The Greene County Democrat

Category: School

  • The Women’s March organizers are planning ‘A Day Without A Woman’ strike

    By: Desire Thompson, VIBE
    womens-march-leader
    Womens March leader

    The minds behind the Women’s March on Washington aren’t giving up on the people. Their latest move hints at an economic boycott titled, “A Day Without A Woman.”
    The announcement was made Monday (Feb. 6) through their social channels with little detail. What has been shared is the general statement, “The will of the people will stand.” Last month, over a million women from all over the world came together in solidarity to protest the election of President Donald Trump, climate change, immigration laws and unlawful police practice. The Women’s March on Washington brought 500,000 people to the city, making it the most recent largest demonstration in the area. Crowd specialists reportedly stated the Women’s March brought three times the number of people than Trump’s inauguration ceremony.
    CNN reports after the exposure of several companies lining up with Trump, the organization made up of Tamika Mallory, Carmen Perez, Linda Sarsour and Bob Bland, released a statement on those boycotting companies like Uber and Nordstrom. “At a time when our foundational principles of freedom and equality are under threat, The Women’s March is committed to engaging in actions that affirmatively build community, strengthen relationships and support local, women- and minority-owned businesses,” The Women’s March said in a statement.
    General strikes thrived during the Civil Rights Movement and other labor movements. Strike4Democracy is currently planning a general strike on Feb. 17. So far, 16,000 people plan to take part in it. Last year, actor Isiah Washington attempted to launch a boycott where African Americans didn’t spend, work or attend school. Middle-class African Americans have been known to spend a hefty amount in a retail market, even with specks of racial inequality proving that black families have less access to substantial goods and services than white families. Nonetheless, the Women’s March organizers have stressed the importance of inclusion.

  • African Union blasts Trump rule barring African muslim immigrants

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    Outgoing Commissioner Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma of the African Union

       Jan. 30, 2017 (GIN) – An outraged African Union recalled the kidnapping of Black Africans as it considered the controversial new US anti-immigrant rules. After forcibly bringing Africans to the U.S. as slave labor, noted the AU, Washington now slams the door on Muslim immigrants entering the U.S.

    “It is clear that globally we are entering very difficult times,” cautioned outgoing AU Commissioner Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, speaking at a recent two-day summit in Addis Ababa of the 53 member states.

    “The very country to which many of our people were taken as slaves during the transatlantic slave trade has now decided to ban refugees from some of our countries.”

    Just before the weekend, President Donald Trump suspended all US refugee programs and banned immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries, three of which are AU members.

    The executive order signed by Mr. Trump specifically bars Libyans, Somalians and Sudanese from travelling to the US. It also blocks visas for citizens from four Middle Eastern countries – Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Iran.

    All US refugee programs are frozen for 120 days, and the flow of Syrian refugees to America is ended indefinitely.

    The new UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, speaking at the AU’s summit in Ethiopia, commended African countries for opening their borders to refugees and people fleeing violence while in other parts of the world, including the developed West, they are closing borders and building walls.

    He praised African nations for being among the world’s largest and most generous hosts of refugees.

    AU Summit proceedings began with the swift election of Chadian Foreign Minister Moussa Faki Mahamat, 56, as the new chairperson of the AU Commission, beating four other candidates.

    Faki won in a final battle against his Kenyan counterpart Amina Mohamed after seven rounds of voting. The Kenyan government praised Ms. Mohamed, once the odds-on favorite, for waging a “valiant race”.  Faki takes on the role as his country’s President Idriss Deby Itno hands over the rotating presidency of the AU to Guinea’s Alpha Conde.

    A former prime minister, Faki has been at the forefront of the fight against Islamists in Nigeria, Mali and the Sahel and has promised “development and security” will top his agenda as chief of the 54-member continental bloc.     Faki said he dreams of an Africa where the “sound of guns will be drowned out by cultural songs and rumbling factories” and pledged to streamline the bureaucratic AU during his four-year term in office.

     

  • Dr. Dorothy Height to be honored on U.S. postage stamp

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    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.

  • Local board honored for School Board Appreciation Month – Superintendent questions state’s designation of failing schools in Greene County

    During his report at the regular meeting of the Greene County Board of Education, Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017, Superintendent James Carter stated that Robert Brown Middle School and Greene County High School have been designated by the State Department of Education as failing schools based on tests scores from 2015-2016. “It has been determined that Greene County School System has two schools that fall within the bottom 6% of schools in Alabama. Any schools within this range are placed on the failing schools list as referenced in the Alabama Accountability Act of 2013, revised in 2015,” Dr, Carter said.
    Dr. Carter further explained that the state tests, the ACT Aspire in Reading and Math, were administered in the Spring of 2016 to grades 3-8 and grade 10. “We are not making excuses when we say that this was the first time these particular tests were administered to the schools.” He also noted that the tests results attributed to Robert Brown Middle School were from the former Carver Middle School and do not include students test results from the former Paramount School. Robert Brown Middle School began operations as a consolidated school from Carver and Paramount in August of 2016.
    “I am concerned that Robert Brown Middle School is called a failing school when Robert Brown Middle School did not exist when these tests were given,” Carter said. He also noted that Greene County High School was not on the failing list in the previous year. “ This is somewhat perplexing for them to be placed back on the failing list after being off the list last year,” he added.

    “The Alabama Accountability Act is just another scheme for tax credits and vouchers to be given to students’ parents who choose for their children to have a private school education,” Carter stated.
    According to state reports, the Alabama Accountability Act helps students move from public to private schools with scholarships funded by tax credits. Approximately 70% of the nearly 6,000 scholarships went to children who would not otherwise attend a failing school.
    Superintendent Carter also announced that the Robert Brown family has made a generous donation of $5,100 to the recently dedicated Robert Brown Middle School. Carter extended a deep appreciation to the family on behalf of the entire school system.
    In recognition of School Board Appreciation Month, the board received special recognition and salutes from the schools and Central Office Personnel. Eutaw Primary students presented a creative dance as well as other treats. Robert Brown Middle School students serenaded the board and presented other treats. The Child Nutrition Program personnel gave the board members fruit baskets. Parent Involvement Coordinator presented a special Certificate of Appreciation to each board member. Greene County High School announced that it will make special presentations to the board at its Honors Program scheduled for January 31.
    The board approved the following personnel items recommended by the superintendent.
    Employment of Mrs. Sondra Terry as part-time Science Teacher at Greene County Career Center; employment of Tren’D’Mis Davis as Bus Driver and adding Ms. Tanesha Lyons to the current CNP Substitute list for 2017-2018 year.
    The Administrative Services approved by the board included the following:
    * Expand wireless opportunities for schools following additional review.
    * Accept proposals for sale/lease of properties at former Paramount Jr. High and Carver Middle School.
    * Approve lease agreement with Norfolk Southern Corporation for use of Paramount parking lot for a limited period of time, pending legal review and approval by board’s attorney.
    * Payment of all bills, claims, and payroll.
    Bank reconciliations as submitted by CSFO.
    The following items were also presented at the meeting by Superintendent Carter:
    * Advertisement for sale or lease of properties at Paramount Jr. High and Carver Middle School.
    * Sale dates for surplus equipment at Carver and Paramount.
    * Restrooms at Robert Brown Middle School have been refurbished and the hallways painted.
    * Review of curriculum/instruction of Greene County schools.
    * Develop program to recognize outstanding students and employees.
    * Review each school’s master schedule to determine if maximum learning opportunities are provided to each student.
    * Develop system for scheduling maintenance /work orders in timely fashion.
    * Tutorial lab for primary grades and grades four and five.
    * Seek foreign language instructors for primary and middle school grades.

  • Immigrant rights advocates hold rally against Jeff Sessions in front of his Birmingham office


    On Saturday, January 14, 2016, the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice (ACIJ) supported by other organizations held a rally on the steps of the Vance Federal Building in Birmingham, Alabama to protest Trump’s nomination of Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions to become the U. S. Attorney General.

    200 protestors gathered on the street in front of the building, which houses Jeff Sessions district office. The protestors held signs with quotes from Jeff Sessions showing his bias against immigrants, children were dressed with butterfly wings and a giant puppet of Trump with a red hat with the words “Make America Alabama Again!” on it.

    Several speakers, who were hard working immigrants, who had been in Alabama for many years spoke out about Jeff Sessions support for Alabama’s draconian HB56 anti-immigration law. Parts of the law have been challenged and beaten in the courts but the law was the strictest in the nation and forced many undocumented immigrants to flee the state. Speakers addressed their fears that if Sessions is confirmed as U. S. Attorney General that he will support policies that will lead to the deportation of many more immigrants and break up families who have been in this country for many years.

    Several of the speakers were young people who were brought to this country as children by their parents and who participated in President Obama’s DACA program which allowed them to go to college and to work without fear of deportation. These young people are often referred to as “dreamers” because they fought so hard for this program to grow up and become educated and productive U. S. citizens.

    One young lady on the DACA program said, “ I came to this country at three years old. I have lived in Alabama as long as I can remember. I am a participant in the DACA program. I am going to college here in Birmingham and I am fearful of the future if Jeff Sessions becomes Attorney General. I am an Alabamian and I want to live here and contribute to society and my community here. I am undocumented and fear what President Trump assisted by Attorney General Sessions will do to me to end my dreams.”

    Other speakers spoke to Senator Sessions voting record in the U. S. Senate in opposition to voting rights, civil rights, womens rights, labor rights and many basic rights enjoyed by people in this country.

  • BBCF Community Associates raise $41,000 for foundation

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    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.

  • New Phone Listing for the Greene County School System

    New Phone Listing for the Greene County School System

    The contact numbers for the Greene County Board of Education are:

    205-372-4030
    205-372-3109
    205-372-2101
    Greene County High School – 205-372-2052
    Robert Brown Middle School 

    ( Grade 4-6)   Fredrick Square – 205-372-3269
    (Grade 7-8)    Barbara Martin – 205-372-9021

    Eutaw Primary School – 205-372-1051

  • Coretta Scott King wrote 1986 letter opposing federal court nomination of Jeff Sessions, letter not entered in record at that time by Strom Thurmon

     

    By Wesley Lowery , Washington Post

    coretta-scott-king

    Coretta Scott King

    The widow of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. urged Congress to block the 1986 nomination of Jeff Sessions for federal judge, saying that allowing him to join the federal bench would “irreparably damage the work of my husband,” according to the letter written by King that was previously publicly unavailable and obtained on Tuesday by The Post. The full letter may be read on the Internet.  “Anyone who has used the power of his office as United States Attorney to intimate and chill the free exercise of the ballot by citizens should not be elevated to our courts,” King wrote in the cover page of her 9-page letter opposing Sessions’s nomination, which failed at the time.

    “Mr. Sessions has used the awesome powers of his office in a shabby attempt to intimidate and frighten elderly black voters. For this reprehensible conduct, he should not be rewarded with a federal judgeship.”

    Thirty years later, Sessions, now himself a senator, is again undergoing confirmation hearings as President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general, and is facing fierce opposition from civil rights groups.

    In the letter, King writes that Sessions’s ascension to the federal bench “simply cannot be allowed to happen,” arguing that as a U.S. attorney, the Alabama lawmaker persused “politically-motivated voting fraud prosecutions” and that he “lacks the temperament, fairness and judgment to be a federal judge.” She said Sessions’s conduct in prosecuting civil rights leaders in a voting fraud case “raises serious questions about his commitment to the protection of the voting rights of all American citizens.”

    “The irony of Mr. Sessions’ nomination is that, if confirmed, he will be given a life tenure for doing with a federal prosecution what the local sheriffs accomplished twenty years ago with clubs and cattle prods,” she wrote, later adding: “I believe his confirmation would have a devastating effect on not only the judicial system in Alabama, but also on the progress we have made toward fulfilling my husband’s dream.”

    During the 1986 hearing, the letter and King’s opposition became a crucial part of the argument against Sessions’s confirmation. Current Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has not previously released the letter, which committee rules grant him the sole authority to reveal.

    Buzzfeed News first reported the existence of the letter earlier Tuesday, noting that it was never entered into the congressional record by then-Judiciary Committee Chairman Strom Thurmond.

     

  • Community pressure and legal action force State of Alabama to agree to re-open drivers licensing offices in the Black Belt counties

    According to a recent statement by the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund (LDF) the U.S. Department of Transportation the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA), Alabama’s department of motor vehicles, entered an agreement that fully restores the hours of driver’s license issuing offices in nine predominately African-American counties in the Black Belt region of the state. This agreement is the result of community pressure and legal action against the policy limiting access to driver licensing offices in rural parts of the state, especially in the Alabama Black Belt.
    In addition, for the next two years, the agreement requires ALEA to seek pre-approval from the U.S. Department of Transportation before initiating any driver’s license office closures or other reductions in service.
    On September 30, 2015, ALEA announced that it would eliminate services at 31 driver license field offices in 30 counties throughout the State of Alabama. The following month, ALEA announced that it would reopen the closed field offices one to two days per month.
    On December 9, 2015, DOT informed ALEA that it had determined that these service reductions could potentially come into conflict with ALEA’s responsibilities to ensure non-discrimination as a recipient of Federal financial assistance under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. On that date, DOT further notified ALEA that it was opening a formal Title VI investigation into whether the reduction of driver license services discriminated against African Americans and/or other populations on the basis of race, color, or national origin.
    In October 2015 the Alabama New South Coalition and the SOS Coalition for Justice and Democracy held a caravan, which visited all Driver License offices in the Black Belt that were closed by Governor Bentley. The Governor says the offices, which were only open once a week to test and license new drivers, were closed in a budget cutting move to save money for the state. He closed 31 offices statewide in rural counties, which included 11 of 13 offices in the Alabama Black Belt counties.
    Since Alabama recently adopted a stringent voter ID law, which requires a state issued photo identification document to vote, many Black leaders considered this another attack on voting and an effort to suppress the Black vote in the state.

    In Greene County the Caravan attracted more than 60 people who demonstrated in front of the Greene County Courthouse mid-day holding signs and chanting “No Shutdowns.” Several local political leaders including County Commissioner Lester Brown and School Board member, Carol P. Zippert, addressed the crowd and urged that the offices be reopened on a weekly basis.
    The agreement states that the Counties of Greene, Bullock, Butler, Hale, Lowndes and Perry will have their drivers license offices open one day per week; Macon County 2 days per week; Wilcox County will open 3 days per month; and Bibb Counties will open 2 days per month.
    This important agreement with ALEA comes one year after the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), Covington and Burling, LLP, and local counsel Herman N. Johnson, Jr. filed a lawsuit on behalf of Greater Birmingham Ministries, the Alabama NAACP, and four individual voters challenging Alabama’s Photo ID Law and the ALEA office closings as violations of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the U.S. Constitution.
    The LDF noted that the U.S. Department of Transportation’s findings validate the necessity of this lawsuit and confirm the significant hurdles that our clients and other Black and Latino Alabamians face in getting the photo ID needed to vote. These findings also prove that Alabama was wrong in repeatedly arguing that the ALEA closures did not have a disparate impact on Black voters. LDF’s lawsuit will continue to press for the elimination the Photo ID Law, a discriminatory barrier to voting for thousands of people of color.
    “Alabama’s decision in 2015 to close driver’s license offices in most of its majority Black counties was an egregious act of racial discrimination,” said Sherrilyn A. Ifill, LDF’s President and Director Counsel. “The ALEA office closings severely limited Black people’s access to transportation and to the photo ID needed to vote in the 2016 elections. We commend the work of the U.S. Department of Transportation in thoroughly investigating this issue and welcome the restoration of services to these rural communities.”

  • Community celebrates annual Kwanzaa Holiday

    kwanzaaThe annual Community Kwanzaa Celebration was held Thursday, December 29, 2016 at the Eutaw Activity Center. The program was sponsored by the Harambe Chapter of 21st Century Youth Leadership Movement and the Greene County Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. The program participants included the local youth engaged in projects of the sponsoring organizations including Harambe members, 2017 Debutantes and members of Delta Academy.
    Kwanzaa is a harvest celebration honoring the culture and heritage of African Americans. The seven day observance begins December 26 through January 1. Kwanzaa was founded by Dr. Maulana Karenga at the time of the Watts Riots in California in the 1960’s. Dr. Karenga was seeking a positive approach for rebuilding communities and celebrating African American history and culture. He took the name for the holiday from the Swahili word Kwanzaa meaning first fruits of the harvest. The Seven Principles of Kwanzaa also lift the values to strive for in our lives and communities: Umoja – Unity; Kujichagulia – Self Determination; Ujima – Collective Work and Responsibility; Ujamaa – Cooperatives; Nia – Purpose; Kuumba – Creativity; and Imani – Faith.
    The sponsors distributed magnet gifts which displayed the Kwanzaa Principles in Swahili and English as well as the Community Pledge recited by all the participants at the Kwanzaa Celebration.