats alike. Trump’s latest tweets comes on the heels of the U. S. House of Representatives’ condemnation of his Twitter attacks on four Congresswomen of color as ‘racist’.
    National Action Network’s Al Sharpton, Trump’s fellow New Yorker, in Baltimore for a meeting and press conference that had been planned weeks earlier, blistered the president for his attacks on Cummings and Baltimore.
    “Little did I know that Mr. Trump was going to, on the eve of this, attack the Congressman from this city. And not only the congressman, but the people of this city in the most bigoted and racist way,” said Sharpton at the early morning press conference. “He attacked everybody. I know Donald Trump. He is not mature enough to take criticism. He can’t help it. He’s like a child. Somebody says something, he reacts. He’s thin-skinned and not really matured that well.”
    Sharpton concluded, “But he has a particular venom for Black and people of color. He doesn’t refer to other opponents or critics as infested. He does not attack their districts. He attacks Nancy Pelosi, he attacks Chuck Schumer, he attacks other Whites. But he never said that their districts or their states are places that no human being wants to live.”
    Republican businessman and political operative Elroy Sailor, co-founder, CEO and Managing Partner of the Watts Partners, named for former Republican Congressman J. C. Watts, opened the press conference by describing a partnership in which Sharpton had reached out to the Bank of America to begin discussions on ways to develop Baltimore; especially its housing stock in the wake of the demise of Black homeownership across America. Jimmy Kemp, the son of former Housing Secretary Jack Kemp, also at the press conference, is a leader in the project.
    Also, at the press conference, former chair of the Republican National Committee and former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, called Baltimore a “wonderful city” and was highly critical of Trump’s remarks.
    “Mr. President, your reprehensible comments are like water rolling off of a duck’s back when it comes to this community. It just washes over them. It doesn’t stick to them. It doesn’t stain them,” Steele said. “Let’s walk this community sir. Let’s talk to them face to face. And you’ll begin to realize and appreciate the hard work and the commitment they have made. The resources that they need, you can help with. The energy that they have, you will benefit from.”
    Steele pointed out that three million people lost their homes in the 2008 housing crisis and a million were evicted. Their Baltimore meeting had intended on fixing issues that still stem from that crisis. He urged the public to keep their eyes on the potentially powerful outcome of the project and not on Trump’s tweets.
    “We got side-tracked, but we should not be distracted,” Steele said. “Because the work that need to be done that will then benefit and flow out in education, in business and health and other things, it matters. It is the time now to do this. That’s why we were gathered here…Don’t get distracted by the Tweet. Don’t get blinded by the noise…You do that, and this all gets lost.”

  • Four gaming operations in county contribute $307,630 for month of June

    Shown above: Bingo Clerk Emma Jackson; Boligee City Councilwoman Ernestine Wade; Dr. Marcia Pugh, CEO of the Greene County Health System; Greene County School Board CSFO Lavanda Blair; Greene County Sheriff Jonathan Benison; Ruth Thomas representing the City of Eutaw; Mayor of Union James Gaines; Lynnette Woods representing the Town of Forkland; Bingo Clerks Minnie Byrd.

    On Tuesday, July 23 2019, the Greene County Sheriff Department reported a total distribution of $307, 630 for the month of June 2019 from four licensed bingo gaming operations in the county. According to Sheriff Benison, gaming operations at Green Bingo have been suspended.
    The bingo distributions for June are contributed by Greenetrack, Inc., Frontier, River’s Edge and Palace.
    The recipients of the monthly distributions from bingo gaming designated by Sheriff Benison in his Bingo Rules and Regulations include the Greene County Commission, the Greene County Sheriff’s Department, the cities of Eutaw, Forkland, Union, Boligee, the Greene County Board of Education and the Greene County Hospital (Health System).
    Greenetrack, Inc. gave a total of $67,500 to the following: Greene County Commission, $24,000; Greene County Sheriff’s Department, $9,000; City of Eutaw, $4,500; and the Towns of Forkland, Union and Boligee each, $3,000; Greene County Board of Education, $13,500, the Greene County Health System, $7,500.
    Frontier (Dream, Inc.) gave a total of $67,500 to the following: Greene County Commission, $24,000; Greene County Sheriff’s Department, $9,000; City of Eutaw, $4,500; and the Towns of Forkland, Union and Boligee each, $3,000; Greene County Board of Education, $13,500, Greene County Health System, $7,500.
    River’s Edge (NNL – Next Level Leaders and TCCTP – Tishabee Community Center Tutorial Program) gave a total of $73,300 to the following: Greene County Commission, $24,000; Greene County Sheriff’s Department, $9,000; City of Eutaw, $4,500; and the Towns of Forkland, Union and Boligee each, $3,000; Greene County Board of Education, $13,500, and the Greene County Health System, $12,050.
    Palace (TS Police Support League) gave a total of $99,330 to the following: Greene County Commission, $4,620; Greene County Sheriff’s Department, $36,960; City of Eutaw, $27,720; and the Towns of Forkland, Union and Boligee each, $4,620; Greene County Board of Education, $4,620 and the Greene County Health System, $11,550.

  • This weekend is 50th anniversary of Greene County Freedom Day – July 29, 1969

    Joyce Dasher and Rosie L. Carpenter

    Spiver Gordon, President of the Alabama Civil Rights Museum Movement, announced that there will be a two-day program, this coming Saturday and Sunday, July 27 and 28, 2019, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the special election on July 29, 1969, which elected Black officials to the Greene County Commission and School Board.
    “This is a two day celebration of 50 years of voting rights, democracy, justice and unity for all people in Greene County, Alabama. We invite everyone, Black and White, Hispanics, Asians and Native peoples from Greene County and around the state and nation to attend. This is a celebration of what is good and positive in Greene County.
    This is a celebration of the continuing success and benefits of the 1965 Voting Rights Act to people at the grassroots level in counties and communities across the South and the nation,” said Gordon.
    Among the guests and dignitaries coming from far and wide this weekend is Rosie Carpenter. Mrs. Carpenter, who is now in her nineties, lives in Maryland with her daughter Joyce Dasher, who will be accompanying her to the celebration.
    Mrs. Carpenter was a courageous teacher in Greene County who stood up and helped to develop the strategies and organize the precincts to elect the first Black officials. As part of the celebration, a monument will be dedicated at the home she shared with her sister, Annie Thomas, where many of the planning and strategy meetings were held that powered the civil rights movement from the 1960’s into the 1990’s.
    On Saturday, July 27, 2019 from 9:00 AM to Noon, three historic monuments will be unveiled and dedicated in Eutaw:
    • the first monument will be at Carver School, now the Robert H. Young Community Center, to honor students who boycotted schools in 1965 and started the civil rights and voting rights struggles and movement in Greene County.

    • the second monument will be in front of the home of Annie Thomas and Rosie Carpenter, on Highway 14, where strategy sessions were held for the civil rights movement from the 1960’s into the 1990’s.
    • the third monument will be placed at the Robert Brown Middle School, formerly Greene County High School to honor Black students who integrated the public schools of Greene County in the 1960’s and early 1970’s.
    “We hope these monuments will stand for a long time and be a beacon of light for our children and our children’s children, as they travel to and through Greene County. These monuments show the ‘peoples history of our county’ and many names of those living and deceased are on these markers,” said Lester Cotton, 2nd Vice President of the Movement Museum.
    On Saturday, July 27, 2019 at 6:00 PM, at the Eutaw Activity Center, there will be a banquet honoring the foot soldiers that participated in the civil rights and voting rights movement of the 1960’s in Greene County. Among the living leaders who participated in the struggle, who have agreed to attend are: Rosie Carpenter (who now lives in Bowie, Maryland), Bill Edwards (Portland, OR), Atty. Sheryl Cashin (daughter of John Cashin from Washington, D. C.) Fred Taylor, Tyrone Brooks, and Dexter Wimbush (Georgia), Wendell H. Paris (Jackson, MS), Judge John England, Hank Sanders, Sen. Bobby Singleton and many other dignitaries.
    On Sunday July 28, 2019, at 4:00 PM there will be a Freedom Rally, honoring the fallen Black political leaders of Greene County, at the William M. Branch Courthouse in Eutaw. The rally will be followed by a fish-fry and watermelon eating fellowship meeting on the grounds of the old Courthouse in Eutaw.
    “We invite the public including all community and business leaders – Black and White – to attend. This is an opportunity to honor grassroots community leaders who had the courage to believe they could change and make this community a better place to live, work and worship. We have made a half century of progress but with full participation and unity the next fifty years will be easier and more productive for all,” said Gordon.
    For more information and to support the Freedom Day 50th anniversary celebration, contact: Spiver Gordon, Alabama Civil Rights Museum Movement, Inc., P. O. Box 385, Eutaw, Alabama 35462; phone 205-372-3446; email: spiverwgordon@hotmail.com.

  • Newswire : Cop who brutally killed Eric Garner will not face charges

    By Frederick H. Lowe,BlackmansStreet.Today

    Eric Garner

    A New York City police officer who used an illegal chokehold to kill Eric Garner as a Black woman police sergeant supervisor watched and did nothing to stop the brutal assault, will not face federal charges in Garner’s violent death, the Justice Department announced today.

    U.S. Attorney General William Barr, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, made the decision not to charge officer Daniel Pantaleo for the July 17, 2014 killing of Garner, 43, by using what the NYPD said was an illegal chokehold.

    Garner, an asthmatic, repeatedly gasped, “I can’t breathe” as Pantaleo held him in his deadly grip.

    The NYPD banned chokeholds in 1993, but the practice is not banned by New York City law.

    Pantaleo, who has been assigned to desk duty since the killing, attempted to arrest Garner for selling loose cigarettes, or “loosies.” The cigarettes are not taxed. Garner pled with Pantaleo to leave him alone.

    Sgt. Kizzy Adonis did not intervene. She, too, had been placed on desk duty. It is not clear if she has returned to active duty.

    Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn recommended that Pantaleo not face federal charges. They argued that the chokehold lasted seven seconds, not enough, in the prosecutors’ minds, to cause harm.

    However, Garner died, and Pantaleo recently married and received a pay raise.The NYPD will soon announce if Pantaleo will remain with the department.

    In 2015, the City of New York agreed to pay Garner’s family $5.9 million for his brutal death at the hands of Pantaleo.

  • Newswire : U. S. House votes to condemn President Trump’s ‘racist’ remarks

    By Hazel Trice Edney

    Congresswomen Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass); Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.);
    Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.); and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) at Monday’s press conference.

    (TriceEdneyWire.com) – The U. S. House of Representatives, this week, voted to condemn as racist, remarks made by President Donald Trump after he tweeted Sunday morning that four women of color in the House of Representatives should “go back” to “the crime infested places from which they came.”

    He was speaking of Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York; Ilhan Omar of Minnesota; Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan – all Americans and all of whom have called for Trump’s impeachment.
    The vote by the majority Democratic House is the first time members of Congress have taken a unified stance against the racist postures and outrageous language used by Trump. The Democrats were joined by four Republicans and one Independent in the 240-187 vote.

    Civil rights icon Congressman John Lewis (D-Ga.) was among the members issuing strong rebukes toward to the president from the House floor. From the standpoint of his civil rights experience, Lewis not only identified the remarks as racist, but also described the impact of those kinds of words when coming from the president of the United States.
    “I rise with a sense of righteous indignation to support this resolution. I know racism when I see it. I know racism when I feel it. And [in] the highest level of government, there’s no room for racism,”

    Lewis said. “It sows the seeds of violence and destroys the hopes and dreams of people. The world is watching. They are shocked and dismayed because it seems we have lost our way. As a nation, as a proud and great people. We are one Congress. And we are here to serve one house, the American House, the American people.”
    Trump and the Republican leadership in Congress have defended his words, staunchly claiming that neither he; nor his words are racist.
    The Trump tweets continued this week, saying “I don’t have a Racist bone in my body!” Both Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California echoed his denial.
    But Lewis, a veteran target of racist language, said the “go back” insult is steeped in White supremacist history from the Civil Rights Movement when segregationists became angry at protestors’
    attempts to bring justice.
    “As a nation and as a people, we need to go forward and not backward,” Lewis said. “With this vote, we stand with our sisters- three were born in America and one came here looking for a better life. With this vote, we meet our moral obligation to condition hate, racism, and bigotry in every form.”

    Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, avoiding calling Trump himself a racist, declared his words to be “disgraceful and disgusting, and those comments are racist…How shameful to hear him continue to defend those offensive words — words that we have all heard him repeat, not only about our members, but about
    countless others.”

    The stance by the House of Representatives comes at what appears to be a tipping point following a string of shocking statements from Trump as President of the United States during his first three years. Among the most memorable were his statements that a clash between White supremacists and civil rights protestors in Charlottesville had “very fine people on both sides.” He also publicly referred to members of the National Football
    League protesting police brutality as “sons of b**ches.”

    A fight ensued over Pelosi’s use of the word racist. Rep. Douglas A. Collins (R-Ga.) motioned to have her words stricken from the record, a rare move that held up the debate for more than an hour while the House parliamentarian decided whether the use of that particular word violated standards of decorum for the House chamber.
    House Parliamentarian Thomas J. Wickham Jr. ruled that Pelosi’s words had indeed violated protocol according to precedent. But – given the anomaly of Trumpism – the Congress overruled the parliamentarian. Trump’s remarks were official condemned as racist.

    The four Republicans who voted to condemn were Reps. Will Hurd of Texas, who is the only Black Republican in the House; Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania; Susan Brooks of Indiana; and Fred Upton of Michigan. Michigan Independent Rep. Justin Amash, who recently resigned from the Republican Party, also voted for it. Although U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate, had no vote in the House, he also publicly denounced Trump’s comments as “unacceptable and racially offensive.”

    As fellow house members, pundits and political observers defended the four women; they also defended themselves at a news conference on Monday.

    Ocasio-Cortez said, “We don’t leave the things that we love, and when we love this country, what that means is that we propose the solutions to fix it.” She said Trump attacks “us personally” because he doesn’t know how to defend his own policies.
    Omar said Trump was advocating “the agenda of White nationalists” in his verbal assaults on the four members of Congress, comments during the Charlottesville rally, as well as his verbal assaults on the NFL players and other women of color.
    Tlaib repeated her calls for Trump’s impeachment. Pressly only warned her fellow Congressional representatives as well as the general public to not “take the bait” that Trump throws out with his attacks. She indicates that it’s like red meat to fire up his ultra conservative base.

    Pelosi, who had been in a rift with the four women, immediately jumped to defend them from the Trump tweets. She tweeted that it is clear that when Trump “tells four American Congresswomen to go back to their countries, he reaffirms his plan to ‘Make America Great Again’ has always been about making America white again.” Pelosi concluded, “Our diversity is our strength and our unity is our power.”

  • 50th anniversary of “Greene County Freedom Day – July 29, 1969” coming July 27 and 28, 2019

    Greene County Candidates L to R: front row Vassie Knott, Levi Morrow back row-Hines, Means, Burton and William Branch, County Co- Chairman. ( Posey is not in the picture.)

    Spiver Gordon, President of the Alabama Civil Rights Museum Movement, announced that there will be a two-day program on July 27 and 28, 2019 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the special election on July 29, 1969, which elected Black officials to the Greene County Commission and School Board.
    “This is a two day celebration of 50 years of voting rights, democracy, justice and unity for all people in Greene County, Alabama. We invite everyone, Black and White, Hispanics, Asians and Native peoples from Greene County and around the state and nation to attend. This is a celebration of what is good and positive in Greene County.
    “We need and challenge all community and business leaders – Black and White – to attend. This is an opportunity to honor grassroots community leaders who had the courage to believe they could change and make this community a better place to live, work and worship.

    We have made a half century of progress but with full participation and unity the next fifty years will be easier and more productive for all,” said Gordon.
    On Saturday, July 27, 2019 from 9:00 AM to Noon, three historic monuments will be unveiled and dedicated in Eutaw:
    • the first will be at Carver School, now the Robert H. Cook Community Center, to honor students who boycotted schools in 1965 and started the civil rights and voting rights struggles and movement in Greene County.

    • the second monument will be in front of the home of Anne Thomas and Rosie Carpenter, on Highway 14, where strategy sessions were held for the civil rights movement from the 1960’s into the 1990’s.

    • the third monument will be placed at the Robert Brown Middle School, formerly Greene County High School to honor Black students who integrated the public schools of Greene County in the 1960’s and early 1970’s.
    “We hope these monuments will stand for a long time and be a beacon of light for our children and our children’s children, as they travel to and through Greene County. These monuments show the ‘peoples history of our county’ and many names of those living and deceased are on these markers,” said Lester Cotton, 2nd Vice President of the Movement Museum.
    On Saturday, July 27, 2019 at 6:00 PM, at the Eutaw Activity Center, there will be a banquet honoring the foot soldiers who participated in the civil rights and voting rights movement of the 1960’s in Greene County. Among the living leaders who participated in the struggle, who have agreed to attend are: Rosie Carpenter (who now lives in Bowie, Maryland), Bill Edwards (Portland, OR), Atty. Sheryl Cashin (daughter of John Cashin from Washington, D. C.) Fred Taylor, Tyrone Brooks, and Dexter Wimbush (Georgia), Wendell H. Paris (Jackson, MS), Judge John England, Hank Sanders, Sen. Bobby Singleton and many other dignitaries.
    On Sunday July 28, 2019, at 4:00 PM there will be a Freedom Rally, honoring the fallen Black political leaders of Greene County, at the William M. Branch Courthouse in Eutaw. The rally will be followed by a fish-fry and watermelon eating fellowship meeting on the grounds of the old Courthouse in Eutaw.
    For more information and to support the Freedom Day 50th anniversary celebration, contact: Spiver Gordon, Alabama Civil Rights Museum Movement, Inc., P. O. Box 385, Eutaw, Alabama 35462; phone 205-372-3446;
    email: spiverwgordon@hotmail.com.