Greene County Democrat

Category: history

  • Greene County Freedom Day Celebration held Saturday at William M. Branch Courthouse

    Spiver Gordan

    Shown L To R: Eutaw Mayor Hattie Edwards, School Board President, Leo Branch, Spiver Gordon, Sheriff Jonathan Benison, School Board Vice President, Dr. Carol P. Zippert and Rev. Randy Johnson at the 2016 Freedom Day Program.

    The 47th anniversary of Greene County Freedom Day (July 29, 1969) was celebrated Saturday at the William M. Branch Courthouse in Eutaw. The Alabama Civil Rights Museum, headed by Spiver W. Gordon, sponsored the program commemorating the special election in 1969, which led to Black control of the Greene County Commission, School Board, Probate Judge and Sheriff’s Departments. Greene County was one of the first counties in Alabama and the nation to realize the full benefits of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The county was organized precinct-by-precinct at the community level by grassroots leaders organized and assisted by the civil rights movement. The local efforts were spearheaded by students from Carver High School, Greene County Training School, Eatman Jr. High School, Judge William M. Branch and Rev. Thomas Gilmore, backed up by a cadre of grassroots leaders.
    In the 1968 primary election, local Black leaders were nominated for various offices on the County Commission, School Board, Probate Judge and Sheriff. The white controlled Democratic Party left the names of all the Black candidates off the ballot.
    The Black candidates joined the National Democratic Party of Alabama (NDPA), headed by Dr. John Cashin of Huntsville, and sued in Federal court for a new election. The Supreme Court of the United States ordered a special election for July 29, 1969 with the names of the Black candidates restored to the ballot, under the Eagle Eye symbol of the NDPA. The white candidates ran under the Democratic Party with a rooster as their symbol and ‘Segregation for the Right!’ as their slogan.
    In that historic 1969 election, four Black men: Harry Means, Vassie Knott, Levi Morrow, Sr., and Frenchie Burton were elected to the County Commission, which gave control of this important political entity to Black people. Robert Hines and Rev. James Posey were elected to the Greene County Board of Education, to join Rev. Peter Kirksey, who was already on the Board, giving Black people a majority on this board as well. In the 1970 elections, Judge William M. Branch was elected the first Black Probate Judge in Alabama; Thomas Gilmore was elected the second Black Sheriff in Alabama.
    The celebration on Saturday was to commemorate these events and look for lessons in the five decades of electoral control by Black people of the Greene County government.
    Spiver Gordon and the Alabama Civil Rights Museum have compiled a list of more than 300 grassroots community leaders that were involved in the struggle, including those who ran for office, were precinct leaders, were student marchers, were evicted from their homes on whitefolks property when they registered or organized politically, raised funds to support the work and those who baked a cake or cooked a dinner to help feed civil rights workers. Gordon said he hoped that the Museum would have photos and a written story on each person who played a part – big or small – in the Greene County voting and civil rights movement.
    Many of the speakers at the event lamented the fact that young people in Greene County do not know about the struggles for voting rights and democracy in the county. Several speakers said that ‘Greene County History’ should be part of the curriculum and taught in the schools.
    Sheriff Benison gave greetings and said that the late Sheriff Thomas Gilmore had directly motivated him to pursue a career in law enforcement. Three mayors – Hattie Edwards of Eutaw, Louis Harper of Boligee and James Gaines of Union spoke about the inspiration they derived from the voting rights struggle in Greene County.
    Leo Branch, Chair and Dr. Carol P. Zippert, Vice Chair of the Greene County Board of Education also spoke. They announced that the new Middle School consolidating the fourth to eighth grades at the old Eutaw High School will be named for Dr. Robert Brown, the first Black Superintendent of Schools, who built the new high school in the 1970’s.
    Jerry Brown thanked the Greene County School Board for recognizing his father by naming the school. He recalled that Sheriff Bill Lee called his father, who was a principal of Jameswood School in Tishabee, at the time, into his office and told him that he could not protect him anymore, after the elder Brown started participating with Branch and Gilmore in the voting rights struggle. This was the kind of threat that Black people had to endure during this period to win rights for everyone.
    Jerry Brown went on to talk about his experiences as one of seven young people, who integrated the formerly all-white Eutaw High School in the mid 1960’s. “ We were tortured and tormented by the white students for four years but we were successful and paved the way for others in Greene County,” said Brown.
    The Saturday meeting took place in the William M. Branch Courthouse named for the late Probate Judge, in a courtroom that has photographs of Martin Luther King, Judge Branch and Andrew Young on the wall behind the judge’s chair.

  • Federation announces new director of Training Center in Alabama Dr. Marcus Bernard

    M Bernard

    The Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund has hired Dr. Marcus Bernard as the new Director of its Rural Training & Research Center in Epes, Alabama. He will officially begin on August 1, 2016 and will work closely with John Zippert during his orientation and transition. John Zippert, who has been our director of the Training Center for decades, will still be very much engaged in the work of the Federation, but will start to decrease his time toward a part time position and focus more on resource development and documentation of the organization.
    “I look forward to working with Marcus and continuing to move the organization forward,” said Cornelius Blanding, Executive Director.
    A native of Supply, North Carolina, Marcus grew up working in his family’s produce operation located in southeastern North Carolina, where he came to value and understand the importance of family as well as the strong sense of pride and independence associated with living in a tightly woven rural community. During his eduational career, he has worked with numerous rural-based organizations such as the Concerned Citizens of Tillery, Cedar Grove Improvement Association, Operation Spring Plant, the Black Farmers and Agriculturalist Association, the North Carolina Black Farmers Association and the Black Belt Justice Center.
    Additionally, Marcus has worked with the Black Male Working academy on numerous urban agriculture and community gardening projects in Lexington, Kentucky. His professional experience includes working as a Cooperative Development Officer in the International Trade Center at North Carolina A&T State University and a Produce Sales Officer for Glory Foods. He earned his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Agricultural Economics from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. He earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Rural Sociology from the University of Kentucky where his dissertation research gives immediate voice to the story and struggle of Black farmers in North Carolina by focusing on ideas of family, manhood, farm wives, building community, and the far reaching consequences of the politics of farming. As the new Director of the Rural Training and Research Center (RTRC), his goal is to build onto the standing legacy of the RTRC and contribute holistically to the growth of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund.

  • The ugly truth about the White House and its history of slavery

    By Peter Holley , Washington Post

    White HouseMichelle Obama

    Michelle Obama’s speech during the first day of the Democratic National Convention was generally lauded. One sentence in particular garnered more attention, and controversy, than the rest:

    That is the story of this country, the story that has brought me to this stage tonight, the story of generations of people who felt the lash of bondage, the shame of servitude, the sting of segregation, but who kept on striving and hoping and doing what needed to be done so that today I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves.

    The mention of slavery was a stark reminder for those who may have forgotten the White House’s disturbing history or for those whose associate the iconic home with freedom and not the misery created in its absence.

    Clarence Lusane, author of “The Black History of the White House,” isn’t one of those people. The chair of Howard University’s Political Science Department, Lusane has done extensive research on the enslaved people who built the structure and later lived among 10 of the United States’ first 12 presidents.

    He called the first lady’s comment a “pivotal moment” in U.S. history.

    “I’m glad that she mentioned the role of enslaved Americans at the White House, because she presented a larger audience with a history that most people are not being taught in our schools,” Lusane, also a professor emeritus at American University, told The Washington Post. “I certainly wasn’t taught that not only were many of our presidents slave owners, but that the most renowned building in our nation was, in part, built by slave labor.”

    Unlike at the U.S. Capitol Building and the site of the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, “there’s nothing at the White House that acknowledges its slave history, and perhaps a million each year visit the site,” Lusane added.

    While the history of slavery at the White House isn’t widely known, historians say there’s no debate about the accuracy of the first lady’s comments.

    Even Fox News host Bill O’Reilly partially agreed with Obama, acknowledging on “The O’Reilly Factor” Tuesday that her statement about slave labor at the White House was “essentially correct,” according to Media Matters. But O’Reilly disagreed with the first lady’s framing, telling his viewers that enslaved peoples at the site were “were well-fed and had decent lodgings provided by the government, which stopped hiring slave labor in 1802.”

    He also noted that there were white laborers “working” on the site as well.

    O’Reilly also failed to cite and historical records to bolster his claims about the humane treatment of people whose very existence was by definition inhumane.

    The White House Historical Association’s website says that when planners struggled to recruit European labor, they “turned to African Americans — enslaved and free — to provide the bulk of labor that built the White House, the United States Capitol, and other early government buildings.”

    Construction on the president’s home, the site notes, began in 1792. The precise number of enslaved people forced to work during the multiyear construction is unknown, but Lusane told The Post that his research shows enslaved workers were extensively involved in the effort to develop Washington at the end of the 18th century.”We know quite a bit, including the names of a number of the people who were enslaved. Some of them were skilled laborers, such as those who worked in carpentry or masonry,” he told The Post. “We have the payment records from the people who owned them.”

    The White House Historical Association said slaves were trained at the government’s quarry in Aquia, Va., to cut the stone that was later laid by Scottish masons to create the “walls of the president’s house.” The construction force included white laborers from Maryland and Virginia and immigrants from Ireland and Scotland, the association added.

    The construction process forced enslaved people to endure backbreaking labor, Lusane said, such as cutting down trees, dredging swamps, removing dirt and rocks and bringing materials to the site from distant rock quarries. “There would have been a sizable number of enslaved people involved,” Lusane added. “They were building the city as a whole. It took 10 years, and you can be pretty sure that given the work — and the possibility of injuries, diseases, and accidents — that people died.”

    In 2005, PolitiFact noted, a congressional task force issued a report, entitled “History of Slave Laborers in the Construction of the United States Capitol,” that found “plenty of evidence of slave involvement in the Capitol’s construction.”

    “Perhaps the most compelling evidence were records of payments from the commissioners for the District of Columbia — the three men appointed by George Washington to oversee the construction of the capitol and the rest of the city of Washington — to slave owners for the rental of slaves to work on the capitol,” PolitiFact reported. “The records reflect 385 payments between 1795 and 1801 for ‘Negro hire,’ a euphemism for the yearly rental of slaves.”

    The task force concluded that nobody will ever know the precise number of slaves used in the construction process, but it found that the brutal labor closely resembled the kind used in the construction of the White House. From PolitiFact:

    “Slaves were likely involved in all aspects of construction, including carpentry, masonry, carting, rafting, plastering, glazing and painting, the task force reported. And slaves appear to have shouldered alone the grueling work of sawing logs and stones.

    “Slave crews also toiled at the marble and sandstone quarries that provided the stone to face the structure — lonely, grueling work with bleak living conditions in rural Virginia and elsewhere. ‘Keep the yearly hirelings at work from sunrise to sunset — particularly the Negroes,’ the commissioners wrote to quarry operator William O’Neale in 1794.”

     

  • Obama says Trump ‘unfit’ for presidency

    By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer

    President Obama

    Washington (CNN) President Barack Obama offered one of his sharpest denunciations of Donald Trump to date Tuesday, declaring the Republican nominee entirely unfit to serve as president and lambasting Republicans for sticking by their nominee.

    The strong rebuke in the White House East Room came after Trump’s criticism of the family of a slain Muslim US soldier, along with comments that displayed apparent confusion related to the Russian incursion into Ukraine.

    “The Republican nominee is unfit to serve as president,” Obama said at a White House news conference with the Prime Minister of Singapore. “He keeps on proving it.”

    The Trump campaign responded by going after the Democratic nominee as well as the President. “Hillary Clinton has proven herself unfit to serve in any government office,” a Trump statement said, listing a number of policy concerns. “Obama-Clinton have single-handedly destabilized the Middle East, handed Iraq, Libya and Syria to ISIS, and allowed our personnel to be slaughtered at Benghazi.”

    Later Trump in an interview with WJLA said of Obama: “He’s a terrible president. He’ll probably go down as the worst president in the history of our country. He’s been a total disaster.”

    Obama on Tuesday described his feelings about Trump as unprecedented, recalling disagreements with previous GOP presidential nominees Sen. John McCain and Mitt Romney — but never an outright sense they were unfit to serve.

    “The notion that he would attack a Gold Star family that made such extraordinary sacrifices on behalf of our country, the fact that he doesn’t appear to have basic knowledge of critical issues in Europe, the Middle East, in Asia, means that he’s woefully unprepared to do this job,” Obama said.

    Speaking alongside Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in the White House East Room, Obama said there are now weekly episodes in which even Republican party leaders distance themselves from Trump. “There has to be a point at which you say, ‘Enough,’ ” Obama said.

     

    Obama goes after Trump’s party

     

    Obama placed responsibility for Trump’s statements squarely on his fellow Republicans, many of whom denounced his statements on the slain soldier’s family but didn’t withdraw their support.

    “What does this say about your party that this is your standard-bearer?” Obama asked of GOP leaders. “This isn’t a situation where you have an episodic gaffe. This is daily and weekly where they are distancing themselves from statements he’s making. There has to be a point at which you say, ‘This is not somebody I can support for president of the United States, even if he purports to be a member of my party.’ ”

    Obama said that denunciations from Republicans of Trump’s remarks “ring hollow” without an accompanying withdrawal of support. “I don’t doubt their sincerity. I don’t doubt they were outraged by some of the statements that Mr. Trump and his supporters made about the Khan family,” Obama said. “But there has to come a point in which you say, ‘Somebody who makes those kinds of statements doesn’t have the judgment, the temperament, the understanding to occupy the most powerful position in the world.’ ”

    Trump and the family of the slain soldier have been locked in an increasingly bitter dispute over Muslims in America and the nature of patriotic sacrifice.

    After Khizir Khan, who lost his son in a suicide bombing in Iraq, declared at last week’s Democratic National Convention that Trump had “sacrificed nothing,” the Republican nominee claimed he’d been “viciously attacked” and questioned why Khan’s wife, Ghazala, didn’t make her own remarks.

    Criticism from Trump’s own party came swiftly, including in a lengthy statement from McCain, whom Trump previously derided for having been taken captive in the Vietnam War. But he and other top GOP leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan, made little indication they would withdraw support for the Republican candidate.

    Trump has also taken flak for appearing unaware that Russian forces had annexed Crimea in early 2014, saying on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday that President Vladimir Putin is “not going into Ukraine.” Later, he argued that the people of Crimea “would rather be with Russia than where they were” — an argument that Putin himself has made in justifying his annexation of the disputed Ukrainian territory.

  • Black Lives Matter playing a prominent role at Democratic convention, which nominates Hillary Clinton, as first woman

    Black Lives Matter playing a prominent role at Democratic convention, which nominates Hillary Clinton, as first woman

    By: Michael A. Memoli, Los Angeles Times

    Mothers of the Movement
    PHILADELPHIA, PA – JULY 26: Mothers of the Movement (L-R) Maria Hamilton, mother of Dontre Hamilton; Annette Nance-Holt, mother of Blair Holt; Gwen Carr, mother of Eric Garner; Geneva Reed-Veal, mother of Sandra Bland; Lucia McBath, mother of Jordan Davis; Sybrina Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin; and Cleopatra Pendleton-Cowley, mother of Hadiya Pendleton; Lezley McSpadden, Mother of Mike Brown and Wanda Johnson, mother of Oscar Grant; and Lezley McSpadden, Mother of Mike Brown deliver remarks on the second day of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center, July 26, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. An estimated 50,000 people are expected in Philadelphia, including hundreds of protesters and members of the media. The four-day Democratic National Convention kicked off July 25. (Photo by Paul Morigi/WireImage)

     

    Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Secretary Hillary Clinton speaks during an event in Philadelphia
    Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (R) speaks during an event with former Attorney General Eric Holder and the anti-gun violence group Mothers of the Movement at St. Paul’s Baptist Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., April 20, 2016. Clinton is joined by Nicole Bell, fiance to Sean Bell, (L), and Tanya Brown-Dickerson, mother of Brandon Tate-Brown, both of whom were killed by police. REUTERS/Charles Mostoller

    On Tuesday night, July 26, 2016, Hillary Clinton was officially nominated as the Democratic candidate for President of the United States, the first woman nominated by a major party for the presidency.

    A night Hillary Clinton’s campaign designed to showcase her many years of involvement in social justice causes hit an emotional high point Tuesday with an appearance by a group of women whose sons or daughters were victims of gun violence or encounters with law enforcement.

    The Mothers of the Movement, as the eight women call themselves, provided one of the starkest contrasts between the two party conventions.

    Republican nominee Donald Trump focused repeatedly on “law and order,” and his convention featured repeated calls of “blue lives matter.” The Democrats put a spotlight on the complex issues of urban violence, easy access to guns and the accusation that systemic racism has warped the criminal justice system.

    In their remarks, the mothers portrayed Clinton as an ally in their movement.

    “I didn’t want this spotlight,” said Sybrina Fulton, whose 17-year-old son, Trayvon Martin, was shot and killed by a Neighborhood Watch member in an act that sparked a national debate over Florida’s stand-your-ground law, which allows use of lethal force in some circumstances.

    She praised Clinton for having compassion and understanding to support grieving mothers, courage to fight for gun safety legislation, and a plan to repair the divide between law enforcement and the communities they serve.

    “This is not about being politically correct. This is about saving our children,” she said.

    “Hillary Clinton isn’t afraid to say ‘black lives matter,’” said Lucia McBath. “She doesn’t build walls around her heart. Not only did she listen to our problems, she invited us to become part of the solution.”

    McBath’s 17-year-old son, Jordan Davis, was shot by Michael Dunn in Jacksonville, Fla., on Nov. 12, 2012, after an argument over whether Davis and his friends were playing music too loudly. Dunn, a white software developer, ultimately was found guilty of first-degree murder.

    The decision to invite the mothers provided a way for Clinton’s campaign to associate itself with the Black Lives Matter movement in a way that featured less politically charged personalities than some of its youthful champions.

    Still, the mothers’ appearance has caused controversy. The Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police said its members were “shocked and saddened” that widows of fallen police officers were not included in the lineup.

    Democrats responded that there was no conflict between honoring the majority of police officers while putting a spotlight on victims of police misconduct.

    Former Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. said from the podium that “black lives matter,” but also talked about his brother who served as a police officer.  “There is no tension between protecting those who valiantly risk their lives to serve … and ensuring that everyone is treated fairly by police,” Holder said.

    Presenting the mothers on the same night that Bill Clinton spoke was also a way to potentially associate him with the movement’s goals and defuse a point of tension within the Democratic coalition.

    The former president has clashed publicly with Black Lives Matters protesters at a couple of campaign events after they challenged him over the anti-crime bill he signed in 1994, which they blame for the sharp increase in incarceration rates of young black men.

    Experts have argued over how much impact the Clinton-era crime law had on incarceration, noting that much of the increase took place years before the law passed.

    But the law has become a potent symbol, and the tension over it has made some Democrats worry that younger black voters might not turn out to cast ballots for her in November at the high levels that the Democrats need for victory.

    While Hillary Clinton has embraced some of the causes championed by Black Lives Matter and has tried to break with the legacy of the 1990s on criminal justice issues, neither she nor the movement have fully embraced each other.

    The relationship she has forged with the mothers has played a significant role in her effort to communicate her criminal justice policies.

    Two weeks ago, she appeared at a historically black church in Philadelphia with one of the women, Tanya Brown-Dickerson. Clinton spoke at the church in the aftermath of the deaths of two more black men in policed-involved shootings and the lethal rampage directed at Dallas police officers patrolling a Black Lives Matter demonstration.

    “People are crying out for criminal justice reform,” Clinton said at the church. “Families are being torn apart by excessive incarceration. Young people are being threatened and humiliated by racial profiling.”

     

  • Black Lives Matter is not a hate group

    July By B19, 20BJ. Richard Cohen is president
    of the Southern Poverty Law Center

    IF
    HUNTS POINT, BRONX, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES – 2016/07/17: On the second anniversary of the death of Eric Garner by NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo, the Black Lives Matter community organized the Stop The Violence Rally, March and Healing Circle in the South Bronx to remember Eric Garner and other victims of police brutality with a peaceful demonstration around the neighborhood culminating the march at the 41th Precinct where participants held a moment of silence followed by chanting “I CAN’T BREATHE” 11 times as Eric Garner did before his tragic death by an illegal choke-hold. (Photo by Erik McGregor/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

     

    Each year, the Southern Poverty Law Center, of which I am the president, compiles and publishes a census of domestic hate groups. Our list, which is cited extensively by journalists, academics and government officials alike, provides an important barometer—not the only one, of course—to help us understand the state of hate and extremism in America.

    In recent weeks, we’ve received a number of requests to name Black Lives Matter a hate group, particularly in the wake of the murders of eight police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge. Numerous conservative commentators have joined the chorus. There is even a Change.org petition calling for the hate group label.
    In our view, these critics fundamentally misunderstand the nature of hate groups and the BLM movement.
    Generally speaking, hate groups are, by our definition, those that vilify entire groups of people based on immutable characteristics such as race or ethnicity. Federal law takes a similar approach.
    While it’s no surprise, given our country’s history, that most domestic hate groups hold white supremacist views, there are a number of black organizations on our hate group list as well.
    A prime example is the New Black Panther Party (NBPP), whose leaders are known for anti-Semitic and anti-white tirades. Its late chairman, Khalid Abdul Muhammad, famously remarked: “There are no good crackers, and if you find one, kill him before he changes.” Bobby Seale, a founding member of the original Black Panther Party, has called the NBPP a “black racist hate group.”
    We have heard nothing remotely comparable to the NBPP’s bigotry from the founders and most prominent leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement and nothing at all to suggest that the bulk of the demonstrators hold supremacist or black separatist views. Thousands of white people across America—indeed, people of all races—have marched in solidarity with African Americans during BLM marches, as is clear from the group’s website. The movement’s leaders also have condemned violence.
    There’s no doubt that some protesters who claim the mantle of Black Lives Matter have said offensive things, like the chant “pigs in a blanket, fry ‘em like bacon” that was heard at one rally. But before we condemn the entire movement for the words of a few, we should ask ourselves whether we would also condemn the entire Republican Party for the racist words of its presumptive nominee—or for the racist rhetoric of many other politicians in the party over the course of years.
    Many of its harshest critics claim that Black Lives Matter’s very name is anti-white, hence the oft-repeated rejoinder “all lives matter.” This notion misses the point entirely. Black lives matter because they have been marginalized throughout our country’s history and because white lives have always mattered more in our society. As BLM puts it, the movement stands for “the simple proposition that ‘black lives also matter.’”
    The backlash to BLM, in some ways, reflects a broad sense of unease among white people who worry about the cultural changes in the country and feel they are falling behind in a country that is rapidly growing more diverse in a globalizing world. We consistently see this phenomenon in surveys showing that large numbers of white people believe racial discrimination against them is as pervasive, or more so, than it is against African Americans.
    It’s the same dynamic that researchers at Harvard Business School described in a recent study: White people tend to see racism as a zero-sum game, meaning that gains for African Americans come at their expense. Black people see it differently. From their point of view, the rights pie can get bigger for everyone.
    Black Lives Matter is not a hate group. But the perception that it is racist illustrates the problem. Our society as a whole still does not accept that racial injustice remains pervasive. And, unfortunately, the fact that white people tend to see race as a zero-sum game may actually impede progress

  • 8,000 people open accounts at Citizens Trust Bank in Atlanta, with branches in Alabama

    By: Taryn Finley Black Voices Associate Editor, The Huffington Post

     

    citizens_trust_bank-500x263

     Atlanta executive staff of Citizens Trust Bank

    In the weeks following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, more and more influencers, like Solange and Killer Mike, have started to #BankBlack and have transferred their money into Black-owned banks.

    Now, a historic black bank in Atlanta has seen a spike in business. In just five days, 8,000 people have submitted applications to join Citizen’s Trust Bank, according to 11 Alive. Citizens Trust also has branches in Birmingham and Eutaw, Alabama.
    “It’s a tremendous propel forward for the bank and the future of the bank and bringing new relevance to a bank that’s been here for 95 years. And, it’s a statement about what the next 95 years will look like,” Jay Bailey, chairman of the bank’s Next Generation Advisory Board, told the local outlet.
    The bank’s CEO and president, Cynthia N. Day, thanked Killer Mike on Twitter  for urging people to collectively put $100 million in Atlanta’s only black bank just days before the increase in business.
    Executive Vice President Fredrick Daniels said the bank, which was founded in 1921, has survived despite several economic hardships. Now, he said Citizen’s Trust is looking to grow and get more black people to keep their money in their communities.
    “Citizen’s Trust provides a financial foundation for our community and that really helps us to put in place the businesses that we wanna see that we don’t see in our communities,” Daniels told 11 Alive.
    With $328.8 million in deposits as of the end of 2015, Bailey said Citizen’s Trust’s goal is to make history by becoming the first black-owned billion dollar bank in the country. Bailey noted that while protesting racial inequality is important, a perhaps more noticeable change comes when black people invest back into their communities.
    “I’ve been telling people that it’s time to come home,” he said. “Rallies are great and they’re necessary. Protesting is great and it’s necessary but what will sustain and grow from here is our dollar and galvanizing our dollar.”
    The United States had 23 black-owned banks, credit unions or savings and loan associations as of March 31, according to the Federal Reserve.

  • Celebrate ‘Nelson Mandela International Day’ with service and volunteerism

     

    Graca Machel, Nelson Mandela's wife speak with students

    Graca Machel, Nelson Mandela’s wife speaks
    with students

    Jul 11, 2016 (GIN) – “Nelson Mandela International Day” – formalized by the U.N. General Assembly in November 2009 – recalls the former South African President’s contribution to the culture of peace and freedom on his birthday – July 18. It comes as Americans reflect on a wrenching week of race-related violence and the undeniable evidence of the persistence of intolerance that Mandela devoted his life to oppose.
    The Nelson Mandela Foundation promotes acts of service to humanity on that day in his honor.
    In December 2015, the General Assembly extended the scope of Nelson Mandela International Day to raise awareness about persons in detention and to call for humane treatment of the incarcerated.
    In South Africa, the 7th annual Bikers for Mandela Day will take the call for service to remote areas.
    “We have crossed over 12 000 kilometers since the inception of this initiative in 2010 and assisted over 20 charitable organizations through Bikers for Mandela day.  We look forward to paying tribute to Madiba’s unwavering legacy once again.  We believe that every small action of goodwill leads to a larger movement in the right direction,” said organizer Zelda la Grange, formerly Madiba’s personal secretary.
    In 2015, UN staff volunteers in New York, partnered with GreenThumb, East New York Farms, and the UN Food Garden, to plant seedlings, pull weeds, and water plant beds in community gardens across the city.
    In Geneva, the Permanent Mission of South Africa and Serve the City Geneva have mobilized volunteers to help the poor and marginalized in the city.
    Mandela’s wife, Graca Machel, speaking to students this month at the Dr Mathole Motshekga Primary School in Tembisa, said: “Mandela Day gives us a way to energize our collective commitment, and it helps to know you are not doing this alone – there are millions of us. This helps build the movement of doing something good for someone else, selflessly caring for others, and remind ourselves that we belong to a global, human family.”
    Also in South Africa, RACE (against time), a song against racism written and co-produced by Katlego Maboe, David Harmse and Ntokozo Mkhize will raise money for Anti-Racism Network South Africa (ARNSA).
    Developed by The Nelson Mandela and Ahmed Kathrada Foundations, it takes a thoughtful look at the roots of racism. Maboe explains the title of the single: “There is a deliberate play on words. The issue of race is a matter of urgency for all of us and we all stand to lose and suffer the consequences if we don’t solve the problem in time.”
    For more about the single, go to http://www.mitracks.fm/preorder/race-against-time

  • Five facts you need to know about the Buffalo Soldiers

     

    The Buffalo Soldiers

    The Buffalos Soldiers National Museum will celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the Buffalo Soldiers in Houston Texas from July 28 – July 30. For more information, visit http://www.buffalosoldiermuseum.com. Here are the five facts about the Buffalo Soldiers:
    1. In 1866, through an act of Congress, legislation was adopted to create six all African-American Army units. The units were identified as the 9th and 10th Cavalry and the 38th, 39th, 40th, and 41st Infantry regiments. The four infantry regiments were later reorganized to form the 24th and 25th Infantry regiments.

    2. These fighting men represented the first Black professional soldiers in a peacetime army. The recruits came from varied backgrounds including former slaves and veterans from service in the Civil War.

    3. The nickname Buffalo Soldiers began with Cheyenne warriors in 1867. The actual Cheyenne translation was Wild Buffalo. The nickname was given out of respect for the fierce fighting ability of the 10th U.S. Cavalry.

    4. Over time, Buffalo Soldiers became a generic term for all African-American soldiers serving in the 9th and 10th U.S. Cavalry and the 24th and 25th U.S. Infantry Regiments.

    5. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, the Buffalo Soldiers were assigned to the harshest and most desolate posts. Specific duties included subduing Mexican revolutionaries, outlaws, rustlers and warring Native Americans. Additional administrative duties included exploring and mapping the Southwest and establishing outposts for future towns.

    The Buffalo Soldiers National Museum relies on supporters to keep its doors open. Two ways the community can help include:

    1.Become a member. Museum membership ranges from $35 for students and seniors to $50,000 for its highest level of corporate membership. The most popular membership is $45 for individuals, which includes unlimited free museum admission for one year, discounts on gift store merchandise and museum rentals, invitations to special events and a quarterly newsletter subscription.

    2. Buy a brick. The museum’s “Leave-A-Legacy…Buy-A-Brick” Paver Program allows donors to create a lasting memory by purchasing a one-of-a-kind engraved brick permanently displayed on the museum’s Soldiers Plaza. Bricks start at $175 and can honor a veteran, promote a business, surprise a friend, cheer an alma mater or commemorate a special date or event. For information, call 713-942-8920.

  • Crisis erupts over police-linked killing of Kenyan human rights lawyer

     

    Kenya protest

    July 5, 2016 (GIN) – Four police officers have been arrested in the torture/murder of a noted Kenyan human rights lawyer and two other men.
    The Law Society of Kenya called it “a dark day for the rule of law” and a countrywide boycott of the courts has been called.  The respected lawyer disappeared with his client and a taxi driver after filing a charge of police brutality. The officers are being held without bail while an investigation is underway.
    Lawyer Willie Kimani, his client Josephat Mwenda, and their driver disappeared on June 23 after making the court filing. Their bodies were found on June 30, floating in the Oldonyo Sabuk river. CapitalFM, a local media group, said the men had been tied up with ropes and their bodies mutilated.
    A government pathologist said their deaths were the result of beatings with a blunt object and strangulation. The incident has outraged the legal community where the rise of police killings has been a matter of concern.
    “These extrajudicial killings are a chilling reminder that the hard-won right to seek justice for human rights violations is under renewed attack,” said Muthoni Wanyeki from Amnesty International.
    “Police are there to protect Kenyans and not to kill them,” said Yash Pal Ghai, director of the Katiba Institute, a Kenyan legal group promoting social transformation through the constitution.
    This week, hundreds of Kenyans including lawyers, human rights activists and taxi drivers held a peaceful protest as lawyers began a week-long walkout that will paralyze court operations around the country.
    The Department of Public Prosecutions issued a statement assuring the public and legal fraternity that any rogue elements in the department “do not represent what the National Police stands for.”
    But activists replied that extra-judicial killings were creeping back, and the Inspector General of Police should “pack and leave if he cannot assure Kenyans of security.”
    Mr. Kimani had been working at the International Justice Mission (IJM), a U.S.-based rights group, when he was killed. An online petition calling for justice for Kimani, his client, and their driver Joseph Muiruri had 24,594 signatures at press time. The petition can be found at http://www.IJM.org/JusticeinKenya
    “In Kenya,” it reads in part, “it is far too easy for a corrupt or incompetent police officer to frame and imprison an innocent person, who must then wait in jail, often for years on end, for a chance to prove his or her innocence. This corrupt system has packed Kenyan prisons full of innocent men and women with no way out and no lawyer to fight for their release – and the police who abuse their power are not held accountable.
    “Willie Kimani was working to protect the innocent from such abuse, and he was murdered while courageously pursuing that mission.”