Category: history

Trump Atrocities Report (TAR)

The Greene County Democrat begins a new column this week entitled Trump Atrocities Report (TAR) in which we will explain some of the outrageously negative and harmful actions taken by President Donald J. Trump and the Trump Administration. The motivation for this column came from a discussion at a recent meeting of the Save Ourselves Movement for Justice and Democracy, an Alabama collaborative of 40 social justice organizations.
Some of these actions will be legislative changes, overzealous cuts in Federal regulations, appointees that are unqualified or chosen to destroy the government function they were asked to head up and official statements that do not make sense or are ‘alternative truths’.
Some of the atrocities are where President Trump or members of his family will get a financial benefit from their position or have a clear conflict of interest.
We are starting with some blatant examples of atrocious conduct by Trump. We already have a long list of items to make this a weekly column.
We hope you will clip out this column and share it with your friends especially those working people and women who voted for Trump thinking he would improve their lives. We want to educate and persuade them that they made a grave mistake in voting for Trump and his supporters so that they will not repeat their error in future elections.

Atrocity No. 1: Selecting a cabinet of millionaires and billionaires who are unqualified and chosen to destroy the department or agency they were nominated by Trump to lead. A few examples:

a. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions for Attorney General. Sessions has opposed voting rights, civil rights, womens rights, LGBTQ rights and most human rights. He has been nominated to be the nation’s chief law enforcement officer to enforce the laws protecting these rights that he does not believe in.

b. Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education. She does not support public schools, never personally attended a public school and did not send her children to public schools. She has never used the Pell grant or college student loan programs she has been asked to administer. She did make $200 million in campaign contributions to Republican lawmakers in the past five years, which paved the way for her confirmation.

c. Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Pruitt is a “climate change denier” who has sued the EPA twenty times to remove regulations on clean air, water and nature as Oklahoma Attorney General.

2. Atrocity No. 2: Removing the Obama regulations that prevented the mentally ill from securing a permit to own a gun. This is the first of many regulatory changes dictated by the National Rifle Association (NRA), which will make our nation a more dangerous place to live!

3. Atrocity No. 3: The ‘Muslim Ban’, which prevents visitors from seven Mideast countries from entering the United States. This is part of Trump’s unconstitutional attack on immigration and refugee relief. More than 60,000 legal visitors and H-1B visa holders were stopped from entering the country and there was chaos at the nation’s airports, until Federal courts intervened to correct this injustice. This action gives terrorist organizations a “trump card” in recruiting more members and has the opposite effect of keeping us safe!

4. Atrocity No. 4: Removing regulations that required transparency in the payments by American corporations to foreign governments. This change was enacted on the day that former Exxon-Mobil Oil CEO, Rex Tillerson was elevated to become Secretary of State. Someone needs to explain how this regulation permitting oil and gas companies to hide bribes to foreign governments helps American workers to get more jobs!

February 8, 2017
Court orders redistricting before 2018 elections Rep. A.J. McCampbell’s legislative district among those ruled un-constitutional by 11th.Circuit

“My original district was 63-67% African-American in population but the new district has a 74% majority African-American, which is what is called packing.
“To redraw my district, and the 12 districts ruled unconstitutional by the court will mean all of the lines will have to be redrawn statewide. I do not think you can cure this with just minor changes in the district lines. Once you change one district it affects the other neighboring districts and soon you will take in the whole state.”
McCampbell says that the Legislature will have to appoint a special committee to draw a new redistricting plan before the 2018 elections. McCampbell says he has been following the issues closely and has indicated an interest in serving on the special committee when it is created.
“I want to be sure to keep the commonalities of districts and we will not be able to divide precincts like last time.”
The districts named in the court decision as unconstitutional are: House District 32, represented by Rep. Barbara Boyd (D-Anniston); District 53, represented by Rep. Anthony Daniels (D-Huntsville); District 54, represented by Rep. Patricia Todd (D-Birmingham); District 70, represented by Rep. Chris England (D-Tuscaloosa); District 71, represented by Rep. A.J. McCampbell (D-Demopolis); District 77, represented by Rep. John Knight (D-Montgomery); District 82, represented by Rep. Pebblin Warren (D-Tuskegee); District 85, represented by Rep. Dexter Grimsley (D-Newville); and District 99 represented by Rep. James Buskey (D-Mobile).
In the Senate, the ruling cited District 20, represented by Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison (D-Birmingham); District 26, represented by Senate Minority Leader Quinton Ross (D-Montgomery) and District 28, represented by Sen. Billy Beasley (D-Clayton).
Some political observers in Montgomery wonder whether the Republican Party in Alabama is so strong and the Democratic Party is too weakened to field good candidates in legislative districts that will be redrawn as a result of this court decision.

Friday, January 20, 2017, a three judge federal court panel ruled that the State of Alabama violated the US Constitution when it drew three Alabama Senate Districts and nine House Districts following the 2010 census and are barred by the court from using those districts as presently drawn in future elections. This means redistricting now becomes a major task for the Legislature during this 2017 Session. The current House and Senate were elected using these districts. All of the 12 districts are held by Democrats.
Representative Artis J. McCampbell’s District 71, which includes parts of Greene, Sumter and four other counties, was one of the districts that was found to be “over-packed and stacked with minority (African-American) voters”. Previously, McCampbell’s legislative district included all of Greene and Sumter counties with the northern portion of Marengo and a small part of Tuscaloosa County.
Each House legislative district was supposed to include 45,000 people based on the 2010 Census. Senate districts were supposed to have 135,000 people in each.
The Republican dominated legislature, redrew all the legislative districts concentrating the African American voters in districts represented by African-American legislators. This took Democratic voters out of all the other districts and made it easier for Republicans, all of whom are white, to be elected in the other districts. This also resulted in the election of a two-thirds “super-majority” of Republicans in both houses of the Alabama Legislature – House and Senate.
Representative McCambell commented, “I opposed the drawing of my District from the beginning. It cuts through too many counties. It divides up the counties in my district. It even divides certain precincts. I have parts of six counties – Sumter, Greene, Marengo, Pickens, Choctaw and Tuscaloosa. Before I had all of Greene and Sumter with the northern part of Marengo and a small part of Tuscaloosa, in the Ralph and Fosters area.
“I have been a part of this Alabama lawsuit seeking equity in the redistricting process from the beginning. I am pleased with this latest decision, which comes after a five-year court battle that went up the Supreme Court and back to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeal twice.

February 2, 2017
Rev. William Barber tells Black press: “Bowing down is not an option

By Freddie Allen (Managing Editor, NNPA Newswire)

Rev. William Barber

Reverend William Barber, the president of the North Carolina state chapter of the NAACP and leader of the Moral Mondays movement, delivered a rousing keynote address to open the 2017 Mid-Winter Conference of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA).

The theme of the conference was “Strengthening Black-owned Newspapers through Training, Innovation and Technology.” The NNPA partnered with General Motors, Chevrolet, Ford Motor Company, Reynolds American Inc. (RAI), and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to host the conference; Volkswagen, Ascension, Coca-Cola, and the American Association for Cancer Research supported the event as sponsors.

During his speech titled, “Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?” Barber tackled voter suppression in the aftermath of Shelby v. Holder, White evangelicalism and the current political environment in the age of “alternative facts.” Noting that President Woodrow Wilson played the White supremacist propaganda film “Birth of a Nation” in the Oval office in 1911, Barber said that Trump’s ascension and election is not an anomaly in American history.

“This is not the first time that White supremacy has occupied The White House. This is not the first time that America has elected a racist egomaniac,” said Barber, reminding the audience that President Wilson, a former college president, played “Birth” to signal that Reconstruction was over. “Education doesn’t necessarily get racism out of you.” To a chorus of “Amens,” Barber said that the one thing that we have to first decide to do in this moment is that bowing down is not an option.

Recognizing that he was addressing a room full of journalists and publishers, Barber pitched ideas for a number of articles and commentaries. “Somebody has to unpack ‘so-called’ White evangelicalism that is illogical malpractice and heresy,” said Barber. “We’ve got to have some papers that write and do some investigative work to connect the money to White evangelicalism to the policies of extremism and racism, because some of our own folk are sending money to some of these TV White evangelicals.”

Barber said that the loss of the full protections of the Voting Rights Act and voter suppression were two of the most underreported stories during the last election cycle. “Long before any Russian hack, the American electoral process was hacked by systemic racism and fear,” said Barber. “The Southern Strategy is alive and well.”

Barber acknowledged that civil rights leaders and Democrats could have voiced louder criticism about the lack of work done in the U.S. Congress to restore the Voting Rights Act. “Democrats talked more about David Dukes than they did about voter suppression and the Voting Rights Act being dismantled,” said Barber. He said that they were 868 fewer voting places across the nation; those closures disproportionately affected Black voters.

“Voter suppression has been proven, voter fraud has been disproven. The lie about voter fraud is a distraction from the truth about voter suppression, because voter suppression is about thievery. You scratch a liar, you’ll find a thief,” said Barber. “Trump won because of the voter suppression that went on in the Black community.”

After delivering a brief history of fusion politics, a time when poor Whites and Blacks worked together to achieve political power in the South following the Civil War, Barber questioned why so many poor, White people today cast votes for lawmakers that oppose establishing living wage standards, better healthcare and more educational opportunities for low-income families.

The North Carolina pastor noted that there are 18.9 poor White people in the United States, about eight million more than the number of poor Black people, though Black people experience poverty at higher rates than Whites.

Barber said that exploring the real reasons why so many poor Whites vote against their own self-interest, would make for a great investigative report.

Returning to the theme that today’s political environment in America is nothing new, Barber told the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who he described as “three millennials from the Bible days,” that liked to write and Nebuchadnezzar, “a maniacal egomaniac who loved to tweet out his own news,” loved to build towers and invited people to come to his towers to bow down.

When Nebuchadnezzar commanded that everyone bow down to his image and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused, the king threatened to throw them into the furnace. “He didn’t know they already had a fire. They came from people who had been through the fire,” said Barber. “They remembered how the lord had dealt with pharaoh. They remembered how David dealt with Goliath.” Barber said that the three young leaders had a fire in them, because they sung the songs of their ancestors.

“Can we just make a decision, Black folks? Can we just make a decision, publishers? Can we just make a decision, civil rights…that bowing down is not an option?” Barber implored. “I gotta suspicion that it’s going be some fiery times. I gotta suspicion that it’s gonna get hot. I gotta suspicion that Nebuchadnezzar is gonna do some rough stuff.”

Barber implored the publishers, journalists and activists in the room to go into the proverbial fire standing up, because help won’t come, if you go in the fire bowing down. “If you go in the fire standing up, God can transform the fire and the same fire that was meant to destroy you, can become a fire of deliverance!” Barber shouted.

The crowd roared, delivering Barber a standing ovation. The Moral Mondays leader continued: “Bowing down is not an option! Standing down is not an option! Looking down is not an option! Breaking down is not an option! We’ve been through worse before.” Barber exclaimed. “We’ve been through slavery. We’ve been through Jim Crow. We’ve been through the Trail of Tears and we’re gonna stand up in this moment!”

The next day at the conference, Barber committed to writing a regular guest column for the NNPA Newswire that will be distributed throughout the NNPA’s network of 211 Black-owned media properties and will reach an estimated 20 million readers in print and online.

“Somebody has to write from the perspective of crisis, even if the crisis doesn’t end immediately,” Barber explained. “Somebody has to make sure that there is a witness that [the Black Press] didn’t go along with it. So we have to do that.”

February 1, 2017
Questions remain on Jeff Sessions’ role in prosecuting Michael Donald’s Klan lynching in Mobile in the 1980’s

L to R: Michael Donald and Jeff Sessions

News Analysis by: Zack Carter and John Zippert

President Donald Trump has nominated his early supporter, Alabama U. S. Senator, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, for the position of Attorney General of the United States.
Questions remain about Jeff Sessions position on civil rights, voting rights, women’s rights, LGBT rights, hate crimes, criminal justice and many other issues that will face Sessions if he his confirmed as the nation’s chief prosecutor and law enforcement official.
The Democrat previously published in our December 28, 2016 issue an extensive statement by the Alabama New South Coalition and the SOS Movement for Justice and Democracy in opposition to Sessions nomination (see http://www.greenecodemocrat). This statement concentrates on Sessions role in the selective and unsuccessful prosecution of the “Marion Three” in 1985/86 as the beginning of a national Republican effort of voter suppression that continues to this day.
We have recently seen paid TV ads advocating the confirmation of Sessions as U. S. Attorney General in which he proclaims himself, “a champion of civil rights and an advocate of criminal justice”.
In this story, we look back at Sessions’ role as U. S. Attorney for the Southern District, based in Mobile, in the notorious case of the Klan lynching of Michael Donald in Mobile from 1981 to 1989.

The lynching of Michael Donald – March 20, 1981

On March 20, 1981, Michael Donald, a 19 yr. old African American trade school student was found hanging from a small ornamental “popcorn” tree on an old residential street, across the street from where several Klansmen lived. Michael’s body was crumpled from beatings and his neck slashed. The brutally slayed young man was hanging hideously about a mile from Mobile’s City Hall and the Courthouse – where a KKK cross had been burned on the lawn the same night. The same courthouse where the recent trial of an African American, Josephus Anderson, ended in a hung jury – he was on trial for killing a white policeman, and claimed it was in self-defense.
Over time, it was established that four Klan members participated in the killing of Michael Donald. They were Bennie Jack Hayes, a local Klan leader, his son Henry Hays (age 22 at the time of the lynching), James Knowles (age 17) and Frank L. Cox (age 25) Hayes son-in-law, who supplied the gun and the rope for the crime.
From the Court records, Knowles confessed to the crime and according to the record:

“… Henry Hays and Knowles got a rope, which they tied into a hangman’s noose, and a gun from fellow Klansmen. [Knowles testified it was Frank Cox]. The two then set out to look for a black man. They randomly found Michael Donald, pulled alongside him in their car, and asked for directions. They forced him into the car at gunpoint. Knowles made Donald empty his pockets; Knowles’s trial testimony indicates he wanted to be sure the victim was unarmed.”
Hays found a desolate area and parked; all three men got out of the car. Facing Hays and Knowles (who was holding the gun), Donald jumped Knowles in an attempt to escape. After a struggle, Hays and Knowles forced Donald to the ground. Hays retrieved the noose, and the two of them put it around Donald’s neck. Hays dragged Donald while Knowles beat him with a tree limb; and when Hays’s hands began to hurt, they switched. When Donald collapsed, the two men dragged him, face first, across the ground. Autopsy reports showed Donald probably died from asphyxiation during this time. Nevertheless, Henry Hays slashed Donald’s throat. Donald’s body was found later that morning, hanging from a tree on Herndon Avenue.” (http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-11th-circuit/1304129.html)”

According to testimony by Assistant U. S. Attorney, Thomas Figures, an African-American attorney, who was working in Sessions office, made to the Senate Judiciary Committee in its 1986 hearing on Sessions nomination to become a Federal District Judge, Figures says that Sessions was reluctant to take up the Michael Donald lynching case.
Based on pressure from Michael Donald’s family, their attorney, State Senator Michael Figures (Thomas Figure’s brother), work by FBI investigators and local law enforcement, Sessions changed his mind. Sessions says he then pushed for Henry Hayes and James Knowles to be tried in state courts, where they could receive the death penalty, because at that time there were no provisions for the death penalty in Federal cases.
The testimony of Thomas Figures and four other Assistant U. S. Attorneys was instrumental in causing the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1986 to refuse to confirm Sessions for a Federal judgeship.
Figures testified to examples of his former boss’s alleged racial insensitivity before the Senate Judiciary Committee, saying Sessions had called him a “boy” on several occasions and had once told him that “he believed the NAACP, the SCLC, Operation PUSH, and the National Council of Churches were all un-American organizations teaching anti-American values.” On one occasion, when Figures upbraided Sessions’ secretary over what he felt was an inappropriate personal comment she made to him, he said Sessions had summoned him to his office and admonished him to “be careful what you say to white folks.”
In their investigation of the Michael Donald case, local law enforcement found that the three men Knowles, Hays and Cox were regular users of marijuana. This prompted Sessions classic and often repeated statement, “ I used to respect the Klan, until I found out that many of them smoked pot.” An FBI agent confirmed hearing Session’s remark as well, albeit the FBI agent felt it was ‘just parlor humor’. But we all know that jokes, especially at the expense of others, usually reveal what is in a person’s heart!
In 1983, James Knowles was sentenced by a local Mobile Court to 99 years in state prison; Henry Hays was sentenced to death for murdering Michael Donald. After routine appeals, Henry Hays was the first white person executed in Alabama for murdering a Black person.

What happened to Bennie J. Hays and Frank Cox?
There were four people involved in the Michael Donald lynching. We have accounted for two, what happened to the other two – Cox and Bennie Hays. And what was Jeff Sessions role in their prosecution?
Sessions, who was reluctant to handle the case, turned the prosecutions over to Mobile D. A. Chris Galanos for local action. In 1985, Galanos indicted the two – Bennie Hays and Frank Cox for “conspiracy to commit murder”. When the case went to trial Mobile Circuit Judge Zoghby had to dismiss the case because conspiracy has a three-year statute of limitations and the case was filed after three years had passed. Bennie Hays died during the trial and Cox walked free.
Sessions has never been asked why he didn’t pay closer attention and supervision to the case and allowed the local D. A. Galanos to seek an indictment for conspiracy after the time had expired. Was this action deliberate on Sessions part? Did he allow the indictment on a lesser charge when he knew the statute of limitations had run? Does this call into question his sensitivity and skills as a prosecutor? What will this mean on other critical cases if he is confirmed as Attorney General?
Meanwhile Attorney Michael Figures assisted by the Southern Poverty Law Center brought a civil lawsuit against the Klan on behalf of Michael Donald’s mother. In 1987, they won a million dollar judgment against the United Klans of America and forced them to sell their office in Tuscaloosa with the proceeds going to the Donald family. The civil case also brought out more evidence against the perpetrators.
In 1989, Frank Cox was found guilty of murdering Michael Donald and sentenced to 99 years in state prison. Cox was released after only 11 years in 2000. Knowles was released in 2010 after 25 years in prison. What role did Jeff Sessions play in the early release of Frank Cox, who supplied the gun and the rope for Michael Donald’s lynching, has he ever been asked?
In addition to Jeff Sessions insensitivity on the murder of Michael Donald, we have many other instances where he showed little concern for the conditions of Black and poor people.
Jeff Sessions was the only Gulf Coast Senator to vote against Senator Richard Shelby’s bill for supplementary assistance to victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Paul Nelson, a 4th generation fisher from Alabama’s Gulf Coast and commended by a Mobile County’s administrator for for his key role in getting 301 homes rebuilt with Katrina CDBG funds said: “Senator Jeff Sessions did nothing for the people he represents who were devastated by Katrina! So how can he be trusted to represent justice for all in our courtrooms.”

Zack Carter is a community organizer who helped bring national attention to unjust Katrina and BP recovery policies.
He was trade union activist in Mobile during the 1980’s and advocated for Labor to speak out against the Klan lynching of Michael Donald.. John Zippert is Co-Publisher of the Greene County Democrat.

January 26, 2017
Dr. Dorothy Height to be honored on U.S. postage stamp

Stamp honoring Dorothy Height

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – On Feb. 1, the U. S. Postal Service will kick off 2017 Black History Month with the issuance of the Dorothy Height Forever stamp to honor the civil rights legend.

The Dorothy Height Forever stamp will be the 40th stamp in the Black Heritage series. The late Dr. Height is considered to be civil rights royalty. Having led the National Council of Negro Women for four decades, Height was a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded by President Bill Clinton in 1994 and the Congressional Gold Medal, awarded by President George W. Bush in 2004 for her pioneering work for the civil rights of African-Americans and women. President Barack Obama gave her eulogy upon her death on April 12, 2010.

Participants in the Feb. 1 event will be Ronald A. Stroman, deputy postmaster general and chief government relations officer, United States Postal Service; Congressman John Lewis (D-Ga.); Alexis Herman, president, Dorothy I. Height Education Foundation; Ingrid Saunders Jones, chair, National Council of Negro Women; Naima Randolph, Dorothy Height’s great niece; Derry Noyes, art director; and Bishop Vashti McKenzie, bishop of the African American Episcopal Church.

Doors will open at 10 a.m. for the 11 a.m. event to be held at the Howard University Cramton Auditorium, 2455 Sixth Street Washington, DC. The ceremony is free and open to the public. Space is limited and admission is not guaranteed. To obtain a free ticket, visit the Cramton Auditorium Box Office.

January 25, 2017

Peaceful exchange of power takes place as Trump prepares to take oath of office by shaking Obama’s hand.

President Obama shakes hands with President Trump on stage at inauguration. Roy Lewis/Trice Edney News Wire

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – President Donald J. Trump was sworn in as the 45^th President of the United States Jan. 20, during a peaceful exchange of powers with America’s first Black President Barack Obama. Trump assured a unified America despite never apologizing for leading one of the most hate-filled campaigns in recent history.

“We, the citizens of America, are now joined in a great national effort to rebuild our country and to restore its promise for all of our people. Together, we will determine the course of America and the world for years to come,” Trump told the crowd. The Bible tells us, ‘How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity.’ We must speak our minds openly, debate our disagreements honestly, but always pursue solidarity. When America is united, America is totally unstoppable.”

The speech was met with applause and chants of “Trump! Trump! Trump!” by the vastly White audience – a reversal from the two inaugurations of eight and four years ago, when throngs of Black people packed in to witness the historic inaugurations of President Obama. The Trump inauguration, though well attended with crowds stretching from the steps of the U. S. Capitol back to the Washington Monument, did not draw as many people as the Obama inauguration, based on close observations of the crowd by this reporter and Black press photographers who attended all three ceremonies.

More than 60 Democratic members of Congress decided to skip the inauguration; including Black Caucus members U. S. Reps. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.). Lewis contends he does not see Trump as a legitimate president given the involvement of Russian email hacking in order to help him get elected, according to confirmation by intelligence agencies. Lee and others refused to attend because of protest for Trump’s vitriolic conduct during the election.

Still President Obama had promised a “peaceful exchange of powers”, a tenet of American democracy. Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush, were also in attendance with their wives. Former First Lady, Senator and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who battled Trump vigorously to win the presidency, smiled a lot and appeared stately during the procession and ceremony.

“Every four years, we gather on these steps to carry out the orderly and peaceful transfer of power, and we are grateful to President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama for their gracious aid throughout this transition. They have been magnificent,” Trump said. He repeated promised to “make America first” in his proposed national and international policies, legislations and executive orders. He also promised to uplift “inner cities”, a well-known euphemism for the Black community.

“Americans want great schools for their children, safe neighborhoods for their families, and good jobs for themselves. These are the just and reasonable demands of a righteous public,” Trump said. “But for too many of our citizens, a different reality exists: Mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities; rusted-out factories scattered like tombstones across the landscape of our nation; an education system, flush with cash, but which leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of knowledge; and the crime and gangs and drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed our country of so much unrealized potential. This American carnage stops right here and stops right now. We are one nation – and their pain is our pain. Their dreams are our dreams; and their success will be our success. We share one heart, one home, and one glorious destiny.”

Trump’s words are lofty, but his actions have not matched what he has said. So far, he has nominated an all-White cabinet; except Dr. Ben Carson who will head the Department of Housing and Urban Development. He has also appointed former White supremacist advocate Steve Bannon as a top advisor and nominated former Klan sympathizer Sen. Jeff Sessions as attorney general. He has appointed Omarosa Manigault to assist him with public liaison, but it remains to be seen what will come from a meeting she and other aids had with Black organizational representatives.

Meanwhile on Saturday, the day after the inauguration, more than a million women packed the streets of Washington and other major cities around the U. S. making demands on a string of key issues important to women, Blacks and other minorities. Civil rights leaders have taken a wait and see posture while putting pressure on the Trump administration through protest.

Led by Rev. Al Sharpton, they started that pressure during a march one week before the inauguration. On Inauguration Day, National Urban League President/CEO Marc Morial emailed a statement essentially promising to continue marching to correct social ills that were prevalent 50 years ago.
“My own predecessor as head of the National Urban League, the legendary Whitney M. Young, was one of the organizers of that march and delivered his own stirring speech that day. He spoke of the need for Black Americans to do “some more marching:” …from dangerous ghettos to safe, unrestricted neighborhoods…from poverty wages to skilled, family-sustaining jobs…from the cemeteries of early graves to health centers from overcrowded, inadequate classrooms to fully-equipped, professionally staffed and integrated schools,” wrote Morial. “And there we were, marching for those same things a half-century later, marching under the motto, “We shall not be moved.”

January 25, 2017

Congresswoman Terri Sewell appointed to serve on House Ways and Means Committee

Washington, D.C. – On January 11, 2017, Congresswoman Terri A. Sewell (AL-7) was appointed to serve on the House Ways and Means Committee by the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee and approved by the full Democratic Caucus.

“I am honored to sit on the prestigious House Committee on Ways and Means. Since my election to Congress in 2010, I have maintained a strong interest in serving on this coveted committee because of its profound impact on the health and welfare of my Alabama constituents. From healthcare and Medicare to Social Security and tax reform, the issues before the Ways and Means Committee directly affect the everyday lives of the people I represent and the concerns I have fought so passionately to defend.

“As the second African American woman ever to serve on the House Ways and Means Committee, I hope to bring a unique voice to the Committee that is further enhanced by the perspective of representing underserved communities in the industrial and rural South. Given the Republican agenda in the 115th Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act, to privatize Medicare and to undermine Social Security, it will be imperative to have strong advocates who will fiercely protect the social safety net that provides a lifeline for so many Americans.

“ If Democrats are to win back the South, we have to understand the plight of the unemployed white coal miner, the disaffected single mother and the struggles of everyday Americans to earn a decent wage, educate their children and dare to live the American dream. It is this missing perspective that I will represent at the policy table by my appointment to the House Committee on Ways and Means.”

The Committee on Ways and Means is the oldest and most powerful committee of the United States Congress, and is the chief tax-writing committee in the House of Representatives. The Committee derives a large share of its jurisdiction from Article I, Section VII of the U.S. Constitution, which declares, “All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives.”

Since 1865, the Ways and Means Committee has continued to exercise jurisdiction over revenue and related issues such as tariffs, reciprocal trade agreements, and the bonded debt of the United States. Revenue-related aspects of the Social Security system, Medicare, and social services programs have come within Ways and Means’ jurisdiction in the 20th century.

The roster of Ways and Means Committee members who have gone on to serve in higher office is impressive. Eight Presidents and eight Vice Presidents have served on Ways and Means, as have 21 Speakers of the House of Representatives, and four Justices of the Supreme Court.

January 18, 2017
More than 50 House Democrats join John Lewis boycott of Trump inauguration

By: Greg BlueStein, Atlanta Journal Constitution

Cong. John Lewis

A growing number of House Democrats, 50 as of this writing, say they won’t attend Donald Trump’s inauguration after he criticized Georgia Rep. John Lewis as “all talk” and insulted his Atlanta-based district.

Trump called the district a “crime infested” area that is “falling apart,” a day after the Democrat told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he will skip Trump’s inauguration next week because he doesn’t see him as a “legitimate president.”

Other Democrats are citing that early-morning Twitter barrage for their decision to avoid this week’s inauguration festivities. California Rep. Mark Takano, California Rep. Ted Lieu and New York Rep. Yvette Clarke all said on Twitter Saturday they will not attend the swearing-in ceremony to stand in solidarity with Lewis. “For me, the personal decision not to attend Inauguration is quite simple: Do I stand with Donald Trump, or do I stand with John Lewis?” Lieu said in a statement. “I am standing with John Lewis.”

In an interview with Meet the Press on Friday, Lewis said he felt that Donald Trump was not a legitimate President because of the involvement of Russia in the elections. Lewis who was very active in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s said he would not attend Trumps’ Inauguration. Trump responded on twitter criticizing Lewis as a person who just talks and should do more to improve his district.

Clarke tweeted: “When you insult @repjohnlewis, you insult America.”

Several other Democrats, including Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva and California Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, had previously announced plans to boycott the event.

Some Republicans are urging them to reconsider. Among them is Nebraska U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse, one of the most vocal Trump critics in the GOP, who wrote that the inauguration isn’t about Trump but “a celebration of peaceful transfer of power.”

January 18, 2017
BBCF Community Associates raise $41,000 for foundation

This past year, you may have bought a raffle ticket, or purchased a BBQ sandwich, or a box of donuts from one of the ‘community associates’ of the Black Belt Community Foundation (BBCF).
At the BBCF Community Associates Annual Retreat in December in Tuscaloosa, the volunteer community associates from the twelve counties served by the foundation raised over $41,000 through grassroots fundraising during 2016.
“This is a great achievement to boost the work and value of our community foundation. Our Community Associates Program is one of our secret assets which helps us to grow our foundation from the bottom up,” said Felecia Jones Lucky, President of the foundation.
The BBCF Board of Directors has decided to use all of the monies raised by community associates toward making small community grants ($1,000 to $3,000 per grant) in the 12 county service area. The BBCF has not been able to make general support community grants for the past two years due to funding cutbacks. “Based on the outstanding work of the Community Associates and funds raised at our Legacy Award Dinner, we will be able to make at least $5,000 in community grants, in each of our twelve counties: Choctaw, Sumter, Pickens, Greene, Hale, Marengo, Perry, Dallas Wilcox, Lowndes, Macon and Bullock counties,” said Lucky.
The BBCF has had funds from the Alabama State Arts Council to make arts grants and other specific grants for summer educational activities, support for mentoring and other special activities for African-American boys and young men and other targeted projects.
“At our retreat, we discussed ways the Community Associates could share ideas, work on joint projects and help to strengthen the foundation,” said Christopher Spencer, who is on loan to BBCF from the University of Alabama Community Projects staff to help develop, inspire and grow the BBCF.
Each of the 12 counties has a group of Community Associates from 3 to 10. “We are always looking for new associates who want to build our county chapter. We give people information about the foundation programs and we do grassroots fundraising year round, “ said Miriam Leftwich, Chair of the Greene County Associates. “We also accept checks and funds from people, who don’t want to buy raffle tickets or donuts but we know it takes grassroots efforts to make the foundation grow,” said Leftwich.
Persons interested in becoming associates or contributing to the Black Belt Community Foundation can contact the website at http://www.blackbeltfound.com or visit the office in Selma, Alabama.

January 12, 2017
Dylann Roof sentenced to death for Charleston Church Massacre

JON SCHUPPE and JAMIE MORRISON

An admitted white supremacist was condemned to death Tuesday for massacring nine black worshipers who’d invited him to study the Bible with them at a Charleston, S.C., church, ending a two-phase federal trial that exposed the killer’s hate-fueled motives and plumbed the chasms of grief left by the victims’ deaths.

The jury, the same that convicted Dylann Roof in the murders last month, announced its verdict after deliberating less than three hours.

Dylann Roof speaks in the courtroom in Charleston on Jan. 10. Robert Maniscalco

Roof, 22, who represented himself in the penalty phase, did very little to persuade the panel to spare his life. He declined to present any witnesses or evidence, blocked standby defense lawyers’ attempts to raise questions about his mental health, and suggested in his closing statement that arguing for life in prison wasn’t worth the effort.

As the verdicts were announced, Roof stared straight ahead, or looked down. U.S. District Court Judge Richard Gergel scheduled formal sentencing for Wednesday morning. Roof then asked for a lawyer to help file a motion for a new trial, which Gergel said he’d consider before the sentencing, but added that the request didn’t seem justified.

Melvin Graham, whose sister, Cynthia Graham Hurd, was among the nine killed, said after the verdict that his family had received justice. But he added, “This is a very hollow victory because my sister is still gone.”

Graham said he did not argue with the death penalty for Roof.

“He just took them away from us because he wanted to. He decided the day, the hour, the moment, my sister was going to die. And now someone is going to do that for him,” Graham said.

Graham also argued that if Roof had a Muslim sounding name, he would have been called a radicalized terrorist. “He was radicalized, but not in the way some people think. He radicalized himself to think he had to act on it just like any other terrorist.”

Roof’s relatives said in a statement that they would “always love Dylann” but would “struggle as long as we live to understand why he committed this horrible attack, which caused so much pain to so many good people.”

His defense lawyers, sidelined for much of the trial, said the sentenced meant that “this case will not be over for a very long time.” They also expressed dismay that the trial “shed so little light on the reasons for this tragedy.”

Roof now becomes the 63rd person on federal death row, and the first to be put there since Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was convicted in 2015.

Nevertheless, it will likely be years before he is put to death; the federal government has put executions on hold out of concerns about lethal injection drugs, and appeals could put off the date even further. The last federal execution took place in 2003.

And Roof still faces a second trial, by the state of South Carolina, where he also faces the death penalty. The date of that trial has not been determined.

From the start of the trial, Roof’s guilt was hardly in doubt.It took the 12-person jury a little over two hours to convict Roof last month on all 33 counts, including two dozen that fall under federal hate crime statutes.

During that phase of the trial, defense lawyer David Bruck put no witnesses on the stand and raised no objections when prosecutors played In it, Roof admitted he was guilty and that the motive was to spark a race war. He told the FBI men he was surprised he was able to kill as many people as he did with his .45-caliber Glock pistol.

Witnesses included two women who survived the shooting, Felicia Sanders and Polly Sheppard, who testified that Roof told her, “I’m going to leave you here to tell the story.”

For the penalty phase, a judge allowed Roof to represent himself, but only after conducting a competency hearing that remains under seal. Roof told the jury that “there is nothing wrong with me psychologically,” and that he chose to mount his own defense to prevent lawyers from presenting mental health evaluations.

January 11, 2017