Greene County Democrat

Tag: Attorney Faya Rose Toure

  • Gala celebrates Hank’s 83rd Birthday

    Hank Sanders reaches 2000 Sketches, all printed in the Greene County Democrat

    Senator Hank Sanders at celebration of his 2000 Sketches; John and Carol Zippert acknowledged for publishing all 2000 Sketches in the weekly Greene County Democrat. Family and community celebrating Senator Sanders reaching 2000 Sketches consecutive weeks since 1987

    A special gala was held for Senator Hank Sanders marking the dual celebrations of his Sketches #2000 and his 83rd Birthday (Oct. 28). The event was held Saturday, October 25, 2025 in Selma in the Hank Sanders Technology Building on the campus of Wallace Community College.
    The first Sketches, a column which was originally named Senate Sketches, was produced April 23, 1987 when Hank Sanders was in his first term in the Alabama State Senate. Sanders produced Sketches 2000 consecutive weeks since that date and all Sketches have been printed in the Greene County Democrat newspaper. Even as Hank Sanders traveled the world during those 38 years, he wrote his Sketches column and got it to the Democrat in a timely manner.
    Although Sketches is frequently published or carried in other media outlets, only the Greene County Democrat newspaper can boast of printing all 2000 issues.
    Hank Sanders Sketches is storytelling at its best. It captures life in the Black Belt, in Alabama, in this nation and the world. His Sketches lifts family and community in struggle and in joy; it lifts youth striving for self esteem and their place in community; it lifts the politics of healthcare, sufficient food, quality education, voting rights and an endangered democracy. As Hanks writes about his journey, he is sharing the stories of many. We can always find ourselves and our situations in his Sketches.
    The 2000 Sketches and Birthday celebration, organized by Hank’s wife Attorney Faya Rose Toure, lent itself to myriad forms of appreciation for Senator Sanders and his unwavering persistence and dedication to his mission. Dr. Carol P. Zippert, who gave remarks on the occasion, stated that Hank often says he is a vessel through which blessings flow. “Hank is a vessel filled with god’s blessings – a vessel that in turn fills our vessels,” she said. Hank’s grandchildren noted, as did others, that each Sketches has a theme that is carries throughout then column. The young folk presented a powerpoint focusing on some of Sketches’ themes and asked their Granddaddy, “What inspired that particular theme.” Hank’s responsive wisdom embraced use all.
    The gala featured music, excerpts from a play Attorney Toure is writing and good food.
    Youth leaders were recognized; gifts were distributed. This was a joyful occasion.

  • SOS to commemorate signing of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, in Selma, on Tuesday, August 6, 2024

    An inspirational Celebration and Commemoration of the signing of the 1965 Voting Rights Act is set for Tuesday, August 6th, at 2:30 p.m. at the National Voting Rights Museum & Institute and Statue Park on the Montgomery side of the bridge in Selma. The public is invited and encouraged to attend, and elected officials are specifically invited to participate. August 6th is the 59th Anniversary of President Lyndon Johnson’s signing this landmark piece of legislation into law.

    Former State Senator Hank Sanders said,” We must come back to the bridge for this momentous anniversary. This event is also an opportunity to encourage all voters to fully exercise their right to vote in the 2024 November General Election and in all elections. Passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act would not have been possible without the sacrifice of countless individuals whose names are both known and unknown. “

    So many people from diverse backgrounds and from across this country fought for the right to vote for all United States citizens. Some gave the ultimate sacrifice – their lives – for the right to vote, including men and women, Blacks and Whites, young and old, and members of the clergy. Selma played a crucial role in the Movement that brought about the 1965 Voting Rights Act and is a worldwide symbol for struggles for the right to vote.

    Attorney Faya Rose Toure said, “This may be the last election we will be able to participate in, if some candidates, with an authoritarian streak, get elected and start to dismantle our Constitution and destroy our democracy. WE must return to the bridge on August 6, 2024.”

    Leaders of national organizations have been invited to participate, and some participating in the August 6th event include Southern Christian Leadership Conference National President & CEO Charles Steele and others with SCLC. U.S. Representative Terri Sewell (CD 7) has been invited as has the Democratic nominee for Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District, Shomari Figures.

    A cookout is being held as part of the Voting Rights Celebration and Commemoration with all food being provided at no cost to all those in attendance. School children also played a pivotal role in the Voting Rights Movements, and free basketballs have been provided by North Star Beloved Community Corporation in conjunction with Kay Doherty and Sharing, Inc and will be given to children who participate in the August 6th Celebration and Commemoration.

    This event is sponsored by SOS – the Save Ourselves Movement for Justice and Democracy and other social and economic justice organizations in the state. The National Voting Rights Museum & Institute is located at 6 US-80 East in Selma on the Montgomery side of the foot of the Bridge.

    For more information contact: Shelley Fearson at 334-262-0932; John Zippert at 205/657-0273 and Hank Sanders at 334/782-1651.

  • SOS holds statewide rally in Birmingham;
    Increasing voter turnout for November 8th election and elevating Medicaid Expansion issue

    Ms. Yolanda Flowers, Democratic candidate for Governor addresses SOS meeting

    By: John Zippert,
    Co-Publisher

    The Save Ourselves Movement for Justice and Democracy (SOS) together with other organizations held a statewide rally to increase voter turnout in the upcoming November 8th General Election and raise the importance of the issue of Medicaid Expansion and others as reasons to vote in this election.
    SOS was joined by the Alabama Women’s Roundtable headed by Jefferson County Commissioner, Sheila Tyson; Faith and Works, an organization of church leaders promoting voting, Alabama New South Coalition, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Democracy Project, and other groups supported this statewide convening.
    Yolanda Flowers, Democratic candidate for Governor, stopped by the meeting and made some short remarks on the importance of voting. She also referenced her platform of educational reform, criminal justice reforms and approving Medicaid Expansion as part of her agenda to improve health care for Alabamians.
    Attorney Faya Rose Toure, SOS Steering Committee member, opened the meeting with a plea for unity and solidarity among organizations in Alabama working on counteracting voter suppression and preserving democracy. She also communicated a warning that the powers against democracy have used violence in the January 6th attack on Congress and threaten to use violence again to defeat democracy.
    Faya Rose also warned that the opponents of democracy have prepared a legal case, Moore vs. Harper, which will be heard by the conservative leaning Supreme Court in the Fall term. “This case asserts the independent state legislative theory, which would give the state legislatures the final authority in deciding voting matters, including certification of electors for the Electoral College, which determines who will be elected President. This would give Republican Legislatures the power to override the choice of voters in statewide elections, based on any rationale they choose,” said Toure.
    “Democracy is in danger in this country and the Supreme Court’s decision in Moore vs Harper will be a key to the future of democracy in our nation. So, we need to pay close attention to this case when it comes before the Supreme Court,” said Toure
    Ushe Bean with Faith and Works spoke about her efforts to re-engage Black churches in social justice work and encouraging voting, based on teachings in the Bible. She asked interested clergy and churches to contact her organization through their website at faith and church.com.
    John Zippert and Mayor Johnny Ford, Co-chairs of the SOS Health Committee, stressed the importance of elevating the issue of Medicaid Expansion, as an issue in the upcoming November election. “Medicaid Expansion, which would provide health insurance to over 250,000 working poor Alabamians, would improve the health care of all Alabamians. This decision has been on Governor Ivey’s desk for seven years and she has not acted,” said Ford.
    John Zippert reminded the group that Ivey’s reservations that the funds are not available for Medicaid Expansion was not true. “The funds are available to the State of Alabama in the American Rescue Plan to Expand Medicaid. Alabama can get an increased reimbursement for its current Medicaid recipients which would pay for Medicaid Expansion for three years. After three years, the 30,000 new jobs and revenues created in the health system by Medicaid Expansion would support the state’s matching contribution going forward. There is no reason not to pursue this policy which would help people and save lives,” said Zippert.
    Several representatives of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity were present who spoke to their Voting and Democracy Project, which seeks to involve the 324,000 Black voters, who did not vote in the 2018 Gubernatorial Election, and register the 300,000 Black eligible voters in Alabama who are not registered. October 24, 2022 is the last day to register before the November 8th election, which is now about 50 days away.
    The people present agreed to work on a “20 for 20 program” to register 20,000 people each on September 20 and October 20 before the November 8 election.
    At the end of the meeting, SOS held a press conference to highlight the issue of Medicaid Expansion in the upcoming election. You can contact SOS on our website, Facebook page or by calling 334/262-0932.

  • SOS opposes Alabama State Board of Education resolution on teaching history in Alabama schools

    Attorney Faya Rose Toure shown making statement at State Board

    The SaveOurselves Movement for Justice and Democracy (SOS) joined many other groups in opposing the adoption of a resolution by the State Board of Education “preserving intellectual freedom and non-discrimination in Alabama’s public schools”. The Board held a hearing on the resolution on last Thursday and then on a 7 to 2 vote adopted the resolution and administrative rule to implement the proposal. The two Black members of the Board cast the dissenting votes on the resolution and administrative rule.

    The State Board of Education made a vague statement in response to the teaching of “critical race theory” in Alabama public schools which sets unclear guidelines on the teaching of history in the state, which will limit a truthful consideration of slavery, the Jim Crow period and the Civil Rights Movement, in a state that played a major role in these historical developments.

    SOS held a press conference in front of the State Board of Education building to explain its position on the State Board’s resolution and then participated with other groups presenting its position to the Board at the hearing. Attorney Faya Rose Toure, veteran civil rights activist presented SOS’s statement to the State Board.

    In its statement, SOS states, “On first reading, this resolution appears to promote the humanity of all people. It states that white supremacy should not be taught and encouraged in Alabama’s public schools. But it insidiously allows teacher to disregard and even sanitize Alabama’s three-hundred-year history of slavery and segregation that instill white supremacy and black inferiority in nearly every child and institution in the state. Who will decide what is the respectable and responsible teaching of Alabama’s history of racial violence and injustice? That is the question and our concern.”

    The SOS statement continues, “We are an interracial statewide organization committed to the ideals for the Declaration of Independence. For centuries, African American youth and Indigenous youth were legally denied basic civil and human rights. The denial of these rights was often secured with state sanctioned violence. After the Civil War, the promise of democracy for African American children was cruelly broken. Instead, those who committed treason to maintain the economic benefits of slavery were resurrected as heroes. Today, there are statues honoring the Confederate soldiers but nothing recognizing the two hundred thousand African American soldiers who fought to end the most demeaning barbaric slavery in human history.

    “Unfortunately, African American youth continue to be adversely impacted from slavery and segregation. African American men are only 12% of the population, but nearly 50% of the prison population. In nearly every area of life, African American people are at the bottom. Coronavirus is more deadly in the school to prison pipeline as a consequence of Alabama’s racial policies and practices that still fail to recognize the genius and talents of African American youth and children.

    “The stories of resistance to Alabama’s draconian laws and policies are also critical to the attainment of truth and reconciliation. Three major movements for Civil Rights took place in Alabama to challenge the wheels of injustice and segregation, yet most students know nothing about the movements in Montgomery, Birmingham, and Selma. These stories are not critical race theories, they are based on factual events and proof of the ability of African American youth to resist racial oppression, but also drugs, gang violence and nonracial forces of injustice.

    “To deny students of all races these stories is a grave injustice that keeps Alabama from being democratic and just. There can be no racial healing in the State until Alabama confronts its racial past and its clinging to monuments and policies that reveals its lack of will to recognize the humanity of all of its citizens.”

    The SOS full statement can be read on its website.

  • 200 attend National Heirs Property Conference in Atlanta

    Members of opening panel to provide history and context of the problems of Heir Property among Black landowners and families. R to L: Jerry Pennick, Attorney Faya Rose Toure, Charles O. Prejean, Wendell H. Paris and John Zippert

    Special to the Democrat by John Zippert, Co-Publisher
    Over 200 interested participants attended the first National Heirs Property Conference in Atlanta, Georgia at the Airport Embassy Suites Hotel from December 4-6, 2019. The conference was co-sponsored by the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund, the nation’s foremost organization of Black farmers and landowners.
    The two-day conference was divided into two tracks, one for landowners with heir property issues and one for community-based practioners working on land issues, government agency staff, lawyers and other professionals.
    Heir property is land that is held in common by a number of family owners, when the original owners die without making a will and describing the way the land is to be passed down. More than half of the 3 million acres of farmland owned by Black families in the South is now owned in this way. Agricultural economists and other academic and professional experts suggest that this is a $2 billion problem facing the Black community in the South.
    The greatest problems with heir property come when there are family disputes on the best use of the land. In some cases, a family member may sell their undivided interest to someone outside the family, allowing that person to petition the courts for a “partition sale.”
    The courts will order a public sale on the courthouse steps, which often results in the sale and loss of the land to the family for less than its true value.
    Heirs property and partition sales have contributed to the loss of Black land ownership in the South from 15 million acres in 1920 to 6 million in 1960 and now 3 million in 2019. Since the Civil Rights Movement, heirs property and partition sales have led to the loss of over 2 million acres of Black owned land in the South.
    The owners of heir property also have problems accessing commercial bank loans and Federal USDA credit, conservation and other programs because they cannot show clear title for purposes of leveraging the land for loans and program services. The Federation working with other organizations was able to enact changes in the 2018 Farm Bill which provide a path and alternative forms of documentation to provide access to USDA programs and resources for families with land in heir property status.
    The 2018 Farm Bill also includes authorization of a $10 million a year program of relending to community based organizations to provide loan assistance to families who need financial help to clear titles and use their land in the most suitable and productive ways.
    Cornelius Blanding, Executive Director of the Federation and Attorney Monica Rainge, Director of the Federation’s Land Retention Program convened the program and discussed the importance of the issue of heir property to the continuing community and cooperative development goals of the Federation. They also showed a video from Senator Doug Jones of Alabama, who championed getting the section providing assistance to heir property landholders into the Federal legislation.
    Cornelius Blanding introduces the opening panel and had a dialogue with them on the context, history and implications of the heir property land issue on Black families.
    Attorney Faya Rose Toure (Sanders) of Selma, who conducted a seminal heir property study for USDA in the 1980’s spoke on the significance of the loss of Black land coming out of slavery. She spoke on the need to curtail petition sales and deal with the root causes of the problem in racism and White Supremacy.
    She said she hoped the conference would look at “land reparations” as one of the solutions to the broader problems of Black land loss and wealth inequality in the country.
    Charles O. Prejean, first Executive Director of the Federation, who lives in Atlanta, spoke about the Federation’s long term view of the helping people to hold on to their land and develop cooperatives as a way of using it for beneficial progress and community betterment. He spoke to the history of the Federation’s merger with the Emergency Land Fund in 1985 to further these common agendas.Wendell H. Paris, who was the Federation’s first staff member to live and work on the land in Epes, Alabama, reminded everyone, “That land is the basis of all wealth.” He spoke about some of the Federation’s early history in dealing with land retention.
    Jerry Pennick, who helped start the Emergency Land Fund and worked for many years after the 1985 merger as Director of Land Retention commented on his work with Rose on the heirs property land study. He observed that the USDA has been very slow to respond meaningfully to this problem and hoped that the government will move more swiftly to implement the new provisions in the 2018 Farm Bill.
    John Zippert, who retired after fifty years of work with the Federation, highlighted the work of the Federation with the Panola Land Buying Association (PLBA) in saving 1300 acres of land in Sumter County, Alabama, where the Federation’s Rural Training and Research Center is located.
    The second day’s plenary session featured a talk by Gary Black, Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture, on the importance of land ownership and agricultural and forestry development to the state,
    The remainder of the two-day meeting was spent in parallel tracks. The more than 100 landowners present were in Track 1, dealing with the problems and issues of heir property, how to develop a family tree to account for all of the heirs, the Uniform Heir Property Petition Act, a uniform piece of state legislation adopted by 13 states, which assists heir property owners clarify title and basics of a succession plan. On the second day, landowners heard various strategies to help utilize their land in the most productive and profitable ways.
    In the estate planning section of the workshop, landowners were introduced to the idea of forming a family trust, corporation, LLC or other means to own the land in a legal structure that separates the ownership from the individuals but allows for collective and democratic decisions about its use and benefits for the family. The Federation is working with many families to institute these progressive solutions to the problems of heir property.
    The community-based practioners examined many of these same issues in their parallel track and discussed ways to marshal resources too assist landowners with these problems.
    At the evaluation session at the end of the program, many of the landowners expressed appreciation for the information and learning provided by the Conference. Several participants expressed that they were leaving with hope that they could work on and help to resolve their family heir property problems.
    Attorney Monica Rainge, Conference Coordinator said, “This is the beginning, not the end of this process. This Conference was to give you some suggestions and a direction, for you to return home and work on your heir property issues. The Federation is ready to continue working with you and help you find options and solutions. We will be planning future conferences and events about this problem.

  • Rally held in Columbiana, on the sixth anniversary of the Shelby vs. Holder Supreme Court decision invalidating critical parts of the Voting Rights Act

    Press conference after Rally

    A hundred people gathered on the lawn of the Shelby County Courthouse in Columbiana, Alabama on June 25, 2019, the sixth anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Shelby vs. Holder to protest and call for renewal of the Voting Rights Act.
    The protest in Columbiana was part of a series of national events, coordinated by “Lift Our Vote 2020”, to restore the preclearance and other provisions of the Voting Rights Act, which were stripped away in the Shelby vs. Holder Supreme County decision.
    The Supreme Court in a 5 to 4 decision in June 2013, decided that due to progress in voting rights, that states and political subdivisions that previously had been required tosubmit changes in voting rules and procedures, such as district lines, polling place locations and times, early voting, voter ID, and many others, were no longer required to seek preclearance from the U. S. Department of Justice for these changes.
    As a result of this Supreme Court decision many states, particularly in the southern states of the ‘ old Confederacy’ have instituted changes to make it more difficult for Black and other minority people to vote. In Alabama and other states, strict photo identification requirements have been put in place, early voting has been curtailed, voter lists have been severely purged as a result of the decision.
    Bernard Simelton, State President of the NAACP said, “When five justices on the Supreme Court gutted the VRA in the 2013 Shelby County v. Holder case, they made it easier for states and localities to revert back to discriminatory practices that restrict the voting rights of Black, Brown, Native American, and Asian American people.  It is time we address this injustice so that we have the tools to effectively combat current racial discrimination in voting.”
    Attorney Faya Rose Toure from Selma said, “The Shelby vs. Holder decision was the 21st century version of the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision of 1850, which said that Black people had no rights that white people were bound to respect. We must work to restore the VRA and make sure that our people vote in every election for every contest on the ballot.”
    Faya Rose and Jessica Barker spoke about plans for an August 3 to 7 bus ride to support amending and strengthening the Voting Rights Act . The buses will leave Selma that morning and drive to state capitols in Montgomery, Atlanta, Columbia, Raleigh, Richmond and on to Washington D. C. There will be a major rally in Washington D. C. on August 6, the 54th. anniversary of the passage and signing of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
    Rev. Kenneth Glascow of The Ordinary People’s Society, based in Dothan, Alabama spoke to the problems of disenfranchisement of incarcerated and prevuiously incarcerated people in Alabama and other states. “ We must make sure that people in jails awaiting trial can vote before their convictions and we must restore the vote to any persons who complete their prison sentences,” he said.
    John Zippert speaking on behalf of the Alabama New South Coalitrion and the SOS Coalition for Justice and Democracy urged everyone to register to vote, to organize people in their communities to vote and to vote in every election for all for all conytests and items on the ballot.
    For more information contact Alabama New South Coalition at 334/262-0932 or alabamanewsouth@aol.com and
    Lift Our Vote 2020 at Liftourvote@gmail.com.

  • 21st Century youth attend leadership camp

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    Senator Hank Sanders leads discussion on leadership traits with participants
    at 21st Century’s Youth Leadership Development Winter camp.

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    L to R: Harambe participants at 21C Winter Leadership Camp held at the Selma Center for Non violence, Truth and Reconcilliation. Justine Morton, Akeem Hardy, Alphonzo Morton, IV, Ivan Peebles, Alphonzo Morton, III, Destiny Dancy, Jamia Jackson, Carol Zippert, Daijah Means.

    Approximately 40 students, representing five counties, participated in the annual 21st Century Youth Leadership Movement Winter Camp in Selma, AL, December 2-4, 2016. The week end activities opened on Friday evening with the usual pep rally of freedom and leadership songs composed over the years by 21C founder, Attorney Faya Rose Toure.
    This was followed by a special presentation by Mrs. Annie Pearl Avery on her coming of age and continuing activities in the Civil Rights and Freedom Movement.

    Mrs. Avery, a former SNCC worker, held engaging exchanges with the students who were in awe of the risks she and so many others took in the struggles across the South.
    Saturday’s activities included Mindful Movements led by April Caddell, Co-Coordinator of the Winter Camp. April also led a session on Mindfulness is a Super Power. A core session on leadership traits was presented by Senator Hank Sanders, utilizing the leadership strategies in the story of Gideon from the Bible.
    The students viewed a documentary, entitled 13th, on the prison industrial system produced by Ava Duvernay. The following discussion was led by Alphonzo Morton, III, Camp Co-Coordinator. The film brought out how the 13th Amendment of the US Constitution condones the slavery of persons incarcerated. Slave labor of convicted felons became a big enterprise in this country.
    Pep rallies with original 21C songs were inserted throughout the day, which was capped off with a trip to the movies for entertainment. All camp participants, students and adults, enjoyed Almost Christmas at the Walton Theater in Selma.
    The week end camp closed out by noon on Sunday with a Takeaway Session where the young people shared their experiences and leadership lessons learned.
    21st Century Youth Leadership Movement was founded in 1986 as a non profit organization dedicated to developing young people as community directed leaders. The various county chapters are led by volunteers who are committed to the vision and goals of the organization.