Greene County Democrat

Category: General News

  • Newswire : Trump Administration moves to eliminate Habeas Corpus

    By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent

    Senior White House adviser Stephen Miller confirmed the Trump administration is “actively looking at” suspending the writ of habeas corpus — a constitutional right that allows individuals to challenge unlawful detention. Though framed as a move against undocumented immigrants, historians and legal experts warn the consequences could be far more sweeping, especially for Black Americans.

    “The Constitution is clear,” Miller told reporters. “The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended in time of invasion.” Miller cited immigration at the southern border as justification, using language similar to what President Trump has repeatedly described as an “invasion.” But civil liberties advocates and Black historians say suspending this right — a cornerstone of due process — would reopen legal pathways used throughout U.S. history to detain, punish, and silence Black Americans. From the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 to Reconstruction-era terror and Japanese internment in World War II, the right to habeas corpus has been both a shield and a last resort for marginalized people. Its suspension has consistently led to devastating consequences.

    “Black Americans remember what happens when the government has unchecked power to detain,” wrote historian Amanda Tyler, author of Habeas Corpus in Wartime. “This isn’t new. It’s the same mechanism that was used to capture fugitive slaves and suppress Black resistance during Reconstruction.”

    In 1850, Congress passed a law that denied suspected fugitives any right to testify in court or even seek habeas relief. Free Black Americans were captured alongside escapees. “It meant no Black person in the North was safe,” wrote historians James and Lois Horton, who documented how the law turned states like Massachusetts into hunting grounds for slave catchers backed by federal power. The parallels are striking. Today, many of the deportation cases the Trump administration wants to fast-track involve habeas claims — legal challenges asserting that the government has no lawful basis for detention. One such case involves Rumeysa Öztürk, a Turkish student at Tufts University, who was jailed for 45 days without charges. A federal judge in Vermont ordered her release after she filed a habeas petition, arguing her detention was based on her political speech and not any crime.
    Miller hinted that such judicial checks on the executive branch are part of the reason for considering suspension. “It depends on whether the courts do the right thing or not,” he said. That sentiment echoes past abuse. During Reconstruction, Congress had to pass the Ku Klux Klan Act in 1871 to protect Black citizens from paramilitary terror. The act allowed President Grant to suspend habeas corpus — not to restrict civil rights, but to crush white supremacist violence.
    Now, the suspension is being considered not to protect Black life, but to expand detention powers in the name of immigration control. Critics say that opens the door to much broader repression. “The legal history is clear,” said Tyler. “Suspending habeas has often led to the erosion of other rights — especially for Black people.”
    The fear isn’t hypothetical. In 1786, a Black father named Cato used a writ of habeas corpus to rescue his daughter Betsey from re-enslavement in Pennsylvania. Their case became one of the first major freedom suits in U.S. legal history. Even during Lincoln’s suspension of habeas corpus in 1862, a fierce backlash followed. Lincoln justified it during a rebellion. Critics warned then — as now — that the nation cannot preserve itself by abandoning the very liberties it claims to protect.
    Stephen Miller’s comments come at a time when millions of Americans are already concerned about voter suppression, militarized policing, and authoritarian tactics. For Black Americans, the prospect of suspending habeas corpus rings especially loud. “When we hear this,” said one civil rights attorney, “we don’t just hear a legal argument. We hear footsteps from the past.”

  • Newswire : GOP Medicaid plans would slash health coverage for millions, CBO confirms

    By Stacy M. Brown 
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent

    A newly released analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has confirmed that proposals pushed by Republicans in Congress to slash Medicaid spending would result in millions of Americans losing health coverage.

     The analysis arrives just days before the House Energy and Commerce Committee is expected to vote on several of these drastic policy changes. The CBO report, addressed to Senate Finance Ranking Member Ron Wyden and House Energy and Commerce Ranking Member Frank Pallone Jr., outlines five Republican-backed Medicaid policy options that would significantly reduce federal spending.

    The agency estimates that under the proposed changes, as many as 8.6 million people could lose Medicaid coverage, and up to 3.9 million would become uninsured. “This CBO report further confirms what we already knew – that Republicans in Congress are willing to sell out millions of working families to give their billionaire friends another massive tax break,” said Kobie Christian, spokesperson for Unrig Our Economy.

    “Republicans in Congress have been gaslighting the American public by claiming to be against Medicaid cuts, while actively trying to take away health care from millions of working-class Americans.”

    The proposals outlined in the CBO’s letter are capping federal contributions to Medicaid, reducing the matching rate for states that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, and repealing enrollment rules designed to streamline access to Medicaid and CHIP. Each of the first four policy options would force states to respond by cutting provider payments, reducing benefits, and slashing enrollment.
    The fifth option alone—repealing the Eligibility and Enrollment final rule—would eliminate coverage for 2.3 million people, most of whom are low-income seniors and people with disabilities. “Donald Trump and Rubber Stamp Republicans in Congress are lying to the American people about their plans to enact the largest cut to Medicaid in our nation’s history,” warned Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
    The CBO analysis confirms House Democrats’ warnings that the GOP proposals would force states to raise taxes, cut education spending, or push people off health insurance,” Jeffries said. “Rather than working to improve the Medicaid program, congressional Republicans are continuing a 15-year-old fight to repeal the Affordable Care Act,” noted Andrea Ducas, vice president of Health Policy at the Center for American Progress. “This new CBO report confirms that each of congressional Republicans’ latest proposals would kick millions of the most vulnerable Americans off their health care, all to pay for tax giveaways for the president’s billionaire donors.”
    The report also arrives as Senate Republicans voted 53–47 to confirm Frank Bisignano—former Wall Street executive and self-described “DOGE person”—as the new head of the Social Security Administration, drawing harsh criticism from Democrats and advocates. During his confirmation hearing, Bisignano dodged questions from Senators Bernie Sanders and Ron Wyden about the agency’s cuts and the use of cryptocurrency-related tools in sensitive federal databases.
    In recent months, under the Trump administration, the SSA has shuttered field offices, laid off 7,000 employees, and made it harder for Americans—especially seniors and rural residents—to access benefits. Reports from outlets including Axios, NPR, and the Washington Post highlight the collapse of customer service at the SSA, long wait times, and the inability of many Americans to apply for benefits online or by phone. “Republicans just handed over the future of Americans’ Social Security to Frank Bisignano, a Wall Street stooge,” said Ken Martin, Chair of the Democratic National Committee. “Just like Trump and Musk, Bisignano will gladly put Social Security on the chopping block to line the pockets of billionaires and special interests.”
    Democrats argue the Republican strategy—cutting Medicaid and destabilizing Social Security—amounts to an all-out war on working-class Americans. The CBO report estimates the GOP’s Medicaid policy shifts would reduce the federal deficit by as much as $710 billion over the next decade, but at a devastating cost: loss of care, rising out-of-pocket expenses, and widening inequities in health access. “Crafting health care policy is not an academic exercise; for tens of thousands of Americans, it’s a matter of life or death,” Ducas noted.

  • Commission agrees to lease former Greenetrack facility to First Biometrics

    The Greene County Commission met in a called session, Thursday, May 1, 2025 with all Commissioners present. The two items on the presented agenda, relative to access to the former Greenetrack facility, included consideration of a lease between the Greene County Commission and First Biometrics and consideration of a lease between the Commission and Tim Anderson. Chairperson Garria Spencer noted that the Commission had not received a proposal from Tim Anderson, thus the agenda was adopted omitting the latter item.
    Commissioner Allen Turner, Jr. suggested going into an executive session, however, Chairman Spencer proposed that the body just vote on the sole item on the agenda. On a three-two vote, with Commissioners Allen Turner, Corey Cockrell and Roshanda Summerville voting yes, the Commission approved entering into a lease with First Biometrics which will allow them access to the former Greenetrack facility for restorations, renovations and security.
    In previous Commission meetings, Charlie Gomez of Iron Wolf LLC based in Huntsville, AL, advanced the proposal from First Biometrics which included language indicating a lease agreement would be presented asking the Commission to consider the financial investment for facility improvements made by First Biometrics. Commission Attorney Mark Parnell will prepare the lease agreement.
    It was noted that if bingo is brought back by the lessee to the renovated facility, Greene County Sheriff Jonathan Benison would have to issue the appropriate license to a charity operating the bingo gaming. First Biometrics indicated they would be considering gaming and a variety of entertainments.

  • More than 800 students, faculty and community members protest Trump’s visit to the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa on May 1st

    By John Zippert, Co-Publisher

    On Thursday, May 1,2025, President Donald Trump invited himself to be a speaker at the University of Alabama’s graduation in Tuscaloosa. The University administrators hurried put together a special ticket only program for the President of the United States to speak. The regular formal graduation took place on May 2-4, as previous planned.
    There were three public demonstrations against President Trump, the largest of which at Snow Hinton Park in Tuscaloosa, included more than 800 students, faculty, staff and community members. The demonstration, entitled ‘Tide vs. Trump’, was sponsored by the University Young Democrats with support from the State Democratic Party. Most of the speakers, with the exception of Beto O’Rouke of Texas and Doug Jones, former Alabama U. S. Senator, were students, faculty or persons connected with the university.
    Braden Vick, student leader from the University of Alabama said the demonstration was held, “To protest President Trump coming to the UA not for the graduates but for his own glorification and to identify with the school’s winning sports teams. He has cut research grants for our faculty and students; he has imposed tariffs which will raise our grocery, clothing and other prices; he has curtailed academic freedom at UA and other universities, which will hurt our ability to learn. Vick also thanked the Black community in Tuscaloosa for supporting the demonstration and opposing Trump’s reckless policies.
    Adan Meyers a graduate student at UA said that he had earned a summer internship with the CDC to research and study Alzheimer’s and Parkinson disease. “ In early February, I and other students I know, received letters abruptly cancelling our internships without giving any reason. WE have a tyrant in office, in Donald Trump, he does not care about the students and faculty at this university, or the research work they are doing. He is cutting benefits for the poor and the middle class to give tax cuts to the richest people in our country.”
    Jacoby Bennett, a Black graduate student lamented the influence of Trump’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies and the state’s legislation (SB -129) to limit DEI in Alabama’s education system from K-12, colleges and community programs. “This is not a rebranding, this is an erasure of Black, LBTGQ, and other marginalized groups on our campus. The Black Student Union and other similar groups helped students to end their isolation and relate positively to other groups on campus. DEI policies have ended these benefits, but apathy is not an option. We must fight for our rights and to bring back DEI policies and recognition,” said Bennett.
    Maggie Justice of the UA Planned Parenthood said the President’s policies on reproductive freedom, cutbacks in birth control, and general disrespect for women’s rights brought her to the demonstration.
    Dr. Cathy Simon, UA Social Work Professor and lead plaintiff on the lawsuit against the provisions of SB-129, which limits the curriculum, books and learning for young people and college students in Alabama. The limits are in compliance with the President Trump’s Executive Orders on DEI. Dr. Simon said, “The provisions of SB-129 and Trump’s DEI policies are detrimental to our students lives and to our educational institution. We face disciplinary actions if we teach what we believe. We are not able to teach the truth. We are limited in our encouragement of critical thinking. We cannot use some books written by our own faculty because they have been found to violate these new DEI dictates. We must fight for full equality and academic freedom. If you have any privilege because of the color of your skin, your position, your income – then use your privilege for the good of all.”
    The demonstration then heard from two national leaders, Beto O’Rouke of Texas and former Alabama U. S. Senator, Doug Jones on the national impacts of Trump’s policies. Both speakers reminded the audience of the work of the civil rights movement that changed conditions in Alabama, the South and the nation from the 1960’s forward. Although Trump is trying to belittle these accomplishments and trying to change history it will not work if the people are organized and resist these challenges.
    Jones said, “Every change in America came from the work and actions of a movement. What we are experiencing now, under Trump is not justice. We must work on a movement to restore justice and include all the people in our nation.”

  • Congressman Shomari Figures tells Alabama New South Coalition that Trump “is trying to take us backwards and we must organize, resist, and fight back”

    Congressman Shomari Figures speaking at ANSC Convention

    Alabama’s new 2nd District Congressman, Shomari Figures, was the keynote speaker for the Alabama New South Coalition’s (ANSC) Spring Convention in Montgomery this past weekend. The convention was held at the Maggie Street Dream Center and attended by over 100 delegates from the organization’s county chapters.
    In his remarks, Figures said the Trump Administration is trying to take the nation backwards, thread our social safety net and make it difficult for Black and poor people to get ahead in Alabama and America. He pointed to efforts to cut food stamps, cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, ending LIHEAP (a program that provides assistance to people with their utility bills), cuts to assistance  1890 Land Grant Colleges, making it difficult for people to get their Social Security benefits, cutting education funds for Title I, Headstart, school lunches, and critical scientific and medical research.
    Figures said that the Trump Justice Department had just pulled out of a longstanding school desegregation case in Louisiana, which is the beginning of their backing away from the 1954 Brown vs. The Board of Education landmark school desegregation case. Trump is also backing away from basic Constitutional principles, the rule of law, birthright citizenship and bypassing the role of Congress in funding and staffing government programs.
    “They are trying to take us backwards to an earlier time when we were not a multi-racial, technological society. Progress is not inevitable. ANSC and other community-based organizations must organize, resist and fight back against these reckless and destructive proposals, “ said Figures. “ I voted against the Republican budget outline bill because of all the cuts and tax breaks for the richest in our country. Some are criticizing me because they say I voted to shut-down the government. But Trump and his supporters are following the dictates of Project 2025 and closing the parts of the government they don’t like anyway”.
    On the positive side, Figures said he has introduced legislation in Congress, with bi-partisan support which will provide $500 million to rural hospitals that need operation support to keep open. “Four hospitals in rural counties in my district have closed in the past five years. Others, including Jackson Hospital in Montgomery, are in danger of closing. Until we provide affordable health insurance for all or a universal payer system, this fund will help support operational costs for qualified hospitals,” said Figures.
    The ANSC Convention had three informative panels on healthcare, education and voting in the morning before the luncheon keynote. The panels discussed ways that the community could be involved in healthcare, education and voting decisions and actions at the local level by ANSC County Chapters and their members and supporters.

  • Newswire : Trump Admin erases decades of school integration

    By Stacy M. Brown
BlackPressUSA.com Senior National Correspondent

    The Trump administration has ended a decades-old federal school desegregation order in Louisiana, the latest move in what legal experts and historians describe as a methodical dismantling of civil rights protections under the Project 2025 blueprint. Announced Tuesday, the Department of Justice declared the 1966 court-enforced desegregation decree involving Plaquemines Parish schools no longer necessary.
    Officials dismissed the long-standing order as a “historical wrong” and used its termination to signal that other civil rights-era mandates may soon be repealed. “We are getting America refocused on our bright future,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said. The Justice Department and Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill filed a joint motion stating, “The parties are satisfied that the United States’ claims have been fully resolved.” Officials said that the district was declared integrated in 1975, but the court never formally closed the case, and records have since vanished.
    Trump’s second term has unfolded in lockstep with Project 2025, a hardline conservative roadmap that calls for purging the government of diversity programs, civil rights enforcement, and what it calls “woke ideology.” Within days of taking office, Trump signed an executive order eliminating all chief diversity officers in the federal government, terminating racial equity contracts, and halting programs intended to remove discriminatory barriers.

    He has revoked the 1965 executive order on equal employment opportunity, cut funding to minority and women-owned businesses, and frozen grants focused on racial disparities in health care. The administration has labeled DEI efforts “immoral” and, in one executive action, accused cultural institutions of promoting “national shame.” Diversity itself, officials now say, is a “curse word.” Inside the Justice Department, appointees have privately discussed withdrawing from other desegregation orders, calling them an outdated burden on schools, according to a source familiar with the conversations. Yet dozens of districts across the South remain under court supervision to ensure racial integration—a legacy of the government’s post-Brown v. Board of Education enforcement.

    Civil rights advocates argue these agreements remain vital because segregation was never fully dismantled. However, officials aligned with Trump insist that the consent decrees are relics that have outlived their purpose. Historians say the administration’s actions extend beyond legal rollbacks and into aggressively reengineering American memory.
    Trump has criticized the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, accusing it of portraying Western culture as “inherently harmful.” Some government websites briefly removed references to Harriet Tubman and other Black historical figures before restoring them under public pressure. “It’s not just about erasing DEI. It’s about reshaping how this country sees itself,” said Lawrence Rosenthal, chair of the Center for Right-Wing Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. “Project 2025 replaces the institutions of democracy with a loyalty test to one authoritarian vision.”
    Meanwhile, research continues to show the lasting power of desegregation. A new report from the National Bureau of Economic Research followed Black children relocated under Chicago’s 1966 Gautreaux program. Those who moved to predominantly White neighborhoods earned up to $34,000 more by age 38, were more likely to be homeowners, and lived in communities with lower poverty. The benefits were most pronounced for children who moved at younger ages. “How on earth can you teach about Rosa Parks without talking about racism?” asked Mark Bray, a civil rights scholar at Rutgers University. “This is an attempt to rewrite the past—and in doing so, control the future.”

  • Newswire : Attorneys General sue Trump over Health Department purge

    By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent

    Twenty state attorneys general, led by New York’s Letitia James, have filed a federal lawsuit to block what they call the Trump administration’s unlawful dismantling of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The lawsuit accuses the administration and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. of gutting the federal health system and putting lives at risk through mass firings and the shutdown of life-saving programs.

    The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, seeks to halt the so-called “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) directive, which the attorneys general argue violates the Administrative Procedure Act, the Appropriations Clause, and the constitutional separation of powers. “This administration is not streamlining the federal government; they are sabotaging it and all of us,” said Attorney General James.

    “When you fire the scientists who research infectious diseases, silence the doctors who care for pregnant patients, and shut down the programs that help firefighters and miners breathe, or children thrive, you are not making America healthy – you are putting countless lives at risk.”
    On March 27, Kennedy announced the MAHA directive under the Trump administration’s “Department of Government Efficiency” initiative. In a single move, 28 HHS divisions collapsed into 15, more than 10,000 workers were terminated overnight, and half of HHS’s 10 regional offices were shut down. By April 1, thousands of federal health employees had been locked out of their computers, emails, and office buildings—many learning of their termination only after their badges failed to work.
    Programs for low-income families and children, including Head Start, have stalled as regional offices closed and grant funding was frozen. Staff responsible for determining food and housing assistance eligibility, Medicaid, and TANF were fired. The team that runs the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) was also eliminated, leaving millions at risk amid rising energy costs. The firings crippled mental health and substance use programs. Half the workforce at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) was dismissed, its regional offices closed, and the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline team drastically reduced. HIV/AIDS programs were cut, and tobacco enforcement has all but ended with the elimination of federal oversight.
    Entire maternal health teams at the CDC were fired, ending efforts to track and combat maternal mortality. The only federal lab that certifies N95 masks has shut down. Infectious disease surveillance has been severely weakened after key labs monitoring illnesses like measles were closed. The World Trade Center Health Program, which serves more than 137,000 9/11 survivors and first responders, faces the loss of key personnel needed to certify cancer diagnoses.
    California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the administration’s actions are beyond the scope of presidential power. “The Trump administration does not have the power to incapacitate a department that Congress created, nor can it decline to spend funds that were appropriated by Congress for that department,” Bonta stated. “That’s why my fellow attorneys general and I are taking the Trump administration to court—HHS is under attack, and we won’t stand for it.”
    Kennedy reportedly admitted he rejected a more deliberate review process for the terminations, saying it could slow “political momentum.” “The disastrous cuts to the WTC Health Program are placing in peril the lives of every first responder and survivor that relies on this health care program to stay alive,” stated Gary Smiley, a 9/11 first responder and union official.

  • Newswire : Legendary civil rights attorney Fred Gray honored with statue at Alabama State Bar

    Civil Rights Attorney Fred Gray, right, and his wife Carol Gray look on during the unveiling ceremony of a statue of Fred Gray at the Alabama State Bar Association building in downtown Montgomery, Ala., on Thursday April 24,2025. (Mickey Welsh / Advertiser)

    By Safiyah Riddle, Philadelphia Tribune

    MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Legendary attorney Fred Gray — once deemed the “chief counsel” of the Civil Rights Movement by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. — was honored with a statue outside the Alabama State Bar Association on April 24, 2025.
    “Growing up in Montgomery on the west side, I never thought that one day my image would be in stone to honor my professional career,” the 94-year-old said in an impassioned speech at the statue unveiling in downtown Montgomery.
    Gray represented prominent civil rights leaders like King, Rosa Parks and John Lewis throughout the Civil Rights Movement in Alabama, allowing activists to intentionally leverage mass arrests and civil disobedience to push for equal rights. Gray also represented participants in Selma-to-Montgomery marches in March 1965, which led to the Voting Rights Act in August later that year.
    On Thursday, Gray emphasized his gratitude for the countless other people he represented who aren’t often recognized — including Claudette Colvin, who was arrested in 1955 when she was a teenager after she refused to give up her seat on a segregated Montgomery bus, months before Parks earned worldwide appreciation for doing the same.
    “I humbly accept this award for all those unknown heroes and clients whose names never appear in print media, whose faces never appear on television. They are the persons who laid the foundation so that you can honor me here today,” Gray said.
    The statue is engraved with the words “lawyers render service,” a phrase coined by Gray that is now championed by the Alabama Bar Association. Gray was the first Black president of the statewide organization in 2002.
    Gray’s role in the Civil Rights Movement was the first of many accomplishments in his 70 years practicing law. In 1970, he became one of Alabama’s first Black state legislators after Reconstruction.
    Around the same time, Gray represented Black men who filed suit after the government intentionally let their illnesses go untreated in the infamous Tuskegee Syphilis Study. His work eventually led to an official apology from President Bill Clinton on the government’s behalf in 1997.
    Gray is currently involved in a lawsuit seeking to remove a Confederate monument from a square at the center of mostly Black Tuskegee.
    In 2022, Gray received the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
    Gray, who is an ordained minister, attributed his successful career to his faith in God and the support of his family, many of whom were in the audience as he spoke.
    He acknowledged Thursday that the court “system doesn’t always deliver justice” but said that he would continue to keep working “until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a stream.”

     

  • Newswire : Sounding The Alarm

    African American Museum of History and Culture, in Washington, D. C.

    By April Ryan, NNPA Washington Correspondent

    Hands off Our History plans more protests like the Saturday Washington DC rally, where several organizations banded together to draw attention to attempts to remove artifacts from the National Museum of African American History and Culture. “Black people built this country, and we will not allow anyone to erase us from the American story because Black History is American History,” says Melanie Campbell, president/CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation.
    Campbell told Black Press USA that Saturday “was the beginning of our resistance movement to fight to demand our Black history be respected.”

    In a March 31st article published by the North Carolina Black Alliance, the Smithsonian leader revisits history during an HBCU stop at Shaw University; Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch said, “I will probably get fired at some point,” Bunch said. “But I think the goal would be to, sort of, fight the fight as long as you can.” That fight is in the planning stages with leaders like Marc Morial of the National Urban League, Shavon Arline Bradley National Council of Negro Women, and Professor Kimberle Crenshaw of the African American Policy Forum, who were also part of the weekend demonstration for Hands Off Our History.

    Referring back to the March 31st published story, “The Smithsonian, with me at the leadership, is considered the best example of DEI leadership — you know, a woke leader,” Secretary Lonnie Bunch said. “So they’ll come after the Smithsonian. I get it. I think that the most important thing for me is to help the staff continue to do the work they need to do because the challenge is, with all that’s going on, people get paralyzed.” A threat of budget cuts can also cripple the museum, according to Bunch. “The reality is nobody’s immune.
    We plan every day for significant budget cuts,” Bunch said. “I’ve done scenarios with budget cuts as much as 40%, which means you have to reimagine the Smithsonian.” This reporter asked the Smithsonian spokesperson, Linda St. Thomas, about the story from the North Carolina Black Alliance. She said, “I have nothing to add. The Secretary speaks for himself.”
    Shavon Arline Bradley, the President of the National Council of Negro Women, is sounding the alarm with concerns over the house once owned by Mary McLeod Bethune that is now owned by the federal agency, the National Park Service. Bradley says, “We have to be concerned about the National Council of Negro Women’s Council House because you need more activity to show more engagement.” The concern is that the federal government won’t see the property as viable if there is not enough foot traffic and tourists there. “so I’m safe to say we should be concerned if we do not see more visitation to the council house,” added Arline Bradley.
    The building is Mary McLeod Bethune’s final home, where she met with then-First Lady Eleanor Rosevelt and other high-ranking officials to raise awareness and action on Black issues such as equity, the economy, community development, and education. When the building was sold to the National Park Service in 1994, the organization thought the federal government would preserve the historic building and “ensure protection and the upkeep.”
    NCNW Members have asked to repurchase the building. Arline-Bradley says she doesn’t know “if it is that simple.” Bradley says, “Protests, marches, and a financial plan are part of the efforts to save Black historic museums and history. Meanwhile, Melanie Campbell reiterates, “Black people built this country, and we will not allow anyone to erase us from the American story because Black History is America’s History.”

  • Greene County celebrates 20th Year of Black Belt Community Foundation

    L to R: Community Associates Geraldine Walton, Mollie Rowe, Nancy Cole, BBCF President Felecia Lucky, BBCF Founder Carol P. Zippert, BBCF Community Associates Miriam Leftwich, Darlene Robinson and Johnni Strode-Morning.

    On Friday, April 25, 2025, the Black Belt Community Foundation (BBCF) Greene County Associates held its 20th year celebration lifting community engagements supported by BBCF. Its theme: The Roaring 20’s depicted an era of fashion and a period of extraordinary community work in Greene County.

    BBCF President Felecia Lucky shared in the celebratory occasion, saluting the Associates with the statement “Greene County always goes big.” Greetings were also brought by Eutaw Mayor Latosha Johnson and Greene County Commission Chairperson, Garria Spencer, Associates Coordinator Miriam Leftwich, Nancy Cole, Johnni Strode-Morning and Darlene Robinson. Mollie Rowe served as Mistress of Order.

    A special recognition was presented to Dr. Carol P. Zippert as a founding member of BBCF. She gave a brief overview of the journey of the foundation.

    The Black Belt Community Foundation (BBCF) is celebrating its 20th year of serving 12 counties in the Alabama Black Belt. Each of the 12 counties, including Greene, Sumter, Pickens, Hale, Perry, Marengo, Choctaw, Dallas, Lowndes, Wilcox, Macon and Bullock is hosting a 20th Year celebratory event.

    Through community grants and other financial and technical resources, BBCF assists local groups engaged in transformational work to lift its community through arts and culture, education, health and wellness, childcare, civic engagement, youth leadership, and related projects. Each county has a group of volunteers known as Community Associates who are dedicated to educating the community on the vision and mission of BBCF and assist in raising funds, which earn a percentage match by BBCF, to support local projects. Funds raised by Associates in a particular county support grants to groups in that county.